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View Full Version : Broncos draft off a short board, just like Patriots *shocker*



broncobryce
04-11-2010, 11:51 AM
http://www.denverpost.com/premium/broncos/ci_14860818

Broncos whittle down draft list
By Jeff Legwold
The Denver Post

The Broncos have spent countless hours and thousands of frequent-flier miles assembling a list of players they might draft this month.

And they have checked that list twice. Well, far more than twice. They've been checking it for the past year.

Then they cut the list. A lot. Cut it almost more than anyone else in the league.

Broncos coach Josh McDaniels learned under New England's Bill Belichick, who uses a draft philosophy called "the short board."

While most teams list all potential picks on their draft board, with grades on everyone from potential first-round picks to rookie free agents, teams such as the Patriots, Broncos and Chiefs work from a much shorter list. Players who don't fit the team's framework, on or off the field, are removed from consideration before the draft starts.

The result is a far smaller pool of players from which to choose. Last April, the Broncos made 10 selections from a board that included fewer than 100 names. The draft included 256 players, and some teams had more than 300 names on their board.

"We want the players on our board that we want on our team — that's the goal," McDaniels said. "It's the process we go through to make the best decisions, both short- and long-term for our team."

"Our process is a process that works for us," Patriots director of player personnel Nick Cesario said.

It's a process Belichick has used to build a three-time Super Bowl champion. Some who have worked with Belichick said there were years when the Patriots had as few as 25 names on their draft board.

The trick, as Belichick said, is to "get the right players in the right spot."

In other words, threading the needle to fill needs and include players who might be available when you have a selection. Oftentimes, there aren't players the Patriots want in the spot they have available, so they make a trade. They made three trades on the first day of the 2009 draft, including
trading out of the first round in order to avoid "reaching" for a player far above their grading system.

In paring his draft board, Belichick assigns the spot he thinks that player should be taken.

Some in the league wondered if the Patriots had reached on guard Logan Mankins with a first-round pick in 2005. Many teams graded Mankins as a second- or early third-round pick. The Patriots, however, had Mankins worthy of their first-round pick, and he has blossomed into a two-time Pro Bowler.

With this year's draft spread over three days for the first time, Belichick said at the recent league meetings it will make maintaining a draft board even more important because only the first round of the draft will be completed April 22, so the second round April 23 will look like another first round.

"You take the names off, and then you kind of reset the board," Belichick said. "Based on who you've drafted, maybe that changes your draft strategy a little bit."

It's a highly disciplined approach. McDaniels tried to replicate it last spring in his first draft as Broncos coach, with mixed results.

Some personnel executives point to the Broncos' second-round choices last April as an example of possibly overreaching to get someone on your list. Denver traded a 2010 first-round pick to select cornerback Alphonso Smith in the second round. The Broncos then took tight end Richard Quinn, who had only 12 receptions in his college career, later in the round, even though Quinn was slotted far lower by most teams.

Smith played sparingly last season, and Quinn appeared mostly on special teams. Their production did not match their selections.

McDaniels, who was hired in January 2009, said the short time frame in getting ready for the draft last spring may have hampered him. He said things should go much more smoothly this time around, with a full year to prepare.

"We've had our criteria in place a lot longer this year," McDaniels said. "I think we're all well versed in what we want to do and how we want do it. We're more comfortable with the whole process."
Short story

Teams such as the Patriots, Broncos and Chiefs use a draft philosophy with far fewer players on their draft board.

In 2009, there were 256 players selected overall, and coach Josh McDaniels said the Broncos had fewer than 100 players on their draft board. This year, there are 255 picks in the draft. The Broncos have six picks — 11th, 45th, 80th, 114th, 183rd and 220th.

broncobryce
04-11-2010, 11:55 AM
I would kill to see that list.

Northman
04-11-2010, 12:03 PM
Funny, they only had about a 100 prospects on their board last year.

Davii
04-11-2010, 12:08 PM
I don't care if their list is 30 names, or 300 names. Let's see the results. Hopefully the results of this years draft have more of an impact than last years.

Nomad
04-11-2010, 12:11 PM
Last year's draft was the first I really ever watched, I may watch the first round this year, though I've always heard the Jets fans are pretty entertaining and last year proved so!:lol:

Ziggy
04-11-2010, 01:47 PM
They both have a short list, but there were major differences in overall philosiphy. The Broncos continually traded up in last year's draft, and never traded down. The Pats either take the player that's in thier spot, or trade down. I'd be willing to bet that McD traded up more times last year thank Billicheck has in his entire tenure. Hopefully Josh will learn how to balance a short list with patience.

Lonestar
04-12-2010, 12:35 AM
You have to remember that the broncos do not have the talent level that Billy has had since the late 90's. It is easy to trade back when you have no real holes to fill.

When you have to fill almost an entire defense as well as real key players on Offense sometimes you have to sacrifice quantity for quality.

I'll bet there will be less "fire sale" mentality since Josh and the scouts have more than 2+ months to prioritze who they want.


Sent from my BlackBerry Smartphone provided by Alltel.

dogfish
04-12-2010, 01:57 AM
You have to remember that the broncos do not have the talent level that Billy has had since the late 90's. It is easy to trade back when you have no real holes to fill.

When you have to fill almost an entire defense as well as real key players on Offense sometimes you have to sacrifice quantity for quality.

I'll bet there will be less "fire sale" mentality since Josh and the scouts have more than 2+ months to prioritze who they want.


