- Joined
- May 8, 2014
- Messages
- 39,678
Listening to all the hubbub around the league and one thing I think many of them are overlooking is what Snead has done in drafting very well as their regime settles in, and by this I mean the front office and scouting department.
Now I know Fish is probably the 51% on decisions. But still he is beholden to the quality of the overall scouting department, and how well these guys put the data together and bake it all out for the decision makers. He's also beholden to Snead's ability to make moves to aggressively get the players they target.
Judging the first two drafts, well, they were meh. 2012 netted four long term starters (Brock, Jenks, Tru, and GZ), well five if you count UDFA McLeod. But none were elite players. 2013 netted three long term starters in a smaller class (Tavon, Ogletree, TJM).
Now 2014's draft is still a bit fresh, but right now there are five who look like they will be long term starters (GRob, Donald, Joyner, Alexander, and Gaines). Of those, they finally hit on an elite player in Donald. Some may argue Alexander, but IMO he's come along very, very well and is going to factor in bigtime next year for the Rams.
2015's draft class looks to have included four guys that will be long term starters (Gurley, Havenstein, Brown, and Wichmann). One is already clearly an elite player in Gurley. I suspect Havenstein has pro bowls in his future, just my opinion, while the Rams are talking up Brown.
Bottom line is the quality of those last two classes is unarguably higher. Two consecutive rookies of the year ensure that right now Snead is looked at as one of the better GMs in this league. If he were fired with Fish at the end of last season, for example, he would have been hired quickly. But now they are in a position with a five player draft class after dealing a LOT of picks that would have nicely padded his resume.
Of those five picks, four are in rounds 4 and 6. That's a tough, tough way to make hay in this league man. And it means that he's gotta hit a home run on this QB pick at 1 overall. I don't know about you guys, but after the last couple drafts being as good as they were I think Snead and Fish might just get it right. Either way I'm excited, and I think the extra focus they're going to inevitably put on rounds 4 and 6 might help them to hit big on one or two of them.
Now I know Fish is probably the 51% on decisions. But still he is beholden to the quality of the overall scouting department, and how well these guys put the data together and bake it all out for the decision makers. He's also beholden to Snead's ability to make moves to aggressively get the players they target.
Judging the first two drafts, well, they were meh. 2012 netted four long term starters (Brock, Jenks, Tru, and GZ), well five if you count UDFA McLeod. But none were elite players. 2013 netted three long term starters in a smaller class (Tavon, Ogletree, TJM).
Now 2014's draft is still a bit fresh, but right now there are five who look like they will be long term starters (GRob, Donald, Joyner, Alexander, and Gaines). Of those, they finally hit on an elite player in Donald. Some may argue Alexander, but IMO he's come along very, very well and is going to factor in bigtime next year for the Rams.
2015's draft class looks to have included four guys that will be long term starters (Gurley, Havenstein, Brown, and Wichmann). One is already clearly an elite player in Gurley. I suspect Havenstein has pro bowls in his future, just my opinion, while the Rams are talking up Brown.
Bottom line is the quality of those last two classes is unarguably higher. Two consecutive rookies of the year ensure that right now Snead is looked at as one of the better GMs in this league. If he were fired with Fish at the end of last season, for example, he would have been hired quickly. But now they are in a position with a five player draft class after dealing a LOT of picks that would have nicely padded his resume.
Of those five picks, four are in rounds 4 and 6. That's a tough, tough way to make hay in this league man. And it means that he's gotta hit a home run on this QB pick at 1 overall. I don't know about you guys, but after the last couple drafts being as good as they were I think Snead and Fish might just get it right. Either way I'm excited, and I think the extra focus they're going to inevitably put on rounds 4 and 6 might help them to hit big on one or two of them.
