Fans were worried, swearing we needed to trade up to get a good player. I was nervous about the numebrs – there were 13 guys I wanted and we picked 14. But I reassured myself with this: there’s no way I could have picked the 13 players that would go first. If we stayed put, someone was bound to fall.
A couple someones did. Thanks to what look like semi-buffoonish picks, Derwin James and Tremaine Edmunds both fell to the Packers. Who saw that coming? No one, it’s a crapshoot.
It’s like the Saints said “You’re right, the draft is a crapshoot, so f#ck, we’ll give away a first rounder.” Personally, I think the price for the Saints was driven up by teams interested in Ward or Edmunds… or at least that’s what Gutey told the Saints.
But what if the Saints never called? Would the Packers have taken James or Edmunds. If they did, we’d probably feel pretty good. If they took someone else, maybe even Alexander at 14, we might not feel so good.
Traing down to pickup another first was great, but we moved down to 27.
What if we couldn’t move back up? What if were stuck there and took, say Josh Jackson – how would we feel? What if we were stuck there and Alexander still slipped? What if we couldn’t move up, but the Ravens wanted us to trade down again? We could get more picks and still end up with a Josh Jackson type player. Or we could move down and get shut out of all the good cornerbacks.
Any one of these things could have happened very easily and it would have drastically changed our perceptions of Day 1. It’s only one pick in and all these scenarios were very distinct possibilities.
Here’s another possiblity – What is the Packers actually wanted Davenport and were shocked that the Saints stole him? What if Gutey thought that project pass rusher would fall and he would look brilliant?
We don’t know if this was the case.
And this is all one-day old conjecture. We won’t know the real score for years. If Davenport is the next Reggie White, we’d better get something great with that 2019 first rounder or this brilliant-looking move will be like all the teams that passed on Aaron Rodgers.
All of this just illustrates how fine the line is between any alternate reality in the draft universe. I still think the Justin Harrell pick was born out of circumstance when the Packers couldn’t find a trade partner. It’s so close to taking another direction.
All of this stuff is so likely and unlikely at the same time.
This is what makes the draft so great – so much better than any other sport.
At the same time, it’s the perfect illustration of why we shouldn’t get too excited, upset, blameful, or angry. Just enjoy the ride and see what happens.
Enjoy Day 2, everyone.
For our complete draft coverage, please visit our 2018 Draft Central page.