Draft Winners & Losers

[Sarge]

Who are your draft day winners and losers?

Who got the most value from their picks?

What kind of strategy did teams take that you agreed with? i.e. taking higher Overall vs Potential, worrying about Potential instead of Overall.

Did any teams have a draft that you envy or did any teams stick out to you?

[kgreene829]

May expand on this more later but was a big fan of the Panthers draft grabbed a lot of guys that I liked and a lot of great value but by far the winner has to be Washington so many great picks made and all of them will be future Hall of Famers

[Rocketcan]

The Panthers are definitely a winner. They drafted 4 day 1 starters *at least*. Losers? Commanders, since they only had one late pick, but I am not sure they care right now.

I don't have any metric, just the eye test, but every time I announced a pick for the Giants I thought "damn that was a good pick".

I know I like potential, just because I always have an eye to the future, and I found myself questioning some picks from the Bears. However, looking at their draft again, they have some seriously high-potential players on board now.

I wouldn't say I envy anyone. I felt like I got done what I wanted to do in the draft, but another team that stuck out was Minnesota basically starting from scratch with a billion picks after trading a ton of dudes away for lots of draft capital.

[acewulf]

Dallas and Chicago are teams that I think we look back on and say they capitalized on those high potential guys.  Same with New Orleans and NYG.  The Giants draft is make or break on Wilfredo though.

 

I think the Titans were very interesting as a draft.  Not in terms of winners or losers, but from the fact that they seemed to go all in on stats and eye test.  We'll see how that works for them down the pipeline.

 

Seattle was a draft that didn't have a ton, but I loved who they got.

 

I hate that New Orleans drafted Durham Simmons on an auto pick like 3 picks before us in the 2nd.  We wanted him so bad.

Edited April 16, 2023 by acewulf

[SyndaKyt]

I think the teams that went high potential have a good strategy. I’m always expecting the Steelers to draft well and I liked Houston’s draft choices. I will say that Dunn and Trawick fell too far and it comes a point in time where you don’t focus on potential as much and look at the talent for what it is. Just because the potential is not an A rating does not mean they will not progress, it may be slower but they could be day 1 starters or rotational as they come in as A-‘s.

[Piercewise1]

Some teams that stick out to me at first glance:

WINNERS

Houston Texans - Bledsoe and Fry are a huge investment in the defensive backfield and could be the start of something great for Houston. And getting 5 total guys that are already B or better seems like a win.

Philadephia Eagles - Palardy and Semien need time to develop but I think they'll have it. That Eagles D is gonna be mean with the picks they've had these first two years. Meanwhile Green and Shaw were great value as Bs overall in the 3rd and 4th.

Baltimore Ravens - David Chop should be happy. A pair of good lineman, an immediate impact WR, and an awesome fullback. I'm surprised at a 3rd round RB since they just got James Taylor last year, but maybe they're all-in on the run. 

LOSERS

Buffalo Bills - Traded out of the 1st round twice and took a bunch of C+ potential guys. Other than Cunningham I don't think anyone is good enough to make an immediate impact, so it will take awhile before the extra picks pay off. 

Minnesota Vikings - my Potential bias is still at work, but other than Sirles and Wilson (and maybe Nix-Jones) I don't think enough players from this boatload of picks will ever see the field to justify the investment. 

NOT SURE

Kansas City Chiefs - I like Prater and LaRoche, but I think they'll be languishing in a tough division while they wait for Scribner to develop. In 2-3 years I might be singing their praises instead, though I'm still not sold on the trio of OLBs.

San Francisco 49ers - Rubby Stewart looks like a potential All-Pro, so if Fernando Thomas can elevate his young QB then this draft could be worth it for these two alone. But a C overall TE in the 3rd and a punter in the 4th look like bad value. 

Dallas Cowboys - I love the high Potential commitment, so it may come down to how the later picks develop. Henderson it is a great prospect but I don't know about taking the 5th receiver 15th overall. Mahtook also looks good but the Cowboys have spent a LOT of draft capital on the position over two years (1st rounder last year, and 3 more this year). But given the QBs in their division, can you blame them?

 

[SageBow]

Quick hitter list

 

Winners

EAGLES EAGLES EAGLES

Cowboys - damn I really liked their draft. Cussed a lot everytime Rocket took a guy. 
 

Panthers - program defining draft for them made great selections too

 

Ravens - really liked their selections as well. Great value and punched well for their team.

