Draft Watching 101

[Mr. Scot]

he was expected to go like top ten that's why we wanted to get LenWhale cuz no one thought he would be there

There were early predictions of that, but as it got closer he dropped in a lot of mocks.

I took part in a radio station mock the day before the draft (Chris Spielman's radio show in Ohio) where he fell to my spot and I took him. I was expecting both him and White to fall to me, and both did. The dilemma was which to take. Happily, I made the right choice.

(so did the Panthers)

[DaveThePanther2008]

Also pointing to this, please don't be surprised if we take Mallett number 1 overall, he is pretty damned high on our board.

Cool Avatar.... The character Sloth from the Goonies was played by "BIG" John Matuszak formally of the Oakland Raiders

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Matuszak

As far as the OP. You are always right on with the info. We have hit pretty well on #1, crappy on #2 and outstanding in the latter rounds. I know many don't care for Marty Hurney but he is as good as any GM in the league.

[Mr. Scot]

Hurney has his share of whiffs, but he has more successes than many would admit.

Fans can have a sort of tunnel vision on things like this, tending to think "everybody else is great but we suck". This past year, you'd have been right to think that, but most years the gap is not as wide as folks believe.

Watching other games fully helps with perspective. If all you ever see of other teams are highlight reels, it's easy to get a skewed outlook.

[DaveThePanther2008]

Hurney has his share of whiffs, but he has more successes than many would admit.

Fans can have a sort of tunnel vision on things like this, tending to think "everybody else is great but we suck". This past year, you'd have been right to think that, but most years the gap is not as wide as folks believe.

Watching other games fully helps with perspective. If all you ever see of other teams are highlight reels, it's easy to get a skewed outlook.

There isn't a GM in the league that doesn't have their fair share of Whiffs. Shelton and Jarrett who would have guessed. Not many were upset about them when we drafted them but it is what it is.

[Seamonk]

Offensive second rounders are offensive. Except for Ryan Kalil. He only smells offensive.

[jarhead]

Great post! I get nervous when we draft these guys that have played a differant position in college such as Edwards and TDavis especially in the first 4 rounds.I was very skeptical when they drafted Davis so high knowing there plans were to eventually going to put him at LB.I think the term going around at the time was he was a tweener.He turned out to be a good LB though injuries have plagued him.

Another risk is drafting players that have been injury prone,In researching the status of Otah I learned he was injury prone in college.I believe we traded up into the first round to get him.He is a great player but has spent far to long on the sidelines

[DaCityKats]

everybody had Tyson Alulua rated as 2nd rounder but the Jags got him with the 10th pick overall and looked how it turned out for them. Jay Cullen (Jags DL coach) said it best we knew what we wanted, and we went got our guy. we could give a @#$$$% what those talking heads got to say.just because some draft head has someone rated at one spot, doesnt mean a team has them their.

same could be said about the Bucs and Josh Freeman.

[Mr. Scot]

I have a sense that the position switching thing was Fox, not Hurney.

[Mr. Scot]

Added this to the initial post...

Conflicting information abounds: One of the reasons why draft boards vary a lot is that there's a lot of conflicting information flying around, and not just due to smokescreens. It's especially true when it comes to medical evaluations. Take the cases of Jonathan Stewart last year and DaQuan Bowers this year. Some team's doctors told them to stay away from Stewart, but the Panthers team doctor said he'd be fine. The same thing is happening to Bowers now. Mind you, it's not just medical info though. Two different scouts can look at the exact same prospect in the exact same workout and come away with entirely different reads. Teams (and fans) have to try and pick out who's right and who's wrong, but the final answer isn't as simple as asking Regis Philbin. It can take years to find out you were right...or wrong.

This truly is one of the biggest reasons why following the draft can be a pretty confusing process.

You get one guy saying one thing and another guy saying something else, and it's not necessarily a smokescreen on either part.

They could both believe that they're right, and they might both be reliable sources.

In the end, one of them - though he may still be very smart - will turn out to be wrong.

But that question generally doesn't get answered until long after someone's already spent their draft pick on a steal...or a bust (depending on who was correct).