What Went Right & What Went Wrong

Boston Saint · 08-17-2023, 12:27 PM

Originally Posted by BakoSaint

I don’t get whats so hard to understand. When we were most successful drafting oline we used 4 midround picks on the position in 3 years. Recently we only use one mid rounder on oline every 5 years: 4th in 23, 4th in 18, 3rd in 13. Its like when people complain we aren’t running the ball, its ridiculous to reply that they are wrong bc we had one rushing attempt in the last quarter, obviously their complaintvis that we are doing it at well below league average rates. For some reason we are great at finding oline in the mid rounds but insist on using the picks there at a far below league average rate, so when we have oline injuries the backup is not a young 4 th rounder with upside they are a journeyman or udfa we can scapegoat losses on.

That still doesn’t make sense. So, rather than draft say, Ram, you would have waited and drafted a different o lineman in the 4th round instead? Whether it be making moves like trading Graham for a pick and Unger or NOT signing Armstead to the big contract you hate to spending high draft capital on the position the team has regularly done what has needed to maintain a top 10 offensive line in the league. Even a guy like Peat. I like to hack on him as much or more than the next guy but he is by far not the worst first round draft pick we’ve made. He’s even been to a few pro bowls.

Last year was a massive injury fest on the line. That really hurt us. But as pointed out by others practically every team has line questions. Over the past 20 seasons, the Saints have handled it better than most in the league. Sorry, I just don’t buy into the premise that the key to getting a good line is drafting guys in round 3, 4, and five frequently rather than draft them in round 1 or 2. We lose out on guys like Kamara that way.

08-17-2023, 12:27 PM	#13
Boston Saint 5000 POSTS! + Join Date: Nov 2020 Location: Massachusetts Posts: 5,137	Re: What Went Right & What Went Wrong Originally Posted by BakoSaint I don’t get whats so hard to understand. When we were most successful drafting oline we used 4 midround picks on the position in 3 years. Recently we only use one mid rounder on oline every 5 years: 4th in 23, 4th in 18, 3rd in 13. Its like when people complain we aren’t running the ball, its ridiculous to reply that they are wrong bc we had one rushing attempt in the last quarter, obviously their complaintvis that we are doing it at well below league average rates. For some reason we are great at finding oline in the mid rounds but insist on using the picks there at a far below league average rate, so when we have oline injuries the backup is not a young 4 th rounder with upside they are a journeyman or udfa we can scapegoat losses on. That still doesn’t make sense. So, rather than draft say, Ram, you would have waited and drafted a different o lineman in the 4th round instead? Whether it be making moves like trading Graham for a pick and Unger or NOT signing Armstead to the big contract you hate to spending high draft capital on the position the team has regularly done what has needed to maintain a top 10 offensive line in the league. Even a guy like Peat. I like to hack on him as much or more than the next guy but he is by far not the worst first round draft pick we’ve made. He’s even been to a few pro bowls. Last year was a massive injury fest on the line. That really hurt us. But as pointed out by others practically every team has line questions. Over the past 20 seasons, the Saints have handled it better than most in the league. Sorry, I just don’t buy into the premise that the key to getting a good line is drafting guys in round 3, 4, and five frequently rather than draft them in round 1 or 2. We lose out on guys like Kamara that way. jnormand and Rugby Saint II like this.
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