Doesn't change the fact that we've still been better than the league average with those misses. I won't argue with the 2nd round - that's definitely a big miss and could take a lot of our classes from good to great if we could hit there.
You can miss me with the late day 3 stuff though. Yeah it sucks to see us blow picks on guys like Tyler Badie and Kyu Kelly who never play here, but that's more the rule than the exception for most teams out there. It may have been awhile since we've gotten a gem that like but we're at least getting contributors unlike most teams.
(I'm also not penalizing 2021 and 2023 which were historically bad draft classes)
I think the difference is Ozzie would fairly routinely get a significant contributor, or even an impact player, out of the late rounds.
Deshon Elliott
Bradley Bozeman
Jermaine Eluemunor
Chuck Clark
Matt Judon
Nick Boyle
Darren Waller
Ricky Wagner
Ryan Jensen
Pernell McPhee
Arthur Jones
All 5th-7th round picks taken by Ozzie over a ten year period. Not all of those guys were impact players for us, but many pretty much all of them were productive here and/or had lengthy, productive careers elsewhere. He would routinely find one of those guys per year, on average.
Not only are we almost entirely whiffing, the guys we're taking are basically out of the league entirely within 3-4 years. Not uncommon league-wide, but the fact that we're using so many of these picks and can't even find one solid contributor is troubling.
With that track record, coupled with the 2nd round picks, you're basically taking 50% of your draft class as dead $. That means in order to have a good draft, you kind of have to nail the 1st, 3rd and 4th rounders. We have in some, but whiffed in others.
I have no idea what the issue with 2nd round is. But if its something where our scouting is just whiffing a lot, I think there's credence to the idea that maybe trading that pick away for proven talent is much more desirable. We've done it several times now, but I think its one of those things where people ask "ok, we were willing to give up a 3rd for Lattimore, why not a late 2nd if we're that bad in the 2nd". Or maybe its a third + a 6th, which has been a throwaway for EDC.
That's just one example and one player. Not saying that's the right deal, but its the logic behind it. There is something to be said for us being too protective of mid and late round draft picks on a "supposedly" SB caliber roster.
