I let the Chad Jackson thing slide. Which i'm not even sure he had any say in it.
Even if he did have any say in it, it was the right decision to make at the time. Hindsight is 20/20 of course and of course we know now that it wasn't. But if the decision were between he and Greg Jennings then they made the right choice based on the drafting principles that usually applies with WRs. Jackson was the bigger, faster, stronger and overall more athletically gifted prospect of the two and offered a lot of things that Jennings did not in that regard.
As I stated in another thread, when drafting WR you always want to pick the more talented player at the time if given a choice between two similarly graded prospects. Coming out of college Jackson was definitively more talented than Jennings, and his ceiling was higher. Because of this, I don't snide McDaniels or whomever for the pick at all. The player never lived up to his potential, sometimes that's on the coaches but more or less its on the player in all likelihood. Its not the coaching staff's fault that the player chose to not work as hard after getting paid like an NFL player than before when they weren't getting paid at all. Money changes people sometimes, though it is up to coaching staff to find out whether a player will have the correct motivations after being drafted.
Flip the script and have the Patriots draft Jennings instead and what if he flames out or fails to grasp this offense, etc., whilst Jackson goes on to having a solid career in Green Bay or elsewhere? Then the story is why didn't the Patriots draft the obviously more talented player. Hindsight is 20/20. Moreover, the exact scenario above has been playing out in reality in recent years. Since the Jackson failed experiment occurred the Patriots have actually gone away from that drafting principle almost as if once bitten, twice shy. It's seemingly what made them draft lesser talented players like Brandon Tate over Mike Wallace and Taylor Price over Antonio Brown in recent years. Tate's selection was somewhat understandable given his return skills but Price was an utter failure waiting to happen from day 1. Sometimes it works out whilst other times it does not. But more often than not, I believe you always draft the more talented receiver and live with it after that. The grass isn't always greener on the other side.
When given the freedom to do so, McDaniels seemingly stuck to that philosophy in Denver and landed them one the best WR tandems in the league in Decker and Thomas. He likely picked Demaryius over Dez Bryant and Arrelious Benn because he's the more physically gifted player than two those are - though it could easily be argued that Bryant is and was the better receiver then who only fell that far down the draft due to character concerns. Likewise for Decker, who was picked above JAGs like Andre Roberts, Armanti Edwards, and the immortal Taylor Price. Decker is the best athlete of that group and is a noticeably bigger receiver than the rest. McDaniels was clearly aiming for the best physical talents in that 2010 draft WR class and it paid off. Chad Jackson was no different, unfortunately it didn't pay off. In the end I'd rather they take a chance on a guy and hope for the best than pass him over due to some fear of failure and take a lesser talented guy who will probably end up cut and failure anyways because was never that good to begin with.
OT; for mgteich's original question: Yes, McDaniels knows his receivers pretty well and hopefully they get back to that philosophy of best talent available in New England.
