Trader Rick is not a myth by a long shot, he made around 35 draft day trades between 2014 and 2021. I would wager that this number is the highest of any GM in the league during those years. OTOH, I looked at the actual trades and I do agree that his tendencies got exaggerated by many in the fanbase, including me. It was often 6th (not 7th rounders) that he stockpiled, and he did use them to move up numerous times. I'd forgotten that.Pondering Her Percy wrote: ↑Thu May 05, 2022 11:06 amSo since he traded down that far one time in 2019, that means "Rick loves stockpiling 7th rounders"? Most of his 7th round picks came from throw in picks or compensatory picks given by the league.Texas Vike wrote: ↑Thu May 05, 2022 8:28 am
No one has any trouble understanding anything. I just don't think you are representing reality in an objective way, due to your love of Rick.
You say RS would trade down 5 spots and additionally get a 7th as a bonus. It's not lost on me what he was doing. Here's what you are not recognizing: he would do that 4 times in a row (as in the (in)famous 2019 draft), thus he would ultimately move back 20+ spots and by doing so he'd stockpile 6th and 7th round picks.
Kwesi similarly moved down 20 spots in the first round of this draft. But here's the difference: Rick's 6th and 7th rounders NEVER made any impact. If they had, we wouldn't be lacking so much depth on D. Those picks would routinely be training camp fodder. OTOH, I'm willing to bet that Cine and Booth will make contributions.
You cant sit there and tell me that if we still had Rick and he did EXACTLY what Kwesi did, people wouldnt be blowing a lid over it. I can 1000% guarantee people would be in an uproar. "Trader Rick this.. and Trader Rick that". And "all he ever wants to do is trade down". Blah blah blah.
I believe Cine and Booth will both make contributions too. But it was just last year where Rick traded down in round 1 and landed Christian Darrisaw who also made a big contribution. With that trade it also landed us Mond and Davis who the jury is still out on.
Point is, this whole trading back thing with Rick is massively overblown IMO. I wasnt even mad that Kwesi did. I just believe he should've gotten more than what he got in terms of draft pick capital. If there are a lot of guys you like in the middle rounds or whatever it may be, moving back is smart.
Nobody will ever be able to convince me that drafting 7 players over 10 players gives you a better chance to hit. When you get to the mid to late rounds, your hit rate drastically drops. So if I could have one 5th round pick or lets say three 7th round picks, I take three 7ths any day of the week.
Again, since I like to squeeze late round picks out of people in trades in fantasy football, does that mean I like "stockpiling late round picks"? Or am I simply squeezing everything I can out of my trade and taking a chance on one more player?
You latched onto one aspect of my original point. My main beef with RS is his horrible record drafting talent, especially in the 1st round. Just look at how few were signed to 5th year tenders and you will see the franchise, itself, admits that they were failures. Bradbury is the latest in a pretty long line. And that isn't simply "unfortunate" as another poster states above. That's poor drafting. I'm sure you won't agree with that either, but I guess we'll just have to agree to disagree.
) and it's clear the guy is a player. Some of the best route-running I have seen. Though I got laughed at when I said the same thing about Kupp years ago. I think he went into a perfect system and I expect him to have success.
Thank you. Watson may after a few years turn out to be a good WR. He's got a long way to go. Rodgers will be gone before Watson accomplishes anything.