It is interesting to me that people think there are football players who hold down "non premium" positions. They assume (QB excluded as it is such an outlier in terms of importance) that somehow an edge rusher, or offensive tackle, WR,etc are more important than others. Not so. Every play has 11 moving parts and one screw up ruins the play, both on offense and defense, and I'll even include the long snapper. 22 players start. If a team has some number of those players who are not effective in their job, they need to be replaced ASAP. The Jets had a woeful passing attack last year. The Jets did not have an interception last year. And so on. They need better players, its that simple. If they can draft 3 starters with first 4 picks (assuming a QB might be in the mix, and if not it's 4) thats huge. I don't care what positions they play, they are assumedly replacing players who screwed up. Just draft really good players. If they are really good in the NFL they will help the team win. Another term thrown around as if it means something..Value. Like its somehow connected to money or draft position, and provides some benefit. Not talent. It seems If you get a player who helps the team, you got value. I've been a market investor for umpteen years and have seen growth vs value stocks discussions forever. If a stock goes up you got value. If a dividend increased you got value. No one knows which stocks will give you value going forward. No one knows which players will give you value going forward. Its how they play, not what they cost or where they were picked.
Couldn't really disagree with this more. Some positions are obviously much more impactful than others, and value will always be important in salary cap leagues. The ideal team is maximum talent per dollar spent, not just maximum talent. We even have a recent example of someone who didn't consider positional value at all in Mike Maccagnan. Even his good picks didn't move the needle because they were at non-premium positions and he was one of the worst GMs in league history because of it.
Not particularly defending Mac but SB winning QB in Darnold, Williams, the fat one and Q, Fatukasi, Adams and Maye. We got good draft capitol back for Q and Adams. Anyway, I'd just like us to draft 4 players in the first 4 picks who will give the Jets 10 years of quality service. I don't care what positions; getting a good-to-great player will make a damned change for once. The next two drafts could change this franchise for a long time to come, are any of us confident it will happen? Nope.
Here’s the thing you can’t ignore in my opinion 3 positions in football QB, LT and Edge rusher. They are by far the most important positions. Why? Well it’s simple really those 3 positions have the most impact on the game because it revolves around THE MOST IMPORTANT POSITION IN ALL OF ANY SPORT ON EARTH! You need a quarterback who touches the ball on every play, delivers the ball in the air or hand off, sets up protections for not only himself but in the run game, makes audibles, calls the play in the huddle, reads the D and it goes on and on… LT protects the quarterback blindside to decrease fumbles and gives him time to make a play. Edge limits the time a quarterback has to make that play, physically tries to impose on his play and has to be athletically gifted to get around tackles. After those 3 positions yes I feel drafting based on talent and talent alone is the right way to build a franchise. However, you need those 3 positions in place as your foundation.
Nonsense. If your left guard is porous, what difference does the tackle make? Or if your right side isn't doing its job? What's the difference between an edge who averages 1 sack every 2 games (or 8-10 per year) vs. a defensive tackle who gets you 1 TFL every 2 games? Maybe I got this name wrong, but didn't Bryce Huff have some amazing sack numbers and the Jets still were awful? You need competence at a majority of positions. I specifically excluded QB from my discussion.
Why are they obviously more important(QB excepted)? There is lots of buzz around Love at 2 or some other high draft slot, yet many people say RB is not important. What is value in salary cap league? You think its getting what you pay for? If you draft a guy and you sign him to a second contract, you got value. He played well enough to deserve it. doesn't matter what the initial contract detailed, which is determine by draft. As it isn't quite a zero sum, cause teams play with cap numbers all the time, good teams that stay good for long periods obviously have figured out how to maximize the dollars they spend.
Unfortunately, that’s just not the reality of football. If your left guard stinks you have the Center to help slide to help block the DT. The LT is left with the best pass rusher in pass protection 1-1 most times. Sometimes the TE helps Chip is the edge is really quick. Protecting the QB and giving him time is vital. On the flip side with edge you are decreasing the quarterbacks time and physically punishing them. It’s kinda the way football works from the don of time.
1. You already refuted your own post 2 sentences in when you acknowledged there are premium positions (you agreed QB was one). 2. You are doing the thing other posters in other threads are doing, which is using “all positions matter” as your premise. That is wrong and it is arguing a completely different point altogether. No one who believes there are premium positions is saying that the non-premium positions don’t matter. Literally no one, so stop with that BS. What they are saying is some have greater impact, very different. You used the example of a porous left guard in your straw man analogy. How about you flip it the right way, and say you have the best LG in football. You also have the best pass rusher in football. Are you telling me the pass rusher doesn’t affect the game more than the LG and the two have completely equal impacts? Who you taking, the best guard in football or Myles Garrett? The top ER gets paid about twice as much as the top guard, maybe you can figure out why.