Captain hindsight: Robinson or Matthews?

[STHolder]

Hello all! My name is Roger, and I'm a college student in Missouri. After saving up all year, me and my friend were able to get season tickets for the first time. So far the product hasn't been as well as we hopes, but all in all I've had the absolute time of my life and haven't regretted it one bit.

So with that said, I'd like some input. My best friend is a Falcon fan, and has been bragging about the play of Jake Matthews, who is starting at LT. While he's certainly been the plug-and-play player that most people expected, I still strongly believe that we made the right decision in Greg Robinson. The surprising health of Saffold has definitely helped my decision.

So with that said, with all homerism aside, if you could go back to May 8th and see us take Matthews over Robinson at 2nd overall, would you? I know it's all completely hypothetical, but I'm curious as to if there's any buyers remorse around here. Regardless of Matthews' hot start and Robinson's bench riding, nobody will argue that GRob's ceiling isn't still significantly higher.

Thanks in advance for your input gang, and go Rams!

 

[CGI_Ram]

Personally; I think they are both going to be just fine.

Mathews has had his issues too.

At this point; I'm staying with the big man; GRob

 

[MattPebbs]

Grob, Rome wasn't built in a day.

 

[RamWoodie]

That "1st round" impatience with players crops up again. NOTHING says GRob has to be an instant success...but those who have an unreasonable idea about first round draft choices.

 

[Orchid]

Easy choice for me. I thought Matthews wass the better player in college and would be the better pro immediately and over time.

 

[Thordaddy]

I think this question is premature I wanted us to pick Matthews because I was pretty well sure GROB was going to take the time he is to acclimate to pass blocking and afraid of Jake Longs recovery derailing this season, that said ,I am fine with who we picked .
Certainly it's all subject to change ,for now though I'm down with the slow approach with GROB,he is not Jimmy Kenedy , and could very well end up another Walter Jones.

reader alert : I may be the last person in the civilized world to admit JK was a bust

 

[RFIP]

1) Watkins
2) Matthews

Would not have drafted Ribinson in round 1 period. Holes were too obvious then....and still now.

 

[Philly5]

If we picked Mathews 6th and he was starting, while Falcons took GRob 2nd and he was watching, there would be many threads about what a steal we got and how stupid it is to go with the raw guy. I don't like taking a guy at #2 that we hope develops. If he can't play guard, how much work does he need to play LT?

 

[tklongball]

My guess is that the responses will, for the most part, be generational. Those who grew up in the Now-Now-Now, Madden, Fantasy Football generation will feel like it was a bad pick, even though we are at the 3 game mark in year 1. What is comical to me is that right now we are seeing with Brian Quick, exactly what most of the more patient fans were saying, that he would need time to develop, but when he does, he will be very good. If we draft a guy and he doesn't have an immediate impact, people go crazy. Even though you can look around the NFL and see example after example, some just don't see it and keep screaming that the sky is falling. Some people also seem to fail to realize that we won't hit on every draft pick. This is completely normal, just like every other team. You will have guys that don't pan out, EVERY YEAR. It doesn't mean the GM is stupid or bad at his job.

Frustration comes from unrealistic expectations.

 

[TheDYVKX]

I wanted Matthews in the first place. I liked Robinson's upside but would rather have had Matthews. However, I don't think we made a bad choice. It takes time for guys like GRob to develop, just look at Quick and how long it took him. I honestly think Robinson can and will be an elite LT in the next few years. We as fans kind of jumped the gun and forgot he was drafted to be a project, he wasn't drafted to immediately save our offensive line.

 

[den-the-coach]

I would have gone Matthews because I'm a believer you never give up a sure thing for a possibility.

 

[Thordaddy]

BUT we did what we did and nothing is going to change it ,and FWIW some people are obsessed with prosecuting agendas stating what we should have done to the point of absolute tedium.
As it turns out we could say Suh was the better choice over Bradford ,which is the choice I preferred ,he's certainly been on the field more and is still considered by many the best at his position ,so how far back do we go with this ?
GROB is a beast and saying another choice would be over him is speculation considering the time O-linemen can play, way too early to say anyone would have been the better choice.
BTW I'm not saying this to bash Sam, but the history is what it is and we've paid a lot of money per game considering all the time he's missed ,just have.

