Florio: Rams should have selected Russell Wilson

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I like Mike Florio's site and go over there many times a day but for an ex-lawyer, and one would have to assume an educated man, he sure comes up with some specious reasoning and bone-headed remarks at times. He refers to Fisher as Captain Obvious but Florio should refer to himself as Captain Hindsight.

Sure, we passed on Russell Wilson but so did every other team until the third round. No one knows if he would have fit in with the Rams and thrived in Schottenheimer's offense. Plus we would have missed out on the players we have now. Trying to go back and redo past drafts is a fool's game.
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http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2014/12/04/fisher-states-the-obvious-on-griffin-trade/

Fisher states the obvious on Griffin trade
Posted by Mike Florio on December 4, 2014

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Earlier this week, Jon Stewart suggested that Rams coach Jeff Fisher has a little Nick Nolte vibe. On Wednesday, Fisher opted to play the role of Captain Obvious.

Does he have any regrets giving up the second overall pick in the 2012 draft for the sixth overall pick, two more first-round picks, and a second-round pick?

“No regrets,” Fisher told reporters, via comments circulated by the team. “At the time it was a good deal for us and it was a good deal for Washington.”

But it’s become a bad deal for Washington. And that’s the team whose sodium-pentothaled answer to the question of potential regrets would be far more intriguing than whether the Rams regret passing on a quarterback who burned bright as a rookie but has since burned out, potentially.

“We drafted eight players, seven of which are on our roster,” Fisher said. “But I think you have to look past that. We’ve got defensive starters. We got [defensive tackle Michael Brockers]. . . . We got [offensive lineman] Greg Robinson as a result of that. More importantly than that because of those that we drafted through the trade with Washington, we were able to do some other things.”

Fisher should have no regrets about what he got for the second overall pick in 2012. However, there’s one specific reason to have regrets about that draft from nearly three years ago. Of the 74 picks used before the Seahawks took quarterback Russell Wilson, the Rams had five of them.

From Michael Brockers to Brian Quick to Janoris Jenkins to Isaiah Pead to Trumaine Johnson, the Rams consistently passed on the man they now play twice per year. The man who won a Super Bowl in his second season. The man who would be the clear-cut starter in St. Louis right now, and the Rams would be much better off for it.

Of those five players, the most glaring misfire was Pead. After a pair of disappointing seasons, Pead suffered a torn ACL in the preseason, was waived with the “injured” designation, was unclaimed by any of the other 31 teams despite being the 50th overall pick in the draft two years earlier, and likely will be a former Ram, sooner than later.

The goal here isn’t to pick on the Rams. But it’s impossible to talk about regrets relating to quarterbacks and the 2012 draft without mentioning Wilson, especially when talking about the team that passed on him more times than any other team did.
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Talk about love fest for Wilson, huh?! Other than Pead, the Rams did a good job using those picks. Yes, they play Wilson twice a year but were not the only team that passed up on him.
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Hindsight is 20/20. More often than not a pick doesn’t pan out at all, so getting a set of starters is a success.

If you’re playing the draft game, the Rams could have stayed at #6 and taken Luke Kuechly. They could have taken Alshon Jeffery over Brian Quick. They could have used any of their picks on Vontaze Burfict.
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As a skins fan, I can rest easy knowing that Bruce Allen would have wasted all those draft picks on busts or trades for washed up players. Enjoy, STL!
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With that kind of haul, his team should have a much better record than it does.

But somehow, Fisher manages to have the media in a perpetual state of wonderment as to home he manages to “achieve” an 8-8 record.
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Drafting is an imperfect science and none of these coaches/GM’s can predict with any certainty who will and won’t be good in the NFL. Which is why mortgaging your future for one player is so dumb. The Patriots constantly trade out of the first round, are always stock piling later round picks, and Bill struggles mightily in the later rounds……. But despite all of his faults as a GM I know he would never make a trade like this.
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And with all those picks, he’s still under 500 coaching the Rams; Ha!! Most over rated coach of all time.
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And if everyone could see into the future, the Seahawks wouldn’t have signed Matt Flynn to a deal that guarantees him $9M a month before the draft. Every team every year has those what if situations about a player they passed up on.
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Because Florio, you knew Russell Wilson was going to be that good. Maybe you should lend your crystal ball to the teams you like.
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No one thought Wilson would be as good as he is or he wouldn’t have been picked 75th. Even the Seahawks passed on him twice. You might as well say that you regret not buying the right numbers in the powerball draw. If it was a clear case of one or the other sure. Plus it’s not like the Rams even drafted another QB. Like if the Colts had picked RG3 then yes they would regret not picking Luck but to fault the Rams for doing what EVERY other team did TWICE is an absurd argument.

Would they be better off had they picked Wilson over Pead? Sure. But they’d be even better off had they picked Aaron Rodgers a few years ago or Tom Brady back in 2000.
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Still trying to see how it was a good deal for the Rams? They have finished in last place every year since the trade, and only one of those teams won a division title. Not too mention RG3 won rookie of the year. Right now it’s a wash, especially since Washington can’t draft anyway and would have screwed the picks up regardless.
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This goes back to putting all of their eggs in one basket with an oft-injured Bradford.
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If you have a QB with a huge cap number, then it can be a huge advantage to start finding another one so that you have the ability to try and pass the other QB off in a trade to create some cap room while making roster room for a value QB. Every team should aspire to have more than one potential quality QB anyhow as a matter of depth and flexibility. The draft is a game of leverage and logic, and the key is make sure every pick has a very strategic purpose behind it. If you can’t identify a player that is an obvious sensible pick with each pick, then it becomes an art in moving from that pick to consolidate the value to acquire a premium target or to trade down to acquire more draft chips to work with.

