There's some worry but i also think theres a little pessimistic cherry picking going on too, compounded by the fact we just got our asses kicked.
Lets do some optimistic cherry picking.
There were 6 picks in the top 100.
Jayden by all accounts is a superstar, that could change we've seen it before but from what we know now he's a grand slam pick.
Newton is what you could expect to see from an early second round pick, he's not tearing it up like we'd obviously like to see but he's contributing and he's showing flashes, time will tell.
Sainristil is by all accounts a big hit, he played inside and outside his rookie year looking great, had 2 picks in the lions game that were game changers, hes being overshadowed by the fact that we traded away the chance to get cooper dejean but he's on the path to being a stud, maybe not a grand slam but a two run homer for sure.
Sinnot so far looks like a bust but as has been stated things could change.
Coleman had a solid rookie year especially being asked to start at left tackle as a 3rd round rookie, he held his own and theres no reason to believe he wont be a solid b plus type guard as he transitions to his new position, at this point id call him a good pick.
Mccaffrey so far has been a disappointment but as has been stated he was a qb in college and a late position switch almost always takes years to get positive results, look at logan thomas, he didn’t do squat until his 5th year in the league.
So, out of the 6 picks, as of right now just 19 games in, 3 are hits, one is up in the air and 2 are busts, thats not a bad hit rate for any gm despite them all being top 100, even the first round is 50/50 and after that the odds drop dramatically every round.
Some of the bad vibes are probably associated with the fact that we're briefly forgetting just how bad rivera left this roster because he couldn't draft at all, quite possibly the worst 4 year stretch in the history of the nfl and thats not hyperbole.
If we had a decent roster where these guys weren't all being expected to come in and be immediate superstars for us i believe we'd be a little happier with these results.
I’m not panicking, and plenty of your points are valid. But I don’t think it’s a coincidence that your post reads as super defensive, having to lay out an alibi for a bunch of these guys. I agree, individually each of these picks is defensible and there’s reason for hope. That loses sway when you zoom out and look at the group as a whole, though.
If the Ravens had this haul, would we expect these players to play out how they have so far? That’s kinda what we aspire to be. And yeah, a strong ecosystem and surrounding talent helps guys develop and contribute early on within their skill sets, but it’s not like some of these guys are being forced onto the field too early and being ruined. The issue with some of them is that they’re being developed like we’re a team with time to kill and talent to spare, and they still aren’t doing anything even with runway to grow and low expectations from the staff, seemingly.
Sainristill is fine. Pretty good so far. Nothing special about him yet and he actually seems worse at the position we drafted him to play than he is the position he was forced to play. But then we arranged the roster this offseason around him going back to his intended position, the slot. But either way, a solid player we can use as part of our build. He had a signature game against the Lions, that’s true. Overall hasn’t been an impact player. Certainly not on track to be the best slot CB in the league, which was kind of the billing. But there’s hope.
Newton is fine. He’s definitely not living up to the billing of “he was a 1st round talent who was falling and we actually tried to trade up for him because it was so important we get him”, which is the literal narrative from the FO. He’s probably the biggest disappointment despite being a usable player, because when you spend high draft picks on DL you don’t want them to be rotational guys that you could get in FA for $13-16M/year. You want an impact player. Maybe he’s growing into that, he had 5 pressures the other day. But still not a home run.
Sinnott. Nothing needs to be said, he could still turn out to be something but when you draft a TE in round 2 for your franchise QB that’s not what you envision being the roadmap.
Coleman. Agreed, good pick given we waited so long to take an OL, he’ll start for a long time somewhere along the line as we get things settled. Likely right where he’s playing now. Legitimately good pick.
McCaffrey. Not much to say. Nepotism pick to the extreme, I think AP was feeling himself a bit and considered this a “luxury” pick, which is poisonous thinking. Again, not the outcome you want when you draft a skill position player in the 3rd round to go with your franchise QB. Raw? Okay, then that’s its own criticism given our young QB needs weapons to help him develop. The Raiders took a 6’5” Megatron style raw freak in the 4th round this year that no one thought was ready, and he won an outside starting job. He’s still raw, but will probably posterize at least one of our DB’s this coming week. McCaffrey is raw…if he develops and becomes a useful player, with his projected skill set, what’s his realistic upside? Chris Hogan with Brady? The high high hope is Edelman but nobody really thinks that’s happening. Slightly more juiced Crowder? It’s just not a good pick at that point in the draft. Makes me question the process more than any of the other picks, despite being the latest of the 5 I’m talking about.
Five picks with potential foundational pedigree, no slam dunk studs. It happens to every FO but I’m just saying, it’s worrying.
I’m not actually that worried, grand scheme, so in response to your defensive post I’m now coming across as overly aggressive to make my point lol. But zooming back further, the whole thing is just “anyone who isn’t a little bit worried is crazy”.
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