NFL Debate #44: Who had the best draft?

[Cory]

Go

[Cory]

For me, has to be Houston....hit on almost every pick.

1. DE/OLB Jadeveon Clowney, the best player in the draft.
2. OG Xavier Sua Filo, maybe the best guard in the class...was a 1st round grade talent, great move.
3. TE C. J. Fiedorowicz a top 4 TE in the draft, good pick.
4. DT Louis Nix, again grabbed him in the 3rd, had a 1st round grade from most pre-draft...donno about him playing in a 4-3
5. QB Tom Savage was a QB sleeper on most draft analysis, I too think he's a stud.

As clean of 5 picks you'll see in a draft.

[GM Franchise]

I went with the Rams. I think they overall had the best draft out of all the teams in my opinion.

[Justin]

Rams hands down. They addressed every need plus built their depth chart.

You should have 49ers on their as they had the second best draft.

[Hondo]

I don't know about the Texans. I mean, if they can't get the Mallett deal finalized, they've got a real problem at QB. They had several opportunities to get a much better prospect than Savage, and failed.

Although I kinda hope Savage makes it so we can get as many Macho Man references on SportsCenter as we can get.

[Black Death]

I like what the Cowboys did  solid pick ups Imo Zack Martin going to help the o - line and Demarcus Lawrence going to fill the hole that Demarcus ware left going to Denver

[Jon]

I thought it was hands down the Rams who had the best draft.

I thought Greg Robinson was the right choice even though it was tempting having Watkins there. And then they got great value with Aaron Donald with the 13th pick. Really liked that pick by them.

Lamarcus Joyner was a CB I really liked in this draft and I was secretly hoping he would fall to Philadelphia in the 2nd round, but we went a different direction.

Tre Mason was a stud in college, but had some off the field issues which was cause for him to drop so far. He could seriously battle Stacy for the starting job, but will most likely serve as back up.

Maurice Alexander is a big safety, who struggl;es with pass coverage, but is pretty decent in run support. Known for making huge hits.

Garrett Gilbert was a solid pick as a kid who was given up on in Texas and went to SMU and sort of saved his career so to speak. Def not ready to start an NFL game, but could serve as a decent back-up in a few years time.

And of course Michael Sam, who dropped do to a combination of coming out and a not so impressive combine. He's going to be a guy that should have a huge chip on his shoulder and I think will turn out to be a huge steal. After all, it was he and not Clowney that was named Co SEC Defensive Player of the Year with CJ Mosely of Bama.

[Black Republicans]

I'm going with the Raiders.  They picked up the second best player in the draft period at Khalil Mack, and he's a guy who has none of the work ethic concerns that Clowney had. 

Derek Carr was widely considered the best pure passer in the draft, and depending on which train of thought you follow, his lineage can help or hurt him.  I think it's going to help him.  His brother played in the NFL for 13 years, albeit unspectacularly, he was a professional for a good number of years and I believe his brother can teach him from the mistakes he made.

Gabe Jackson.  He will be the best Guard in the NFL in a few seasons barring injury.  He's massive, an athletic freak, and he loves the game.  He's gonna be starting Day 1 and will learn to be productive at the top level.

Justin Ellis, Keith McGill, T.J Carrie and Shelby Harris will all prove to be good if they can get away from the character concerns and get some valuable NFL coaching.

The Raiders are going to be a surprise team for the coming years.  They are laughed at because of their record, but it's mainly from the Greatness that the franchise comes from.  The vast majority of NFL teams have not been to the Superbowl as recent as them, and the franchise hinderer of the latter years is no longer with the team. (Al Davis)

[J-Reb]

I'm going with the Raiders.  They picked up the second best player in the draft period at Khalil Mack, and he's a guy who has none of the work ethic concerns that Clowney had. 

Derek Carr was widely considered the best pure passer in the draft, and depending on which train of thought you follow, his lineage can help or hurt him.  I think it's going to help him.  His brother played in the NFL for 13 years, albeit unspectacularly, he was a professional for a good number of years and I believe his brother can teach him from the mistakes he made.

