I was also invested emotionally into getting a hog molly for the OL early and was surprised they passed on them. However upon further review I also realize that they may just not have seen any OL player that they felt could come in and immediately make this line better much less earn a starting job. Would a 2nd round lineman actually be better than the current starters? How many OL draftees come in and start immediately? And how often do they fail to impress at least for their first year before showing value? In my experience, they are fairly rare.
I remember Robinson and Barron being taken as solutions for the OL and the miserable failure of them. Both highly rated as exceptional and they could not even achieve "average" in their respective positions. Discounting the past two years when they did invest heavily in the OL, what has the success been in past drafts?
Saffold was drafted 10 years ago and struggled at OT, was hurt, showed flashes but eventually settled into OG.
Rokevious Watkins in 2012...we had hopes dashed.
Barrett Jones in 2013...Outland Trophy winner, smart, team captain, miserable and crushing failure
Greg Robinson in 2014...best OL man in the draft, a beast ...uhhh yeah, no. And we added Mitchell Van Dyk and Demetrius Rhaney with hopeful rose colored glasses
Four in 2015 and Havs is the only hit of the group. Jamon Brown in the 3rd, Andrew Donnal in the 4th, Cody Wichmann later.
Noteboom and Allen were our first two picks in 2018 and now we are trashing them both in here.
So, call me gun shy or just acknowledging that the draft is always a crap shoot and you never really know, you just draft with your best efforts and scouting reports and cross your fingers. But automatically assuming that they "missed the boat" or erred simply because they didn't see any OL that they felt could match what they already have on the team is hardly mismanagement or an oversight. It's just a simple reality.
