Clearly he’s mailing it in. Probably had ChatGPT write it for him.
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I disagree about Campbell, yes he had some level of love, but @1CasanovaJack had to defend himself more than he should have over him. And he was considered a 2nd rounder at the time, and we had 2 1st rounders we were obsessing over. But the biggest issue was very few people thought we’d go LB early enough to get him. He’s like Kevin Winston this year. A couple of people who really love him and thus he gets some discussion, but a position most people don’t think we’ll draft - or don’t want to.
I was Jamo’s biggest fan (#4 overall on my board that year) but you’re right, the discussion was generally we’ll we’re not getting him at 2, so he wasn’t talked about much. But nowhere near the level of Arnold last year, more like, oh, Mason Graham this year. Someone who’s a fit but out of reach.
When people talked TE the vast majority of it was Darnell Washington because everyone loved his blocking. There was some spattering of the other guys, but LaPorta wasn’t above any of them (though again, I had him TE1, yes I’m boasting). We hadn’t started the Iowa thing yet. That was the draft that established it. But again, most thought we wouldn’t take one early. The argument was, look how great we did down the stretch last year once we traded Hockenson!
I still think every single one of the picks was a need. Even Jamo. We had Chark on a cheap one year deal coming off injury. We had CJGJ on a one year deal with Branch. We clearly needed a TE, although those can be had earlier than we drafted. AA was playing a bit out of position at MLB, so while MLB wasn’t a dire need it was still a pretty big need. You could look at 2023’s draft as a trade down to fill a bunch of needs rather than a couple. And then there is the whole “what would have happened if Witherspoon had been there at 6” exercise on need. Cornerback even that year being a huge huge need.
And I’m not sayiing Holmes is a needs drafter per se. I agree about how he stays true to his board. I think one great thing about him is he won’t reach. But I DO think he takes needs into account when making his board. He just has the flexiblity with what needs he wants to fill based on position and value/talent at the spot he is drafting. Maybe I’m being pendantic, I feel attacked for suggesting that Holmes might be taking into account who he can get at 60 when picking at 28, lol.
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Some level of need, I’ll agree with. That’s what we really mean when we say BPA, BPA with some level of need. This year that would include safety, WR, LB, CB. It’s pretty easy to make a short-term need argument at those spots.
But honestly I think that given the nature of roster construction in the NFL, it’s kind of hard to find a position that’s NOT a need. You might say QB, but we just spent a 3rd round pick on a QB 2 years ago, when it was an even lesser need (backup QB is still QB). You might say RB, but we just spent two 4ths on an RB last year, when it was an even lesser need. TE? Well LaPorta’s due an extension next off-season since we don’t have the 5th year option, Wright’s only got 2 years left on his deal… if we love a guy, we could definitely rationalize it. Hell some of us were rationalizing it last year for Bowers.
The issue is this is just a snapshot in time. What doesn’t seem like a dire need now might seem like one a year from now. Things just change so frequently in the NFL. But everyone wants to treat the draft like it’s a need-filling exercise, from biggest need to next biggest and so on (this is an epidemic on the reddit draft sub).
Anyway I didn’t mean to attack or anything like that, you’re absolutely right that they weigh the depth of the class and try and figure out who goes where so they can get the best values. 100%. I just think focusing on positions isn’t how they would do it. It’s all about players. Like me personally, I’m always trying to fit Kevin Winston and Tory Horton in. Not saying Brad will choose those guys specifically, but he may have fallen in love with similarly non-edge/DT/OL guys.
But we could also very well end up going some form of edge/DL/OL with our top picks. I do it all the time on the sims, and it’s great when the best players on the board match up with some of our biggest needs. But that’s not gonna happen every time, obviously. It all depends on how the board falls. I mean, you wouldn’t pass on Travis Hunter if he fell to us, would you? That’s an extreme example, but a good way to show what I mean. It’s about players, not positions.
Special teams is a big need we take seriously
Exactly! Which is why more special teams picks could be made this year.