2013 NFL Draft for New Orleans
 

Its fairly senseless to discuss back and forth specific players at this point as Combine performance plays big into that, as well as availability, and quite frankly I am not sure I can identify just 1 position we need talent more than a few others.

So play Loomis for a bit and your turn just came up in the draft. Are you going to draft to fill a need or are you going to draft the best player available (BPA)?

My .02
We draft BPA unless there is someone we need to GO GET. BPA will give us trade leverage for players we need that are proven.

If drafting BPA as trade bait sounds kooky that is how Eli Manning ended up with the Giants and Rivers at San Diego... I am not way saying the Chargers got the best deal LOL... But they got Rivers and some draft picks for E. Manning. With those draft picks the Chargers got Merriman and Kaeding.

I see a lot of people saying we need to get so and so in the draft. Personally I want to be better next year, not 2-3 years from now while a project or rookie works out the kinks.

Re: 2013 NFL Draft for New Orleans
 

Plug holes in free agency, draft BPA.

It keeps the window open indefinitely.

Re: 2013 NFL Draft for New Orleans
 

Always the BPA that is not on the board due to hype.
If its the #1 OG in the draft you take him.
Some one will call. Money put that call from the rams bears or who ever

Free agents are the safer path to follow when upgrading positions. ok for the most part

Re: 2013 NFL Draft for New Orleans
 

Where are they now With those draft picks the Chargers got Merriman and Kaeding.

Re: 2013 NFL Draft for New Orleans
 

Where they are with those players is moot.

Bad choices has little to do with having a good process to get the best value available.

However if you need to know:

Merriman:
Ave 14 sacks a season his first 3 years with the Chargers.. for a reference right now that would put him 4th in the NFL and above Clay Mathews. Merriman was in the top 10 in sacks all three of those years and lead the league in sacks in 2006.

Since our sack leader for 2012 was Cam Jordan with 8 I would take Merriman and 14 sacks in a heartbeat.

Kaeding is a place kicker and I am not sure how you want me to describe that value.

I would say the Chargers may have actually gotten the better deal.

Re: 2013 NFL Draft for New Orleans
 

I would say the Chargers may have actually gotten the better deal.[/QUOTE]

Unless you count superbowl wins!

Re: 2013 NFL Draft for New Orleans
 

How about best player available at the position of NEED!

A mixed age/skill defense and a troubled offensive line are pretty specific needs.

Also would love to get those second round draft picks back that were stolen from us.

Re: 2013 NFL Draft for New Orleans
 

Erm... Obviously :-) that would be drafting for a position of need. I think these boards would blow up is we drafted 5th best available defensive tackle..

:broccoli:

Re: 2013 NFL Draft for New Orleans
 

IDK, I think the best-player-available strategy works best overall when you have a lot of holes to fill and then drafting-for-position when your team is almost where you want it. If a guy is a top-ten pick at a position you need, then I'd maybe take him over BPA, but he'd have to be a no-brainer.

I've watched the Lions over the years screw up all but the most obvious draft picks trying to employ the draft-for-position strategy to the point that I hate the draft.

Re: 2013 NFL Draft for New Orleans
 

Best Athlete, bro'.

The worst outcome is that player, or who he replaces, becomes trade bait.

Re: 2013 NFL Draft for New Orleans
 

Unless you count superbowl wins![/QUOTE]

To make that statement you are saying that Eli Manning is the only reason for the super bowl wins? Your telling me that one player traded for after he was drafted won those super bowls? Their defense had nothing to do with it?

Eli has two Super Bowl rings:
2007 - 16 ranked defense in points per game, and 4th best rushing team in the league.
2011 - 6th ranked defense in the NFL

Re: 2013 NFL Draft for New Orleans
 

We are only a few players away from a complete team that can win the Superbowl. If there is a player who is obviously going to be an impact player Get Him!!! We need play makers now.
We almost always draft BPA and that's fine for building depth. However, I don't think that drafting a player to trade is such a great idea........it seems to me that when we trade a player we don't get what the fans view as a good value.
We don't have the money to fill these positions of need in free agency. So, we need to fill those position inexpensively through the draft.jmho

Re: 2013 NFL Draft for New Orleans
 

My personal opinion is you always draft BPA. If you have two or more players graded out fairly close you prioritize your needs, but if it comes down to a non-need position and there is a player not yet drafted that sticks out you still take him.

Re: 2013 NFL Draft for New Orleans
 

Need

Offensive Tackle
Defensive End
Safety
Outside Linebacker

Re: 2013 NFL Draft for New Orleans
 

So if every round the BPA is a RB, do you pick 7 RB's?

