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Draft 2011: Every Team Makes Their Own Way
Posted by Rafael at Monday, April 18, 2011
When Jason Garrett became Dallas' head coach, he spoke of playing "the Cowboys way.'' When the New England Patriots won each of their Super Bowls this past decade, owner Robert Kraft declared the titles validated, ''the Patriots way.''
Every team wants to create its own identity. How close or how far are those identities when it comes to personnel? As I've sifted through Dallas' draft board, I've compared it to the draft lists of other teams, looking for consistencies and inconsistencies. Every team is different. Really different.
The proliferation of draft books, TV draft gurus and online draft guides creates the impression that there's a loose consensus on players and where they should be rated. Nothing could be further from the truth. Today, I'm going to compare Dallas' '10 draft board to the draft lists of three other clubs -- the New England Patriots, the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Philadelphia Eagles. We don't have access to those teams' boards, but the wild disparities between the players the Cowboys considered drafting and the players those teams selected shows how far from uniform drafting remains.
Let's begin with the Patriots. Here's a list of their 2010 draft class, with draft position on the left. On the right, I have in blue the position these players had on Dallas' board. "NOB'' simply means "not on the board.''
Patriots Draft
1-27 Devin McCourty, CB 2-25
2-42 Rob Gronkowski, TE 2-38
2-53 Jermaine Cunningham, OLB NOB
2-62 Brandon Spikes, ILB NOB
3-90 Taylor Price, WR 3-51
4-113 Aaron Hernandez, TE NOB
5-150 Zoltan Mesko, P NOB
6-205 Ted Larsen, G, NOB
7-208 Thomas Welch, OT, NOB
7-247 Brandon Deaderick, DE, NOB
7-248 Kade Weston, DT, NOB
7-250 Zac Robinson, QB, NOB
Only three of the twelve players Bill Belichick picked were on the Cowboys' big board. To be fair, five of these players were 6th and 7th round picks, three of whom, Larsen, Welch and Robinson, did not make the final team. The images the Cowboys offered last season showed their main board. I've been told the illegible big board farther to the right contains names of priority free agents, and its possible that several of these late rounders were on that list.
As for the early-round omissions, Spikes' slow 40 time likely knocked him off Dallas' board. Hernanadez had off-the-field problems which Dallas likely felt were too serious to be overlooked. New England felt otherwise.
In the Steelers' case, there's a tight fit between early picks but the late picks, as with New England, diverge. The Steelers' first four picks, Maurkice Pouncey, Jason Worilds, Thaddeus Gibson and Emmanuel Sanders, were all rated in the first four rounds on Dallas' board. Each team prioritized differently. Gibson, whom the Steelers cut -- and who is now on San Francisco's roster-- was the highest of the Gibson-Sanders-Worilds trio. Gibson and Sanders had 3rd round grades and Worilds had a 4th. The Steelers took Worilds in the 2nd and Gibson in the 4th, with Sanders sandwiched between them.
Try to make sense of the Eagles' draft from a Dallas' perspective.
Eagles Draftees
1-13 Brandon Graham 2-29
2-37 Nate Allen 2-30
3-86 Daniel Te'o-Neshiem 5-104
4-105 Trevard Lindley NOB
4-121 Keenan Clayton NOB
4-122 Mike Kafka 7-129
4-125 Clay Harbor 4-77
5-134 Ricky Sapp NOB
5-159 Riley Cooper NOB
6-200 Charles Scott NOB
7-220 Jamar Chaney 7-132
7-243 Jeff Owens NOB
7-244 Kurt Coleman NOB
The teams play different defensive schemes which may explain differences in values on defensive front seven players, but those differences are extreme. The Eagles traded way up in the 1st to pick Brandon Graham, a player the Cowboys gave a 2nd round grade. They took a player in the 3rd the Cowboys gave a 5th round grade and a QB in the 4th whom Dallas gave a 7th round grade.
Who's right and who's wrong? Time will tell.
The only conclusion I can draw are that draft boards have some uniformity through the late 1st and begin to diverge greatly in the 2nd and more in every subsequent round. With so many teams using short boards, which have 100 to 150 players, organizations pick off menus which would be foreign to their rivals.
Every team takes its own way. Hope the Cowboys are on the right path next week.
