This year they have 6 picks in the first three rounds. It's impossible to catch up with a team this great, when they are ran as good as they are and keep stacking up in the draft like this? How are they doing it? If we need to build through the draft, how do we do it like they are doing it?
It is simple: Make good picks and take the best players you can.
I'm not trying to be contrite, I'm just saying that if you make good picks, then you don't have to manage to get a bunch of extra choices in the early rounds.
If you make solid choices and get 3 or 4 good players out of each draft, then you are going to build a really good talent base. Extra picks help, of course, but you can do it without happening to luck up on two QB's and trading one away. Quality not quantity is the way to go IMO. Even coming out of a draft with 2 really high quality players would be considered a win in the NFL draft.
Take the player that your scouting department has ranked the highest and don't reach for need. That is a big part of it IMO. For instance, in the 2009 draft Dallas' 2nd round pick came up and Shady McCoy was sitting there, just waiting for the Cowboys to take him. However, Dallas had Barber and Felix Jones, and even though the Dallas scouts had McCoy rated as a first round pick and he was still available in the second... Dallas made the dubious choice of trading back and skipping over McCoy because they thought they were set at RB. They netted more picks of course, but the quality of the players they ended up with was light years away from Shady McCoy.
Marion Barber hit the wall and Felix never even got started and as it turned out Dallas passed on a guy who is arguably the best back in football for an athletic LB who didn't know how to play football and a fat guy who didn't want to. Of course, Dallas had intended on taking Max Unger as he was sliding to their pick but Seattle actually moved UP in the draft a few spots and took a guy they really liked. Imagine that. The moral of that story to me is to take the blue chip player who is sitting there at your choice rather than get cute and try to draft for need.
Just pick good players. If a guy who your scouts tell you is really talented is there at your pick, then just take him. If he is that much head and shoulders above everyone else, then move up a few spots and take him. The cost isn't so high that it is worth missing a guy that you're sure is a perfect fit for your team. Had they done that even after trading back from McCoy, then at least they would have got out of the 2009 draft with Max Unger, who would have been a career solid starter for them. Instead they had 12 picks and not one of them were worth a ****.
Jimmy Johnson tended to draft that way. If he saw a player who he really liked, he would go up and get him. He did make some big moves, but more often than not it was just simple, 5, 6, 7 spots up to make sure he got who he wanted. In 1990 Dallas picked 21st and Emmitt Smith was sliding down towards their pick. Jimmy looked and saw that Atlanta picked at #20 and their biggest need was RB. Jimmy knew that they would most likely pick Emmitt and he also knew that the next best back was Steve Broussard out of Washington State. He saw that the dropoff from Emmitt to Broussard was huge, so he moved up from 21 to 17 in a trade with Pittsburgh, and took the back he really wanted... not the best back that was there at his pick at 21 (which would have been Broussard).
The rest is history. Emmitt is the NFL's all-time leading rusher and Broussard went on to spectacular mediocrity with Atlanta. I remember thinking back then about how sick Atlanta must have been that Emmitt went 3 picks ahead of them. One team saw what they wanted and made it happen regardless of it costing them a 3rd and a 5th round pick. The other sat and hoped the draft would fall the way they wanted it to and retained their 3rd and 4th round picks (which went on to be Oliver Barnett and Reggie Redding).
Obviously, I'm not talking about making big jumps up like from 20th overall up to 2nd overall. That would indeed cost too much. Just like I wouldn't suggest a big move back like from 10th back to 30th. Those moves are either too costly or too big a drop in talent. I'm talking about small moves up or back in order to get the guys you have targeted. There are times when the player you really want is ranked to go lower than where you pick... that is when the team should make a small trade back and get a little extra in addition to the guy they want.
I just think that teams need to find guys that really fit what they want and do what they can to try to make it happen. Scout well. Know what you want to fit your system. Target guys who you really like, and maneuver around and make it happen. There have been years when there was really nobody that really seemed like a perfect fit. The year Dallas drafted Bobby Carpenter comes to mind. They could have moved back some and gotten a player they liked just as much and added a pick or two. Not a big trade back, but some. That would have been fine.
Other drafts like this year, there are a couple of guys that really fit what we need and you wouldn't want to trade back unless they are gone. It is no secret that I am in favor of a small move up to get Aaron Donald because of what a perfect fit he is for the defense. I think moving up for Donald to around 11 would be very wise. Much like the year with Emmitt, the gap between Donald and the next best DT is huge. To get a talent like Donald on the team, it is worth giving up a pick or two.
If you have a good scouting department, a coaching staff that really conveys what kind of player they want to the scouts, then you just need to find the guys who have talent and fit what you're looking for, and move around to insure you walk away from the draft with as many of them as you can. Stick to your board and don't draft too much for need. If you see a difference maker within reach, then go get him because in the NFL, it is the difference makers that moves a team up above the mediocrity that is NFL parity. Those few rare guys separate their team from the others.
Make good decisions based on good scouting and be proactive getting them on your team, and you don't need to be lucky enough to have a second QB you can trade away like San Francisco did.
Sorry for the length.
