Patriots Talk: Should We Draft Potential or Proven Players?
by Richard Hill on Mar 19, 2010 1:26 PM EDT
in New England Patriots NFL Draft
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PrintOver at Patriots.com, there's a debate over the type of players we should be looking into and drafting. The position of concern is OLB.
Head coach Bill Belichick has made no secret of his desire to have players at outside linebacker in his 3-4 defense that are, ideally, 6-4 and run a 4.6 in the 40-yard dash.
That said, there are few prospects who meet these requirements, and even fewer who have consistently proven themselves over their college careers. There ARE, however, players who are "undersized" at 6-1 and 6-2 who have done extremely well at the college level.
One argument for Potential is our current weakness against the run- if the player is smaller than 6-4, they could be a liability in the running game, despite their pass rushing skills. The players on our defense need to be versatile and able to play every facet of the defensive game. Example Player: Ricky Sapp
The other argument for Proven is the slightly higher guarantee of player success in the NFL. If they've done it in college and have the ability to do the same in college, they have a better chance of success than those players who did not have as great of a college output. Example Players: Brandon Graham, Eric Norwood
So the question is: Do you draft players based upon their size and potential, or upon their college success?
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I voted for Proven.
Especially if they’ve proven their worth over an extended period of time. Two year college starters are a minimum, in my opinion, as it leaves a high ceiling, as well as shows that one good year wasn’t a fluke.
Counter-argument: Elvis Dumerville
The guy was phenomenal in college, but he dropped to the third-round because of his smaller size, etc – in other words, they ignored his college production because they thought he was too small to replicate it in the NFL.
A few years later, and how many teams would’ve wanted to use their 1st or 2nd or high 3rd round picks on him?
Token southern hemisphere guy - 14,688km from Foxboro. That's 9128 miles, for you heathens.
by Comedic.Sans on Mar 20, 2010 3:37 AM EDT up reply actions
Proven for this team
We are a team trying to win in the short-term. By drafting proven players you are more likely to plug players in to contribute right away. There are also many exceptions (Vollmer).
It’s worth it to gamble on one of these picks but Id like to take a proven player with our first rounder.
Just drafting on potential gets you guys like Chad Jackson, though
He’s big! He’s fast! He can catch!
Jackson had all the tangibles you can test for in the Combine, so he looked like he had oodles of ‘potential’. But his route-running in College was iffy, and atrocious in the NFL, and he was a rank bust overall. Potential isn’t everything.
Token southern hemisphere guy - 14,688km from Foxboro. That's 9128 miles, for you heathens.
by Comedic.Sans on Mar 20, 2010 5:19 PM EDT up reply actions
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