Posted by Rafael at Monday, April 18, 2011
When Jason Garrett became Dallas' head coach, he spoke of playing "the Cowboys way.'' When the New England Patriots won each of their Super Bowls this past decade, owner Robert Kraft declared the titles validated, ''the Patriots way.''
Every team wants to create its own identity. How close or how far are those identities when it comes to personnel? As I've sifted through Dallas' draft board, I've compared it to the draft lists of other teams, looking for consistencies and inconsistencies. Every team is different. Really different.
The proliferation of draft books, TV draft gurus and online draft guides creates the impression that there's a loose consensus on players and where they should be rated. Nothing could be further from the truth. Today, I'm going to compare Dallas' '10 draft board to the draft lists of three other clubs -- the New England Patriots, the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Philadelphia Eagles. We don't have access to those teams' boards, but the wild disparities between the players the Cowboys considered drafting and the players those teams selected shows how far from uniform drafting remains.
Let's begin with the Patriots. Here's a list of their 2010 draft class, with draft position on the left. On the right, I have in blue the position these players had on Dallas' board. "NOB'' simply means "not on the board.''
Patriots Draft
1-27 Devin McCourty, CB 2-25
2-42 Rob Gronkowski, TE 2-38
2-53 Jermaine Cunningham, OLB NOB
2-62 Brandon Spikes, ILB NOB
3-90 Taylor Price, WR 3-51
4-113 Aaron Hernandez, TE NOB
5-150 Zoltan Mesko, P NOB
6-205 Ted Larsen, G, NOB
7-208 Thomas Welch, OT, NOB
7-247 Brandon Deaderick, DE, NOB
7-248 Kade Weston, DT, NOB
7-250 Zac Robinson, QB, NOB
Only three of the twelve players Bill Belichick picked were on the Cowboys' big board. To be fair, five of these players were 6th and 7th round picks, three of whom, Larsen, Welch and Robinson, did not make the final team. The images the Cowboys offered last season showed their main board. I've been told the illegible big board farther to the right contains names of priority free agents, and its possible that several of these late rounders were on that list.
As for the early-round omissions, Spikes' slow 40 time likely knocked him off Dallas' board. Hernanadez had off-the-field problems which Dallas likely felt were too serious to be overlooked. New England felt otherwise.
In the Steelers' case, there's a tight fit between early picks but the late picks, as with New England, diverge. The Steelers' first four picks, Maurkice Pouncey, Jason Worilds, Thaddeus Gibson and Emmanuel Sanders, were all rated in the first four rounds on Dallas' board. Each team prioritized differently. Gibson, whom the Steelers cut -- and who is now on San Francisco's roster-- was the highest of the Gibson-Sanders-Worilds trio. Gibson and Sanders had 3rd round grades and Worilds had a 4th. The Steelers took Worilds in the 2nd and Gibson in the 4th, with Sanders sandwiched between them.
Try to make sense of the Eagles' draft from a Dallas' perspective.
Eagles Draftees
1-13 Brandon Graham 2-29
2-37 Nate Allen 2-30
3-86 Daniel Te'o-Neshiem 5-104
4-105 Trevard Lindley NOB
4-121 Keenan Clayton NOB
4-122 Mike Kafka 7-129
4-125 Clay Harbor 4-77
5-134 Ricky Sapp NOB
5-159 Riley Cooper NOB
6-200 Charles Scott NOB
7-220 Jamar Chaney 7-132
7-243 Jeff Owens NOB
7-244 Kurt Coleman NOB
The teams play different defensive schemes which may explain differences in values on defensive front seven players, but those differences are extreme. The Eagles traded way up in the 1st to pick Brandon Graham, a player the Cowboys gave a 2nd round grade. They took a player in the 3rd the Cowboys gave a 5th round grade and a QB in the 4th whom Dallas gave a 7th round grade.
Who's right and who's wrong? Time will tell.
The only conclusion I can draw are that draft boards have some uniformity through the late 1st and begin to diverge greatly in the 2nd and more in every subsequent round. With so many teams using short boards, which have 100 to 150 players, organizations pick off menus which would be foreign to their rivals.
Every team takes its own way. Hope the Cowboys are on the right path next week.
