Greg Cosell’s Draft Review: Teams’ picks tell us a lot (Podcast)
We focus a lot on the individual picks in an NFL draft, but I think a lot can be gleaned about what a team wants its identity to be based on its draft class.
Most teams go through the draft with certain strategies or goals in mind, whether it’s to attack a certain position, draft specific types of players (big cornerbacks, for example) or build a certain identity. Most picks fit as part of a bigger plan.
In the first post-draft episode of our podcast, “The Shutdown,” we talked about individual players and what to make of their landing spots. In this episode, we shifted focus a bit and discussed many teams and what we can learn from taking a look at their draft class as a whole:
Here are a few of the teams we talked about, and there were many more in the podcast:
Seattle Seahawks: I think they made the point that even with Marshawn Lynch retired, they’re still going to maintain the same personality, and that’s based in running the ball.
In the first round they took guard Germain Ifedi. In the third, fifth and seventh rounds they took running backs C.J. Prosise, Alex Collins and Zac Brooks. Those three backs will go with running back Thomas Rawls, who had a really good rookie season. Just as interesting was another third-round pick, tight end Nick Vannett. Vannett is not really a receiving tight end, he’s a blocking tight end. That tells us something about their plan in this draft. Seattle also drafted tackle/guard Rees Odhiambo in the third round and center Joey Hunt in the sixth. So their draft seemed to be a statement.
I think the Seahawks are pretty much saying that as great as Russell Wilson’s second half was last year — and it was great — and as much as our passing game worked, we have a core identity we believe in and we don’t want to stray too far from that. They want to be a physical running team first and foremost. Their draft tells you that.
Tennessee Titans: This was a new front office, with general manager Jon Robinson in his first year, and their draft clearly signaled they have a plan in mind. They want to be a physical, “attitude” football team on both sides of the ball.
They traded up to draft offensive lineman Jack Conklin. The one thing everyone agrees on is he’s an “attitude” player. He’s a competitive guy, he’s a mean guy, he’s a tenacious guy. He’s a tempo setter on your offensive line. And this team wants to line up and run the ball with power. That’s what DeMarco Murray is, and that’s clearly why they drafted running back Derrick Henry in the second round. They want to develop a power offensive line that’s physical and creates space early in the down for a couple backs in Murray and Henry who need space early in the down.
Then in the sixth round they took Arkansas guard Sebastian Tretola. When you watch the film you see a nasty, power-scheme offensive guard. He may not start of play a lot this year, but it speaks a lot to their plan with their first pick in Conklin, their second pick in Henry and their sixth-round pick in Tretola. They want a physical, power-running offense.
Carolina Panthers: The draft plan seemed to start with Josh Norman being let go. Norman is a very good player but I think they have a belief in the way they play defensive, tactically speaking. They’re not a high percentage man team, they play mostly zone. They’ll play some man, because every defense does, but they’re not built to play press man most of the time.
When they let Norman go, they had to replace him. Their second- and third-round picks at corner were James Bradberry and Daryl Worley, who are both similarly big cornerbacks. In the fifth round they took cornerback Zack Sanchez, who isn’t quite as big and is a predominantly zone corner. But with the first two picks you could see they value larger cornerbacks. And maybe in the offseason they’ll transition some and play more man, because Bradberry and Worley can fit the profile of press cornerbacks.
When you’re a good team like the Panthers, and when you have a quarterback in place, you have a luxury to attack one area. Clearly, cornerback is the one area they wanted to go after.
– – – – – – –
NFL analyst and NFL Films senior producer Greg Cosell watches as much NFL game film as anyone. Throughout the season, Cosell will join Shutdown Corner to share his observations on the teams, schemes and personnel from around the league.
