LAOJoe & RTTRUTH's 12th Annual Collaborative Mock Draft

I forget all the nuances but a lot of it had to do with timing of releases/trades and which players to target in FA. On top of that they did a good job of getting nice players that needed a raise that just didn't fit on the team. Core players stuck around and the fringe guys needing a raise go, get them comp picks and they just get some new cheap or young guy to fill a role. And with extra comp picks and successful organizations it became easier to keep the cycle going.

 

Outside of the first round I just don't think any of the groups really line up that well in value like that this year. Maybe WR in round 3-4. Guess we'll see. S in a later round? Again, time will tell. Just trying to think where guys group up well for me.

As a sidenote, I'm still grinding tape trying to find late round gems. And I have to say, I pretty much HATE the CB class this year. I mean I like 4 guys in the top 50, but if you don't force a pick there, Man!!....between scheme fit, league readiness, and overall talent I personally just don't see much later on. Might be one of my most hated groups of the last 5 years. Might not help a ton that I can't find much tape on some of the later guys. I was whining to Tim in PM probably over a month ago already at how hard it's been to find good scouting tape on the DB's this year.

 

I'm with Torgo though. I wouldn't call that "abusing" the system. That's playing the system, the same system all the owners would have had to vote on. It's not Philly's or Pittsburgh's or New England's fault they make less rash decisions when roster building and handling the draft and FA.

Other teams don't like it, draft better. Don't sign one year wonders at Washington and Dallas prices. Fire your Matt Millen's and Ryan Grigson's sooner.

 

CB really becomes underwhelming from essentially this point on. A couple of guys I like but no one I would rely on early.

 

Well to be fair when I say abused what I mean is really - understands the rules and uses them to the maximum benefit. Belichick does this with pretty much every rule. The guy is a master at generating comp picks and maximizing the comp pick value of his transactions. If the word abuse is the problem throw it out -- it's tainted with my jealousy that some teams are sophisticated enough to include that calculation as part of their roster building philosophy and mine doesn't.

Some teams use the system as a way of generating extra draft value regularly and some teams don't bother thinking about it and just take what they are given when it happens.

 

Anyone else feel weird by the whole "hire a minority" to buy a pick thing? It's so bad that guys gotta get bribed?

 

And it seems to have lined up EXACTLY that way with the GMO. I think all CBs that went by this point in the GMO have gone here and vice versa with no extra names in either before all the names went. We had one more CB in the GMO but all the others went.

 

So... teams are rewarded for keeping players through the end of their contracts, picking up worthy players that otherwise fell through the cracks, and allowing emerging players to advance their careers in free agency.

Sounds like a good system.

 

Like the Chargers on the reverse. I remember breaking down a draft about two years ago. Chargers were one of only two teams that didn't trade up, or down, even once. Had zero comp picks also. Just sat still and picked when it was their turn.

Matter of fact, I think I did that breakdown because I was trying to make sense of two teams from the same division, Seattle and the Rams. Seattle traded back so many times I was trying to make sense of what they were hoping to accomplish on a team that was already competitive. And the Rams traded up enough times I was trying to figure out how they had anything to trade. That front office is balls to the wall in the most spectacular fashion.

 

I admit not knowing how to feel when I read about it. But one year in it does appear to be having an effect already. That's progress, I suppose...

 

One pick overlap. 3.23 we had a new CB go in the GMO (3.24 but 3.13 was missing). At 3.23 here we had Wade who went in the first in the GMO. But all others before that new CB were taken here by 3.23 and no other guys sneak in.

 

Yeah, it's strange...

 

I got Trill in the F/A rounds of the GMO somehow....

Also snagged Marlon Tuipulotu in F/A rounds...

Seems we've tighten the ship a bit for this draft.

 

In principle. There are loopholes like signing guys that were cut in certain ways not counting to your limit. So you can push hard to sign one of those big name FAs so that you get a big signing and still getting a 3rd or 4th rounder from missing your own guy. There are abuses. Some teams do it. Like you can let a guy go, sign a similar player for similar money that a team released for cap reasons and get a free pick.

 

Ya but Trill is a new name after the other ones drafted in both drafts here. He's the start of the next group that seems like a crapshoot of pick your poison/scheme fit. No offense to your pick. I've got a few of those too and in the GMO I considered the same CBs from the 4th through late, even passing on them in the 6th/7th when I considered them in the 4th.

 

Perfect. This nails it.

The next aspect of it is that you have to have good scouting, both pro and college, in order to make it pay off. Otherwise it ends up being worthless and you end up in the situation that RT is describing for the Rams. If you lose a Deion Sanders to free agency and use the comp pick to draft Clarabelle The Clown, you aren't helping your team with the comp pick strategy.

 

TD I see where I confused you though. I said and Vice Versa and that is not exactly true. I meant same through the first X names.

 

I’m up?

 

Always happens a bit as people put in more time to the research and stuff, and as the draft approaches.
Don't want to name drop, but let's just say I remember the first mock draft I saw Daniel Jeremiah do this year, and he had a guy in there that made me go WTF!!

Without looking I know he's still available in this one, and guessing went round 4-5 in the GMO. No business being projected in the first IMO. But my point is if even the "pros" with access to real NFL personnel can be that far off early in the process, we need not feel too bad about it. LoL

 

That loophole is important and helps prevent abuses. The guys who get released don't count as free agents for the comp pick system, which is perfect. You don't want to reward the other team for "losing" a guy when they actually threw him away.