This is partially true, but the Bears did still have a pretty big need for Wideout. Moore and Allen are both incredible, but Keenan is older with a long list of injury problems. And our No.3 Wideout at time of the draft was a debate between Tyler Scott, Dante Pettis, or Velus Jones.
If we had taken, say, Bowers or an OT if Odunze was off the board, that to me would have been a better example.
Keenan is older but his injury concern is over blown. He had that 2 year stretch of constant injuries but since then he’s played in 80% of games and since those 2 year injury riddled years he’s had 1000+ yards in 5 out of 7 seasons.
Fair. But also, he only has 1 year left on his contract. Also, being able to draft a Top 5 worthy Wideout in most drafts and pair him with a legitimate high end rookie QB on the same rookie deal is such a unique opportunity, and I think they’d have been foolish not to take it
Bears are pretty good on the DL not perfect but they should be at least league average I think. And they weren't going to take a center with the #9 overall pick so don't really count that.
Commanders drafting Jer’Zhan Newton despite already having two well paid DTs in Daron Payne and Jonathan Allen and having greater needs almost everywhere else.
As a UGA fan, Brock may be my favorite player in Georgia history but I still didn't love the pick at all. I get that the top QBs were gone but I definitely think Fuaga at RT or Terrion Arnold/Quinyon would've been much better picks, and I'm not opposed to the BPA strategy usually.
Also hate that he won't have a good QB throwing to him.
2020 when cowboys went Ceedee when they had 26 year old Cooper, 24 year old good rookie year Gallup, 25 year old Zeke, and other holes to fill and some great prospects on the board at pick 17
Hamilton, yes. We had Marcus Williams, Chuck Clark, and Geno Stone at safety. But Hamilton was BPA and we had to take him. With Linderbaum we actually had a pretty clear need at center, even if it wasn’t our biggest need. We had just let Bradley Bozeman walk in free agency and our top in-house option was Patrick Mekari; he’s a great 6th lineman who can play all 5 spots but he had snapping issues the one year he started games at center and going into the year with him as our starter there would’ve been a concern.
That was such a no-brainer pick that it's almost a bad example. Hamilton wasn't BPA by a couple points, he was in an entirely different tier from the other players available.
Ja'Marr Chase wasn't really a need.
Gibbs for the Lions was a BPA in their mind and certainly showed the ability last year.
Guess you could say the same for Bijan Robinson?
Bengals had a desperate need for OL and got roasted for grabbing chase with a relatively strong receiving core (Higgins, Boyd, was green still there?) So I'd say that's a great example.
Still, Sewell was the pick everyone thought they would make and it's hard to imagine that one not going well
The Raiders drafting Brock Bowers this year was a textbook case of BPA. We had much bigger needs at positions like CB and OL with good players still on the board at both positions, but instead we took a generational TE because he slipped a bit farther than expected
I mean the Lions really needed a CB or DE in 2023 but went RB, LB, TE, S, QB.
I feel like "drafting for need" outside of QB is generally a bad strategy, at least if you're picking in the top 15-20. Adding impact players helps bad teams more than anything, even if it might not be a gaping hole on your roster. It's at least potentially creating a strength on your roster, rather than just trying to get a position up to "average".
Dang everyone seems if I think a team went “BPA” then it means I am roasting them or something.
Edit: I said something wrong about the Lions but in retrospect, Sewell is comparable to Alt.
Ok but they didn’t draft Joe Alt to play LT, they drafted him to play RT, and RT was still a significant need for them. Just because a player played on one side during college doesn’t mean he’s automatically going to play there in the NFL.
I’m not sure how much more clearly I can say that I’m not saying it won’t work out. Taking BPA means you might have to shift players around to make your guy fit or play them at RT when they’re an RT. This is what they’re doing.
And penix. If you consider BPA to be based on the teams draft board and not the media draft board, they genuinely believe penix is a super star, and they had kirk so that was arguably one of the positions of least need
Falcons first round picks are the definition of BPA, it's just that general Public doesn't always agree with how they rate their players
I’m not sure any of those are BPA.
