1. Trading UP to draft Tavon Austin in 2013
2. EXTENDING Austin in 2016
3. Extending Gurley too early
That's really it. Are there other things he can be critiqued for? Sure. You bet. Every GM can. Drafting Robinson was disastrous but he
was a consensus top 5-6 prospect. And Snead was probably wearing his Auburn-colored glasses.. Pead in 2012? He was Senior Bowl MVP and a good college RB and at the time I loved the pick...though 5 picks earlier I was convinced they'd grab LB Bobby Wagner or Lavonte David..
But to me those three above are the big ones. Grabbing Austin at #8 vs. having 16 and 46 that year- and possibly even moving BACK and
still landing DeAndre Hopkins, made zero sense to me.. I still believe his contract extension in 2016 was done for the HBO cameras because it was simply inexplicable otherwise. And the mistake there
should have been a lesson learned for Gurley two years later..
Going to get Goff? Totally understandable (though admittedly I thought that trade was to get Wentz). Trading for Cooks? I agreed with and still do. Ramsey? I'm on board. This team's rise out of the Primordial soup of 2007-2011 in 2012 and then rise up in 2017 has not happened in spite of him, regardless of the holes this team faces right now.
