Jimmy was straight from college and had the inside story on incoming draftees. He didn't draft so hot once he didn't have that.
Parcells: Did it? I mean, he was great at finding late round gems, but was he so good overall? Don't forget, he wanted subpar Marcus Spears over DWare. And traded down instead of taking Stephen Jones, saying "I really couldn't see the difference between Julius Jones and Stephen Jones."
Benched Emmit Smith in favor of Troy Hambrick, didn't even seem to notice how slow to the hole he was.
Parcells knew what it takes to build a contender, but he wasn't great at picking those needs.
I know what you mean on Jimmy, and recall thinking what an advantage that was at the time. He blew plenty of picks while here, but hit on enough to make it work.
It was the same in Miami, but he didn’t win more because of the QB situation. Marino was cooked but he had to keep him around because of who he was, and by the time he quit, the rest of the roster was at the point where they had to go with the bus driver approach, Jay Fiedler. Jimmy blew many picks there, especially the premium ones, but he left Wannstedt with a very good roster. Got Surtain, Madison, Taylor and Thomas with later picks. It wasn’t awful by any means. I remember those teams well as I lived down there at the time. Most of my boys were big fans so it was a constant subject.
Parcells drafts were hideous, with the exception of 2005, which was the second best draft in team history and allowed them to convert to the 34 basically overnight and become a playoff team again.
His strength was getting the most out his meh players. That 2003 team had no business being in the postseason. He basically willed them there.
Edit…..this is btw a clear example of why Stephens ‘draft only’ approach will never work. Everyone misses on draft picks, gold jacket or not.
