Team needs versus best player available???

[jlarsiii]

There seems to be two philosophies on approaching the draft. You can either draft based on biggest team need or by the best player available. Based on my own observations and what others have posted it seems that in some years Shanny has gone by best available athlete and other years he has gone by biggest team need.

So, I wanted to ask the draft gurus of the board how their respective mock drafts would look based on each perspective. What would our pick at #21 be based on each approach?

I know that approaching the draft using two sets of drafting principles could very well amount to waaaaay more work than it is worth, but if you don't mind doing so I would be VERY INTERESTED in what you guys would come up with. It may very well give us a better insight into what Shanny actually does with the pick.

If you want to do a whole mock be my guest. CP's to anyone who wants to put in the work. Also, please feel free to include trade ideas if you have them and any underclassmen that declare and how this could effect the overall draft.

[The Hamburgler]

There seems to be two philosophies on approaching the draft. You can either draft based on biggest team need or by the best player available. Based on my own observations and what others have posted it seems that in some years Shanny has gone by best available athlete and other years he has gone by biggest team need.

So, I wanted to ask the draft gurus of the board how their respective mock drafts would look based on each perspective. What would our pick at #21 be based on each approach?

I know that approaching the draft using two sets of drafting principles could very well amount to waaaaay more work than it is worth, but if you don't mind doing so I would be VERY INTERESTED in what you guys would come up with. It may very well give us a better insight into what Shanny actually does with the pick.

If you want to do a whole mock be my guest. CP's to anyone who wants to put in the work. Also, please feel free to include trade ideas if you have them and any underclassmen that declare and how this could effect the overall draft.

Trade up to Pick number 15 so we can get reggie nelson if he declares

[BaileyTheBest]

I think you HAVE to pick based on need. For example, let's say the Broncos pick comes up and the best player on their draft board is a QB. Well, that would be dumb to get a QB b/c you don't NEED one. I think picking just based on best player available is just silly.

[Dream]

The Broncos look at both the best player available and also best player at a position of need. It really comes down to three key areas; which John Goodman talked about in his Draft Q and A in 2005. Search my name; search for threads started and you'll find a link to that article.

[Dream]

I've posted this several times and I'll post it here. Goodman used to be our Director of Scouting; now he's the head of Player Personnel.

Jim Goodman Draft Q&A

Brett Woodland; Hawthorne, Calif.

If you are looking to draft the best player at a particular position but he is gone before it's your pick, do you go after the best available player or draft the best available at that particular position?

Jim Goodman, Director of Player Personnel

That's a very good question. When we're going to draft a particular position -- and I've always said this -- in the draft you have your needs that you have to go after but you constantly have to keep an eye on the board for a value. An example: you may be in the second round not even thinking about a running back and all of a sudden you look up at the board and see a running back that you had a first round grade on. You have to consider that guy. But you also have to think about your needs for the team, so it's a 50-50 thing. You are constantly aware of what your needs are and you constantly have that eye on value no matter what round you're in.

Travis Miller; Huffman, Texas

What are the determining factors you look at when making the crucial first round pick?

Jim Goodman, Director of Player Personnel

The determining factors in a first-round player to me are: No. 1, Is he an impact player? A player right now, like D.J. Williams. No. 2, Will the guy be a starter for you and what area will he be a starter for you? Will he be a special-teams starter or an every-down starter?

[broncos74310]

trade plummer and brown

[CasualFan]

How about a Third Way? Sitting at #21, I don't think you go with either the best player or a need pick, you trade the pick. You go get the best draft pick trade deal you can swing with some over-eager team like the Washington Redskins who's drafting for need, wants to win now at all costs, and covets a particular player who's dropping and they're sitting a few slots down from us salivating and willing to make us a good deal. Which probably means no big impact player for 2007. However, very few 2nd-year quarterbacks get you to a Super Bowl, we're a bit cramped on the salary cap for 2007 relative to our free agency competitors, and the team has too many holes to fix in one year if we're honest with ourselves about it. So maybe the right move for 2007 is to stockpile picks for 2008, and also make some painful salary cap decisions in 2007 that will clear some cap room for the 2008 free agency offseason as well. I for one am content to have really great drafts every other year rather than a succession of mediocre ones every year the way we had before 2006.

I suspect a lot of people think Shanny's best draft was the one he did in 2006, when he had the firepower to actually do something for a change. People think he's bad at drafting and they may be partially right, but a big part of the problem is that he's usually had a bad draft position late in rounds. Drafting at the end of the round is a terrible recipe for grabbing some guy who's a bit of a reach but the best guy left at a position you need (Lelie, O'Neal). Or someone who fell because they're injured (Foster and Toviessi) and then they stay injured or miss their first training camp and never develop the way they should.

We should look hard at trading out of the first round if nobody's sitting at #21 who's worth it talentwise, is a solid character guy who's unlikely to turn into a bust, and who helps our football team where we need it. If we can get two #1 picks for 2008 and maybe two #2s as well I'll be content being patient with a 2007 season that is a bit of a retooling year.

[KnightOLB53]

imo its best player available because we need to win the super bowl now.

[CasualFan]

imo its best player available because we need to win the super bowl now.

And what if it's best player available, and then he turns into a bust, in which case you don't win the Super Bowl either and on top of that are stuck with a mediocre player with an inflated salary cap figure? We've spent way too many years taking gambles in the draft and free agency and mortgaging the salary cap. The way we did it in 2005 -- trading the 1st round pick to the 'Skins to set us up for a fabulous draft in 2006 -- was the hard, patient but ultimately better way to do it. Unless you have somebody that we really should have drafted late in the first round in 2005 that you think we missed out on and would have contributed more than the players we ultimately got, in which case I'm willing to hear you out. But trading that pick in 2005 turned into Javon Walker and Jay Cutler in 2006. If we can do that well every other year we'll win several Super Bowls, not just one -- or more probably none at all.

[TheChampion]

And what if it's best player available, and then he turns into a bust, in which case you don't win the Super Bowl either and on top of that are stuck with a mediocre player with an inflated salary cap figure? We've spent way too many years taking gambles in the draft and free agency and mortgaging the salary cap. The way we did it in 2005 -- trading the 1st round pick to the 'Skins to set us up for a fabulous draft in 2006 -- was the hard, patient but ultimately better way to do it. Unless you have somebody that we really should have drafted late in the first round in 2005 that you think we missed out on and would have contributed more than the players we ultimately got, in which case I'm willing to hear you out. But trading that pick in 2005 turned into Javon Walker and Jay Cutler in 2006. If we can do that well every other year we'll win several Super Bowls, not just one -- or more probably none at all.

well to my knowledge i don't think anyone knows who will succeed in the league and who will be a bust. if you draft someone and they don't work out....you bite the bullet and move on, it's not the end of the world.