I thought it was a great trade at the time for the Rams and a horrible trade for Washington based on the value of the picks being exchanged. The time to evaluate a trade is at the time the trade is made because everything should be looked at as material that has calculated expected values. To judge a trade after seeing how players pan out is a separate score of how you utilize the choices as a matter of scouting and planning, but the setup of the board and assembly of the pieces to have those opportunities is a different game in itself.

And while the Rams made a great trade, that doesn’t mean they should have stopped there and not looked for more good trades to make if they weren’t going to hit on using those picks well while other high-quality QB prospects were on the board for some of those extra picks.
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Constantly harping on teams that passed on Russell Wilson isn’t fair or constructive. Wilson was a diamond in the rough not an obvious pick that everyone saw coming. The Rams also have had a lot of faith and time invested in Sam Bradford, they didn’t need a QB then.
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Of course he has no regrets! even if Griffin wasn’t a bust, that’s still quite a haul of picks for 1 guy.. Even if Griffin was Jonny Unitas, you make that trade
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Wilson landed on the best young team in football at the time. I can’t remember a rookie QB who landed in a better spot. Who knows if he would have been good on the Rams.

Griffin, however, would have done nothing on this team like the Redskins.
 

bomebadeeda

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So Florio thinks he knows more than the team. Well he molests........ um....it's in the clip after "My uncle thinks you have a screw loose...."

 

ztoben

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Why doesn't every team just stop picking bust players and only start picking who they think is going to be the best?
 

Robocop

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so fucking stupid. just another reason I'm just as qualified to do the same job as these monkeys. so we should've taken Wilson after our QB had been OROY then had a bad sophomore year with a shitty banged up team and a bad ankle. w/e
 

blue4

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I like how they fooled everyone by drastically overpaying Flynn, thereby ensuring that the guy they wanted to draft would be less noticed. That's just smart FO work there. Then they had the foresight to wait until the 3rd round so opposing DC's couldn't get a read on him. It's just brilliant all the way around, certainly not dumb fucking luck.
 

Legatron4

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Do his publishers read his shit and be like "oh yeah this is gold! Print it!" Because I'm thinking they're probably just 100 year old blind dogs.
 

Jumava1968

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Wilson is a good QB but not great a lot of his success is because of the Sea defense. And while he has done things on his own he will and has missed G.Taint.He is a leg injury away from being good to being OK.
 

howski3318

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The article could have been named
Florio: 27 teams not named Broncos, Patriots, Packers, Saints, Colts should have selected Russell Wilson

I'm sure I'm forgetting some teams on this list but seriously?
 

theduke

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Floral is an idiot. Why would we draft Wilson when we could have taken Aaron Rodgers instead of...gulp...Alex Barron?
 

Dieter the Brock

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In a related story:
Florio also thinks the Hamilton Tiger Cats should have drafted Hugo Lopez instead of letting him drop to the Edmonton Eskimos
 

DaveFan'51

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I like Mike Florio's site and go over there many times a day but for an ex-lawyer, and one would have to assume an educated man, he sure comes up with some specious reasoning and bone-headed remarks at times. He refers to Fisher as Captain Obvious but Florio should refer to himself as Captain Hindsight.

Sure, we passed on Russell Wilson but so did every other team until the third round. No one knows if he would have fit in with the Rams and thrived in Schottenheimer's offense. Plus we would have missed out on the players we have now. Trying to go back and redo past drafts is a fool's game
After reading this far, I find no reason to waste my time reading any further!
 

dieterbrock

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Pretty brilliant deduction.
What's next?
Portland should have drafted Michael Jordan instead of Sam Bowie?
 

Blue and Gold

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I guess Redskins should have taken Russell Wilson, too. And everyone else, because we know that whoever took Wilson would have won Super Bowl. Denver should have taken him and not signed Peyton.
 

blue4

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Other than Warner's first season, I can't think of a QB becoming a starter for the first time in a better situation than RW. He quite literally only had to not throw every pass to the other team. That's it. Well, and the occasional scramble during on of the 14 plays per game not going to Lynch. Compare that to the terrible dumpster fire that Sam Bradford faced. Or David Carr. It really has a lot to do with situation, almost as much as talent. Location, location.
 

Sum1

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so freaking stupid. just another reason I'm just as qualified to do the same job as these monkeys. so we should've taken Wilson after our QB had been OROY then had a bad sophomore year with a crappy banged up team and a bad ankle. w/e
Well of course you are. Most sports writers are simply sports fans that have some degree of journalism education. I mean, if I had chosen to go to journalism school I'd have nor worse credentials than most. Being educated on how to report and/or write doesn't make one a sports expert.
 

Boffo97

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Why doesn't every team just stop picking bust players and only start picking who they think is going to be the best?
And why not we sign all the top free agents? Don't you want to win? smh. What's a salary cap?
 

ztoben

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And why not we sign all the top free agents? Don't you want to win? smh. What's a salary cap?

Lets just sign arron rodgers and calvin johnson too while we're at it, maybe grab peyton manning as a backup. Might as well right?

All these speculative and hindsight articles are complete garbage, I can't stand them...
 

fearsomefour

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Yep, articles like this are stupid.
Pointless.
Teams miss or if they like a guy they value a need over that player when they are drafting. I mean you could put together an all everything team with guys who were underrated or late round picks. How many teams really thought about taking Nate Newton? He was signed as an underrated FA by Washington, who then cut him. He played two years for the Bandits in the USFL. When the league folded he signed with Dallas and went on to become one of the better O lineman of his era.
Maybe he got lucky with the USFL acting as a "minor league" or sorts where he could grow his skills. Maybe he would have never developed into an NFL player with out that. Who knows? But, he ended up being a guy certainly worthy of a first round draft pick. Every team missed on him....more than once.
It is not an exact science.