The 2022 Draft Class, 6 games in:

[Polk738]

a new approach perhaps. also, pete giving back JS power in personnel decisions.

i think they realized they had to start over and build a completely new foundation. that itself is a completely new approach that they hadn't been doing. not since 2009-2012. the parts that assembled the most dominant defense in the modern era had worn out and needed replaced, but no real investment had been made. RW had also diminished. trading wilson was a signal. they waved the white flag with wilson, realized it was beyond time to restart. that trade and subsequent draft capital jumpstarted a rebuild. and so they've started to foster a rebuild rather than continue to reach for positions of need and trade away 1sts to patch the roster like they've also done. those panic levels of urgency are gone. it seems the pendulum of personnel decisions has swept from PC to JS. it seems the FO is taking a methodical route, being less reactive and trusting the draft, finding good cost controlled players to build the core.

geno's been a revelation. how they handle the qb position going forward now that geno has proven his salt is a big storyline for next year. what they do with jamal adams is gonna be intriguing. they will also need to target a gamewrecker in the front 7 and need to fully commit to building up the defense through the draft.

I would agree with that, it's just crazy to think they whiffed hard on so many defensive draft picks post 2012 up until this recent draft, Cody Barton, Tedric Thompson, Delayno Hill, Malik McDowell, Shaq Griffin, Trey Flowers, Marquise Blair, LJ Collier, damn the list just goes on, and on.

 

[seatownlowdown]

 

[LeveeBreak]

Can't complain about any of that. I'd maybe bump Mafe up to B/B- and drop Coby to B+/A-. Looking early like this could be our best draft since the historic 2012 one.

Ditto

 

[Mick063]

Failure may be a teaching point, but nothing reinforces consistency more than chronic success. Great play is like compound interest. It keeps building on itself.

But the best thing about this draft class, is that DK Metcalf claims the group is full of the "go to work with your head down" types. The benefit of that is that their work ethic will influence the Denver spawned draft bonanza coming in next season. Like I said. Compound interest. Success breeds success.

Further, with Denver doing all of the tanking for us, there is incentive at all organizational levels to win now. Which also rubs off on the building's aura.

 

[onanygivensunday]

Love the grades but I am a little lower on Cross. Probably a solid B/B- Every excuse could be made for him and they would be justified.

However it seems to me he gets flaged more then the rest and gets beaten more than I would like to see.

I think that Cross is really solid, and the occasional holding call on an LT in the NFL is something to be expected. Keep in mind that Cross has been getting the best of our opponents' EDGE rushers, and thus far has had only three (3) holding penalties called on him in eight games.

As it turns out, Abe Lucas has more total penalties (5) called on him than have been called on Charles Cross (4). Damien Lewis and Phil Haynes have three (3) each, while Austin Blythe has two (2). All of Damien Lewis' three penalties have been holding calls.

Just wanted to set the record straight.

 

[bigskydoc]

Has to make you wonder what they did differently this draft than previous ones, to hit on this many picks in one draft is not something this team has done since 2010-2012, Tariq Woolen looks like the best defensive draft pick since Bobby Wagner

Not that this explains it all, but there is a huge difference between drafting to build a team from scratch, and drafting to flesh out a team of stars. The latter is much harder.

When your rookies have to compete against a team with Sherman, Chancellor, Thomas, Wags, Wright, Bennet, Avril, Baldwin, Beast, Tate, etc already with solidified roles, the numbers dictate that a higher percentage won't find a starting job.

When your drafting into a team with fewer superstars, your batting average is more likely to be higher.

I've mentioned this regarding how few hits we've had in previous drafts.

Even so, they really knocked it out of the park this time.

 

[Jegpeg]

In terms of numbers of players making an immediate impact the 2010-2012 drafts are nothing like as good as this draft class. Our first 6 picks areall starting, too early to tell if the remaining 3 will be not progess beyond back-up or will develop a starting role in the next year or two. Compare that to:

2010 Only the two first round picks started immediately, 2nd round Tate developed into a starter and the 3 late rounders did little
2011 Three first season starters (Moffitt, KJ and Sherman) Maxwell became a starter and 4 players with little impact. (Draft was hampered by have no picks until round 3)
2012 Only Wagner and Wilson got starting roles immediately, even 1st Round Irvin was second string in his first season, Sweezy became a starter and Turbin lane and scuggs developed ot have a useful role though rarely stated.

Too early to say if any of these guys will become among the top in the league in their position like many of the 2010-2012 guys did but we have twice as many rookies making an immediate impact than in any of those years. Not sure if ANY team has had a rookie class that has made this much impact ?

 

[Mick063]

In terms of numbers of players making an immediate impact the 2010-2012 drafts are nothing like as good as this draft class. Our first 6 picks areall starting, too early to tell if the remaining 3 will be not progess beyond back-up or will develop a starting role in the next year or two. Compare that to:

2010 Only the two first round picks started immediately, 2nd round Tate developed into a starter and the 3 late rounders did little
2011 Three first season starters (Moffitt, KJ and Sherman) Maxwell became a starter and 4 players with little impact. (Draft was hampered by have no picks until round 3)
2012 Only Wagner and Wilson got starting roles immediately, even 1st Round Irvin was second string in his first season, Sweezy became a starter and Turbin lane and scuggs developed ot have a useful role though rarely stated.

Too early to say if any of these guys will become among the top in the league in their position like many of the 2010-2012 guys did but we have twice as many rookies making an immediate impact than in any of those years. Not sure if ANY team has had a rookie class that has made this much impact ?

In another post, I made the claim that this was the best draft class for the ENTIRE NFL since the early 1990s Cowboys and that we would have to wait for HOF eligibility to determine if they were better than that. I'm sticking to my story.

 

[slateman77]

Failure may be a teaching point, but nothing reinforces consistency more than chronic success. Great play is like compound interest. It keeps building on itself.

But the best thing about this draft class, is that DK Metcalf claims the group is full of the "go to work with your head down" types. The benefit of that is that their work ethic will influence the Denver spawned draft bonanza coming in next season. Like I said. Compound interest. Success breeds success.

Further, with Denver doing all of the tanking for us, there is incentive at all organizational levels to win now. Which also rubs off on the building's aura.

This..!! When these guys come in with a go to work with their heads down attitude they quickly gain the respect of the vets and other teammates which causes a cohesive unit that works together more easier than if those players take longer to adjust.

 

[LeveeBreak]

Failure may be a teaching point, but nothing reinforces consistency more than chronic success. Great play is like compound interest. It keeps building on itself.

But the best thing about this draft class, is that DK Metcalf claims the group is full of the "go to work with your head down" types. The benefit of that is that their work ethic will influence the Denver spawned draft bonanza coming in next season. Like I said. Compound interest. Success breeds success.

Further, with Denver doing all of the tanking for us, there is incentive at all organizational levels to win now. Which also rubs off on the building's aura.

Agreed. My bosses-boss is a hawks fan and was all about tanking for higher pics. I told him that approach does more damage because it reinforces that losing is ok. Humans grow and adapt, for better or worse. Your reference to compounding is spot on.