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The 2011 draft was a good start. You maximize your chances with more picks, something that escaped Vinny Cerrato for the 10 plus years he was in the building. He viewed draft picks after the first round, such as the #2 and #6 the team surrendered for 34 year old Jason Taylor, as throwaways. The Steelers and Packers build their teams with those picks.
2010 wasn’t a total loss if Trent Williams comes back with greater maturity and dedication to realizing his talent and Perry Riley continues to improve at ILB.
But the loss of those picks for McNabb and Jammal Brown hurt, not the least reason being that neither player has done much to help the bottom line number of wins the team achieved in either 2010 or 2011.
That said, I have been going back and forth on whether it is worth trading a basket of picks to move up in the draft to the spot occupied by St. Louis to take Griffin ahead of the Browns, who would likely not let him fall below #4 overall.
At first I was in favor of doing it, but now after considering how much depth this team is still lacking and other critical areas where the starters are average at best, I don’t think this April is the time to make that move.
My gut feeling is the team should move down from #6 and pick up additional picks as it did in 2011 and come out of the draft with 2 or 3 starters in the first couple of rounds.
Whether that means Tannehill (or other rookie qb) is in play in the middle to late first and an option is a risk that would have to be taken.
But the odds are that there are passers beyond Luck and Griffin that are going to be pro bowlers coming out of the 2012 draft class.
The option of trying to make a deal with Green Bay for Matt Flynn is enticing if the cost is a #2 or #3 next year. But the reality is that most of the backups that get traded in this league after limited playing time don’t turn out to be difference makers.
Look at Kevin Kolb who ended this past season sharing the qb duties with Skelton. At the time of the deal so many including John Clayton thought Kolb was a potential franchise quarterback. Now it looks as if a #2 and a pro bowl corner who is only 26 years old was a LOT to give up for a guy that is struggling right now to be considered a solid starter.
Matt Cassel is another that gained notoriety in playing one season for the Patriots and was dealt for a #2 pick and a player. While Cassel showed he was a competent game manager in taking the Chiefs to 10-6 last year, he is hardly a guy with franchise skills as a passer and playmaker.
Either team would have been better off with Andy Dalton. And that is what makes me think the Redskins would be better off staying away from Flynn, a former seventh round pick in 2008 and using their picks to find a quarterback in the draft.
I am not opposed to signing a veteran to start a portion of the team’s games in 2012 as a transitional figure, but I would hope it is not Rex Grossman. Nothing negates a team’s effort and improvement more than turnovers. It’s a morale buster and gets teammates into playing tentatively on offense. The development of the younger receivers and backs on this team are retarded when you have such instability.
The Titans did things the right way in 2010 by drafting Jake Locker and then going out and signing Matt Hasselbeck to take the heat off the team while Locker developed in practice and by watching from the bench as a rookie.
2010 wasn’t a total loss if Trent Williams comes back with greater maturity and dedication to realizing his talent and Perry Riley continues to improve at ILB.
But the loss of those picks for McNabb and Jammal Brown hurt, not the least reason being that neither player has done much to help the bottom line number of wins the team achieved in either 2010 or 2011.
That said, I have been going back and forth on whether it is worth trading a basket of picks to move up in the draft to the spot occupied by St. Louis to take Griffin ahead of the Browns, who would likely not let him fall below #4 overall.
At first I was in favor of doing it, but now after considering how much depth this team is still lacking and other critical areas where the starters are average at best, I don’t think this April is the time to make that move.
My gut feeling is the team should move down from #6 and pick up additional picks as it did in 2011 and come out of the draft with 2 or 3 starters in the first couple of rounds.
Whether that means Tannehill (or other rookie qb) is in play in the middle to late first and an option is a risk that would have to be taken.
But the odds are that there are passers beyond Luck and Griffin that are going to be pro bowlers coming out of the 2012 draft class.
The option of trying to make a deal with Green Bay for Matt Flynn is enticing if the cost is a #2 or #3 next year. But the reality is that most of the backups that get traded in this league after limited playing time don’t turn out to be difference makers.
Look at Kevin Kolb who ended this past season sharing the qb duties with Skelton. At the time of the deal so many including John Clayton thought Kolb was a potential franchise quarterback. Now it looks as if a #2 and a pro bowl corner who is only 26 years old was a LOT to give up for a guy that is struggling right now to be considered a solid starter.
Matt Cassel is another that gained notoriety in playing one season for the Patriots and was dealt for a #2 pick and a player. While Cassel showed he was a competent game manager in taking the Chiefs to 10-6 last year, he is hardly a guy with franchise skills as a passer and playmaker.
Either team would have been better off with Andy Dalton. And that is what makes me think the Redskins would be better off staying away from Flynn, a former seventh round pick in 2008 and using their picks to find a quarterback in the draft.
I am not opposed to signing a veteran to start a portion of the team’s games in 2012 as a transitional figure, but I would hope it is not Rex Grossman. Nothing negates a team’s effort and improvement more than turnovers. It’s a morale buster and gets teammates into playing tentatively on offense. The development of the younger receivers and backs on this team are retarded when you have such instability.
The Titans did things the right way in 2010 by drafting Jake Locker and then going out and signing Matt Hasselbeck to take the heat off the team while Locker developed in practice and by watching from the bench as a rookie.
