If you have a winning team you pick later and those later and presumably lesser players need to replace very good to great players. There are also undrafted FAs who can make a team. There are trades. There is signing someone else's player off of conventional free agency. There is also a complicated comp rule and a salary cap. It is easy to say that the Rams took the wrong guy at a certain spot. Especially after the fact. A bunch of teams with higher picks passed on AD. Every team in football passed on drafting Kupp TWICE. They say the draft is a crapshoot and it is true. And can not predict a players career from college on due to many factors. One is health. Bruss might turn into a terrific OL as soon as next season, but he got hurt before the season even began. Akers tore his Achilles. TTA had a major injury already. Those were our highest picks the last 3 drafts. Development: some players work hard to improve studying more, lifting more etc.
Kupp always had good hands but he has improved his speed and his blocking. Opportunity: some young guys get blocked because they are behind a great vet. Noteboom waited forever to get a shot behind Big Whit.
This Jackson kid finally got a chance after multiple injuries along the OL. We might see KW emerge when he is healthy. TTA is healthy and doesn't play. SKOW has gotten valuable experience because VJ got hurt. Harris is 6'5" and runs like a cheetah but doesn't get on the field. It's all too hard to predict. This sitch with Akers? Many thought he would have a big year.
He has not and now has to reinvent his career.
How will Shelton and Edwards play when healthy? And another extremely important part about grading a draft is if you use picks in trades what do you end up with? We traded multiple firsts for both Stafford and Ramsey.
They need to be included in your post draft analysis. Our first pick this year was Stafford.
Next year too. Our first pick the two prior drafts was Ramsey. And with all the complaining about how we botched picks we won the freaking Super Bowl.
