“Better Late Than Never” NFL Draft Takeaways
Shotaro Honda Moore give his three major takeaways from the 2017 NFL Draft.
The NFL Draft took place last week, and some surprising things took place to say the least. Here are my three major takeaways from the 2017 NFL Draft.
1) Big Men Take a Slip in 2017 Draft
Watching the first two days of the NFL Draft, I was mainly focused on the NFC South. As a Panthers fan, I wanted to gauge who improved the most in the division.
The McCaffery and Curtis Samuel picks made it clear that the Panthers brass wanted to get the ball out of Cam’s hands faster to keep him from getting hit. That line of thought brought the idea of protection to mind. In a game that is so often decided by dominating big men up front, this draft was an anomaly.
In the last 10 years, since I started watching the NFL, I have grown accustomed to seeing high draft profiles on highly rated athletic offensive linemen. In 2013 the first two picks were big boys, and the following year St.Louis took Greg Robinson with the second overall pick. It felt strange when the first offensive lineman wasn’t taken off the board until Denver selected Garett Bolles with the 20th overall pick. At first I thought this would start a run on blockers, but the drought largely continued. Highly respected draft guru, Mike Mayock, pointed out in the third round that teams were not willing to reach for offensive linemen in this draft.
I was curious about the numbers. I wanted to see how many members of this “weak” offensive line class would be taken, and how that compared to previous years.
I broke down the average number of linemen taken from the past six drafts (2011–16) as well as the number taken specifically in the first three rounds. I compared it to those of this year to show how much this lucrative position seemed to slip this year.
O-Line Numbers (2011–2016):
Average Number Taken = 43.1
Average Number Taken Rounds 1–3 = 17.2
Average draft pick first Lineman was selected = 3.9
O-Line Numbers (2017):
Total Taken = 33
Total Taken in First Three Rounds = 10
Draft Pick used on Linemen = 20
It wasn’t just that this class had fewer early round picks. We saw 10 less linemen drafted overall than the previous six drafts average. While the running back/receiver flex position players, defensive backs and pass rushers were taken aggressively, the o-line took a back seat this draft.
It will be interesting to see if any of these linemen materialize into pro-bowl caliber players. Only time will tell if the scouting system was right about this rookie class shortcomings.
2) Hybrid WR/RB role players are being valued higher by Coaches
At this point, it might just be cliché to say more you can do on the field, the better.
However, there is a big difference between a pass catching back and a running back who can legitimately line up as a wide receiver and run a full route tree. The Panthers took two guys of this ilk in Curtis Samuel and Christian McCaffrey. Dalvin Cook was taken 41st by the Vikings and is a legitimate threat in the slot. Flex position players are becoming more valuable to NFL coaching staffs.
We have seen running backs and receivers who are able to be be legitimate threats at both positions for a few years now. Percy Harvin had 52 attempts for 345 yards in 2011, averaging 6.6 yards per carry. Shane Vereen for the Patriots would on occasion line up in the slot. In 2017, Tyreek Hill ran for 267 yards on just 24 attempts to go along with his. While many of these touches came on reverses or sweeps, Tyreek showed he could line up in the backfield and bust a 70 yard TD on multiple occasions. We’ve also seen these flex players being tried in Green Bay, with Randall Cobb taking occasional carries and Ty Montgomery being converted to a full time halfback out of desperation.
I’m interested to watch this season to see if rookies like Christian McCaffery, Dalvin Cook or Curtis Samuel can be productive at both positions. Maybe I’m being biased as a Panthers fan and hoping their two first round picks will pan out, but it is hard to deny the league is heading in this direction.
3) No matter what everyone may think, if a team sees their QB of the future they go for it
I don’t need to explain this one too much.
The Chicago Bears pulled off a shocker and moved up one spot for Mitchell Trubisky. In less controversial fashion, the Chiefs moved up to take Pat Mahomes, and Houston went from 25 to 12 to select Deshaun Watson.
I’m not here to hate on any players. It’s just interesting to see what kind of lengths GMs will go to in order to snag their signal caller of preference. If they see the future of their franchise, they go for it — regardless of the cost.
If you want some more info on the Trubisky move, Aaron Lieberman has an article talking about his perspective as a Chicago fan.
