nfl 2021-2022

[Keyrock]

Jags picking #1 for the second straight year. The pick is edge rusher Trevon Walker from Georgia. No surprise, they desperately need pass rush. It was going to be him or Aidan Hutchinson (who went #2 to the Lions).

I have quite some time to wait till muh Boys pick.

Edited April 29, 2022 by Keyrock

[Keyrock]

No QBs taken in the top 10, you don't see that too often.

[the_dog_days]

2 hours ago, Keyrock said:

Jags picking #1 for the second straight year. The pick is edge rusher Trevon Walker from Georgia. No surprise, they desperately need pass rush. It was going to be him or Aidan Hutchinson (who went #2 to the Lions).

I have quite some time to wait till muh Boys pick.

But Walker is a terrible edge rusher. He's a run stuffer. They picked him based solely on traits. Terrible pick. Can't believe they haven't fired their GM yet. Dude failed his way out of San Fran and then when he left that's when the 49ers got good.

[Keyrock]

First QB taken at #20, Kenny Pickett by the Steelers.

[Keyrock]

Muh Boys took tackle Tyler Smith. Offensive line is our biggest need and he was arguably the highest rated tackle left on the board at #24, so I have no issue with the pick. I'm kind of disappointed there's no big controversy attached to the pick, it's not like muh Boys.

[Keyrock]

2 1st round Packers picks, zero wideouts taken. Will we get passive aggressive Rodgers?

 

[the_dog_days]

My Jets had a pretty good first round. Rumor is that they would've taken KT at 4 but when they asked him not to talk about what was said in their interview, he then went out and did exactly what he promised not to.

[Bartimaeus]

I didn't watch any of the draft, I didn't read any pre/post-draft analysis, I didn't engage with anyone while the draft was going on outside of liking Keyrock's post about it. It's a new me this year...well, it's a new me that will still probably end up watching games via illegal streaming, but still, it's a new me.

[rjshae]

The first round had the lowest TV viewership rating since 2016. The main reason being that eight teams had traded away their first round picks, and most of those were in large markets. I only glanced at a team fan web site a few times and didn't bother watching the TV show.

[Bartimaeus]

10 minutes ago, rjshae said:

The first round had the lowest TV viewership rating since 2016. The main reason being that eight teams had traded away their first round picks, and most of those were in large markets. I only glanced at a team fan web site a few times and didn't bother watching the TV show.

From what I saw, it seemed like there were also no QBs this year, which probably also put a dent in interest.

[the_dog_days]

Jets had a great draft. They fortified four or five different position groups, secondary, wide receivers, pass rush, running back, tightend (they wanted to run 21 personale last year but didn't have the tightends to do it), and o-line depth.

It was confirmed that the Jets passed on Kayvon Thibodeaux because they asked him and several other high end players each in one-on-one interviews not to talk to the press about the interview and Thibs then went out and did exactly just that. Given that they couldn't get him to shut up about an interview, the Jets front office was pretty sure they wouldn't be able to get him to shut up about important stuff either and so they passed on him.

[rjshae]

5 hours ago, the_dog_days said:

Jets had a great draft. They fortified four or five different position groups, secondary, wide receivers, pass rush, running back, tightend (they wanted to run 21 personale last year but didn't have the tightends to do it), and o-line depth.

It was confirmed that the Jets passed on Kayvon Thibodeaux because they asked him and several other high end players each in one-on-one interviews not to talk to the press about the interview and Thibs then went out and did exactly just that. Given that they couldn't get him to shut up about an interview, the Jets front office was pretty sure they wouldn't be able to get him to shut up about important stuff either and so they passed on him.

They do seem to have some good drafts... then go on the field, trip, and fall on their face. Their last playoff appearance was 2010.

[the_dog_days]

2 hours ago, rjshae said:

They do seem to have some good drafts... then go on the field, trip, and fall on their face. Their last playoff appearance was 2010.

