The Cardinals' Draft With Respect to PFW's Player Rankings

[Mitch]

Pro Football Weekly issues a player ranking chart a couple of weeks before the draft...which means it's about as up to date as some NFL draft boards. What I liked most about it was they ranked the players by position and assigned their value and to what portion of each round (by thirds, A-Early, B-Middle, C-Late) the prospects should be taken.

I was just looking at it again today and I like the added perspective it gave me to the Cardinals' draft and how well they did. I think you might be impressed as well.

PFW's Rankings

1. Dan Williams, NT, Tennessee: 1B

Cardinals' Selection: 1C = VALUE

2. Daryl Washington, ILB, TCU: 2A

Cardinals' Selection: 2B = VALUE

3. Andre Roberts, WR, The Citadel: 3A

Cardinals' Selection: 3C = VALUE

4. O'Brien Schofield, OLB, Wisconsin: 7A

Cardinals' Selection: 4C = REACH*

5. John Skelton, QB, Fordham: 4A

Cardinals' Selection: 5B = VALUE

6. Jorrick Calvin, CB, Troy: 7A

Cardinals' Selection: 6C = EVEN**

7. Jim Dray, TE, Stanford: NR

Cardinals' Selection: 7C = REACH***

* PFW's ranking of O' Brien Schofield as a 7A, as we know, is strictly because of his ACL injury...and thus if Schofield heals up and plays like the late 1st to 2nd rounder he was projected to be, the Cardinals have another huge VALUE pick here.

** PFW was the only draft publication I saw that actually had Jorrick Calvin ranked as a draftable player. Pretty cool on their parts. They had him ranked as an early 7th...thus taking him as a late 6th is pretty much on a par.

*** Like with Schofield, their ranking (or in this case, non-ranking) of Jim Dray was with respect to his knee injury. Lindy's had Dray ranked as a 6th rounder. They said of him: "Dray's upside is a bit limited because of his average speed, but his size, blocking and soft hands make him an excellent late round value."

Given these perspectives, the argument can be made that the Cardinals managed to get excellent value on every one of their picks. As we all know now it's up to the players and the coaches to live up to and hopefully even exceed the rankings...but hey, it's nice to feel that the Cardinals were completely prepared to make this a big draft, and were as bold as they have ever been in getting it accomplished!

 

[Garthshort]

Mitch, great stuff as usual. I'll disagree somewhat on Dray, although I'm not expecting much from him. It's just that I can't see anyone selected in the seventh round labeled as a reach. JMO.

 

[dreamcastrocks]

Schofield was not a reach. He was a first round talent before his injury. In fact, many have said that Schofield was the best value pick of the ENTIRE draft.

 

[JeffGollin]

I think, by & large, in every draft since Dennis Green came here, you'll see the same pattern - the Cards getting good value for where they picked.

To be sure, there have been subtle nuances in drafting methods from regime to regime (i.e. Dennis liked to draft BPA period; Wiz gave more weight to "roster need" and "system fit" within each player's overall rating). But the whole idea behind BPA is that a few players you rate highly will fall thru the cracks to you so that the highest guy on your board would be rated one or two rounds better than where you actually got him.

Contrast this with Coach Mac's policy of targeting certain players and then drafting them one round earlier than necessary "to make sure you got them." This all but guaranteed that every Cardinal pick after Round One would be graded one round earlier than he should have (i.e. subpar value for where he was picked).

One cautionary comment, Mitch: If you were to compare PFW's player ratings with those of The Sporting News War Room, Scouts Inc., Kiper or the nfl.com or cbs.com drafting services, you'd find considerable variance from guru to guru - especially this year due to the large "plateau" of 2nd-level players all generally rated fairly equally. (For example, Terence McCoy's rankings were all over the place - some folks loved him; some hated him).

Point well taken, though, on PFW's at least acknowledging Colvin as a draftable prospect (i.e. it proves they did their homework).

 

[Mitch]

I think, by & large, in every draft since Dennis Green came here, you'll see the same pattern - the Cards getting good value for where they picked.

To be sure, there have been subtle nuances in drafting methods from regime to regime (i.e. Dennis liked to draft BPA period; Wiz gave more weight to "roster need" and "system fit" within each player's overall rating). But the whole idea behind BPA is that a few players you rate highly will fall thru the cracks to you so that the highest guy on your board would be rated one or two rounds better than where you actually got him.

Contrast this with Coach Mac's policy of targeting certain players and then drafting them one round earlier than necessary "to make sure you got them." This all but guaranteed that every Cardinal pick after Round One would be graded one round earlier than he should have (i.e. subpar value for where he was picked).

One cautionary comment, Mitch: If you were to compare PFW's player ratings with those of The Sporting News War Room, Scouts Inc., Kiper or the nfl.com or cbs.com drafting services, you'd find considerable variance from guru to guru - especially this year due to the large "plateau" of 2nd-level players all generally rated fairly equally. (For example, Terence McCoy's rankings were all over the place - some folks loved him; some hated him).

Point well taken, though, on PFW's at least acknowledging Colvin as a draftable prospect (i.e. it proves they did their homework).

The thing about these rankings, Jeff, was that they were made two weeks before the draft...which, IMO, gave them a little more more credence.

For example, and dreamcastrocks will like this (in light of his comment on O'Brien Schofield)...prior to the All-Star games and Combine, here's how The Sporting News had the players ranked:

65-Schofield
68-Williams
70-Washington
137-Roberts
288-Skelton
NR-Colvin
NR-Dray

Quite a bit changes after the All-Star games, the Combine and the Pro Days and personal workouts, doesn't it?!

 

[Duckjake]

The thing about these rankings, Jeff, was that they were made two weeks before the draft...which, IMO, gave them a little more more credence.

For example, and dreamcastrocks will like this (in light of his comment on O'Brien Schofield)...prior to the All-Star games and Combine, here's how The Sporting News had the players ranked:

65-Schofield
68-Williams
70-Washington
137-Roberts
288-Skelton
NR-Colvin
NR-Dray

Quite a bit changes after the All-Star games, the Combine and the Pro Days and personal workouts, doesn't it?!

I don't pay any attention to the pre draft ratings of our players anymore. In 2005 the Cards drafted 5 guys who were rated in the top 75 college players by Huddlereport. Not one of those players is still on the team and it is considered the weakest Cardinal draft since 2002. Only Rolle turned out to be a solid player.