What draft rules would you have?

HawkGA

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There's that rule that Ron Wolfe had about always taking a quarterback. What are some other "draft rules" you would have if you were a GM (keeping in mind that by "rule" it might not always work out that way but generally something you try to accomplish)?

Mine would be:

Always draft an OL in the first 3 rounds (maybe 4, but I like 3). There are 5 positions on the OL, that's a lot of bodies that you need to cover. And by using draft capital on them, they'll always be fairly cheap.

Always a draft a LB in the middle to late rounds. This is just a depth and special teams play.
 

sdog1981

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If your team has 7 picks three of them to need to be on the line. Look at the teams that win Superbowls, they have O lines built with 3-7th rounders. Depth along the line can cover up a lot of blemishes on both sides of the ball.
 

Attyla the Hawk

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I'd have a lot of rules:

1. Fully understand what your coach wants out of players. There is no worse situation than selecting players that don't fit your coache's team philosophy and style.

2. Trust your scouts.

3. Embrace dissent in talent evaluation process

4. Reserve R1 picks for QB/LT/Pass rush with few exceptions. Those exceptions being players who can leverage other ability to create significant mismatches in your scheme. Otherwise trade out of day one.

5. Pay OL. Drafting for cheap OL is a market inefficiency. It takes years to develop NFL quality OL. The lack of quantity and coaching at the college level ensures that the future pool of day one ready OL is going to be exceedingly limited. In terms of rookie pay scale starts -- any OL drafted is going to be almost a full year less than other positions. The entire league is fighting over OL scraps every draft year. Best option is to avoid this scrum entirely until day 3.

6. Draft defense early and often. Don't resign defense. Don't resign LBs. In terms of draft efficiency, defensive players are the most Day 1 ready prospects. And LBs in particular are generically plentiful in the 20th to 75th overall range of virtually any draft.

7, Buttress need with UFA talent. You never know how the draft will shake out. If your need can be reduced to a '1 or 2 year plan' the better. Allows for draft flexibility.

8. Trade players you don't intend to resign a year early if you can. Particularly if you're loading up on defensive talent year after year. Those rookies are more capable of playing sufficiently good on day 1.

9. Trade for better future picks instead of adding additional later round (same year) picks.

Those are just some general guidelines I'd use.
 
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HawkGA

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I like your #9. That's one I have thought about with the Hawks at times. Quit trading back already and just trade into next year. At some point adding more low round players in a given year isn't as beneficial as adding a better player the next year.
 
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HawkGA

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dutchcoug":lu8l7gmf said:
Never draft a kicker, punter or long snapper.

Oh I'm all about trading up in the third round to draft a punter, or whatever the heck it was that Jacksonville or whoever did last year.
 

kobebryant

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Reverse the picking order amongst the non-playoff teams in the draft. If you are the last team to miss the playoffs you are rewarded for your effort and conitnuing top fight to the end; if you tank out and put a crappy product on the field you aren't rewarded for it. All week 16-17 games then become much more important, even amongst bad teams.
 

ctrcat

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kobebryant":3uqckfed said:
Reverse the picking order amongst the non-playoff teams in the draft. If you are the last team to miss the playoffs you are rewarded for your effort and conitnuing top fight to the end; if you tank out and put a crappy product on the field you aren't rewarded for it. All week 16-17 games then become much more important, even amongst bad teams.

Not a terrible idea, but I like a reverse/snake 1-32-32-1 through all 7 rounds, meaning rounds 2, 4, and 6 reward teams for not tanking. Mark Cuban said today the Mavericks tanked after being eliminated, and they even have a (sham) lottery in that system. The 2, 4, 6 reverse/snake still gives hope to the needy/keeps competitive balance/while not rewarding sucktatude. The net value of picks 32 and 33 together is still not enough to get into the top 12.
 

kobebryant

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ctrcat":3g00hips said:
kobebryant":3g00hips said:
Reverse the picking order amongst the non-playoff teams in the draft. If you are the last team to miss the playoffs you are rewarded for your effort and conitnuing top fight to the end; if you tank out and put a crappy product on the field you aren't rewarded for it. All week 16-17 games then become much more important, even amongst bad teams.

Not a terrible idea, but I like a reverse/snake 1-32-32-1 through all 7 rounds, meaning rounds 2, 4, and 6 reward teams for not tanking. Mark Cuban said today the Mavericks tanked after being eliminated, and they even have a (sham) lottery in that system. The 2, 4, 6 reverse/snake still gives hope to the needy/keeps competitive balance/while not rewarding sucktatude. The net value of picks 32 and 33 together is still not enough to get into the top 12.

I like that too.

I'm a Vancouver Canucks fan, watched them tank out for the better part of the season and give minutes to minor leaguers while still charging full price for tickets. They, along with Colorado, had the best odds of picking 1st or 2nd in what is considered a two player draft; they're picking 5th because of the lottery, and though it kinda sucks, I appreciate that they weren't rewarded for the approach they took to the season.
 

ctrcat

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kobebryant":tlo3x4iy said:
ctrcat":tlo3x4iy said:
kobebryant":tlo3x4iy said:
Reverse the picking order amongst the non-playoff teams in the draft. If you are the last team to miss the playoffs you are rewarded for your effort and conitnuing top fight to the end; if you tank out and put a crappy product on the field you aren't rewarded for it. All week 16-17 games then become much more important, even amongst bad teams.