Their last two drafts were good. Everyone after the Darrell Reeves up to Joe Douglas' hire were bad. We had something like a decade or more terrible drafts that were clearly terrible at the time. The last two years were good but Douglas had to get rid of a bunch of guys, clear cap space, trade for picks, and finally collect talent. It's taken three years and yes I do expect to see some results this year (not playoffs--the AFC East is too good to expect that).

[Keyrock]

My biggest WTF moment of the draft was the Patriots taking Cole Strange in the first round when they very likely could have had him in the second or even third, to fill a hole they themselves created when they gave away Shaq Mason for pennies on the dollar. Realistically, Cole Strange's upside is essentially Shaq Mason and Shaq Mason isn't that old, he most likely still has several productive years left. It just doesn't make any sense.

[Bartimaeus]

Although again, I didn't follow this draft whatsoever, I remember from years past that there are always at least a few media-declared "reach" or "bad value" choices in each draft - always because the particular guy drafted was placed much lower through the media-declared "consensus". Oof, you drafted a guy in the first round that we all placed in the third or fourth at best...what a bunch of bozos you all are! The most famous examples of these are probably a couple of the Seahawks' early 2010s drafts...which were dunked on by pretty much everyone in the media at the time, but they ended up being decent in hindsight, seeing as a number of those players (e.g. Russell Wilson, Bruce Irvin, Bobby Wagner, KJ Wright, and Richard Sherman) were pretty key guys that got them to two Super Bowls. There's also something to be said for the fact that while the media may have universally drafted a guy only within a certain range, GMs' livelihoods actually depend on them making the correct decisions, while nobody will remember what any of the draft mocking media clowns put which guy where a week later because nothing that they think matters. Without knowing where all 32 GMs would have drafted a player, it's pretty much impossible to tell whether they were "overdrafted" or not - maybe that guy would've actually lasted to the third or fourth round, maybe he would've gone in another handful of picks to another team that also thought surprisingly highly of him.

As always, the best time to judge a draft is three seasons later after it's occurred - it's usually pretty easy to score worthless victories right after the draft has happened, but for some reason, there's a lot less teams able to claim they did great three years later.

Edited May 2, 2022 by Bartimaeus

[Keyrock]

Cole Strange may wind up being undervalued by the media in hindsight, the weird thing is that they gave away Shaq Mason for almost nothing. They had a proven good guard, gave him away for a 5th round pick, then picked a guard in the 1st round that may or may not turn out to be good. If he winds up being a perennial All-Pro then well done, but what are the odds of that?

[the_dog_days]

3 hours ago, Bartimaeus said:

Although again, I didn't follow this draft whatsoever, I remember from years past that there are always at least a few media-declared "reach" or "bad value" choices in each draft - always because the particular guy drafted was placed much lower through the media-declared "consensus".

But consensus boards are important even if you are higher on a guy than the rest of the league. If everyone else has Strange as a 3rd round pick but you have him as the 3rd best linemen, part of how you get that value is to pick him up in the 2nd therefore getting your guy higher than most people wanted him but also able to squeeze another pick out of it too. Look at the Jets. They had Jermaine Johnson as the 8th best player in the draft but picked him up at 26. Even people who aren't nearly as high on JJ liked where they got him.

Also, Bill Belichick has always kinda stank at projecting collegiate talent into the NFL and any time they seem at a loss for what to do with a draft they always trade down and take an interior linemen. Worst case scenario you can hide the deficiencies of an interior linemen. That's why you see majority of the guys they drafted who play well in New England go somewhere else and just look like a normal dude.

[Bartimaeus]

7 hours ago, the_dog_days said:

But consensus boards are important even if you are higher on a guy than the rest of the league. If everyone else has Strange as a 3rd round pick but you have him as the 3rd best linemen, part of how you get that value is to pick him up in the 2nd therefore getting your guy higher than most people wanted him but also able to squeeze another pick out of it too. Look at the Jets. They had Jermaine Johnson as the 8th best player in the draft but picked him up at 26. Even people who aren't nearly as high on JJ liked where they got him.

