Building Through The Draft

No we have to get younger through the draft even if the players we draft suck but at the same time sign every old injured free agent that becomes available This is the only way we will get better
 
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The draft is 1/3 of the strategy that should be used to build a roster.
Free agency and trades are the other two.
You have to be smart about all 3.
Making stupid F.A. decisions doesn't mean F.A. is not an important part of team building.
The team that drafts well, makes good F.A. acquisitions and smart trades wins the prize.
It really is that simple.
 
The draft is 1/3 of the strategy that should be used to build a roster.
Free agency and trades are the other two.
You have to be smart about all 3.
Making stupid F.A. decisions doesn't mean F.A. is not an important part of team building.
The team that drafts well, makes good F.A. acquisitions and smart trades wins the prize.
It really is that simple.
I would say all three Re important, yes.
But not equally.
The draft is most important, FA next, then grades
 
The draft is 1/3 of the strategy that should be used to build a roster.
Free agency and trades are the other two.
You have to be smart about all 3.
Making stupid F.A. decisions doesn't mean F.A. is not an important part of team building.
The team that drafts well, makes good F.A. acquisitions and smart trades wins the prize.
It really is that simple.

Draft is a lot more than a third of the roster building strategy. Even the poorest drafting teams on the (old) list from the article had 20 of their 53 players on their roster from the draft, and the NFL average was more than half of the team built through drafting. If a draft-heavy team has 33 or so players from draft picks, it leaves only 10 guys to add to a roster via trades or VFA.

But your point that you have to add quality talent wherever you can find it is obviously a good one. You can get by not signing a lot of FA, or not signing expensive ones. But you can't just whiff on the ones you do sign.
 
Draft is a lot more than a third of the roster building strategy. Even the poorest drafting teams on the (old) list from the article had 20 of their 53 players on their roster from the draft, and the NFL average was more than half of the team built through drafting. If a draft-heavy team has 33 or so players from draft picks, it leaves only 10 guys to add to a roster via trades or VFA.

But your point that you have to add quality talent wherever you can find it is obviously a good one. You can get by not signing a lot of FA, or not signing expensive ones. But you can't just whiff on the ones you do sign.

My point is that if you only use one of the three available options to build your team you are missing out on opportunities to build your roster. I did not mean that 1/3 of your team should be drafted players, 1/3 should be F.A. signings and 1/3 should be from trades. The object should be to constantly upgrade and use all available avenues to do so.
 
The draft is 1/3 of the strategy that should be used to build a roster.
Free agency and trades are the other two.
You have to be smart about all 3.
Making stupid F.A. decisions doesn't mean F.A. is not an important part of team building.
The team that drafts well, makes good F.A. acquisitions and smart trades wins the prize.
It really is that simple.
Boom
 
Quality over quantity, trade up or trade down and then back up but get 4 good players out of 10 picks...
I've been on record for over a year now saying the Cowboys don't need 10 rookies this year. Trade up and get better players.

7-8 better players > 10 draft picks.

The odds of those 6th and 7th rounders making the 53 are very very slim.
 
I've been on record for over a year now saying the Cowboys don't need 10 rookies this year. Trade up and get better players.

7-8 better players > 10 draft picks.

The odds of those 6th and 7th rounders making the 53 are very very slim.
Yep
 
I've been on record for over a year now saying the Cowboys don't need 10 rookies this year. Trade up and get better players.

7-8 better players > 10 draft picks.

The odds of those 6th and 7th rounders making the 53 are very very slim.

Those picks could also be used to trade for players. I am seeing some valuable players traded for peanuts right now. Someone mentioned Dareus being traded for a 6th rd pick last year. A 6th rd pick has a very low percentage chance of upgrading your team but Dareus has a very strong chance of improving your team. That is how I see it anyway.

I would also prefer to use F.A. to sign a smaller number of impact players rather than several scrubs that don't move the needle. Add up the amounts spent on last years F.A. signings and sign one good player instead and you end up improving your roster instead of throwing away money.
 
Its not necessarily how you get players. It's getting good players for the best price.

That happens to be the draft. If you draft well.

FA is a place where you are most likely to pay a huge premium VS a drafted player. Unless you find a diamond amongst the cast offs.

Trades can work. But much harder to find the right situation to make one work.

I'd say, for a team that can evaluate talent well, that they should always be looking at around 80% of your starters to have been drafted.

The other 31 guys are hopefully mostly drafted, but there could be a mix of cheap FAs there as well.
 
Its not necessarily how you get players. It's getting good players for the best price.

That happens to be the draft. If you draft well.

FA is a place where you are most likely to pay a huge premium VS a drafted player. Unless you find a diamond amongst the cast offs.

Trades can work. But much harder to find the right situation to make one work.

I'd say, for a team that can evaluate talent well, that they should always be looking at around 80% of your starters to have been drafted.

The other 31 guys are hopefully mostly drafted, but there could be a mix of cheap FAs there as well.

The problem with only using the draft are twofold.
1. The player you are drafting is an unknown commodity when it comes to the NFL.
2. You are limited in the amount of players you can draft and really you can only expect a certain percentage of them to be hits.

Some teams are able to find trades that work and some teams are not. The teams that do are obviously at an advantage over those that do not.
 
There has to be a happy medium.

You don't go stupid and start handing out huge contracts in free agency like they are skittles. This is how the Commanders used to operate until they wised up and realized that you cant build a team this way.

With that being said, you also don't ignore vet free agency like its ebola either. A team can fill a void with an expensive contract or two without bankrupting the team. The Pats typically don't go crazy in free agency, but they did sign Gilmore last year to a $65 million dollar contract.

So like I said, you need a happy medium and this also includes trades................something Stephen Jones was apparently not even aware of:facepalm:
 
I've been on record for over a year now saying the Cowboys don't need 10 rookies this year. Trade up and get better players.

7-8 better players > 10 draft picks.

The odds of those 6th and 7th rounders making the 53 are very very slim.
,,,,er,,, like that 'gem' Tom Brady whom was an apparent sneezer in every regard, along with the vast myriad of UDFA who showed up to play& came to stay with their provenance through out the league?
That equation of,,, 7-8 'better' players>than 10 draft picks is thinner than a broken window, simply from the observation being that those '7-8' better players were themselves draft picks at one time.
 

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