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Since you asked...Mel Kiper's Grade on Saints Draft
New Orleans Saints: C+
Top needs: WR, CB, LB New Orleans went 12-4 last season but lost a slew of free agents because of salary-cap issues, including Trey Hendrickson, Jared Cook, Emmanuel Sanders and Sheldon Rankins. Oh, and future Hall of Fame quarterback Drew Brees retired. So this is a team in a different situation than it has been in the last few years, with Taysom Hill and Jameis Winston going to battle it out to replace Brees and some significant depth issues on its roster. I like Payton Turner (28), but I would have liked him more in Round 2. There were wide receivers and corners on the board who could have made a bigger Year 1 impact than Turner, who is better against the run and is still developing as a pass-rusher. I don't see him as a starter over Cam Jordan or Marcus Davenport. Linebacker Pete Werner (60), though, has a chance to be the starting middle linebacker in New Orleans. He locked down Penn State's Pat Freiermuth in coverage, and he has some range. Paulson Adebo (76) is a 6-foot-1 corner who opted out of last season. He has an inconsistent 2019 season, but he has top-50 traits. Sean Payton & Co. took quarterback Ian Book (133) on Day 3, and I had a seventh-round grade on him. I would have taken Jamie Newman. Book's ceiling is as a backup. That's a lot of reaches on my board and not much value, from Rounds 1-7. And they didn't take a receiver until late on Day 3. Sorry, Saints fans -- I don't love this class. |
Re: Since you asked...Mel Kiper's Grade on Saints Draft
We really blew it.
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The fact Kiper doesn’t like the class makes me think it might be better than I thought.
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Oh wait... |
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Grading drafts is idiotic. What do you base your grade upon? Upon YOUR rankings and what YOU see as a teams needs. What if your rankings suck? What if you do not understand what the team sees as its needs?
A crock of crap. Teams eliminate players from their boards based upon many factors. The players that they do target have been targeted after tons of research into that individual. :dunce: |
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Re: Since you asked...Mel Kiper's Grade on Saints Draft
Kiper and most of the experts overemphasize "need" on these draft critiques. But "need" won't mean much once the season starts. One or two key injuries and a team's need will shift radically.
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I'm not even sure there was a "draft expert" before Mel K Jr. Now all of the networks have at least 2 or 3. I've never taken his opinions on players seriously, but I do applaud him for having a hustle that has lasted this long.
Basically, he created his own niche. |
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Not are their opinions on players sketchy, but even more so are their takes upon how teams draft. |
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Depending where you draft him (first rounders should start (start, not necessarily be an AllPro) by Game 1), if a player sits too long, most tend to rot... So need is definitely a strong factor in selecting a player... And then you have your prototype, ideal players for certain positions as Mr. Finks would have... And then when confronted with two players he really wanted - he took the bigger one... |
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And if you'd bother to study the history of the game, then you'd already know guys like Kiper, away from the big lights show, have definitely had an impact on the game... Teams now hire many of the software companies that the scouting services have, if they are not already using those scouting services to augment their own info... We now have things like SPARQ, The Wunderlic, and a Combine and many more objective evaluation systems because of these services like Kiper... I Remember when Saints draft meetings were held over a week long golf trip; now with all the attention, despite nepotism, teams are under pressure to draft better... Some teams do it better consistently, than others; that's why those teams are usually rebounding after only one bad year and are in a Superbowl every five to ten years... This year was unusual because of the #BlackSwanEvent, shorted or non-existent seasons, and a lack of the usual evaluation processes... |
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SP was talking about the need vs BPA in his post draft interview and he basically stated that the philosophy is to get as many good players "in the house" as possible, and that is where coaching takes over.
I think that is a sound approach, because you can easily get caught up in chasing certain positions, and never landing a good player inspite of that. Draft the BPA and fill positions on the depth chart with UDFAs and more importantly proven vets through the FA. Then through coaching and game-planning maximize your team's strenghts while minimizing the effect of the areas of weakness. |
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Say a GM has a ProBowl player at a premium position and as the draft unfolds a consensus top prospect at that position becomes available... That player also happens to be the top overall rated player on the board, the immediate teams behind could also use that player... Using BPA, the general idea would be you take the younger player, get him into camp to evaluate the rookie... You quickly confirmed (which really should've been done before selecting him) that he's every bit the goods... Now you have the opportunity to trade the proven veteran of a premium position to satisfy a need at another position, possibly get draft capital in return... Only problem is some teams are reluctant to execute the trade component of that process, so the younger player basically becomes stale on the bench... One of the reasons the 2017 draft class was so successful was because need was factored in with value... Marshon Lattimore, Ryan Ramczyk, Marcus Williams, Alex Anzalone all started Gm 1, and Kamara was reserved behind Peterson... But when you fast forward to when Kamara became a need and Payton was forced to play the young player, things really took off... If you take the BPA, make sure they're gonna have the opportunity to play or create that opportunity and address other roster holes... |
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Mel Kiper's assessment on our 3rd round pick not so long ago.
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Kiper hyped up every Notre Dame QB except the one I finally like :roflmao:
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Sounds about right. There wasn't a ton of film on Turner at DE, Werner is a high floor guy, and Adebo opted out last season. I definitely understand the skepticism from draft pundits.
I think it's a C but that doesn't mean I didn't like the draft either. Draft grades are for fan entertainment, kills time, and gets the conversation going. I don't see why it should ruffle feathers. Does anyone really give a crap about his opinion? That it for what it is. |
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Who?
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However, in this draft it was clear we went after set positions of weakness. I think the idea of addressing needs was good, particularly this year when we can't address those needs in free agency. Good draft? Maybe. Good attempt to improve the team? I think so. |
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I seem to remember in past drafts Mel Kiper going on endless rants. I felt he was relatively quiet this year, anything to it that anyone is aware of?
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There should've been a backup plan and equal effort being given to move up with the Colts to take Newsome; looking forward to hearing the goods... To be honest, was surprised Adebo stayed on the board to R3, felt the talking heads had it wrong; I'd told some friends I'd hoped to take Adebo in R2... Also, it's not getting a lot of coverage but I've heard several hints dropped about this draft not having as much of the common background being shared... Police Backgrounds, Medicals (Health & History), Athletic Index Measurements, are usually there for all teams, but may not have been this season... Hoping some of my career friends that do this can discover and report if there was legit issues... |
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DRAFT EGGSPURTS = "COULD'A, WOULD'A, SHOULD'A & WHAT IF" OMELET!
BON APPETIT |
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SFIAH |
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Well, Kiper did make some good assessments here on the 2021 NFL draft selections. Payton is looking like a dud former 1st rounder, Adebo has been inconsistent & Ian Book shouldn't have been drafted as he was a serious reach in rd 4. His ceiling is definitely a backup. He nailed it on not drafting a WR until Day 3 but we corrected it in 2022 with Olave. 2 years later - C GRADE is fair :bng: |
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