Golden Nuggets: BPA Over Need

I would find it hilarious, except I followed the link myself.

On a related note, I am going to take credit for inventing the phrase “Rebecca Roll”.

I think going strictly with BPA or Need is foolish.

I think you have to consider the change in productivity for any player added.

Lets say we get Jonathan Joseph in FA and grab Patrick Peterson at #7, but our offense still sputters due to missing on our QB pick this year and we draft at #10 next year. If the BPA is a corner, adding him to the team is not going to be as big an upgrade as taking a QB.

So I think it’s a mix. You have your positions of need, and the positions where adding another player of any talent level is not going to help you much. So you take the BPA that fills any of your need positions to get the most improvement in wins.

On switching to the 4-3. I think it would be a smart idea.

The benefit of the 3-4 used to be that few teams ran it. So you could pick up that human wall of flesh at NT that didn’t really fit in the 4-3. You could pick up the smaller DE’s in the middle rounds and convert them into large OLB’s. You could pick up the big DT’s that weren’t so great at penetration in the lower rounds and use them as your DE’s.

But now where half the league runs the 3-4 there is a premium on these positions and not enough talent to fill them.

In the 4-3 defensive tackles and linebackers are now easier to come by in the middle rounds, and the premium positions are the defensive ends.

And with this draft an an example.. there are far more 4-3 ends available than ends who can realistically be converted to OLB.

We’ve aready been running the 3-4 pretty effectively with one or two short-comings.

First is cornerbacks getting burned. If Patrick Petersen is there at #7 picking him adresses this issue directly. So I disagree with your choice of example to make the taking the BPA isn’t a good strategy.

I do agree taking players by need is a good idea if executed responsibly. For example, if Petersen, Miller, Farley, Dareus, Gabbert and Newton go first six picks. We are staring at Da’Quan Bowers who may not fit a 3-4 defense, which we don’t have the roster to switch to nor the inclination.

He is the BPA, and none of our needs are the next BPA unless you like Amukamara enough to pick him here. You can probably trade back and still get him. Which is pretty much my point, We can trade the pick for Bowers to a team like Tampa who can really use a good DE and has the 20th and the 51st pick.

I don’t see many quarterbacks being picked in the first round this year so an extra pick could mean an extra try at getting a good quarterback this year. Let’s face it, picking a good quarterback in the draft is all about getting lucky. Well that, and getting good Offensive Linemen.

Especially if it’s Peterson or Miller!