05-02-2022, 12:54 PM
For me the draft is a meh, but I'm disposed to view our drafts that way generally as I don't believe our brain trust has earned benefit of the doubt when it comes to the draft. I don't think very highly of their draft judgment and nothing here jumped out at me as particularly amazing. A few players may add value.
It was hard to watch the first round knowing that if we hadn't done one of the dumbest trades in NFL history last year to move up (@ me if Trey Lance becomes a Hall of Famer) we could have easily had Jimmy G as QB1 with last year's first round pick being used either for Mac Jones to apprentice behind Jimmy G or Micah Parsons to give us one of the best players in the NFL AND then this year could have gotten, say, George Karlaftis or Arnold Ebiketie in the first round and another mid-round pick for OL or TE help AND another first round pick next year. Just as an example as there are of course many permutations of how we could have used or traded those picks. Instead it's all eggs in on Lance not only being good but being better than Mac Jones (or Davis Mills, who we could have gotten with a later pick) plus all that opportunity cost. Nothing will ever live this trade down other than Trey Lance being a Hall of Famer.
For what it's worth, Brock Purdy is an all-time favorite player for me. Stanford, Alabama, and Boise State came on late in his recruitment out of high school after he was one of the greatest high school football players in America and aced all his classes as had been his norm in high school, coming out of nowhere to be a big-time late bloomer. Presumably he went to Iowa State because they showed the most love and had the most credible path for him to play, a decision that's hard to fault. He was the textbook case for me of a guy who proper evaluation of a fall senior year of high school can prove to be a major way to outsmart market efficiencies in high school football recruiting, which is all about sophomore and junior year and, especially at QB, can miss late salient data points like this. Once at Iowa State, Purdy was a gamer and leader par excellence. But the book on his flaws is not made up. It's hard to see him being a good NFL QB. But he is a great, great flyer for Mr. Irrelevant. The intangibles and skills are awesome and crazier things have happened than this kind of profile being a very useful QB2/emergency option at the NFL level.
Honestly it was probably the pick that made me smile most, though I am interested to see what Jackson and Gray can do.
It was hard to watch the first round knowing that if we hadn't done one of the dumbest trades in NFL history last year to move up (@ me if Trey Lance becomes a Hall of Famer) we could have easily had Jimmy G as QB1 with last year's first round pick being used either for Mac Jones to apprentice behind Jimmy G or Micah Parsons to give us one of the best players in the NFL AND then this year could have gotten, say, George Karlaftis or Arnold Ebiketie in the first round and another mid-round pick for OL or TE help AND another first round pick next year. Just as an example as there are of course many permutations of how we could have used or traded those picks. Instead it's all eggs in on Lance not only being good but being better than Mac Jones (or Davis Mills, who we could have gotten with a later pick) plus all that opportunity cost. Nothing will ever live this trade down other than Trey Lance being a Hall of Famer.
For what it's worth, Brock Purdy is an all-time favorite player for me. Stanford, Alabama, and Boise State came on late in his recruitment out of high school after he was one of the greatest high school football players in America and aced all his classes as had been his norm in high school, coming out of nowhere to be a big-time late bloomer. Presumably he went to Iowa State because they showed the most love and had the most credible path for him to play, a decision that's hard to fault. He was the textbook case for me of a guy who proper evaluation of a fall senior year of high school can prove to be a major way to outsmart market efficiencies in high school football recruiting, which is all about sophomore and junior year and, especially at QB, can miss late salient data points like this. Once at Iowa State, Purdy was a gamer and leader par excellence. But the book on his flaws is not made up. It's hard to see him being a good NFL QB. But he is a great, great flyer for Mr. Irrelevant. The intangibles and skills are awesome and crazier things have happened than this kind of profile being a very useful QB2/emergency option at the NFL level.
Honestly it was probably the pick that made me smile most, though I am interested to see what Jackson and Gray can do.