A little Holiday reading if you have the time ...
S197 wrote: ↑Wed Dec 23, 2020 10:15 pm
I've given Spielman plenty of credit for his picks, the problem is when you ignore (or fail) at something as fundamental as the offensive line…
Aaaaaannnnd THIS is where all logic breaks down for me.
If we were to sum up the "Rick must go" logic, we have this:
Rick has been OK at drafting just about every position but OL and QB;
Rick has made "horrible" - or at least "deserving of being fired" - decisions in FA;
Rick has had some wins like AD, Harrison Smith, Cook, Rudy, Diggs, Jefferson, Kendricks, Hunter, etc.
I could go on, but let's work with that list and concentrate on our drafting of OL, since we simply have not had draft capital to get a transitional QB, IMO. Could Rick have bet the farm and gone all in on a Wilson or Mahomes? I guess. But anyone holding his feet to that fire simply has no grasp on NFL realities.
So we're down to not being able to draft OL. How do we figure, in any logical sense, that "Rick" (and I use quotes because I don't believe for one instant that draft picks are at the sole discretion of Rick) can somehow realize what it takes to succeed at every position but OL?
I mean, think that over. They must have lists of attributes that they are scouting at each position, both college and FA's. But somehow someway, the list we use for OL simply is broken - year after year after year? Does that make ANY kind of sense to anyone? The probability that that scenario is indeed the case is infinitesimally small. And to think Rick just blurts out a name and makes the team select that guy is equally non-likely.
If there is any annual review of draft picks, wouldn't it occur to anyone involved - including the janitor passing by the room - that the list of attributes for OL is broken?
It simply makes zero sense to proclaim "Rick can't pick OL". Zero, zero sense.
So what's going on with the OL - or at least what is more LIKELY going on at OL?
1) Our scouts in charge of OL have sucked over the years. In order for this to be the case, Rick and Zim would have had to ignore watching any potential OL picks in person, AND also be equally sucky as our scouts at recognizing talent on film. I don't know if this is true or false. If it was indeed our scouts+Rick+Zim, I would think 2-3 years into no drafted OL looking good would result in a change in the scouting personnel or process. When I hear “Rick sucks at picking OL”, this is the scenario I imagine the poster intends, and it makes little to no sense to me that ALL of the heads we have in on the draft process simply suck at recognizing OL talent.
2) Rick simply does not realize what OL attributes translate to the NFL, and his incompetence in this area has trickled down through the scouting department. He insists on taking "his guy" and everyone else can go eat fudge. Every year at the draft, Zim says to Rick “well, if you think he can play, go ahead and pick him”. In order for this scenario to be true, Zim would have to have been a patsy going on six years now. At some point doesn’t anyone think Zim would say “let ME pick the OL, your picks are going to get me fired!!”. We’d have shuffled the deck if this scenario were even remotely true.
3) It is not a team priority to draft OL in the early rounds, therefore the OL we do draft are less talented. There are some things that I feel are "Ricks Draft Philosophy", like trading down, but not picking OL early is not one of them IMO. 100% this approach would require buy-in from the coaching staff and is a "Team Draft Philosophy". We have no idea who wants what behind the scenes when we make draft selections, so this one is a wild guess. But Rick+Zim history says we don’t rush to pick OL in the draft, and nothing logical points to Rick simply stuffing that philosophy down everyone’s throat. It seems an agreed-upon approach or it would not be continuing.
4) We draft OL pretty much in the appropriate round, with physical attributes that “should” transition into the NFL. Once they get to Winter Park we have no clue how to help them make the transition and improve. This task would fall squarely on the OL coaching staff, which maybe has not “failed” in 7-8 years but certainly would not win any “Assistant Coach of the Year” awards IMO.
5) Our strength and conditioning staff is failing. When I see our OL get bounced around with no clue about leverage and see our DL get zero pressure, I give this some very likely credence.
6) The players are not responding to a nepotistic, sarcastic and caustic coaching staff led at the top by Mike Zimmer, and it’s particularly hard on the OL. I want to give this some credence, but Belichick is/was getting away with it in NE to some degree (maybe not anymore). Maybe you can be caustic and hire your son when you have Tom Brady at the helm, I don’t know. I do think Belichick’s personality is a lot friendlier than Zim’s with the team (based on what I’ve heard). But if players think the three sons on our coaching staff shouldn’t be there and Zim’s a tool, that’s a problem.
#3 seems a given, with history as the guide.
I give top “logical likelihood” to #4 and #5 as the main culprits, with a hint of #6.
#1 and #2 just seem preposterous when they are written down.