It's really quite simple!
Sure Mendenhall was rated higher on our boards than Felix Jones, but only by I believe I read .2 points, which is a "C" hair!
We have Marion Barber, Mendenhall like Barber is a good between the tackles runner but doesn't have that elite speed.
So it was a simple choice IMO, take the back that gives you more diversity on offense and a change of pace back to Barber's bruising style and add a home run threat.
People keep saying you simply take the higher rated player on your draft board no matter what, I disagree, sure if there's a big difference in the 2 players value wise, sure, but the difference was so SMALL that you take the back that would better suit your team needs.
It's almost like if we had two D.T.'s rated, one was slightly rated higher, but one D.T. was 6'-3 285 and the other 6'-4 340, the 285 pouner might be rated a TAD HIGHER but clearly in the 3-4 defense, you'd rather have the bigger body at N.T., so because he fits your TEAM NEEDS BETTER and is a better fit on your football team, you take the bigger and slightly lower rated D.T., same with MEndenhall and Jones.
Say T.E. Tony Curtis was our starting T.E., and say there's 2 players in round 3 that are pretty similar ratings wise with one T.E. who's EXACTLY the same build and similar pass catching abilities but limited blocking abilities, and you have another T.E. who's the more big bruiser type T.E. who can do the bulk of your blocking and rated SLIGHTLY LOWER, once again, you could see why you would take the "SLIGHTLY" and I mean slightly lower rated T.E. who off sets the pass catchign ability that Curtis brings because you already have the pass catching T.E. and you need the better blocking T.E. to offset what you already have in Curtis.
Are you getting this?
We already had the bruiser in Barber, and needed a R.B. to offset what Barber brings to the table, and if that meant taking a R.B. we had say rated #20 over a R.B. we had rated #18 overall, then so be it since the difference in ratings was so "SMALL", you take the back who adds more to your TEAM and adds more balance.
Barber is the bruiser and Jones is the SPEED guy, Mendenhall would of just gave us another Barber, while that's not a bad thing, we needed more BALANCE and needed a speed back to compliment Barber compared to a Barber and another Barber.
Add the return abilities that Jones brings to the table, his ability to score anytime he touches the ball from anywhere on the field and his work ethic and heart which were two big question marks for Mendenhall also, and you can see why we took Jones and he makes more sense to add to our football team over Mendenhall even if Mendenhall was rated SLIGHTLY higher.
It's almost like how teams try and get one W.R. who's a big possession type and they want their other W.R. to be the deep threat guy.
So if you had a Chris Carter at one W.R. spot, and had come draft day you had another Chris Carter type W.R. ranked SLIGHTLY above a W.R. who was like Steve Smith who could flat out run with speed and be your deep threat, you would take the Steve Smith speed guy to compliment the Chris Carter possession W.R. even if the other W.R. (chris Carter) was rated slightly higher since you already had a W.R. with those qualities and needed to balance out your offense.
If you had Anquan Boldin, just a possession recevier and a great one at that, but if you had him, would you take the slightly higher rated W.R. who was exactly like Boldin to go opposite him or would you take the slightly lower rated W.R. who was the home run threat to compliment him?
We're talking SLIGHTLY LOWER, meaning one ws ranked #18 overall on your board and the other was ranked #20, with such a SMALL difference in rankings, you take the player who better fits what your team needs, correct?
Especially when the one guy adds value as a returner and has a much better work ethic and much better character!
I hope that explains why we chose Jones over Mendenhall, to balance out our offense and get that SPEED guy to offset our power runner in Barber, that and the fact that Jones adds moe in the return game and the fact Jones has a much better heart and work ethic then Mendenhall and you can see why we chose the lsightly lower rated R.B. in Jones over Mendenhall!
It's not like Mendenhall was a #3 overall prospect who fell to us and we MASSIVELY Reached for Jones, they were rated VERY CLOSE and when it's that close, you go with the better team fit, and that would be Jones!
It's not just putting Jones in to spell Barber either, we're gonna use them both in the same backfield, Barber can block like a beast also, and you can have one guy run one way and the other run the other way, and the defense has to guess or wait till the last minute to figure out who's getting the ball.
Jones will add a new dimension to our offense, more screens, we can put him in motion and get him against a L.B., plus his kickoff return abilities will give us great field position also.
IMO he was the correct choice that fit what our team needed, so enough with he wasn't the higher rated player, cause sometimes it does make sense to pick the slightly lower rated player as explained above with the Chris Carter/ Boldin and T.E. with tony Curtis examples I used!
You could tell even in the press conference that he was asking about Mendenhall almost as if he was personally offended that we hadn't taken his favorite.
