2014 Official Draft Thread

[Stinky Wizzleteats+]

Aaron Wilson of the National Football Post reports that Middle Tennessee State defensive tackle Jimmy Staten visited the Chargers

[Yubaking]

That's a very good point. There are only a handful of guys close to Megatron's league, so we can't worry too much about them. We might occasionally get bit by the big play from the freakish WRs, but so will everyone else. While someone who matched up with these types would be ideal, we can't avoid players who don't but are otherwise are very solid contributors.

My point was that it would only take size and not a "freakish WR" to beat Verrett, so I do not think Beer is stating anything other than the obvious when he says that all teams struggle against the likes of Megatron. The concern here is with struggles against receivers with only average talent that happen to be above average in size that would otherwise not happen if we had a CB bigger than Verrett (even of average size) opposite Wright.

Consider L'Damian Washington, a 6th-7th round prospect. He is 6'4" tall and has 33+" arms. Receivers with roughly Washington's size (let's say 6'3" or more) are not exactly unique. Those receivers have a 9-10" length advantage (taller and longer arms) over Verrett without even considering the advantage that their bigger bodies afford them in terms of shielding smaller CBs like Verrett from the ball.

Nobody is saying that Verrett is not a very good player. He is very fast, very quick and fundamentally sound. He seems like a perfect slot CB or a great CB against a smaller/quicker WR. But his physical shortcomings (no pun intended) should drop him out of first round contention, especially as a weakness that can never be fixed. It is a big red flag and we should avoid drafting players with big red flags in the first round. The first round should be reserved for players with either no red flags at all or players whose potential is so unbelievably great that it is worth ignoring some degree of red flags. Verrett, while a very good collegiate player, is not so great that his physical red flags should be ignored.

Although he may end up being a great NFL CB (that is foreseeable), Verrett does not have first round value as an outside CB from a pre-draft perspective in the same way that Russell Wilson or Drew Brees did not have first round value at QB due to their size limitations.

The other problem is that if Verrett's position for us is going to be slot CB, we already have that guy in S. Williams. Verrett is probably better than Williams, but I would rather address a position of big need (NT, outside CB) instead of a position of lesser need for improvement like slot CB with our early draft choices. In this context, I would consider us taking Verrett as similar to us taking D. Buchanon at SS in round 2-3 when we already have Addae. D. Buchanon may be a better player than Addae, but Addae is a young and talented (albeit not fully proven) player just like S. Williams that appears to be capable of filling our need at the position in question.

Hopefully, if Gilbert, Dennard and Fuller are off the board at #25, we will do something other than draft a CB in round 1.

[Panama]

Demaryius Thomas comes close

Absolutely, as do Brandon Marshall, Alshon Jeffrey, Vincent Jackson, Dez Bryant, Sidney Rice, Julio Jones, Josh Gordon, AJ Green, maybe Dwayne Bowe... Can you think of anyone else in that category? Remember, I'm not talking about just good WR, but a good WR with the sort of speed/size combo that would make a smaller CB like Verrett a liability. I don't think there are enough of them to warrant being put off the smaller DB if he's good.

[Panama]

My point was that it would only take size and not a "freakish WR" to beat Verrett, so I do not think Beer is stating anything other than the obvious when he says that all teams struggle against the likes of Megatron. The concern here is with struggles against receivers with only average talent that happen to be above average in size that would otherwise not happen if we had a CB bigger than Verrett (even of average size) opposite Wright.

Consider L'Damian Washington, a 6th-7th round prospect. He is 6'4" tall and has 33+" arms. Receivers with roughly Washington's size (let's say 6'3" or more) are not exactly unique. Those receivers have a 9-10" length advantage (taller and longer arms) over Verrett without even considering the advantage that their bigger bodies afford them in terms of shielding smaller CBs like Verrett from the ball.

Nobody is saying that Verrett is not a very good player. He is very fast, very quick and fundamentally sound. He seems like a perfect slot CB or a great CB against a smaller/quicker WR. But his physical shortcomings (no pun intended) should drop him out of first round contention, especially as a weakness that can never be fixed. It is a big red flag and we should avoid drafting players with big red flags in the first round. The first round should be reserved for players with either no red flags at all or players whose potential is so unbelievably great that it is worth ignoring some degree of red flags. Verrett, while a very good collegiate player, is not so great that his physical red flags should be ignored.