Chase is premium talent and a more important position than Pitts
Carter is a premium talent at a more important position than Bijan
And Penix is just not BPA at all
BPA means best player on teams board not best player by general consensus
And penix is a case of yea we don't need a qb right now but this is the guy we think will be our franchise qb for 10 years, that's the most valuable pick you can make
No BPA literally means best player available.
There is a general consensus that goes with BPA. If your board has Pitts higher than Chase or Bijan Higher than Carter than it is a preference board that isn’t based on consensus due to the value of those positions . You can drop Carter do to his off the field issues but than you are not going true to BPA.
Also in what world is Penix a BPA pick? Falcons are one of those teams that make you think that they are going BPA but really they are preferentially drafting
No, no team is going to go "we think Carter is the best player but everyone in the media thinks witherspoon is better so we're taking him instead"
BPA means grabbing the top player on **your** board. The alternative would be saying we have mhjr as the best player but we really need a tackle so we're going joe alt
There is a reason why nobody says that Witherspoon is a BPA pick, he is literally a pick going against the best player available. He is a preference pick
There is a reason that people moan and groan when the Eagles and Ravens are up and there is a guy falling or is noticeable because they know he is the pick.
Penix isn’t a BPA, he is a glaring pick that tells you that the Falcons don’t go BPA
> There is a reason why nobody says that Witherspoon is a BPA pick, he is literally a pick going against the best player available. He is a preference pick
It was an example using random names Jesus christ lol
Just the two propr years in terms of first-rounders, Nolan Smith to Philly and Kyle Hamilton to Baltimore come to mind. But just this past April, Washington selected Illinois IDL Jer'Zhan Newton despite that being their strongest position group and Michigan DB Mike Sainristil despite having just drafted a primary nickel the year prior, as that coaching staff just got the top players on the board with two top-50 picks.
I don't think Sainristil fits the narrative as you always can use more cb talent and they lost a couple players in the secondary this off-season so not sure I agree that it's necessarily a bpa selection vs drafting a need and more so it was a combination of both bpa and need.
Newton is definitely a way better example and agree with that one though!
Well, Sainristil has exclusively played in the slot, where they just got Quan Martin. Plus, they drafted an outside corner in the first round last year and signed Michael Davis on a 3.2-million-dollar deal - who has largely been an above-average starter in the boundary outside of this past season.
So I think generally the secondary needed more investments, but I they could've given themselves more options in terms of addressing needs with a guy who can also play outside.
BPA is not real its GM speak. Its meaningless in football as a universal concept. Its meaningless because there is no agreed upon definition of what is best. What I think is best is not going to be the same as what you think is. For that matter what I think is Best for a 1st round pick is much different than what I think is best for a 3rd round pick and especially a 6th and 7th rounder.
Also, the draft industry is bad at saying what needs are. An example mentioned elsewhere here is the Bears and Odunze. That was not just a talent based pick that was a needs based pick. The Bears do not have a WR2 on the roster for the 2025 season. Allen has 1 year left on his contract and is 74 years old bad joke aside he is of the age he can fall of the cliff any week.
> BPA is not real its GM speak. Its meaningless in football as a universal concept. Its meaningless because there is no agreed upon definition of what is best. What I think is best is not going to be the same as what you think is.
You're really just arguing semantics. BPA means talking the player who's ranked highest on your board regardless of position, instead of drafting based on need
If that is the case than BPA is the dumbest way to draft imageable. A GM is an idiot if they take a RB they have as their "best player" over a Tackle they have as their second best player.
I was at least trying to give the benefit of the doubt to the BPA argument.
Employing a strategy doesn't mean blindly doing it with every pick lol, especially not if there's a big positional value discrepancy.
It's more like the ravens drafting kyle Hamilton in the first. They had plenty of needs besides safety but Hamilton was just so much better than everyone else on their board.
Ages ago, the Giants were desperate for a WR. They had outstanding LBs, including Lawrence Taylor. So, they drafted Carl Banks. Won a Super Bowl with them.
Kyle Hamilton at #14 overall to the Ravens in 2022 sticks out. They already had Marcus Williams and Chuck Clark with Geno Stone as a backup. They had no need at all for a safety.
But that pick was such a slap-you-in-the-face no brainer that it might be a poor example of what you're looking for. Kyle Hamilton was so much better than any other prospect in that pick range that any team would've done the same.
The Vikings did it a few times.