Sent from my BlackBerry Smartphone provided by Alltel.

there better be less of a fire sale mentality. . .

that pick we spent on alphonso smith just might be good enough to get joe haden this year, or pretty close-- just sayin'!

"When you have to fill almost an entire defense as well as real key players on Offense"-- your own words-- wouldn't that be the BEST possible time to move back and acquire more picks, or at least get all the value you could out of the ones you have, rather than burning value moving up a bunch of times and trading away future firsts in a draft projected to be very deep?

i would certainly think so. . . in any case, it's done, and i do try not to bitch about last year's draft too much. . . unless we do the same stuff, of course. . . hopefully a year's experience and a full offseason's preparation will yield more positive results. . .

Lonestar
04-12-2010, 09:46 AM
Yes it would be great to know what is going to happen a year from now not only where you are going to draft but which players will be top 20 picks.

Last year was joe even thought highly of.

I'm a firm beliver that a birf in the hand is worth two in the bush. Smith may have been clueless last year but for the most part most rookie CB are also.

If he does not make it he will not be the first CB that has been a bust in DEN that list is very long and undistiguished.

I firmly believe that having to completly organize the team, coaches, scouting staff last year hampered in fully stocking the draft board.

Not to mention that Josh seems to be following Bill's smaller draft board is better ideas. Do not be surprised to see only 125 or so names on the draft board.
But they will all have a chance to make the team. Less TC fodder and signing bonuses wasted.


Sent from my BlackBerry Smartphone provided by Alltel.

Northman
04-12-2010, 09:55 AM
They both have a short list, but there were major differences in overall philosiphy. The Broncos continually traded up in last year's draft, and never traded down. The Pats either take the player that's in thier spot, or trade down. I'd be willing to bet that McD traded up more times last year thank Billicheck has in his entire tenure. Hopefully Josh will learn how to balance a short list with patience.

Pow! on the money. I so hope they are more prepared this year.

topscribe
04-12-2010, 09:58 AM
You have to remember that the broncos do not have the talent level that Billy has had since the late 90's. It is easy to trade back when you have no real holes to fill.

When you have to fill almost an entire defense as well as real key players on Offense sometimes you have to sacrifice quantity for quality.

I'll bet there will be less "fire sale" mentality since Josh and the scouts have more than 2+ months to prioritze who they want.


Sent from my BlackBerry Smartphone provided by Alltel.

I think you hit the proverbial nail on the head. We have to remember two things:

1. That you cannot judge a draft after one year still stands.

2. That the FO had precious little time to do anything last year. Do we realize
most FAs, draft choices, and most on the FO all just completed their first year in
the organization in the last few days?

Personally, I am quite impressed with what they have done and how well they
have done it in the time they had to do it. I'm eager to see what they can do,
now that they have had a full offseason.

-----

SmilinAssasSin27
04-12-2010, 07:13 PM
Ummm...It took Lamar Woodley 3 years to even look decent...and that's just 1 example. Give it some time folks. Just cuz a rook doesn't make the HOF in year 1, doesn't necessarily mean he's a bust.

dogfish
04-12-2010, 07:38 PM
Ummm...It took Lamar Woodley 3 years to even look decent...and that's just 1 example. Give it some time folks. Just cuz a rook doesn't make the HOF in year 1, doesn't necessarily mean he's a bust.

actually one year, but who's counting?

i'd say 11.5 sacks his second season looked better than decent. . . ;)


doesn't subtract value from your overall point, however. . . just not the most perfect example. . .

SmilinAssasSin27
04-12-2010, 07:40 PM
I'll give you that, but playing 3-4 OLB is more than just sack totals. Pittsburgh put him in situations where he could getb to the QB, but they even recognize he struggled w/ pursuit angles and coverage for wqite a while.

Ravage!!!
04-12-2010, 07:40 PM
I know you can't judge a player by his rook year... however.... was the the UDFA that replaced him, a rookie?

LordTrychon
04-12-2010, 09:12 PM
Yes it would be great to know what is going to happen a year from now not only where you are going to draft but which players will be top 20 picks.

Last year was joe even thought highly of.

I'm a firm beliver that a birf in the hand is worth two in the bush. Smith may have been clueless last year but for the most part most rookie CB are also.


If he does not make it he will not be the first CB that has been a bust in DEN that list is very long and undistiguished.

I firmly believe that having to completly organize the team, coaches, scouting staff last year hampered in fully stocking the draft board.

Not to mention that Josh seems to be following Bill's smaller draft board is better ideas. Do not be surprised to see only 125 or so names on the draft board.
But they will all have a chance to make the team. Less TC fodder and signing bonuses wasted.


Sent from my BlackBerry Smartphone provided by Alltel.

Fortunately, we're all above holding such misses and bad judgement calls against anyone in the front office. *phew*

Josh will be fine.

arapaho2
04-13-2010, 12:44 PM
You have to remember that the broncos do not have the talent level that Billy has had since the late 90's. It is easy to trade back when you have no real holes to fill.

When you have to fill almost an entire defense as well as real key players on Offense sometimes you have to sacrifice quantity for quality.

I'll bet there will be less "fire sale" mentality since Josh and the scouts have more than 2+ months to prioritze who they want.


Sent from my BlackBerry Smartphone provided by Alltel.

although i kinda agree...that last year the priority was defense..yet we used 7 picks on offense..moreno...quinn two 3rds...seth olsen..mckinnely...brandstater...blake schlueter
...and only drafted 4 players on defense