Jump to content
Washington Football Team Logo
Extremeskins
Forum Rules and Guidelines

20/20 Hindsight game: What if we had drafted Todd Gurley last year?

Area51

By Area51
in The Stadium

Recommended Posts

Area51

Area51

Posted
Posted

Hey peeps,

 

This is a slow time for any breaking news so I thought I might start a thread about this.  What if we had drafted Todd Gurley last year?  He was apparently #4 on GMSM' board (behind Cooper, Fowler and Scherff).  Gurley is an amazing player and I'm sure any team would love to have him but what if we had drafted him?  Would he make our offense that much better(and potentially unstoppable) or would it have severely hampered the development of Cousins, Reed, Crowder and the passing game?

 

Personally, I would've love having him.  But having a horrendous running game basically forced Jay Gruden(who's offense is more pass heavy) to rely more on Cousins, putting more on his shoulders and allowing him to gain valuable experience, confidence in being the true leader of the team.

 

What say you?  BTW, I'm not criticizing GMSM and his selection of Scherff.  Just wondering an alternate scenario.  

Link to comment
Share on other sites
LaRonDontLikeUgly

LaRonDontLikeUgly

Posted
Posted

While I'm actually super worried about our current flock of RBs, I think Scherff was a no-brainer.  RBs have the shortest average career lengths of any position and Scherff will be our guy for the decade at least.  He's a huge reason Moses has looked so good.  Loved the pick then and love it just as much now.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Burgold

Burgold

Posted
Posted

I was really surprised when we didn't take Williams. Seemed like a gift the way he dropped. I'm not sure you can complain too much about Scherff. We stabalized a line that had been a sieve for a decade. Some of that may have been RGIII, but a lot of it was the line. The move looks better with the emergence of Moses.

 

I think there are a lot of what if's... but I was pretty content with Morris before the draft. Clearly, we need better production in the running game (and just a greater volume of runs). I hope both will happen just because the blocking has improved, Jones is a year better, and we have some TE's who can contribute.

Getting a Gurley class of RB would be nice,but it might be like having Walter Peyton on all those Bears' teams that could never win. Great back, but no wins.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
HanburgerBum

HanburgerBum

Posted
Posted

Hey peeps,

 

This is a slow time for any breaking news so I thought I might start a thread about this.  What if we had drafted Todd Gurley last year?  He was apparently #4 on GMSM' board (behind Cooper, Fowler and Scherff).  Gurley is an amazing player and I'm sure any team would love to have him but what if we had drafted him?  Would he make our offense that much better(and potentially unstoppable) or would it have severely hampered the development of Cousins, Reed, Crowder and the passing game?

 

Personally, I would've love having him.  But having a horrendous running game basically forced Jay Gruden(who's offense is more pass heavy) to rely more on Cousins, putting more on his shoulders and allowing him to gain valuable experience, confidence in being the true leader of the team.

 

What say you?  BTW, I'm not criticizing GMSM and his selection of Scherff.  Just wondering an alternate scenario.  

 

If we are going to play the "what if" game with the drafting of Brandon Scherr, Todd Gurley should not be the one to play with.  RBs are no longer the gods they once were in the NFL.  It is a passing league now because of all the rule changes for 3 decades favoring the passing game.  The running game is primarily for keeping the opposition defense honest nowadays.  So, drafting a stud RB high is not anything close to what the rebuilding Redskins should have been doing in the 2015 draft.  Rebuilding the Oline was far more important.  So, I would take Scherff over Gurley whether the latter is an elite RB or not every day of the week and twice on Sunday.

 

A far more legitimate "what if" question is whether the Skins should have picked DT Sheldon Richardson, who went to the Jets on the pick after Scherff.  Richardson had a fine rookie season and looks to be an elite DT.  And, it just so happens that Dline is the Skins weakest spot.  Thus, a case can certainly be made that Richardson would have been a better pick.  But, if it were a case of either Richardson or a stud Olineman, then I have no quarrel with the Scherff pick. 

 

What I really regret was McCloughan not picking Richardson at No. 5 and then using a late round (6th or 7th) pick on Olineman Lael Collins, who was projected to be a 1st rounder but dropped like a rock because his ex-girl friend was murdered days before the draft and it wasn't clear that he wasn't involved.  His agent claimed that he would not sign with any team that drafts him below round 3, but he ended up signing with Dallas as a free agent.  I think it was worth the risk to call Collins' bluff with a late round selection.  That would have gotten the Skins an elite Olineman prospect (Collins) as well as an elite Dlineman prospect (Richardson).  Of course, I have the benefit of 20-20 hindsight.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Riggo'sRangers

Riggo'sRangers

Posted
Posted

I have no idea why we didn't sign Collins either. The police **** sounded bogus.

