How come the "experts" hate our draft, but so many fans like it?

[BCurt57]

D+, c-, Walter smashing us. No fewer than 7 guys I've read said we took Neal too early. So how come so many of us are good with it?

Well aside from the fact we aren't paid to be critics, I think the real reason is that we know our team, we're getting to know our coach, and everything they've done makes sense.

Lee? Ok. But didn't Jones actually play WITHOUT all that space and not behind Sosa, in front of Bell, behind Washington and near the other 4 guys that got drafted? Had anyone complained about Jones tackling? 

Youve GOT to stop the run in our division and you've GOT to shut off the release to the TE and RB. Can Upshaw run defend better than Vic? Can Neal/jones/Campbell hit in the box and guard a TE? Can they do this better than PW and wMo did it last year? Can Vic play Schofield and Durants role better? Is Shelby the best DE we have had for awhile? Was Claiborn a super strong no. 1 pick for nothing? 

Hooper is a starter? At TE in his 1st year? Over Tamme? They're a tandem now. Very exciting. With Julio and Mo? Punishing, hard, real.

[BCurt57]

D+, c-, Walter smashing us. No fewer than 7 guys I've read said we took Neal too early. So how come so many of us are good with it?

Well aside from the fact we aren't paid to be critics, I think the real reason is that we know our team, we're getting to know our coach, and everything they've done makes sense.

Lee? Ok. But didn't Jones actually play WITHOUT all that space and not behind Sosa, in front of Bell, behind Washington and near the other 4 guys that got drafted? Had anyone complained about Jones tackling? 

Youve GOT to stop the run in our division and you've GOT to shut off the release to the TE and RB. Can Upshaw run defend better than Vic? Can Neal/jones/Campbell hit in the box and guard a TE? Can they do this better than PW and wMo did it last year? Can Vic play Schofield and Durants role better? Is Shelby the best DE we have had for awhile? Was Claiborn a super strong no. 1 pick for nothing? 

Hooper is a starter? At TE in his 1st year? Over Tamme? They're a tandem now. Very exciting. With Julio and Mo? Punishing, hard, real.

[FalconFanSince1970]

6 minutes ago, BCurt57 said:

D+, c-, Walter smashing us. No fewer than 7 guys I've read said we took Neal too early. So how come so many of us are good with it?

Well aside from the fact we aren't paid to be critics, I think the real reason is that we know our team, we're getting to know our coach, and everything they've done makes sense.

Lee? Ok. But didn't Jones actually play WITHOUT all that space and not behind Sosa, in front of Bell, behind Washington and near the other 4 guys that got drafted? Had anyone complained about Jones tackling? 

Youve GOT to stop the run in our division and you've GOT to shut off the release to the TE and RB. Can Upshaw run defend better than Vic? Can Neal/jones/Campbell hit in the box and guard a TE? Can they do this better than PW and wMo did it last year? Can Vic play Schofield and Durants role better? Is Shelby the best DE we have had for awhile? Was Claiborn a super strong no. 1 pick for nothing? 

Hooper is a starter? At TE in his 1st year? Over Tamme? They're a tandem now. Very exciting. With Julio and Mo? Punishing, hard, real.

Lot of questions. We will get the answers over the next nine months.

[hjerry]

Actually many of the "experts" have liked our draft.

Oh, and Walter's just a guy. He doesn't even qualify as an analyst, much less and expert. He's just a football fan with his own website. I read his opinions too, but they don't hold anymore weight than anyone on here's. 

[xiv_T_E_C_O_]

All those post draft grades are garbage, good or bad. It's just some guys obviously biased and possibly flawed opinion. An artist has the vision, he understands why he chose a particular canvas or particular colors. A critic can only make sense of things after the fact, after the artist shows him the vision. 

