Will McClay on drafting offense or defense

[xwalker]

So, the draft is about smoke and mirrors? Picking the best player works when you are already set at all positions. When you are not really good in an entire portion of your team that does not work. Now If you said the BPA at positions of need then you are solving problems. Otherwise you are the Dallas Cowboys of the last 21 years.

Trades are a method of matching BPA with need. If the Cowboys have a QB, RB or OG rated well above any other players at their pick, then it is likely that some other team has a similar rating but a bigger need and a trade resolves the issue.

 

[JoeKing]

Identify your weaknesses and fix them. Our weaknesses are on defense so IMO, there is nothing wrong with customizing our draft to bolster those areas. I guess I disagree with Will McClay or misunderstood his comment.

 

[Stash]

I agree with your point, but cringe when I see Spence mentioned in the same breath as Gregory. Spence has been clean for years now. Gregory has had ongoing issues that are still not resolved.

Yep. And the Miss with Gregory made them gun-shy to take any with Spence. A double-whammy.

But based on recent experience, stop taking those risks at all. Your team is now good enough to where you're not forced to.

 

[Teague31]

Forcing a DE in round 1 is how we ended up with Shante Carver.

 

[Sydla]

So, the draft is about smoke and mirrors? Picking the best player works when you are already set at all positions. When you are not really good in an entire portion of your team that does not work. Now If you said the BPA at positions of need then you are solving problems. Otherwise you are the Dallas Cowboys of the last 21 years.

Smoke and mirrors?

It's actually pretty simple. Rank the players on your board, pick the one that is rated the highest on your board, especially early in the draft. Often times, you will have enough guys ranked close enough that if you have to skew a position, you might be able to do that.

Its funny that you bring up the Cowboys of the last 21 years. One reason we had what we had was Dallas drafted based on need up until very recently. So that point just backfired on you.

 

[Stash]

There s balance to this BPA thing too. I know I won't be happy if they don't get a good young pass rusher because "our board didn't line up" like last year with Ogbah and Dodd. If a guy's close, you go get him.

 

[Doomsay]

It sounds like he may be referencing BPA rather than obligating to strictly defense.

If the 2nd BPA is close in talent to the BPA and the 2nd guy is a defender, while the other plays offense, you take the defensive player.

 

[Proof]

It sounds like he may be referencing BPA rather than obligating to strictly defense.

 

[Idgit]

BPA is BPA. If there's unique value on the board, take it. If you can get equivalent value by trading and better match your needs with the players on the board, that's usually pretty easy to do, too.

The 'good' news is we can use help at every level on defense.

 

[BrAinPaiNt]

The only thing he said that was remarkable was the comment that we have "talent there" defensively. I can reasonably say that we could upgrade at least half of the starting defense. The only top shelf player is Sean Lee.

Hopefully they evaluate the existing talent not thinking that was a 13-3 defense.

He said there was talent there...what he did not say was...there is an abundance of talent or a minuscule amount of talent.

He is saying the right thing over all even if some wish to ignore it because they are afraid that if the give him credit it will negate how they talked about him and fans in the past.

 

[Sydla]

Let's put it another way.

If you are sitting there at 28 and the best player on your board is OJ Howard, the TE and the best DE on the board you have rated 45th and the best CB you have on your board is rated 55th................. you take Howard. You don't reach for a DE or CB just because you need one.

 

[Tristan]

I think a perfect example of what he is saying, and why we are becoming a solid team is the draft in which we drafted Zach Martin.

Everybody talks about the whole Maziel thing but nobody seems to bring up the fact that we had Shazier on the phone and were shocked when pitt snagged him seconds ahead of our pick being turned in with his name on the card.

LB is and was a need, doubt many of us considered guard a need at the time considering we had just spent a couple firsts on ol. Martin turned out to be a huge need as he might be as important as any player on our team.

Thing that gives me hope is the fact that we had two great players identified and that after missing out on Shazier, who also would have been a great pick imo, we didnt jump to the next lb just because of need, we went to the equally graded Martin who just happened to be a guard.

It has to come down to tiers, if you have a few players ranked A+ Or "special" you pick from that pool all day, in every round reguardless of position imo. Within those tiers you have to take the player you love! Then if all things equall and you love both players, like choosing between deon sanders or barry sanders back in 89 then take the need.