It's difficult for me to see it that way when the goals and draft boards of the other GMs are completely unknown. It may be declared by the media that a guy should go in the fourth round, and so you may have "over drafted" him by getting him in the second, but there may have well been ten other GMs that would've picked him between the time you chose him and your draft pick in the next round. The inverse of this situation happens probably even more, where guys that were supposed to go much higher per the media inexplicably went several rounds lower - they immediately declare "WHAT A GREAT VALUE FOR [TEAM]!". What, because none of the actual GMs valued him as much as you guys did? With no way to determine what the GMs were going to do, it's all a load of nonsense to try to figure out whether a guy was under or over drafted. The media will have their fun with it and declare winners and losers, and that's fine, but again, really, the only draft grade that matters is three years later when you have to look back and see what that draft actually ended up giving you, .

Of course, that approach is probably too results-driven - it may not be the GM's fault that freak injuries and/or bad coaching ruined prospects, but ultimately, it is the benchmark by which these guys are judged.

Edited May 3, 2022 by Bartimaeus

[rjshae]

This was the first draft since 2000 where only one QB was taken in the first two rounds. No explanation has been given. 

[the_dog_days]

2 hours ago, Bartimaeus said:

It's difficult for me to see it that way when the goals and draft boards of the other GMs are completely unknown.

Not really. Vegas had something like 9 of the top 10 picks favored to go where they did the morning of the 1st round. GMs have tendencies and there are ways to get a good idea of what teams will do.

[Bartimaeus]

2 hours ago, the_dog_days said:

Not really. Vegas had something like 9 of the top 10 picks favored to go where they did the morning of the 1st round. GMs have tendencies and there are ways to get a good idea of what teams will do.

I think we could agree that the top ten or so, which are generally the rare combinations of elite athletes and proven football talent that teams bank on being guaranteed good players (and yet, still surprisingly sometimes are not), are a little different from the ensuing ~250 dart throws that is the rest of the draft. The fact that Vegas has a good pulse on those doesn't really invalidate the rest of the draft being a series of unpredictable unknowns. I actually went ahead and went searching for team brass' reactions about Cole Strange being drafted where he was - the GM and head coach of the Rams openly laughed at the Patriots and thought Mr. Strange might still be there in the third or fourth round; the head coach of their divisional rival the 49ers said (while sitting right beside the GM) that they viewed him as being a first-rounder and that it was an example of the media not being in sync with the reality of what the actual teams were thinking. It only takes exactly one GM that thinks the same way as you to swoop in and take the guy you think will be great for you to lose that opportunity forever - all the thumb-twiddling in being concerned about "value" and what you "expected" other teams to do but didn't won't ever change that.

It'd be awesome if we had the actual draft boards of teams after the fact - certainly much more interesting than what we get. As it is, the entire process is effectively a nebulous pile of baloney because we're never given enough information to reach informed conclusions about what happened. Teams probably don't want any part of their evaluation process to be revealed to other teams though, so it'll probably never change.

Edited May 3, 2022 by Bartimaeus

[Bartimaeus]

Quote

Tom Brady will join Fox Sports as lead analyst as part of a long-term agreement, once he ends his career. He will call games with Kevin Burkhardt.

Tom Brady is going to be semi-regularly announcing Packers games once he retires. Will no-one rid me of this meddlesome quarterback?

[Keyrock]

A 10 year 375 million dollar deal? Holy ****! That's one heck of a commitment to someone completely unproven as a commentator.

[the_dog_days]

My Jets got royally screwed in the scheduling. They start the season playing the entire AFC North back-to-back. After spending a bunch of draft picks and cap space improving their pass defense and doing nothing to address our linebackers, we get the best running division in the NFL. 

[rjshae]

The first Monday-night game has the Wilson-led Broncos taking on the Seahawks in Seattle. *sigh* I guess the league HQ likes its mini-dramas. They're a lot like Pro Wrestling that way.