 

Losers

 

Rams and Commies - 1 pick each can’t win a draft like that

 

Broncos and Vikings - having half of round 6 and 7 just means you have extra cuts. Really doesn’t move the needle for me.

 

 

[Minnow]

2 hours ago, Piercewise1 said:

Buffalo Bills - Traded out of the 1st round twice and took a bunch of C+ potential guys. Other than Cunningham I don't think anyone is good enough to make an immediate impact, so it will take awhile before the extra picks pay off. 

 

I traded out of the first since the only position I needed was OLB. I picked up a lot of higher overall guys, and personally I have never valued potential as C is still considered "average potential" So C+ is above average. I do have a lot of players from last years draft who I felt like I reached for just out of higher potential. Main reason for trading out of the first was because I traded a lot of picks from this years draft, last year and needed to reload again just to fill out some regressions. 

[Bundy]

Who are your draft day winners and losers?

WINNERS

Patriots - love that they doubled up on WR, with Matthew Cunningham to stretch the field (and significantly better injury grade than the Speed WRs taken before him), and then coming back and getting an amazing value pick in Maronde. I like the Seth Mazzoni pick as well. 

Bills - Buffalo somewhat controversially traded out of the 1st, twice, but I understand why. Felt like the Top 15 players were solidified, and then the next 20-30 felt a tier below them. Wayne Murray in the 4th is absolute value to me, he could have gone round 2 and I wouldn't have blinked.

Chiefs - I like that the Chiefs weren't afraid to make the moves that others might have been. Scribner needs to develop, yes, but I think he could be on the field sooner than most think - one of the biggest ways to develop, is playing time. The Chiefs also tripled up at OLB, and I think that's something more teams should do instead of dumping all their late picks. You're buying lottery tickets, and of the Chiefs get just one full time starter at OLB out of the three, their draft was worth it. 

LOSERS

I don't know that there are real "losers" considering its too early to get a feel for anyone through just 1-2 drafts, but I think that teams that took low-injury players early might get a wake up call, depending how violent injuries occur. The best ability is availability, so I'd be very wary to be one of the teams drafting like a D-injury ILB in the 1st, a position you want involved heavily in every play. 

Teams that didn't draft a DT. This class was extremely talent rich, and while I think we may see comparable tops of this class in other classes, 

People who don't think that at least 15 of my selections will make my roster, if not more. I keep saying that I literally had like 30 UDFA last year across my roster and PS, and then I let some more pool players go to FA this year. Load the roster up to 90, find some gems, the preseason was almost as exciting for me as the season in my early teens, I loved the multiple cutdowns and seeing teams scour the waiver wire, I loved going to training camp in Mankato where it was affordable and you got to be right up close to the players. Those are lost to time and change now, but I think thats the magic of sim football, that you can still replicate those moments. 

Who got the most value from their picks?

I really loved the Bills. Murray, Jermaine Shuck, and then Matt McCants and Ola Cunningham could be day one starters. 

What kind of strategy did teams take that you agreed with? i.e. taking higher Overall vs Potential, worrying about Potential instead of Overall.

I dont care about potential as long as its like in the C range, so C- and up. I think a B overall, C- potential player, is someone who can easily work in as a starter early on. You just cant expect them to be HOF worthy. Obviously I'm an outlier in strategy here, but I think that you should dive deeper into the player than just "overall/potential". People are going to rave about their Day Two picks who have A potential, then not give them many reps and theyll be disappointed. I had a 6th round DE with B+ potential last year, I got him on the field, he went +6. But I never would have taken him without comparing his predraft workouts to others, or by looking at his stats. 

Did any teams have a draft that you envy or did any teams stick out to you?'

I envy @mahrowkeen for taking a specific gadget player that I had specific plans for

[kgreene829]

5 hours ago, Piercewise1 said:

I'm surprised at a 3rd round RB since they just got James Taylor last year, but maybe they're all-in on the run.

We’re still fully behind JT but 3rd round Smith was on the board he’s a talented back and we grabbed him to be a backup/short yardage back for us since his archetype is power

[Vivid]

19 hours ago, SageBow said:

Losers

Rams and Commies - 1 pick each can’t win a draft like that

No you're a loser...

Honestly yeah probably. I just did not have the mental capacity to scout that deep and wasn't going to be available on Saturday so would rather trade them away and get something than have autoDraft...