[CBFF] CT - Bears ignored nee... blah blah blah

[Tom Shannon]

Very nice post.  I'll think about it.

Thanks,
Tom

> -----Original Message-----
> From: CBFF-bounces at chicagobearsfanforum.com [mailto:CBFF-
> bounces at chicagobearsfanforum.com] On Behalf Of Jim Ferolie
> Sent: Sunday, May 07, 2006 8:01 AM
> To: post at chicagobearsfanforum.com
> Subject: Re: [CBFF] CT - Bears ignored nee... blah blah blah
> 
> 
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Tom Shannon" <tshanno at gmail.com>
> >>
> What really bothers me, and where he really hit them
> > hardest, was in these statements:
> >
> > ----
> > In assessing the Bears' draft as a whole, it was the most curious and
> > least
> > effective draft in the league. No team misaligned their draft board
> > more...
> >
> > (cut)
> >
> > Jerry Angelo is well respected among his peers around the league,
> > including myself, but he must look hard at the guy setting up his
> > draft board, Greg Gabriel. His lack of football background is really
> > starting to show. Having someone with a strong football coaching
> > background, who can access a player's talent and value in the draft is
> > essential.
> > ---------
> >
> > This is a direct attack on the Bears ability to stack a draft board.  It
> > goes way beyond, "They didn't fill their needs" and "They reached on
> their
> > first two picks."  This is, "They don't know how to assess high end,
> first
> > and second round talent.  They don't know what they're doing."  That's
> > bothersome.  I'm not sure I believe it but it is bothersome.
> >
> > Tom S.
> 
> Yes, that was definitely strong criticism. I believe that it stems from
> JA's
> insistence that he would go BAA, which, of course, means you take whomever
> is at the top of the draft board, regardless of position.
> 
> In actuality, I do not believe they did this at all. I believe they
> instead
> had a group of players whom they considered to be the best value picks at
> their position and a group of positions they weighed equally in terms of
> impact to the Bears: TE, KR/PR/DB, DT, DE, LB. Then, they chose players
> based on which one stands out the most from his peers. In other words, if
> there are four DTs 95 percent as good as the best one available, skip it
> for
> a round. If there are 12 TEs with the worst of the bunch are 90 percent as
> good as the top choice there, skip them for three rounds and pick one up
> later.
> 
> The truly odd part is that they had the same position twice at the top. I
> don't know how I feel about this, except that you can never have too many
> good CBs and the return game was incredibly disappointing last year after
> Azumah made it so exciting the year before.
> 
> In any case, it's an excellent third-round-or-later draft strategy, and I
> believe the Bears are very, very good at executing it. I think Landry
> believes this strategy should not be employed at all on the first day,
> which
> may be true. But again, I still think we're talking big picture, which is
> not necessarily his area of expertise.
> 
> I believe that what it ends you up with is a team full of depth, with good
> special teams but fewer stars. Some people might suggest this leads you to
> having good teams year in and year out but never a great one. On the other
> hand, it makes free-agent acquisitions much easier and more effective
> because you are improving a position rather than plugging a hole and you
> have much more salary cap room because you always have plenty of cheap
> talent. It allows you to re-sign most of your players but let the
> money-grabbers go without ruining the team. Having that kind of depth did
> not work out for the Kansas City Chiefs in the early 1990s, but it has
> worked wonders for the New England Patriots and finally paid off for the
> Pittsburgh Steelers after years of frustration.
> 
> This strategy could also be seen as a way to avoid making those
> career-changing, costly high picks, which could be either cowardice or
> wisdom.
> 
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