37Harrison
2nd Team Getting Their First Start
- Joined
- Dec 1, 2005
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I agree that hindsight is 20/20 and I too am not one who usually goes back after the fact... the point of this thread was to rate BB based on his drafting of WR's and that's what I did considering the talent he passed up and the production he has gotten out of his picks. Granted Chad Jackson was considered to be the right choice at the time. However, Jackson didn't pan out for whatever reason you want to say.While I agree that the record has been mediocre at best drafting WRs, I feel compelled to comment on the 20-20 hindsight of drafts after the fact.
When Chad Jackson was drafted, nobody - and I do mean nobody - questioned the fact that he was selected prior to Jennings. If I recall correctly the Packers drafted another player first (between Jackson and Jennings) before selecting Jennings. In other words, at that time every fan base and every writer felt that the Jackson selection was the correct move. Jackson had that knee injury and was never the same. To me, I'm not going to fault Belichick and the Patriots for that decision.
Others (most notably Taylor Price) - yes, those were poor decisions. They didn't make a whole lot of sense then, and they make even less sense after the fact.
As far as Dez Bryant goes, they traded down and got Devin McCourty, Price and Aaron Hernandez. Considering their roster at the time, it wasn't an outlandish decision. As noted above, the Price selection was odd. Despite what eventually happened, the AH move was lauded as being shrewd up until the day he was released.
The 'woulda - coulda - shoulda drafted this guy' game is a futile exercise, so please excuse my eyes for rolling when I see a list of players that could have been selected. Every team is going to have some misses, just like every quarterback is going to have some incomplete passes. While the small sample size has not been as productive as we would like it to be, I would hesitate to label it as being 'terrible'. Expecting every draft pick to become a perennial starter is not realistic.
BB has had a very difficult time drafting elite talent at this position and part of that is because he isn't taking the elite talent when it is there. His philosophy has been remarkable and I am not going to question his football aptitude., he's the greatest ever. I will not say that he is a good evaluator of talent at the WR position, he isn't perfect.