Going back to the original theme – what do you expect from a X round draftee? (As an example the player chosen was Ohrnberger but could as easily been any career backup such as Mattew Slater, Matt Chatam, Russ Hockstein, etc.
I find roster building which I find the most facinating part of NFL. Thank goodness for salary cap and new CBA which doesn’t allow for NY Yankees approach of buying all-stars at virtually all positions. Which is why IMHO – NFL is the best major sport in the world at the moment. Competitive balance is alive and well in the new CBA – even moreso than the last one as now all teams must spend to a floor with actual cash outlay instead of just easily manipulated accounting minimum Cap floor numbers.
So back to the question – how do you build a team with a limited cap ceiling? (Tangent -Hopefully P. Manning will extort Irsay and Dolts will spend a huge amount of their cap on one player with declining skills over next few years.)
Bottom line in my book is that you NEED players like Ohrnberger on the team. For a 4th round player if he can stick for a few seasons and provide A) depth, B) fill in for a few games due to injury of starter C) cheap draft salary for hopefully all of rookie 4 year contract D) practice fodder.
In a realistic world maybe only15- 20 % of these become everyday NFL calibre starters . Maybe 5% become Pro-bowlers. But for me as Ohrnberger has stayed in the league and not washed out then he is a ‘hit’ for a 4th rounder pick. Not a trifecta type (TFB) mega-jackpot win ‘hit’ –but for a 4th rounder he does what you resonably expect for that draft slot and at a very resonable salary. Every team has a place for cheap players who are pratice foder, special teamers, injury depth 2-3 games for healing starters, 2nd and 3rd stringers.
If you DON’T get those type of payers with your 4th-6th round picks – then the team will be constantly turning over the bottom ¼ of the roster looking for street FA and other teams castoffs. And those ‘off the street’ players will be game day liabilities (if they even make the 46 player game day roster) as they won’t know your teams playbook / system very well. Those street FA will most likely be on the street again soon the next season when your starter is back from IR. It is good to have some continuity on your team with 2nd-3rd stringer players on your team for several years on a rookie contract. Good for practices, good for locker room friendships / chemistry, good for the coaches as well.
Sure I would love every 4th rounder to become the next Asante Samuel – it just isn’t very realistic.
P.S. And I don't believe you would have good locker room chemistry if you had 53 players all of at least NFL starting grade calibre talent. People like to fantisize of a Madden type roster - but can you imagine the bedlam of having a receiver corps of : Randy Moss, TO, Ocho, Brandon Marshall, and Dez Bryant? A team roster is like a good life - you need balance. You need ying & yang. Young and old, up & coming and declining skills, some NFL all-stars, some dependable starters as well as some career backups.
