Since I'm a tad bored and totally amped up for football to start, I started doing a little digging on our draft picks from the oft criticized Gene Smith Era. What I'm finding is pretty surprising considering the general cloud that hangs over it.
Out of 26 picks over 4 drafts, I came up with a list that consists of 8 starters, 8 backup/reserves (can't really determine because WRs and DBs get rotated in and out based on packages), 4 bench players, 5 Free Agents and 1 Arena League player.
So with 16 of 26 contributing directly to a team, that's a 61.5% hit rate! Based on the (unverified) numbers that I've seen, the NFL average for contributing players hovers around 35%-40%. The biggest things that I take from this are that we had a few players have taken some time to develop, Gene hit really well in the later rounds 4-7 (half of the current contributors came from later rounds) and that his biggest weaknesses were a lack of draft picks (self-inflicted) and the team record (group effort).
I guess all in all my take is that he was a really good scout and a mediocre to below average GM.
(http://i.imgur.com/gKAz3eW.png)
His first draft was actually decent. Monroe was a nice player in a weak first round. If Knighton is in shape, he is a good nose tackle. Rashad Jennings is likely to start for the Giants. Tiquan Underwood has become a solid backup. But anything after that is about as bad as it gets in the NFL.
While it is true that 16 of his 26 picks are currently on rosters, that number needs to be revisited when all the 90 man rosters are trimmed down to 53.
The reality is on our current 90 man roster, only 6 of his 26 draft picks are on it and it's possible not all 6 will make the cut. That's 77% of his draft picks no longer on our roster. Most would consider that atrocious.
Regarding the 2009 draft, I think he doesn't get enough credit for bringing in Monroe, Britton and Potroast. Monroe was and still is one of the better offensive lineman in the league, Britton was just an unfortunate miscalculation and Potroast is a solid starter. 2009 was a better than average draft, but none of them are here anymore. The 2010 draft was a trainwreck, Alualu might be a 2nd teamer behind Red Bryant and Austen Lane and D'Anthony Smith may not make their respective 53 man rosters. 2011 wasn't much better, with our 1st round pick being traded for a 6th round pick only 3 years later. 2012 started off great - Blackmon had all the promise in the world but somethings you just can't control; Branch has a chance to be really good this year, and Anger...well he's just a great punter. Probably would've been available in the 4th or 5th round of 2012, but we lost the Cincinatti game in 2011 because of Turk, so yeah - a punter CAN win or lose a game for you. What's done is done - anyone still complaining that we took a punter in the 3rd round: at least we've got a top 3 punter in the NFL.
To your point about later rounds, yes, Cecil was a great pick. But the other 4-7 rounders are just guys. To name a couple, Rashad will probably play backup to Hillis. Mike Harris (if he makes the roster) will be a backup and primarily special teams guy.
Ultimately I think one of the worst things he did was his handling of David Garrard. That whole saga just left a bad taste in everyone's mouth. Also consider a few of his "high profile" FA acquisitions: Laurent Robinson got CRAZY money and hardly played. We only got 8 games out of Aaron Kampman. We didn't get much out of Torry Holt. And Aaron Ross had himself a "paid vacation."
His reputation around Jax as the biggest idiot in sports is a tad much, but he's far from good.
Quote from: taylormiller on August 01, 2014, 04:33:50 PM
While it is true that 16 of his 26 picks are currently on rosters, that number needs to be revisited when all the 90 man rosters are trimmed down to 53.
Not just on rosters, but either 1st or 2nd on depth charts. I understand that we still need to cut down to the 53, but I'm only referring to the one's that are either starting or currently a primary backup. And it doesn't really matter which team they play for. i.e. Knighton is a starting DT for the Broncos. Why he didn't cut it here is unimportant. I was focused on whether or not they're playing at all.
The rest of your post is full of inconsistencies and flat out wrong in other casesm so there's not really a point in discussing. I posted a spreadsheet, so you should be able to figure out who's playing where.
Quote from: Non-RedNeck Westsider on August 01, 2014, 04:44:34 PM
Quote from: taylormiller on August 01, 2014, 04:33:50 PM
While it is true that 16 of his 26 picks are currently on rosters, that number needs to be revisited when all the 90 man rosters are trimmed down to 53.
Not just on rosters, but either 1st or 2nd on depth charts. I understand that we still need to cut down to the 53, but I'm only referring to the one's that are either starting or currently a primary backup. And it doesn't really matter which team they play for. i.e. Knighton is a starting DT for the Broncos. Why he didn't cut it here is unimportant. I was focused on whether or not they're playing at all.
The rest of your post is full of inconsistencies and flat out wrong in other casesm so there's not really a point in discussing. I posted a spreadsheet, so you should be able to figure out who's playing where.
Where did you come up with the depth chart info? You have both Zach Miller and Jervis Pendelton as 2. Per both the Bears and Colts websites they do not have a depth chart yet posted?
Quote from: Non-RedNeck Westsider on August 01, 2014, 04:44:34 PM
The rest of your post is full of inconsistencies and flat out wrong in other casesm so there's not really a point in discussing. I posted a spreadsheet, so you should be able to figure out who's playing where.
Well now hang on - I meant no offense to you or your spreadsheet, in fact I was agreeing with you in a sense that GS gets a bit of an unfair rap around here; but could you identify where I'm "flat out wrong"?
Regarding his draft picks:No one from the 2009 draft is on our roster. Only Alualu remains from the 2010 roster for the Jags, and you have him listed as #2 in the depth chart just as I've stated. Just a prediction, but I don't believe that Mike Harris will be starting over Will Blackmon, Alan Ball, Jonathan Cyprien or Winston Guy/Josh Evans (if healthy.) Gabbert, a 1st rounder in 2011 was traded to San Francisco in 2014 for a 6th rounder...I'm not seeing the "inconsistencies" or anything that is just "flat out wrong" thus far.
Regarding later round picks: I agreed with you that Cecil was a great pick. As of right now, you are correct that Jennings is listed as #1 on the NYG roster, but I simply am making a prediction that Peyton Hillis (who is currently listed at #3 on the depth chart,) will at some point in the season take over. That's just a prediction. It could come to pass that Jennings keeps the starting job - in which case good for him. It's just my opinion that I don't think he will. That contention could be disagreed with, but I don't see how the opinion itself could be classified as wrong.
Regarding free agents: Kampman did play a total of 8 games in 2010 and registered 25 tackles and 4 sacks. Torry Holt, for a 3 year $20 million dollar deal only played 1 year and registered 51 catches for 722 yards and 0 TDs (most would consider that to be less than expected.) Laurent Robinson was signed to a 5 year $32.5 million dollar deal and only played in 7 games, catching 24 passes for 252 yards and suffered 4 concussions in the process. Unless I missed something here, all of those, at least in my opinion, didn't live up to expectation.
I'm not trying to discredit your opinions here, I'm simply voicing my own - I wouldn't call yours flat out wrong as they are, after all, opinions. Could you tell where my opinions, or facts for that matter, were wrong though? Just in case I missed something.