Not a terrible idea, but I like a reverse/snake 1-32-32-1 through all 7 rounds, meaning rounds 2, 4, and 6 reward teams for not tanking. Mark Cuban said today the Mavericks tanked after being eliminated, and they even have a (sham) lottery in that system. The 2, 4, 6 reverse/snake still gives hope to the needy/keeps competitive balance/while not rewarding sucktatude. The net value of picks 32 and 33 together is still not enough to get into the top 12.

I like that too.

I'm a Vancouver Canucks fan, watched them tank out for the better part of the season and give minutes to minor leaguers while still charging full price for tickets. They, along with Colorado, had the best odds of picking 1st or 2nd in what is considered a two player draft; they're picking 5th because of the lottery, and though it kinda sucks, I appreciate that they weren't rewarded for the approach they took to the season.

Interesting perspective. I am a hockey fan too.

In 2012 the Charlotte Bobcats/Hornets literally had the worst win % in NBA History in the lockout shortened season. They were so incredibly bad-somewhat by design-but were trying to win games, especially after locking up the "highest odds of the #1 pick (an absurd "25%)", to avoid that dubious distinction which they did achieve. Of course, New Orleans basketball needed a boost and at the time they were owned by the NBA, so they got Anthony Davis.
 

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Attyla the Hawk":121hdktd said:
9. Trade for better future picks instead of adding additional later round (same year) picks.

All your "rules" are good ones, but this one is especially good! I'm always wishing that when we trade down, we trade for future years' picks. They're generally a full round higher than if they'd have been for this year's pick, and while you have to wait, that's definitely worth a wait. Way better value for trades.
 

cover-2

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Draft an offensive lineman every draft, but its not a must in the first three rounds. Always re-sign your top-3 proven o-lineman. Always draft young hungry defensive players over similarity rated offensive prospects.
 
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HawkGA

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cover-2":13phzdjn said:
Draft an offensive lineman every draft, but its not a must in the first three rounds. Always re-sign your top-3 proven o-lineman. Always draft young hungry defensive players over similarity rated offensive prospects.

If you're doing the bolded part, then certainly drafting OL high isn't as important. I suspect, though, that there is sufficient cost savings to not do that, as the Hawks have demonstrated so far.
 

cover-2

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HawkGA":39u5y1of said:
cover-2":39u5y1of said:
Draft an offensive lineman every draft, but its not a must in the first three rounds. Always re-sign your top-3 proven o-lineman. Always draft young hungry defensive players over similarity rated offensive prospects.

If you're doing the bolded part, then certainly drafting OL high isn't as important. I suspect, though, that there is sufficient cost savings to not do that, as the Hawks have demonstrated so far.

I probably didn't word that highlighted part the correct way. For me, PROVEN, means that they were actually good, without having legit deficiencies. Okung was a nice LT, but for me he was not worth a long term contract due to being injury prone. Carpenter was a great run blocking OG, but suspect in pass pro. Carp's weight issues was a huge concern for me and I definitely didn't think he warranted a long term contract. Sweezy, for me was waaaaaay overrated. I know coach Cable loved him, but he didn't rate a long term contract.

On the other hand, Max Unger did warrant a long term contract when he was re-signed. As far as the current Seahawks o-lineman...Britt is a must re-sign for me. Britt won me over this past season and is a core player on the o-line. As far as the other current o-lineman...
Fant - Great potential and he has bulked up to a supersized athlete at LT. Too early to decide on weather I would re-sign him.
Glo - While he is really athletic, he is not a dominate OG in any aspect. Let him walk and receive a 4th or 5th round comp draft pick for him.
Ifedi - Big, long, athletic player. But he is all potential and has yet to prove to be a legit starter in the NFL. If he were a free agent today, I would not re-sign him to a long term contract.
 

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I mostly agree with Attyla's, at least loosely.
I'd start with a couple simple ones:
1. Don't force anything, or put too much emphasis on the perceived first-year impact or lack thereof.
2. Generally value experience and continuity on offense more than defense and plan for more turnover and rookie contracts on defense
 

Attyla the Hawk

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cover-2":1ufjrzai said:
As far as the current Seahawks o-lineman...Britt is a must re-sign for me. Britt won me over this past season and is a core player on the o-line. As far as the other current o-lineman...
Fant - Great potential and he has bulked up to a supersized athlete at LT. Too early to decide on weather I would re-sign him.
Glo - While he is really athletic, he is not a dominate OG in any aspect. Let him walk and receive a 4th or 5th round comp draft pick for him.
Ifedi - Big, long, athletic player. But he is all potential and has yet to prove to be a legit starter in the NFL. If he were a free agent today, I would not re-sign him to a long term contract.

Kind of torn on Britt. I agree, he is worthy of resigning. But I also concede that OC are pretty easy to acquire in the draft. Seems there are always at least 2-3 Britt caliber center prospects available in the 25-100 overall range of every draft.

Still, keeping good homegrown talent, even if readily replaceable is worth retaining. But if he's looking for a Joeckel level contract I think you have to consider letting him walk.

Fant/Ifedi are just too young to make a statement on them. If they've plateaued to current levels by next year -- yeah they're walking. But I don't expect that.

Glowinski is now entering his third year. This is the year where either he becomes resign worthy or we end up pulling the trigger on next years Lamp/Feeney to replace (BTW, kudos to San Diego for getting both of these guys on day 2).
 
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