Mel Kiper Jr. 2005 Draft Grade on the Pats

[jbb9s]

Guys!. Kiper has one of the hardest analyst jobs in sports - scouting 400 players and ranking them. We all know any rating could be ripped apart 2-3 years after the fact.

I am not defending this dude or his one time ridiculous haircut but I can't attack him either. He was wrong on Mankins....fine. Lets get over it.

 

[AzPatsFan]

I don't see Kazcur as a natural road grader, so I can't imagine him excelling at OG, but I think he can play OG well enough.

The thing with Kiper is his inability to understand what a team's concepts and find players that fit that concept. Instead he grades them based on pure talent regardless of how the player would perform in a team's system.

He was fired as a Baltimore scout because he could not mentally understand the types of players that Baltimore needed that would work well in their scheme and find those players.

Another huge weakness of Kiper's is his total lack of understanding of how personalities fit together in a locker room. He grades one dimensionally, based mostly on film and the occasional police reports. Players are not like that, never have and never will.

That's why I am so glad that we have a coach that will interview a player and do thorough background checks on players before he drafts them. Last year, he interviewed Merriweather 3 times prior to the draft.

Give Mel Kiper a break. He does not have the resources to actually visit most of these Schools and meet the guys he grades. He is forced to do it via viewing games and film. I did not know that Kiper ever was signed as a Scout by any NFL club. But as a general draft scout,selling his scouting reports, not working for any team, he HAS to view overall talent and not how a player might fit in a specific scheme.

I do know that BB had a working respect for the late Joel Buschbaum, another early draftnik. I think he even tried to hire him as an area scout. I don't know what he has done if anything with Mel Kiper. But above all BB respects those people who "love football and work at it", so I assume he would have no problem with a passionate devotee like Mel.

 

[Lansdowne]

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/14268667/

Mankins got snubbed for the All-Pro voting. Hutchinson from Minnesota and Shane Andrews from Philadelphia got the selections.

Personally, I don't see how Vinatieri got the All-Pro selection at Kicker. He didn't make a single kick LONGER than 39 yards. Crosby from the Packers should have been the ALL-PRO selection this year. Especially with how good he was on kick-offs as well as how good he was from long distances.

I'm not sure that's official, it says MSNBC's All-Pro team. Kind of like Len Pasquerelli's All-Pro team.

 

[ayjackson]

Every player listed other than Cassel is a starter on one of the greatest teams of all time three years later. Mankins is an All-Pro (or he will be this year). Hobbs is a solid starter (not a nickel), Kaczur is an average RT, and Sanders is turning into a very good safety.

he didn't have this frame of reference when he graded them. he has to put out grades - there obviously based on where he thought the players should have gone in the draft and how they filled the clubs needs. other than hobbs, a lot of what he said was correct. both mankins and kazcur were a bit early. but mankins was moved to guard - and he did prove to be a nasty one.

 

[onegameatatime]

Guys!. Kiper has one of the hardest analyst jobs in sports - scouting 400 players and ranking them. We all know any rating could be ripped apart 2-3 years after the fact.

I am not defending this dude or his one time ridiculous haircut but I can't attack him either. He was wrong on Mankins....fine. Lets get over it.

How was he wrong about Mankins? Mankins was a reach based on the conventional assessment of a "reach" -- i.e., whether he went well above the consensus. He does have nastiness and has filled a void. He may have underestimated mankins, but I do not see anything wrong. He did underestimate the contribution the others could make and I agree with an earlier poster it was more like a B in retrospect (considering also where they picked).

 

[GoPats]

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/14268667/

Mankins got snubbed for the All-Pro voting. Hutchinson from Minnesota and Shane Andrews from Philadelphia got the selections.

Personally, I don't see how Vinatieri got the All-Pro selection at Kicker. He didn't make a single kick LONGER than 39 yards. Crosby from the Packers should have been the ALL-PRO selection this year. Especially with how good he was on kick-offs as well as how good he was from long distances.

That was last year's All-Pro team! Look at the stats quoted......

 

[jbb9s]

How was he wrong about Mankins? Mankins was a reach based on the conventional assessment of a "reach" -- i.e., whether he went well above the consensus. He does have nastiness and has filled a void. He may have underestimated mankins, but I do not see anything wrong. He did underestimate the contribution the others could make and I agree with an earlier poster it was more like a B in retrospect (considering also where they picked).

He was wrong about Mankins because if the draft was re-done today, Mankins would be a top 10 pick and not at the tail end of round 1 or later, as Kiper had indicated would be an appropriate place for him to be picked at stating he was a "reach."