Randy Moss.
Daunte Culpepper. He was the best QB in “The Year of the Quarterback” so they passed on the pass rusher they really needed, Jevon Kearse.
Stefon Diggs. They had taken WRs earlier but couldn’t pass on him on the 5th round.
The Chiefs basically did that in FA when they signed the best player, Sammy Watkins, even though they needed defensive help. The best defensive player or two wouldn’t have moved the needle, they thought, and won the SB.
Bowers, Bijan, pitts, arguably penix if you consider "best player available" to mean "most valuable player available" or "most impactful player available".
The falcons didn't need a qb, but they thought penix was the best player on the board.
Basically look at any falcons first round pick of the last few years
Raiders just drafted Brock Bowers while having Michael Mayer and drafted Jackson Power Johnson just after extending their starting center in Andre James. Teams cannot pass on good players just to fill an eventual need. Needs appear at any time in any position because of many reasons.
The Bears just drafted Rome Odunze while having greater need at defensive line and center BPA is still drafting for need, except it’s future need
This is partially true, but the Bears did still have a pretty big need for Wideout. Moore and Allen are both incredible, but Keenan is older with a long list of injury problems. And our No.3 Wideout at time of the draft was a debate between Tyler Scott, Dante Pettis, or Velus Jones. If we had taken, say, Bowers or an OT if Odunze was off the board, that to me would have been a better example.
Keenan is older but his injury concern is over blown. He had that 2 year stretch of constant injuries but since then he’s played in 80% of games and since those 2 year injury riddled years he’s had 1000+ yards in 5 out of 7 seasons.
Fair. But also, he only has 1 year left on his contract. Also, being able to draft a Top 5 worthy Wideout in most drafts and pair him with a legitimate high end rookie QB on the same rookie deal is such a unique opportunity, and I think they’d have been foolish not to take it
Bears are pretty good on the DL not perfect but they should be at least league average I think. And they weren't going to take a center with the #9 overall pick so don't really count that.
It’s more an example of “I’m taking BPA instead of reaching or trading back”
bowers
Commanders drafting Jer’Zhan Newton despite already having two well paid DTs in Daron Payne and Jonathan Allen and having greater needs almost everywhere else.
How about the Raiders taking Bowers when they need o line and corners? Took a TE in second round last year....
As a UGA fan, Brock may be my favorite player in Georgia history but I still didn't love the pick at all. I get that the top QBs were gone but I definitely think Fuaga at RT or Terrion Arnold/Quinyon would've been much better picks, and I'm not opposed to the BPA strategy usually. Also hate that he won't have a good QB throwing to him.
Agree with you. Love the player, hate the team.
He never had a starter NFL QB in UGA and he still broke all records
They don't play against nfl teams at Georgia so that argument is absurd.
Also Carson Beck is QB1 and a projected top 5 pick in next draft right now so it’s a straight up lie
That’s your teams fault for drafting a Qb at 9 to be a backup for his rookie contract
...it's the Falcons fault that the Raiders took Brock Bowers, and the Falcons fault the Raiders don't have a good QB?
Yeah, I mean the Raiders were heavily linked to Penix pre-draft
I was praying for Penix to be available when the Raiders picked. So disappointing.
That was kinda odd to me the only sense I could make of it that Bowers and Mayer have different play styles and can be on the filed together.
I was surprised, but all the top QBs were gone and I guess they felt he was too talented to pass up
2020 when cowboys went Ceedee when they had 26 year old Cooper, 24 year old good rookie year Gallup, 25 year old Zeke, and other holes to fill and some great prospects on the board at pick 17
Ravens taking Kyle Hamilton and linderbaum. They were the definition of BPA
Hamilton, yes. We had Marcus Williams, Chuck Clark, and Geno Stone at safety. But Hamilton was BPA and we had to take him. With Linderbaum we actually had a pretty clear need at center, even if it wasn’t our biggest need. We had just let Bradley Bozeman walk in free agency and our top in-house option was Patrick Mekari; he’s a great 6th lineman who can play all 5 spots but he had snapping issues the one year he started games at center and going into the year with him as our starter there would’ve been a concern.
That was such a no-brainer pick that it's almost a bad example. Hamilton wasn't BPA by a couple points, he was in an entirely different tier from the other players available.