[PeytonMannings Forehead]

1 minute ago, xiv_T_E_C_O_ said:

All those post draft grades are garbage, good or bad. It's just some guys obviously biased and possibly flawed opinion. An artist has the vision, he understands why he chose a particular canvas or particular colors. A critic can only make sense of things after the fact, after the artist shows him the vision. 

****, that's some real spit right there.  I'm think I'm gonna have to steal this.

[SyCo]

It was the consensus that the 2012 Seahawks draft was a compete flop and it would have been an utter disaster if they hadnt drafted Robert turbin. 

Most of those guys just go by what other people are saying.  They see raw numbers without the details, and try to put it together.  

[FalconFanSince1969]

Every single "post draft grade" should be a C for every single team.....

[DoYouSeeWhatHappensLarry]

Walter isnt an expert. He shouldnt be referenced as such. He's just a guy who got out in front of the football blogosphere before Draft Twitter made his **** irrelevant. 

Yeah, we had a polarizing draft. Some people liked it more didnt. A couple of polarizing prospects a little higher than they were consensus projected to go. That's fine. We've seen those sorts of picks work out very very well in recent situations (Travis Frederick, LeVeon Bell, Bobby Wagner) and maybe not so well (Marcus Smith, QBs, Shea McClellin).

We had a very good draft last year from a grade point of view and a player point of view. I think DQ and staff have earned the right to draft the players they identify as important to what they want to do. I didnt necessarily agree with the picks but they're clearly building toward something specific. I'm willing to let that play itself out. 

[FalconsFanNW]

53 minutes ago, BCurt57 said:

D+, c-, Walter smashing us. No fewer than 7 guys I've read said we took Neal too early. So how come so many of us are good with it?

 

Because nobody gives a rats about the experts and their grades.

 

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/1165320-2012-nfl-draft-grades-power-ranking-teams-that-failed-on-draft-day

Quite possibly the best F of all time.

[PeytonMannings Forehead]

2 minutes ago, FalconsFanNW said:

Because nobody gives a rats about the experts and their grades.

 

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/1165320-2012-nfl-draft-grades-power-ranking-teams-that-failed-on-draft-day

Quite possibly the best F of all time.

Yooooooo... I got to post the quote from this article.  Thanks for digging this up.

Quote

No. 1: Seattle Seahawks

After one of the worst picks in the first round I can ever remember, the Seattle Seahawks didn't draft any positions of need or draft for the future.

Pete Carroll is proving why he didn’t make it in the NFL the first time. Not only was Bruce Irvin a reach at No. 15, the Seahawks proved they were oblivious to their madness by celebrating their selection.

As if the day wasn’t bad enough, Seattle selecting Russell Wilson, a QB that doesn’t fit their offense at all, was by far the worst move of the draft. With the two worst moves of the draft, Seattle is the only team that received an F on draft day.

 

Edited May 3, 2016 by PeytonMannings Forehead

[Falconcheff]

I posted this earlier in the year, but it begs repeating right now... one thing about stats... they show how a player plays football, but they don't show whether or not he's a football player.

 

What I mean is, I've come to realize that we don't need a Safety, or a Linebacker, or a Guard per se... we need a FOOTBALL PLAYER who plays Safety, or a FOOTBALL PLAYER who plays Linebacker, or Guard, or whatever...

 

Example... Chad Johnson was a Wide Receiver, but Hines Ward was a FOOTBALL PLAYER who played Wide Receiver...DeAngelo Hall is a Cornerback, but Richard Sherman is a FOOTBALL PLAYER who plays Cornerback...

 

Let's hope that Keanu Neal is not just a Safety, but a FOOTBALL PLAYER who plays Safety, Deion Jones is a FOOTBALL PLAYER who plays Linebacker, etc...

[Hometownfan]

With fans, hope blooms eternal.

[TSprings]

Kiper has Neal going at 20 in his last mock. Not a reach, they got the guy they wanted.

[NeonDeion]

Kiper said… – “If he (Clausen) is not a successful starting quarterback in the NFL, I’m done. That’s it. I’m out.”

