Listen, I will preface this by saying I am absolutely 100 percent for trading down and collecting a next years 1st rounder from someone. However, I am beyond baffled by how many people buy into pre draft hype on players, especially at Tackle.
Grading tackles is one of the toughest things to do. The people that argue Sewell is a can't miss talent really need to figure out how they are getting to that conclusion. Is it stats? Is it what draft gurus say? Because I think we all should step back and make sure it isn't what people are just saying about a player and are making their own opinions instead.
Here is the highest graded tackles ever pre draft.
Joe Thomas, Jake Long, Russell Okung, Eric Winston and Trent Williams were great pros. But thats only 50% of the top highest rated Tackles EVER.
The other 5 were complete busts in the NFL as tackles.
Jake Long, Eric Winston and Trent Williams all ended up leaving the franchise that drafted them because the team ended up not paying them.
This means only 2 of the highest graded tackles ever really had a true meaningful impact to their team that made them worth keeping around.
I realise this will get flamed. I realise that Sewell may very well be a HOF tackle when all is said and done. But we all need to realise he may very well (and the odds are in favor of) end up being a bust or at the very least may not be all he is built up to be.
If we draft Sewell I will pray he is a HOF, but people need to really stop pretending that he is a lock to be an all time great. The draft is a crap shoot. How people transition to the NFL is and has always been a lot of luck. People get paid a lot of money to only hit on 1 or 2 a year and that is considered good.
Great teams in the NFL build through the draft. Increasing the number of picks, and therefore the odds, is by far the best way to do this.
Grading tackles is one of the toughest things to do. The people that argue Sewell is a can't miss talent really need to figure out how they are getting to that conclusion. Is it stats? Is it what draft gurus say? Because I think we all should step back and make sure it isn't what people are just saying about a player and are making their own opinions instead.
Here is the highest graded tackles ever pre draft.
| 1 | Joe Thomas | Wisconsin | 2007 |
| 2 | Jake Long | Michigan | 2008 |
| 3 | Leonard Davis | Texas | 2001 |
| 4 | Russell Okung | Oklahoma St | 2010 |
| 5 | Mike Williams | Texas | 2002 |
| 6 | Robert Gallery | Iowa | 2004 |
| 7 | Andre Smith | Alabama | 2009 |
| 8 | Eric Winston | Miami (FL) | 2006 |
| 9 | Trent Williams | Oklahoma | 2010 |
| 10 | Matt Kalil | USC | 2012 |
Joe Thomas, Jake Long, Russell Okung, Eric Winston and Trent Williams were great pros. But thats only 50% of the top highest rated Tackles EVER.
The other 5 were complete busts in the NFL as tackles.
Jake Long, Eric Winston and Trent Williams all ended up leaving the franchise that drafted them because the team ended up not paying them.
This means only 2 of the highest graded tackles ever really had a true meaningful impact to their team that made them worth keeping around.
I realise this will get flamed. I realise that Sewell may very well be a HOF tackle when all is said and done. But we all need to realise he may very well (and the odds are in favor of) end up being a bust or at the very least may not be all he is built up to be.
If we draft Sewell I will pray he is a HOF, but people need to really stop pretending that he is a lock to be an all time great. The draft is a crap shoot. How people transition to the NFL is and has always been a lot of luck. People get paid a lot of money to only hit on 1 or 2 a year and that is considered good.
Great teams in the NFL build through the draft. Increasing the number of picks, and therefore the odds, is by far the best way to do this.