 

[DaveFan'51]

I wanted Matthews, because he's a Plug & Play Guy, and I believe his 'Family History' brought something into the equation. BUT I have since bought into GRob. That said, your question, IMHO, Can't be seriously answered until Robinson see's some real playing Time!

 

[MerlinJones]

Some famous guy said it's better to have a handful of birds than to be stuck in a bush, or something like that.
Benny Hill maybe?

Anyway, I think it obviously applies here.

(I wanted Matthews, but have hope that Robinson will develop into a good one)

 

[V3]

I'm sticking with what I said before/at the time of the draft.

My preferences:
1.)Trade down for extra first next year- I thought we needed insurance(extra ammo for trade up) in case Bradford either didn't perform or got injured again. Turns out, we did.

if no trade offered(the Bills did offer, though)

2.)Take Matthews. I don't like taking projects high in the draft. Matthews was as close as you can get to being proven as a pass protector and that's what makes a LT so valuable in today's NFL. It's not the run blocking. I get that our scheme is heavy on running but good run blockers are easier to find than good pass blockers and we COULD NOT afford to get our QB injured again. Whoops!

After those, my preference is really kind of moot but I'll list it anyways...

3.) Sammy Watkins. Not much to say. The kid was a great WR prospect. I just felt an extra first or a franchise pass blocking LT were more important.

4.) Greg Robinson. - Excellent run blocker but there wasn't enough tape on his pass blocking and the little that there was, showed some flaws. I felt coach Boudreau could coach him up (which is why I was ultimately fine with the pick) but that introduced more risk.

I'm hoping for the best with GRob but he wouldn't have been my choice if I were drafting at the time.

 

[RFIP]

GRob is in the mold of Quick so it should come as no surprise they went this route.

Potential over instant substance.

It's taken 3 years for Quick to get this far, I guess we hope GRob takes less to be a decent nfl G.

 

[Merlin]

Snead said from day one his goal was two hall of fame players with the two first round picks. He went with upside.

Still too early to judge it, plain and simple.

Some just wanted a WR to cement Bradford's future success, but it can be argued that a deeper and more talented OL is a better direction for that purpose. Let's wait and see how it shakes out instead of playing I told you so, or chicken little 3 games in.

 

[blue4]

I wanted a trade down. Barring that, Matthews is the one I wanted. I felt that his ability to play every position on the line and his being a sound player technique-wise warrented that. I never have liked drafting for potential in the early rounds, the cost to the franchise is too high if you miss. (I kind of resent the implication that only impatient young people who play video games would take Matthews.) I wasn't, and am still not, conviced that GRob will be a sound enough pass blocker to play LT at a high level. I do think he can be a fantastic guard, but then I think Matthews could do that too.

 

[V3]

If we picked Mathews 6th and he was starting, while Falcons took GRob 2nd and he was watching, there would be many threads about what a steal we got and how stupid it is to go with the raw guy. I don't like taking a guy at #2 that we hope develops. If he can't play guard, how much work does he need to play LT?

The thing I find interesting is that many went with GRob simply because he could play OG for a year while Long played LT. Long was coming of an ACL injury and no one knew if he'd be able to be a good pass protector anymore. I'm not sure how good of a pass protector he was last year when he was healthy. I've always heard that an OT that can't pass protect is called a guard. I'm not saying Long was horrible at pass blocking but his forte was run blocking and his pass blocking was an unknown after the injury. Why not just draft Matthews and move Long to OG for this season if having an OG was so important in people's opinion?

 

[iced]

The thing I find interesting is that many went with GRob simply because he could play OG for a year while Long played LT. Long was coming of an ACL injury and no one knew if he'd be able to be a good pass protector anymore. I'm not sure how good of a pass protector he was last year when he was healthy. I've always heard that an OT that can't pass protect is called a guard. I'm not saying Long was horrible at pass blocking but his forte was run blocking and his pass blocking was an unknown after the injury. Why not just draft Matthews and move Long to OG for this season if having an OG was so important in people's opinion?

Long graded out as one of the top Tackles and I believe was #1 in Pro bowl voting week 15'ish (he went down week 16 @ home vs Tampa, 1st quarter )