I'll just leave this here. Most draft "experts" don't know sht. Also, you can never take a great player too early. If you think a 3rd rounder is going to one day be an all-pro then you take him in the 1st round.

[TheUsualStuff]

20 minutes ago, Hometownfan said:

With fans, hope blooms eternal.

Especially with us Falcons fans, as hope is the only thing we can really latch onto. 

None of us knows how this will pan out, but we don't have the best track record.

Funny though.. the eternal Falcon's faithful keep saying these pundits don't know what they are talking about, but then we see a post that shows one pundit had Neal at #20 as evidence it wasn't a bad pick. 

I hope we got the guys Quinn needed to make his scheme work, but only time will tell. I don't know how well it will work out, but I don't think we got value with Neal at #17 and Jones will need some work. 

If Jones can be a LB who can cover TE's, then I think we will have done okay. Neal will be a big hitter and a solid if not great player. I like Hooper at TE. The rest is a crapshoot.

[quotemokc]

Because we made all of their mocks on us look foolish

[HEIST]

It's true fans have more reason to hope think the draft is better than it was. Fans also know what the team's strengths and weaknesses were though. 

[FalconFanForLife]

Because fans are homers?

[Adam25]

I mean, draft grades 3 days after a draft don't really mean much, wait about 2-3 years really. But anyways, like people said Walter is a JAG (just another guy), NFL.com has us at A for what it's worth.

[WOR]

Experts seem to judge drafts based on what THEY would do. 

They also don't have a perfect grasp on teams true rankings, so when they say reach, it's basically their way of covering their ***. You don't want fans knowing you have no idea what you're talking about. 

Which leads to this. Most grades I've seen like the picks, but hate the spots. That's not really their judgement to make. They just don't want you to think they're a full round off of what the NFL actually thinks. 

But honestly. What does a websites ranking have to do with anything? Just because they say someone is a 2nd round guy, doesn't mean anything. If the player is great, no one gives a rats butt. I'll trust that Quinn knows what he wants 

[PHALCONABERNATHY]

18 minutes ago, WORilla said:

Experts seem to judge drafts based on what THEY would do. 

They also don't have a perfect grasp on teams true rankings, so when they say reach, it's basically their way of covering their ***. You don't want fans knowing you have no idea what you're talking about. 

Which leads to this. Most grades I've seen like the picks, but hate the spots. That's not really their judgement to make. They just don't want you to think they're a full round off of what the NFL actually thinks. 

But honestly. What does a websites ranking have to do with anything? Just because they say someone is a 2nd round guy, doesn't mean anything. If the player is great, no one gives a rats butt. I'll trust that Quinn knows what he wants 

That's what I'm saying, who cares what anyone ranks them? If it fills a need and the player is good than they've done their job. Everyone said Grady Jarrett was a second round talent and he dropped to the fifth round. It's all about what the staff sees and if they can help their team. I'm not big on "draft grades" either. Tons and tons of players that are elite and HOF that didn't get drafted in the first round. Some not even drafted at all.

[Sparks]

Fans are "hopeful".

[*Old Pappy Falcon*]

23 minutes ago, PHALCONABERNATHY said:

That's what I'm saying, who cares what anyone ranks them? If it fills a need and the player is good than they've done their job. Everyone said Grady Jarrett was a second round talent and he dropped to the fifth round. It's all about what the staff sees and if they can help their team. I'm not big on "draft grades" either. Tons and tons of players that are elite and HOF that didn't get drafted in the first round. Some not even drafted at all.

Not big on a grade myself. The thing that gets me upset, are so called 'experts' trying to make themselves look good on our team.

Most of the sport experts I have seen talking about our team, had me laughing and cutting off the TV.

The fans and yes, a lot of knowledgeable fans right here on TAFT put'em to shame! 

[Beast-N-Da-Sheetz]

Starts with H rhymes with Omers.