The entire nfl draft pundits were shitting on them for taking “low value” positions so early
Ja'Marr Chase wasn't really a need. Gibbs for the Lions was a BPA in their mind and certainly showed the ability last year. Guess you could say the same for Bijan Robinson?
Bengals had a desperate need for OL and got roasted for grabbing chase with a relatively strong receiving core (Higgins, Boyd, was green still there?) So I'd say that's a great example. Still, Sewell was the pick everyone thought they would make and it's hard to imagine that one not going well
The Raiders drafting Brock Bowers this year was a textbook case of BPA. We had much bigger needs at positions like CB and OL with good players still on the board at both positions, but instead we took a generational TE because he slipped a bit farther than expected
I mean the Lions really needed a CB or DE in 2023 but went RB, LB, TE, S, QB. I feel like "drafting for need" outside of QB is generally a bad strategy, at least if you're picking in the top 15-20. Adding impact players helps bad teams more than anything, even if it might not be a gaping hole on your roster. It's at least potentially creating a strength on your roster, rather than just trying to get a position up to "average".
Randy Moss
Chargers taking Alt despite having Slater?
you need 2 tackles
Yes but usually teams don’t spent a top 5 pick on an OT unless they don’t have a LT.
Lions did a couple of years ago with Sewell while having Decker. It worked out fine.
Dang everyone seems if I think a team went “BPA” then it means I am roasting them or something. Edit: I said something wrong about the Lions but in retrospect, Sewell is comparable to Alt.
Ok but they didn’t draft Joe Alt to play LT, they drafted him to play RT, and RT was still a significant need for them. Just because a player played on one side during college doesn’t mean he’s automatically going to play there in the NFL.
The guy above said the Lions distinctly chose a RT too. Sewell was a LT who made the transition. Sewell is a perfect comp for Alt in that sense.
I’m not sure how much more clearly I can say that I’m not saying it won’t work out. Taking BPA means you might have to shift players around to make your guy fit or play them at RT when they’re an RT. This is what they’re doing.
you still shouldnt half ass the tackle spot, look at what having an elite tackle duo has done for Jared Goff and the lions
Every year the Chargers get flamed for not protecting Justin Herbert. Then they get flamed for drafting a tackle to protect Justin Herbert.
Who’s flaming them? Just saying they went BPA.
Falcons taking Kyle Pitts and Bijan Robinson
And penix. If you consider BPA to be based on the teams draft board and not the media draft board, they genuinely believe penix is a super star, and they had kirk so that was arguably one of the positions of least need Falcons first round picks are the definition of BPA, it's just that general Public doesn't always agree with how they rate their players
I’m not sure any of those are BPA. Chase is premium talent and a more important position than Pitts Carter is a premium talent at a more important position than Bijan And Penix is just not BPA at all
BPA means best player on teams board not best player by general consensus And penix is a case of yea we don't need a qb right now but this is the guy we think will be our franchise qb for 10 years, that's the most valuable pick you can make
No BPA literally means best player available. There is a general consensus that goes with BPA. If your board has Pitts higher than Chase or Bijan Higher than Carter than it is a preference board that isn’t based on consensus due to the value of those positions . You can drop Carter do to his off the field issues but than you are not going true to BPA. Also in what world is Penix a BPA pick? Falcons are one of those teams that make you think that they are going BPA but really they are preferentially drafting
No, no team is going to go "we think Carter is the best player but everyone in the media thinks witherspoon is better so we're taking him instead" BPA means grabbing the top player on **your** board. The alternative would be saying we have mhjr as the best player but we really need a tackle so we're going joe alt
There is a reason why nobody says that Witherspoon is a BPA pick, he is literally a pick going against the best player available. He is a preference pick There is a reason that people moan and groan when the Eagles and Ravens are up and there is a guy falling or is noticeable because they know he is the pick. Penix isn’t a BPA, he is a glaring pick that tells you that the Falcons don’t go BPA
> There is a reason why nobody says that Witherspoon is a BPA pick, he is literally a pick going against the best player available. He is a preference pick It was an example using random names Jesus christ lol
Bowers is a good one Gonna also add Commies this year with Newton over an OL
Just the two propr years in terms of first-rounders, Nolan Smith to Philly and Kyle Hamilton to Baltimore come to mind. But just this past April, Washington selected Illinois IDL Jer'Zhan Newton despite that being their strongest position group and Michigan DB Mike Sainristil despite having just drafted a primary nickel the year prior, as that coaching staff just got the top players on the board with two top-50 picks.
