I think you could build a pretty good team by using a draft strategy of targeting guys who have the potential to be elite impact players in the 10-20 range of the draft, instead of going for "value". You can often find elite players in that range, and the cost is not prohibitive the way it is for top 10 picks. The sweet spot of the draft is generally considered to be in the 11-13 range.
Some examples:
- We passed up Troy Polamalu in 2003 (he went #16 to Pittsburgh) to trade up from 14 to 13 for Ty Warren, who has been solid but not spectacular at 3-4 DE.
- Haloti Ngata was an elite 3-4 DE prospect in 2006 who was predicted to go #8 to Buffalo, but slipped a bit. Baltimore traded up from #13 to #12 to get him. We could have traded #21 (800 points) and #52 (380 points) to trade up to #12 (1200 points; Baltimore offered less total points in trade). Imagine what a DL of Ngata, Wilfork and Seymour could have done. Cleveland took Kamerion Wimbley at 13, and they could likely have gotten him latter, or taken Manny Lawson at 21. We would have had 75 and 85 still available, and probably could have traded back into the 2nd round to take Maurice Jones-Drew at RB.
I would argue that if we had done either of those things we would have a couple more Super Bowl rings.
We've gotten lucky and gotten impact players in the latter parts of the 1st round (Wilfork, Mankins), but the odds are much less.
I'd like to see the team identify some impact players, and go after one or more of them. We have plenty of ammo. I've suggested trading 42 and 47 to move up to 19, and target CJ Spiller and Carlos Dunlap, but there are other possibilities. Rolando McClain (8-12 range), Joe Haden (8-12 range), Dan Morgan (likely top 10), Jason Pierre-Paul, Terrance Cody and Dan Williams come to mind as possible guys who could develop into major impact players for us. If the right guy slips a bit, go after him.