Although he may end up being a great NFL CB (that is foreseeable), Verrett does not have first round value as an outside CB from a pre-draft perspective in the same way that Russell Wilson or Drew Brees did not have first round value at QB due to their size limitations.

The other problem is that if Verrett's position for us is going to be slot CB, we already have that guy in S. Williams. Verrett is probably better than Williams, but I would rather address a position of big need (NT, outside CB) instead of a position of lesser need for improvement like slot CB with our early draft choices. In this context, I would consider us taking Verrett as similar to us taking D. Buchanon at SS in round 2-3 when we already have Addae. D. Buchanon may be a better player than Addae, but Addae is a young and talented (albeit not fully proven) player just like S. Williams that appears to be capable of filling our need at the position in question.

Hopefully, if Gilbert, Dennard and Fuller are off the board at #25, we will do something other than draft a CB in round 1.

I think we need to start requiring a tl;dr for every post over a certain word count.

[Yubaking]

Aaron Wilson of the National Football Post reports that Middle Tennessee State defensive tackle Jimmy Staten visited the Chargers

Potential UDFA camp body?

[Yubaking]

I think we need to start requiring a tl;dr for every post over a certain word count.

You are crying over what is roughly a 6 paragraph, 476 word post?! Give me a break!

[Guest]

You are crying over what is roughly a 6 paragraph, 476 word post?! Give me a break!

[Panama]

You are crying over what is roughly a 6 paragraph, 476 word post?! Give me a break!

I think the fact that you have to point out that it's one of your shorter posts and post paragraph/word statistics speaks volumes. "Brevity is the soul of wit." Learn to be concise, please.

[Steve]

Just because a CB is short doesn't mean he can only play vs the slot. Many CB give up height to taller WR. I would prefer height, but I would also rather have skillful players then fall into useless stereotypes. All that putting height requirements on CB is going to do is price us out of having the best athlete. Revis is only 5'10 or 5'11, yet he is still the best CB in football, because he has great movement skills. Maybe we would do that, get guys who can simply play, regardless of height. The best CB in the AFC West is still Brandon Flowers, and he is short.

Besides, in our scheme, the height thing is kinda over rated. We have our CB keeping things in front of them, so their reach is not going to prevent the ball from being thrown over them.

[Bolt-O]

I think the fact that you have to point out that it's one of your shorter posts and post paragraph/word statistics speaks volumes. "Brevity is the soul of wit." Learn to be concise, please.

Good luck with asking that of an attorney! Legal Brief = oxymoron.

[SFW]

Just because a CB is short doesn't mean he can only play vs the slot. Many CB give up height to taller WR. I would prefer height, but I would also rather have skillful players then fall into useless stereotypes. All that putting height requirements on CB is going to do is price us out of having the best athlete. Revis is only 5'10 or 5'11, yet he is still the best CB in football, because he has great movement skills. Maybe we would do that, get guys who can simply play, regardless of height. The best CB in the AFC West is still Brandon Flowers, and he is short.

Besides, in our scheme, the height thing is kinda over rated. We have our CB keeping things in front of them, so their reach is not going to prevent the ball from being thrown over them.

This modern era of continuous draft coverage, televised combine and dozens of "experts" have caused fans to overly focus on "measurables" and not pay enough attention to the play on the field. When fans decide they want or don't want a player mostly based on his wing span, 40 time, height or vertical then we have lost sight of what truly matters on Sunday's.

You can't measure things like heart, skill, desire, technique and leadership. To me those are the attributes that matter most. I would never dismiss a CB because he is 5'9" or an OT because his arm span is only 31" or a WR because he only ran a 4.65 in shorts.

I would much rather draft a CB that has proven he can cover due to proper technique than a CB that is all potential just based on his height and 40 time. I would much rather draft a WR that runs crisp routes, understand defenses and catches with his hands than a WR who is 6'5" and runs a 4.40.

[SDFan]

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