Actual team needs

[FrantikRam]

From what I recall Johnson played mostly at EDGE when he finally got on the field. And Hamilton was awful. Sure he could improve but it's possible that an upgrade could be had.

That goes into the mistake of banking on rookies with the NFL draft in attempting to fill needs. Team needs don't influence player availability and you may fill a position with a body, but if he stinks or isn't ready, the need remains. The Rams should take the best player available within reason and hope for the best during their rookie seasons. Anything a rookie offers should just be considered icing on the cake.

But we already know that the Rams don't subscribe to BPA, which is a myth anyways. Operating that way still gets you plenty of busts. The Rams having an intentional plan for the players they pick tends to go much better.

 

[DzRams]

From what I recall Johnson played mostly at EDGE when he finally got on the field. And Hamilton was awful. Sure he could improve but it's possible that an upgrade could be had.

That goes into the mistake of banking on rookies with the NFL draft in attempting to fill needs. Team needs don't influence player availability and you may fill a position with a body, but if he stinks or isn't ready, the need remains. The Rams should take the best player available within reason and hope for the best during their rookie seasons. Anything a rookie offers should just be considered icing on the cake.

Funny thing is, this is almost exactly what Snead says.

"When you draft for need, you may still have a need after the draft."

 

[Memphis Ram]

But we already know that the Rams don't subscribe to BPA, which is a myth anyways. Operating that way still gets you plenty of busts. The Rams having an intentional plan for the players they pick tends to go much better.

BPA within reason as was stated is not a myth. And the within reason is the key point often ignored when discussing the topic. It's how the team selected and enjoyed Aaron Donald.

And it's probably needs to be considered in the team's attempts to move up for certain players. Notice they didn't immediately draft players playing the same positions when those trade up attempts failed.

Sure it's still possible to get busts, but my guess is the chances of getting a bust isn't nearly as high as taking a lesser rated player on one's draft board in an attempt to fill a need.

 

[FrantikRam]

BPA within reason as was stated is not a myth. And the within reason is the key point often ignored when discussing the topic. It's how the team selected and enjoyed Aaron Donald.

And it's probably needs to be considered in the team's attempts to move up for certain players. Notice they didn't immediately draft players playing the same positions when those trade up attempts failed.

Sure it's still possible to get busts, but my guess is the chances of getting a bust isn't nearly as high as taking a lesser rated player on one's draft board in an attempt to fill a need.

BPA means something different to every team. Every team has a different way of evaluating players - Jordan Rodrigues' piece last year called "Finding Rams" was outstanding and showed just how you can end up with such varied systems to evaluate players. I am sure some teams are now incorporating AI as well.

The closest thing we have to actually assessing BPA is composite rankings that compile multiple media sources - aside from that, a team is ALWAYS going to say a player was atop their board after picking them.

Using those composite rankings, you can "evaluate" how a team did after drafting - and in a lot of cases, the Rams "reach" for players based on those rankings. Sure, those are just media opinions - some being former scouts - but we will never know what a teams draft board actually looked like.

There are going to be positions teams spend less time scouting, personality/interviews that we as fans know next to nothing about, etc.

Its a myth because there is no one true opinion on how good these players are.

And we know that the Rams group players together, but we don't know what all the factors are - it's a good bet that need at the position plays a big part in those groupings.

 

[Memphis Ram]

BPA means something different to every team. Every team has a different way of evaluating players - Jordan Rodrigues' piece last year called "Finding Rams" was outstanding and showed just how you can end up with such varied systems to evaluate players. I am sure some teams are now incorporating AI as well.

The closest thing we have to actually assessing BPA is composite rankings that compile multiple media sources - aside from that, a team is ALWAYS going to say a player was atop their board after picking them.

Using those composite rankings, you can "evaluate" how a team did after drafting - and in a lot of cases, the Rams "reach" for players based on those rankings. Sure, those are just media opinions - some being former scouts - but we will never know what a teams draft board actually looked like.

There are going to be positions teams spend less time scouting, personality/interviews that we as fans know next to nothing about, etc.

Its a myth because there is no one true opinion on how good these players are.

And we know that the Rams group players together, but we don't know what all the factors are - it's a good bet that need at the position plays a big part in those groupings.

Some people see BPA and react as if one believes that there is this one draft board that all teams and fans adhere to which is crazy.

Just because we don't know or have access to a team's draft board, that doesn't mean that BPA within reason is a myth internally (the actual teams with all the scouting information).

The lack of external information is probably one of the main reasons that a team can say they took the BPA on their draft board and could actually be telling the truth while outsiders with their limited information don't believe them.

 

[FrantikRam]

Just because we don't know or have access to a team's draft board, that doesn't mean that BPA within reason is a myth internally.

This lack of information is probably one of the main reasons that a team can say they took the BPA on their draft board and could actually be telling the truth while outsiders with their limited information don't believe them.

Right....but by saying "BPA within reason" and then realizing that every team can and will say that, and they may be telling the truth - it becomes a completely pointless saying. Because BPA or BPA within reason can now be defined as "making a draft pick" with the information we don't have.

We can't know how a team is going to evaluate players - but we do have a lot more context on the existing players on the roster. I could be wrong and we could cut Ty Hamilton - but I posted this because it helps me to consider and narrow down what the Rams may do.

 

[Memphis Ram]

Right....but by saying "BPA within reason" and then realizing that every team can and will say that, and they may be telling the truth - it becomes a completely pointless saying. Because BPA or BPA within reason can now be defined as "making a draft pick" with the information we don't have.

We can't know how a team is going to evaluate players - but we do have a lot more context on the existing players on the roster. I could be wrong and we could cut Ty Hamilton - but I posted this because it helps me to consider and narrow down what the Rams may do.

Going by the existing players on the roster could be just as pointless as we are working with limited information there, too.

There could be injury issues, unknown guys on the trade block, unknown upcoming suspensions, and guys that were on the practice squad that they like a lot more than we know. There could be guys they know they want to replace but will keep as an extra body through training camp for practice purposes. There could be free agent veterans that they are waiting to see if their price comes down, contract negotiations with current players that aren't going too well, as well as coming to terms with potential trades, and etc.

 

[OldSchool]

Dropping this here for no reason at all


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