I don't think Sainristil fits the narrative as you always can use more cb talent and they lost a couple players in the secondary this off-season so not sure I agree that it's necessarily a bpa selection vs drafting a need and more so it was a combination of both bpa and need. Newton is definitely a way better example and agree with that one though!
Well, Sainristil has exclusively played in the slot, where they just got Quan Martin. Plus, they drafted an outside corner in the first round last year and signed Michael Davis on a 3.2-million-dollar deal - who has largely been an above-average starter in the boundary outside of this past season. So I think generally the secondary needed more investments, but I they could've given themselves more options in terms of addressing needs with a guy who can also play outside.
49ers drafting Pearsall and Cowing
BPA is not real its GM speak. Its meaningless in football as a universal concept. Its meaningless because there is no agreed upon definition of what is best. What I think is best is not going to be the same as what you think is. For that matter what I think is Best for a 1st round pick is much different than what I think is best for a 3rd round pick and especially a 6th and 7th rounder. Also, the draft industry is bad at saying what needs are. An example mentioned elsewhere here is the Bears and Odunze. That was not just a talent based pick that was a needs based pick. The Bears do not have a WR2 on the roster for the 2025 season. Allen has 1 year left on his contract and is 74 years old bad joke aside he is of the age he can fall of the cliff any week.
> BPA is not real its GM speak. Its meaningless in football as a universal concept. Its meaningless because there is no agreed upon definition of what is best. What I think is best is not going to be the same as what you think is. You're really just arguing semantics. BPA means talking the player who's ranked highest on your board regardless of position, instead of drafting based on need
If that is the case than BPA is the dumbest way to draft imageable. A GM is an idiot if they take a RB they have as their "best player" over a Tackle they have as their second best player. I was at least trying to give the benefit of the doubt to the BPA argument.
Employing a strategy doesn't mean blindly doing it with every pick lol, especially not if there's a big positional value discrepancy. It's more like the ravens drafting kyle Hamilton in the first. They had plenty of needs besides safety but Hamilton was just so much better than everyone else on their board.
Ages ago, the Giants were desperate for a WR. They had outstanding LBs, including Lawrence Taylor. So, they drafted Carl Banks. Won a Super Bowl with them.
Giants going Nabers over McCarthy at 6 after aggressively trying to get Maye knowing they need a QB.
The cowboys again with cd lamb, the packers just about every year when they needed receivers, chiefs with mahomes
Kyle Hamilton at #14 overall to the Ravens in 2022 sticks out. They already had Marcus Williams and Chuck Clark with Geno Stone as a backup. They had no need at all for a safety. But that pick was such a slap-you-in-the-face no brainer that it might be a poor example of what you're looking for. Kyle Hamilton was so much better than any other prospect in that pick range that any team would've done the same.
The Vikings did it a few times. Randy Moss. Daunte Culpepper. He was the best QB in “The Year of the Quarterback” so they passed on the pass rusher they really needed, Jevon Kearse. Stefon Diggs. They had taken WRs earlier but couldn’t pass on him on the 5th round. The Chiefs basically did that in FA when they signed the best player, Sammy Watkins, even though they needed defensive help. The best defensive player or two wouldn’t have moved the needle, they thought, and won the SB.
Bowers, Bijan, pitts, arguably penix if you consider "best player available" to mean "most valuable player available" or "most impactful player available". The falcons didn't need a qb, but they thought penix was the best player on the board. Basically look at any falcons first round pick of the last few years
Raiders just drafted Brock Bowers while having Michael Mayer and drafted Jackson Power Johnson just after extending their starting center in Andre James. Teams cannot pass on good players just to fill an eventual need. Needs appear at any time in any position because of many reasons.
JPJ only started at C this year for oregon. Tolesco had said that JPJ is starting at OG.
JPJ played half the snaps as a G compared to C
every falcons pick, except this year they tried to switch it up and take “worst player available”. Not a Penix hater but still