It will always be that some players are simply better than others. And those judged the best are taken in the 1st round. But it is all relative. If first round guys are mostly 9.0 guys, are second round guys that are 8.5 guys so far behind them?
Too often we see 1st round guys play earlier but it is often because they were taken in the 1st round and then the team MUST justify using such a high pick or get roundly criticized for it. Plus, players and agents virtually demand it.
College talent is spread out wide and deep today, even down to the Division III level, with guys that have all the physical talent and tools in the world, but maybe haven't received the top notch coaching, or the best weight room training and diets, or haven't played against good enough competition to develop as much as they otherwise might.
And THIS is partly because High Schools are putting out such advanced guys as compared to 20 years ago.
So what I'm saying is, absolutely: use those 1st round picks to acquire proven vet stars. The surest of things in every sense of the word. 1st round busts.... or simply never becoming more than journeymen... are common. Then use the remainder of your picks to take guys that check ALMOST every box, but whatever isn't checked has good odds of becoming checked with time, effort, really good coaching/teaching, and patience. Besides guys 33 to 100 are going to be VERY good players pretty darn soon if a team has done their homework on them.
But.... except in rare cases... what you can NOT do is ask those guys to come in and start right away. They usually need more time to develop. This means you MUST have a good starting core of players. You must NOT be looking for immediate starters from this type of drafting... of course, it will happen from time to time because you stumble across a gem (Kupp or example).
Have a hole? FA or trade to fill it.
Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 06/26/2021 05:51AM by RockRam.