But like this year, we reportedly had Zeke and J. Ramsey rated equal and in the same tier, one could argue DB was a bigger need, but While Garrett liked both players, he "loved" Elliott! and for good reason, this kid is out of this world! Ramsey is a heck of a player too but we need to keep taking players that we "love" and players like Zeke that as Garrett says "******* loves it!"

 

[xwalker]

Identify your weaknesses and fix them. Our weaknesses are on defense so IMO, there is nothing wrong with customizing our draft to bolster those areas. I guess I disagree with Will McClay or misunderstood his comment.

Need based drafting has proven to be a bad method to building teams.

FA for need, Draft to stockpile talent.

 

[gmoney112]

Good. Talent acquisition in the draft should be BPA. Obviously, if you have a desperate need at a position, and say a G is ranked just a tiny bit higher than a DE, you take the DE in our case.

He's following the right approach.

In our case this year, there just really isn't that much top end offensive talent and it's stacked in exactly what we do need which is DE and secondary. The chances are pretty good that our first round pick will have a defensive player as BPA anyway.

Trying to predict 2nd round is a crap shoot, any number of players could be BPA there. But, again there's going to be a very good chance it's defense or WR.

This is really good draft for us. I wish there were more Tackles available to push players down in the 1st and 2nd, but it's looking like our top 3 picks could yield some really good players that match exactly what we need.

 

[Kaiser]

LB is and was a need, "

Is LB really a need?

At Will you have All Pro Sean Lee and Hitchens backing him up.

At Mike you will have Jaylon Smith, Hitchens and Nzeocha.

At Sam you have Damien Wilson and Kyle Wilbur, who has 16 starts in the NFL.

And that assumes you don't resign Durant or Gachkar. I'm sure they draft a LB if he is BPA but I think they would be fine going into next season with the players already on the roster.

 

[AzorAhai]

Yeah but I still think Gregory was worth the risk. I know a lot of people disagree but he was a Top 10 talent and the Cowboys thought they could help him get over his drug issue. I don't think you can just stop doing things like that have huge upsides.

For example, a guy like Noah Spence.

Randy Gregory was a bad bet. He had failed so many tests at Nebraska they stopped testing him just so he could play. That news leaked before the combine and had already lowered his stock. Even still, with months to prepare for a test he 100% knew was coming and already being hurt from that news, he still failed the combine test. I was on board with the gamble until he failed that test after everything. That is nothing like Noah Spence.

 

[Sydla]

Is LB really a need?

At Will you have All Pro Sean Lee and Hitchens backing him up.

At Mike you will have Jaylon Smith, Hitchens and Nzeocha.

At Sam you have Damien Wilson and Kyle Wilbur, who has 16 starts in the NFL.

And that assumes you don't resign Durant or Gachkar. I'm sure they draft a LB if he is BPA but I think they would be fine going into next season with the players already on the roster.

I would say LB is not a huge need but you can most certainly upgrade talent there.

You have one legitimate LB. Lee. You have another who might be a stud but is coming off a knee injury. Smith.

The rest are JAGs, although I like Wilson. And if Smith never comes back, your LB corps is blah IMO. But compared to DE and the secondary, LB would not be as high on the list.

 

[Sydla]

Randy Gregory was a bad bet. He had failed so many tests at Nebraska they stopped testing him just so he could play. That news leaked before the combine and had already lowered his stock. Even still, with months to prepare for a test he 100% knew was coming and already being hurt from that news, he still failed the combine test. I was on board with the gamble until he failed that test after everything. That is nothing like Noah Spence.

You are missing the point of bringing up Spence. Not that the two are the same situations but rather that a tainted history hurt Spence and that it's possible we passed on him because of Gregory. I mean it's hard to deny that Spence slid because of his past history.

You should always take chances on talent. I'd take a chance on a kid like Gregory again in the future. I am not afraid of failure to take a chance on a primo talent.

 

[haleyrules]

Everyone knows the FO will go heavy on Defense in the draft. McClay may make statements that are designed to conceal the clubs real intentions. I am sure everone here wants to see the club start with the DL. That seems to be the weakest link.

 

[haleyrules]

You are missing the point of bringing up Spence. Not that the two are the same situations but rather that a tainted history hurt Spence and that it's possible we passed on him because of Gregory. I mean it's hard to deny that Spence slid because of his past history.

You should always take chances on talent. I'd take a chance on a kid like Gregory again in the future. I am not afraid of failure to take a chance on a primo talent.

Basically agree. Gregory was worth a shot. Heck, he may yet develop, although its not looking good.