Quote from AAAintheBeltway:
The Redskins-Lions game left me convinced about the folly of wasting very high draft picks on receivers. The Lions have famously drafted that year's rock star receiver for seemingly the last five or six years. Two, I believe, are still on their roster. Roy Williams caught three passes yesterday for 36 yards. Calvin Johnson, all 6-5, 235 pounds, 4.3 40, caught one pass for three whole yards. 37 year old Keenan McCardell, who the 'Skins signed last week for the veteran's minimum, caught two passes for 39 yards.
The league's recent history is filled with high draft pick receivers who do little or nothing. Others are solid players but has any team won a Super Bowl recently because they had drafted a receiver in the first 10 picks? Doubtful.
The other place not to waste a high pick is RB. The talents that make a back great in college do not always translate. In the NFL the most important quality for a RB is toughness and the ability not to get hurt. Dazzling quickness is great but can you pick up a blitzing LB? Let's face it, for the most part there is little difference between the RBs of virtually every team. Plus, their careers are short because of the pounding they take. Luckily, this is among the easiest positions for a rookie to learn. Plenty of guys have come into the league and contributed immediately.
Where you do want to use high picks is both lines and CB. A dominating offensive line makes a decent RB and QB look like All Pros. A great D line makes your LBs and DBs look like All Pros. Great O linemen tend to have extremely long careers, a nice bonus since the position values experience.
The conventional wisdom of course is that a high pick must be used to select a franchise QB. The list of successful franchise QB's picked very high in the draft is a short one, basically Peyton Manning, Donovan McNabb, Brett Farve and Carson Palmer. Phillip Rivers may be one day. Eli Manning? Slightly better than journeyman is more likely. Tom Brady was a sixth round pick. Tony Romo was a free agent.