Gabe Jackson.  He will be the best Guard in the NFL in a few seasons barring injury.  He's massive, an athletic freak, and he loves the game.  He's gonna be starting Day 1 and will learn to be productive at the top level.

Justin Ellis, Keith McGill, T.J Carrie and Shelby Harris will all prove to be good if they can get away from the character concerns and get some valuable NFL coaching.

The Raiders are going to be a surprise team for the coming years.  They are laughed at because of their record, but it's mainly from the Greatness that the franchise comes from.  The vast majority of NFL teams have not been to the Superbowl as recent as them, and the franchise hinderer of the latter years is no longer with the team. (Al Davis)

They are at a minimum 3 years away from truly being competitive.  I won't argue they had a pretty good draft- but none of the players selected will be impact players, sans Khalil Mack.  Schaub was absolutely terrible for Houston last season and isn't going to fare much better with a weaker surrounding cast in Oakland.

[Cory]

They are at a minimum 3 years away from truly being competitive.  I won't argue they had a pretty good draft- but none of the players selected will be impact players, sans Khalil Mack.  Schaub was absolutely terrible for Houston last season and isn't going to fare much better with a weaker surrounding cast in Oakland.

I agree.

I want the Raiders to do well, but Mack IMO was the 3-5 range, Clowney and Watkins were the top two players. Carr was a solid pick up, I like Jackson/McGill too....but after losing Veldheer/Houston to FA their O-Line/DLine still needs work, to be competitive.

[Black Republicans]

I think people fall into the trap of what they feel and hear about the Raiders, when they think in terms of when we'll contend.  Schaub was bad last year, but remember, the Texans were a front runner for the Superbowl/AFC Championship wherever you had them pegged.  If you can play the position, you don't just lose it.  Perfect example, Eli Manning had 27 interceptions last year, and has easily had the biggest rollercoaster ride of any pro QB I've ever seen.  Shaub is going to do what he does year in and year out, throw for 4k and 20+ TDS.  That alone will put us in a good position in the weak AFC.

Losing Veldheer hurt...Houston, I mean obviously we'd like to have him also, but it's not as detrimental as it seems, we picked up so much depth on our dline, that if any of our rookies play well, it could mean big things. 

The Chiefs were 2-14 prior to being one of the best teams in the AFC/League last year.  I think the Raiders of this year can realistically be better then the Chargers, who were a playoff team last year.

One argument that can be made is, the Raiders have noone like Andre Johnson...which is correct, but that also means there is noone to gameplan for.  I have a friend who is a huge Texans fan and I constantly told him, I thought the Texans overachieved.  They had a good defense, but I truly believe we have a better offensive TEAM then they ever did.  Our entire receiving core is better than Kevin Walter.

I'm sure I'm biased, lol. But I do think within the next two years we can be in the playoffs and win a game.

Some keys also are 3 guys who didn't get to play last year basically, Hayden, who before his crazy college injury was rated better than Milliner. Menelik Watson, who started two years of college football on a whim, and Latavius Murray, a Dmac without the injuries(Im praying).

I just think the AFC is weak, and eventhough we have the toughest schedule in football(Experts opin. not Mine) we could get to 8-8, 9-7 which makes us a force in 15.

The 2014 roster is filled with veterans who were nowhere near past their primes, just on teams that needed to do something different.

[Black Republicans]

Cory...the fact that you know who Gabe Jackson and Keith McGill are is enough for me. lol. Great discussion.

[Cory]

Cory...the fact that you know who Gabe Jackson and Keith McGill are is enough for me. lol. Great discussion.

HUGE college football buff....McGill has that new Sherman DB build, and Jackson was a top 5 guard in the draft, good blocker from the SEC.

I like the pick up of James Jones too, I just think that Raiders need another draft like this one before their defense can compete against the Broncos and their offense can compete against the Chiefs.

[The TeeJ of Philly]

In regards to BR's post about the raiders:

MJD is playing behind a line that's as bad if not worse than the Jags line last year, DMC is always hurt, the defense is solid, but you're in a division with the Broncos and Chiefs, one of them will win the division next year so you're fighting with the following teams for one of the wildcard spots, IMO: Jets, Two of these follow three: Steelers/Ravens/Bengals, division rival Chargers, Texans/Colts that's 5 other teams who have more talent at key positions.

