Drafting based on production vs potential

Discussion in 'Tennessee Titans and NFL Talk' started by TheSureThing, Dec 3, 2012.

Thread Status:
Not open for further replies.
Page 1 of 2
  1. TheSureThing

    TheSureThing Straight Cash Homie

    7,545
    2,084
    679
    Watching Russell Wilson have the immediate success he's having in Seattle got me thinking about the way teams in the NFL draft. And how it's so flawed. Everyone has bought into all the measurables, and it seems like there is total disregard for actual production in college.

    It's particularly frustrating to me as a titan fan because we took a guy like Jake Locker, nearly 30 picks ahead of Colin Kaepernick who was a stat stuffer in college, and now Kaepernick looks light years ahead of Locker and has already won as many games as him. There's so many examples of this in our organization such as, we essentially used a 2nd rounder to draft Cook who is the quintessential "prospect" potential based player when you've got proven TE's that actually produced in college like a Dennis Pitta who go in the mid 4th round and turn out to be one of the best TE's in the AFC.

    We consistently pass up players in positions we need who were some of the best players in the nation at the college level to draft guys because of their 40 time, height, or vertical. Just doesn't make sense to me. Alfred Morris is the career leading rusher at FAU, and he doesn't get picked til the 6th round and now he's a top 5 rusher in the NFL. Chris Rainey, never rushed for 1000 yards in any season in college, was taken a round ahead of him!

    Just once I'd like to see the Titans go into the draft with this philosophy. Instead of picking guys like Damian Williams, Lavelle Hawkins, Chris Henry, Paul Williams, Taylor Thompson, or Jared Cook maybe we could actually end up with a Colin Kaepernick, James Lauranitis, Major Wright, Dennis Pitta, Aaron Hernandez, or Danny Woodhead. There are so many examples of college studs who get knocked for some over thought scientific flaw they have and they fall draft day and sure enough one of the better managements in the NFL, like a New England, Pittsburgh, Baltimore, Green Bay, or New York, snatches them up and wouldn't you know it they produce at the NFL level as well.
     
    #1 TheSureThing, Dec 3, 2012
    • High Five High Five x 1
  4. Alzarius

    Alzarius Pro Bowler Tip Jar Donor

    9,232
    4,068
    879
    I would be VERY interested to know how much NE/Pitt/Ravens/GB/NY spend on recruiting compared to the Titans.
     
    #2 Alzarius, Dec 3, 2012
    • High Five High Five x 2
  7. Kaeotik

    Kaeotik Pro Bowler

    5,371
    2,545
    759
    Kaepernick? lol He has not looked all that great, and what good he has done is undoubtedly at least somewhat due to the fact that he's on an excellent team with a good coaches. For Oprah's sake they won with Alex Smith!!! Btw, the Kaepernick led 9ers just lost to the Rams.
     
    #3 Kaeotik, Dec 3, 2012
  10. Finnegan2win

    Finnegan2win hopesfall2win

    17,640
    7,140
    1,189
    $10,000 vs $100
     
    #4 Finnegan2win, Dec 3, 2012
  13. JCBRAVE

    JCBRAVE goTitans 2019 Survivor Champion

    82,274
    26,649
    1,509
    Here's the thing, every NFL coach believes he can get more out of a guy than the coach before him, and that college production ends when you hit the NFL. Sooo when you have a person like Jake Locker with all his measurables and other great traits come along, you go for him because hes got the raw skill-set that will allow you to get him up to where he could be.

    1st & 2nd round picks are always the players with size and speed who because of their size and speed could become elite. It's not til the 3rd and later you see college production come into play.

    But I agree with you TheSureThing, college production should count for more. It really is the one and only thing that says this guy is a football player.
     
    #5 JCBRAVE, Dec 3, 2012
    • High Five High Five x 1
  16. TitanJeff

    TitanJeff Kahuna Grande Staff

    30,461
    11,489
    1,769
    The Titans have been notorious for taking raw talent with lots of upside. I think Kearse was a big influence in that though he was also quite productive at Florida. The knock on him was that he didn't fit either DE or OLB.

    So we see the Titans take a Ben Troupe and Chris Henry thinking they can "coach 'em up" and hit big. It has seemed to fail more than succeed lately. I think Finnegan was the last potential guy who really panned out.

    But there has also been a few very productive college players who never did anything as well. Curran, Rolle, Mouton, Hawkins and Paul Williams are all examples of productive college players which didn't translate to the NFL level.

    I personally feel the Titans have to use the first two rounds to get players who are both solid players with exceptional size/speed. Use rounds 3-5 to reach for a guy who has the potential or the player who was extremely productive but doesn't have ideal size.
     
    #6 TitanJeff, Dec 3, 2012
  19. World Peace

    World Peace Nephew Gunner

    14,892
    3,305
    799
    I've always thought our recruiting went south since Floyd Reese left the team. He drafted some stinkers as well... but for example, he wanted Devin Hester and fisher insisted on LenDale White... said Floyd's wife in an interview. She went on to say that Floyd wanted several players that Fisher would veto. Floyd Reese goes to NE and makes a Super Bowl appearance... We still haven't won a playoff game since he's been gone.

    Remember when CJ was drafted and we all said.. "Why in the hell do we need another running back?"

    We really need to take a 2nd or 3rd look at the scouting and recruiting teams and how they do business.
     
    #7 World Peace, Dec 3, 2012
  22. Kaeotik

    Kaeotik Pro Bowler

    5,371
    2,545
    759
    I would argue that Zach Brown was a potential guy that has looked pretty good as a rookie and may end up being outstanding assuming he continues to improve.
     
    #8 Kaeotik, Dec 3, 2012
  25. Tank

    Tank Guest

    Spot on
     
    #9 Tank, Dec 3, 2012
  28. JCBRAVE

    JCBRAVE goTitans 2019 Survivor Champion

    82,274
    26,649
    1,509
    And Damian Williams is a good player, don't play him.
     
    #10 JCBRAVE, Dec 3, 2012
Page 1 of 2
Thread Status:
Not open for further replies.
Style
GT Classic

  • Welcome to goTitans.com

    Established in 2000, goTitans.com is the place for Tennessee Titans fans to talk Titans. Our roots go back to the Tennessee Oilers Fan Page in 1997 and we currently have 4,000 diehard members with 1.5 million messages. To find out about advertising opportunities, contact TitanJeff.

  • The Tip Jar

    For those of you interested in helping the cause, we offer The Tip Jar. For $2 a month, you can become a subscriber and enjoy goTitans.com without ads.

    Hit the Tip Jar