I get your point on next year's draft, but draft position always matters. You only have so many picks, and you need to make sure you draft the players you are MOST confident are who you think they are. The lower the pick, the great the opportunity to draft that guy. And while the opportunity to trade down is always overhyped by fans (it requires a team so in love with a player they are willing to give up significant picks to get him), it is still a possibility. And it's a lot more likely if we hold a pick in the top 5 than beyond that point imho. So while I don't believe teams tank, I think losing out would be the best thing for the long-term progression of the team.
I agree with the rest of your post SIP.
Every draft is different. On first blush for me and draftniks seem to echo this about this one. That is, you don't at least superficallly have these superfreak talents in the top 10, they pretty much blend in as similar talents, arguably so through the top 15. I've already watched a bunch of the edges and WRs. On first glance I am not losing one whit of sleep if they got Jordyn Tyson or Carnell Tait or Bain over Bailey or it they drop a little further in the draft if its Downs versus lets say Love. It feels like the top 15 players are very similar. And there is likely only 2 QBs going early and i doubt this team would be in position where they'd be picking top 3 and be the team that could trade down.
So coming from the guy who really every season that has gone wrong, I've rooted for losses and lol took some arrows from some for having that position, i am not rooting for losses this time. I don't see the value the same way as the past and i do see some downside for finishing the season in an abysmal fashion. If they happened to lose out, i won't be depressed, i see some upside to it. But lol, i wish this was a draft with a Nabers or Will Anderson type where am salivating for someone specific. I like someone like Bain. But the dude lol has 2 sacks, and short arms, he's not some no brainer prospect. Jordyn Tyson is a fun watch. But a dude like Nabers was a monster with YAC, Tyson is pedestrian with the ball in his hands. And is he better than Tate? Not sure. Or is Bain better than Faulk, or Bailey or Reese? I can go on and on.
It wouldn't shock me if for example some dude between 10-20 ends up the stud of the draft ala when Baltimore took Kyle Hamilton years ago. Love and Downs albiet don't play premium positions might end up the best players in this draft and likely will be available from 10 to 15. It feels like that kind of draft to me so far. I can expound on the point some more but don't want to turn this thread into a draft discussion.
I'll use my son, a teenager as an example. lol, I've groomed him and my other kid as Washington fans but its not been easy through all those dark seasons. Their interest really faded over the years but lol I get them back last season. times have changed, etc. this year it feels like i lost them again, no interest in watching the team, feels same old same old to them. i know its a small sample but I suspect for some other fans who are used to the misery, you might have to fight to get them back again or at a minimum they will shrug off any potential optimism for next season.
Having a season where they look for a good stretch of the season as the worst team in the NFL -- with fans calling in to talk radio, talking about Jayden isn't it, Maye is much better, its going to take years for this team to be competitive -- some of it is wild to me and I do think it has some impact for an organziation trying to reignite the fan base. So diving head first into a dark season which rivals any of the worst seasons in the last 30 years -- isn't something i am going to embrace no matter any upside and I don't see the upside as much.
So nope i am not rooting for more misery. I personally don't need to see much for me to be jazzed for next season but it feels like i am in the minority. And over the years, the fact that there is so little enthusiasm for this team nationally and this being one of the declining fan bases -- as an NFL fan, the idea that am rooting for one of the lesser relevant teams takes a little joy out of it for me. Last year was one heck of a charge back to the norm. It was a blast. Not just as a Comamnders fan but an NFL fan. So going full embrace for irrelevance, this team sucks land for the greater good long term -- I get the concept but I just can't look at a draft theoritically, I can't help but dive into the specifics, and I don't see the upside this time.
Not just with my kids, I interact with too many people about football, here and elsewhere, and the off season is 8 months long so lol am not embracing for things to end dark, I want it to end with some hope. Because right now the narratives are really depressing and this coming from someone who doesn't share that feeling of being down about everything but its hard not to hate some of the narratives where so many fans think THIS team is the real Commanders not 2024. And that Peters sucks. Quinn sucks. Jayden is nothing special. They need 5 years to rebuild. On and on.
And look, I'd deal with all that negativity if i thought we'd get the next Nabers or name that elite prospect. But this draft doesn't feel that way to me right now. I am usually at this point salivating for some player. And I do like a bunch of the guys I've watched but i am not salivating for anyone specific yet.
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