Take in account also who you have to face, the NFC West, thats four losses for the Raiders. I think the NFC West will damn near sweep the AFC West, you have to travel to three east coast games (Pats, Jets, and Cleveland), and given Raiders' history of going east coast, MAYBE you steal a game. That's 6 losses right there. At best, go 3-3 in division so that's 9 losses right there.

I like the building blocks, and I agree 2015-2016 season could be one helluva a season for Oakland, but 2014-15 looks bleak.

Quick hit some topics as far as the rest

- The Chiefs had 8 pro bowlers in a year where they went 2-14. They had no QB and Romeo Cronel is a TERRIBLE HC, he gave up calling offensive and defensive play calling during that season!

- The AFC is not weak, nor is the NFC strong, the league is balanced. 10 teams in the AFC finished .500 or better, 9 in the NFC. The worst division in football last year, the AFC South played the best, the NFC West. The strongest division in the AFC, the west, played the weakest in the NFC, the east.

- Talent can be gone in an instant. Sometimes that happens, and I believe for Matt Schaub it has. I'll use McNabb as an example. His year in Washington, decent numbers but a higher INT total than years past. His coach threw him under a bus and sent him on his way and his confidence was shot and he lost out to a rookie QB named Christian Ponder

Fast forward to now Schaub has a good year, gets his team in the playoffs and gets lambasted for the loss against the Patriots "If the Texans had a QB they could count on, they'd have won this game. As soon as Patriots got up by 14 it was over" (Similar story sorta for Cincy and Daulton) Mind you this is a year after hearing "If we had Schaub instead of Yates, we'd have beaten the Pats! The kid was over his head!"

Goes into 2013 season with questions of is he the right guy the team is playing decent but Schaub is throwing costly picks and costing the team wins and gets taken out for Yates who gets hurt and along with poor play, does not get replaced by Schaub but rather Case Keenum. Confidence shot. This, to me, is going to look like McNabb's season in Minnesota, calls for McGloin (who I can't believe made it to the NFL let alone was starting and winning!) will be made, and Schaub's will either go the way of Mark Brunell who was a decent QB turned into career backup.

In fact, Matt Schaub is Mark Brunell. A QB that was slightly above average to the league during their time. highly touted back up on their original team traded for picks, lead their teams to winning seasons, had a horrible start to their 10th year in the league, changes team. Brunell a decent season in Washington, but was never really the same after his tenth year, became a back-up for the rest of his career.

Mind you I said that the Chargers were going to suck last year because their defense would be terrible (It was sorta) and no matter how great a coach McCoy was, that o-line was going to be the problem (and it wasn't). That's why they play the games and don't let idiots like me decide outcomes of games.

[Black Republicans]

I agree with alot of it...except our line being worse.  Our line is better than the Jags, and can shape out nicely if peices play well. I guess that's probably most teams tho. lol.  We don't want either Dmac or MJD to be 25 year olds, we want them to split the carries which we keep them both fresh and ideally, it will keep Dmac explosive.

You're exactly right that the Chiefs had 8 pro bowlers...those are individual stats, the team collectively didn't win.  They were surprising last year, but after a year of tape Alex Smith has never been any good.

When I was talking about the NFC being the better conference, I don't believe there is a team other than MAYBE the Broncos that can or will contend with whoever is coming out of the NFC.

I don't think the Shaub situation is like McNabb at all.  Houston was Shaubs first chance to play, McNabb already had his better days with the Eagles, and aside from having absolutely nobody better, I didn't want McNabb then.  Shaub is still super capable...and at least in his mind, he has a reason for some of the plays.  He had no control over the offense.  He couldn't audible or anything, he's finally getting a chance to show what he can do.  If he fails, well, we have Derek Carr, not McGloin to move forward with...and another high pick with a GM/Regime that's making all the right moves.

WE WILL SURPRISE!!!OR we won't. lol