Re: 2013 NFL Draft for New Orleans
 

Let's plug in holes via both free agency and the draft. And when I say holes, I mean "defense."

Re: 2013 NFL Draft for New Orleans
 

If I'm GM, I'm moving to satisfy a need position as my salary cap is going to have me restricted in the free agent market; or I hire the best position coaches in the world to some how polish my turds into diamonds - yeah, right...

Aggressive trading to move to get the guys I need and hope my scouting department hasn't mailed in the check yet again...

Re: 2013 NFL Draft for New Orleans
 

Switch 'RB' to 'WR' and 'yes', and you have the Lions' draft strategy for the past umpteen years ... and 'no', it doesn't work, :lol:. You eventually get to a point where you have to diversify a little bit and start looking at need and BPA at positions, if they're worth the pick.

At best, the draft is a cruel mistress and double-edged sword.

Re: 2013 NFL Draft for New Orleans
 

I have always said best player, this year fill the holes. I'm sick of our defense, year in and out for how long. Try something new

Re: 2013 NFL Draft for New Orleans
 

We gotta lot holes on defense...

Re: 2013 NFL Draft for New Orleans
 

That's why a BPA strategy will work this draft ... when you got so many holes to fill in a draft with so many good defensive prospects, whomever the BPA is when it's your turn to pick will undoubtedly fill a need regardless of where he plays.

Re: 2013 NFL Draft for New Orleans
 

I'd like to vote BPA in a need position...

Re: 2013 NFL Draft for New Orleans
 

That is exactly what Halo said.... However, do you think we would pick someone is not the BPA for a position of need? Think about it.... In a BPA first scenario... If a super star DE is available first round and we need one would we draft a different DE?

If your looking at it from a Need first basis would you pass up a Super Star receiver or to pick up a Safety because you need a safety? Please keep in mind that not all drafts have Safetys, Corners, Defensive Ends that can start and impact their rookie season.


We have at least what... 5 positions of need? Do you want a 6th rounder for one of those positions? Do you expect a 6th rounder to be an impact player his rookie year?

Re: 2013 NFL Draft for New Orleans
 

Someone who gets it....

We have a lot of good receivers but if we draft the next Jerry Rice we will be a hell of a lot better off than if we draft a Defensive Tackle that is only 20% better than Smith.

Re: 2013 NFL Draft for New Orleans
 

I didn't really understand your point, but what I was saying is that you use the draft to fill the holes left by the free agency, and that is why you draft BPA but focus on those positions you need filling on the depth chart.

If a team desperately needs a starter caliber safety, and the draft doesn't have any player of that type available - then of course you don't just draft the best safety available, but use the free agency to get a starter safety.

Draft is for the most part about building the team for the future, and usually it's just the top round rookies who are able to contribute noticeably during their rookie seasons - if even them. Most draftees end up filling up the depth chart and learning the system and the game during their initial couple of years while maybe doing some special teams stints.

A smart franchise uses those lower round picks to draft BPA players for positions they assess they'll need some new blood in a season or two, and use the time between then and now to coach those players to be ready when their time comes to step up. And that is why you draft BPA but with a focus on the positions of need - but naturally if a one-in-a generation type of a player falls into your lap in the draft, you almost have to draft that player regardless of whether he is really needed by the franchise, because you can always trade him for more than the cost of the pick you use to get him if you decide the franchise doesn't have any use for him.

Re: 2013 NFL Draft for New Orleans
 

That is exactly what draft "BPA for that position implies".

Re: 2013 NFL Draft for New Orleans
 

So?!

I never said that they should draft BPA for a specific need position, but that they should draft a BPA in a need position... see the difference there? :-)

The key is to draft BPA with a focus on the need positions the team has left after the free agency, but not to be 100% tied down to that philosophy as per the example I gave earlier.

What a team does prior to the draft in free agency can't be separated from what their strategy will be for the draft. I think that no team would bypass all potential starting safeties in the free agency if they saw that there were no viable alternatives to be had to that position in the draft - and therefore, it would be ludicrous to think that they'd go to the draft with the sole intention of just spending their highest pick to get the best available player to that spot. They might use that pick to draft a player, who they know a team with a surplus of starter caliber safeties wants, and try to make a trade after the draft. But again, that probably isn't the strategy most if any team would go with prior to trying to fill that position in the free agency.

This doesn't affect the overall philosophy of having a priority in drafting BPA in a need position, because you can't be totally set in the way you want to carry out the draft, especially now under the new CBA which has caused there to be so many more opportunities to make trades during the draft.