I have always kind of wondered about that.  VERY convenient for the Cowboys.  He basically got to choose where he played.  Weird series of events that played heavily in the Cowboys favor. Surprised no one dug into it further but whatever,  Hail

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Conn

Conn

Posted
Posted

I have always kind of wondered about that. VERY convenient for the Cowboys. He basically got to choose where he played. Weird series of events that played heavily in the Cowboys favor. Surprised no one dug into it further but whatever, Hail

As lucky as it was for the Cowboys, it was 10x unluckier for Collins. He lost out on millions and lots of security, both financial and contractual.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
TSO

TSO

Posted
Posted

A far more legitimate "what if" question is whether the Skins should have picked DT Sheldon Richardson, who went to the Jets on the pick after Scherff. Richardson had a fine rookie season and looks to be an elite DT. And, it just so happens that Dline is the Skins weakest spot. Thus, a case can certainly be made that Richardson would have been a better pick. But, if it were a case of either Richardson or a stud Olineman, then I have no quarrel with the Scherff pick.

What I really regret was McCloughan not picking Richardson at No. 5 and then using a late round (6th or 7th) pick on Olineman Lael Collins, who was projected to be a 1st rounder but dropped like a rock because his ex-girl friend was murdered days before the draft and it wasn't clear that he wasn't involved. His agent claimed that he would not sign with any team that drafts him below round 3, but he ended up signing with Dallas as a free agent. I think it was worth the risk to call Collins' bluff with a late round selection. That would have gotten the Skins an elite Olineman prospect (Collins) as well as an elite Dlineman prospect (Richardson). Of course, I have the benefit of 20-20 hindsight.

I was waiting for someone else to correct you here since I didn't want to be "that guy", but you're talking about the wrong DT here. The Jets took Leonard Williams after our pick. And his rookie season was good, but not one where'd you'd say "he looks to be elite".

Granted, they have a stud line (one of whom is the Sheldon Richardson you speak of) and so it was tough for him to really nab a starting spot there, but still, according to the media and pre-draft hype he should've been a monster, right?

Here's an article written in November on him mentioning this:

We all expected more out of rookie defensive end Leonard Williams, didn’t we?

How could we not after being sucked in by the power of the NFL hype machine, which churns at its highest RPMs during the league’s annual draft?

When the Jets picked Williams in the first round out of USC, the legions of NFL draft “experts’’ across the cable-TV nation raved on about how he was the best player in the draft class and how much of a steal he was at No. 6 overall.

With that came the requisite unrealistic projections of production — double-digit sacks, dominant force in the running game, Pro Bowl as a rookie and so forth.

“When I first got drafted, people were on social media saying, ‘Oh, you’re going to get 20 sacks this year,’ ’’ Williams told The Post Monday. “But that’s not common for a rookie.’’

Williams, who at 21 years old is the youngest player on the Jets roster and one of the youngest in the league, is doing just fine through the first nine games of his NFL career, but he has not come close to approaching the lofty projections that were attached to him on draft day.

He’s a young developing player who has helped mostly in the Jets’ run defense, which is ranked No. 1 in the NFL, but he has lacked in the pass rush (he has a half sack).

As a result of both the return of Sheldon Richardson from his four-game ban for substance abuse and the fact he is a work-in-progress in the pass rush, Williams has been subbed off the field on third downs in recent games.

The Jets’ scheme, too, has been altered since Richardson’s return, going more often to a 4-3 alignment to utilize the team’s strength, which is its surplus of quality defensive linemen. That has pushed Williams inside more often, a place where he faces more double-teams and has fewer chances to simply line up over the tackle and beat him one-on-one.

Williams, humble by nature and a coachable, sponge-type learner, said he is OK with that, because he understands he needs to be better and he’s willing to do what it takes to get there. But you have to wonder if the Jets would not be better off trying to get Williams some more chances on the outside in pass-rushing situations considering how quick a learner he is.

The best thing to happen to Williams’ NFL career to date was Richardson being banned for those first four games, because that immediately thrust him right into the starting lineup — lack of experience be damned.

“It worked out great for me, because I’m a hands-on learner,’’ Williams said. “I have to be out there feeling the game and seeing how it is to learn fast. So throwing me out there is my best way of learning. That’s how I learned how to swim. My brother just threw me into deep end, and I learned the hard way.’’

Indeed, Williams’ brother, Nathan, who is four years older than Leonard, tossed him into the community pool when he was 6 and let his kid brother have at it. Maybe the Jets coaches should do the same on passing downs — throw him out there more often to accelerate his growth.

“I definitely think I can get a lot better,’’ Williams said. “This game is a privilege. You don’t want to take advantage of it. I feel like what’s gotten me this far is working hard. So I can’t ever get away from that.’’

Defensive lineman Damon Harrison, the player Williams credits most for helping him “learn to be a pro,’’ said he sees that in Williams and is impressed.

“He doesn’t have a first-round-draft-pick kind of attitude,’’ Harrison said. “The guy works. He puts his head down and works. He doesn’t have that diva persona. You would think that he was a fifth-round pick, a guy trying to make the team. But his talent speaks for itself.’’

Williams has shown the ability to be a factor in the pass rush. His best game came against the Dolphins in London, where he had five quarterback hits and four hurries on Miami quarterback Ryan Tannehill.

We have not seen a lot of pass-rush prowess from him since.

“We’ve got seven more weeks to prove ourselves,’’ Williams said. “Individually, I have seven more games to prove myself. You only have one rookie season.’’

His, so far, has not been spectacular. But it has not been at all bad, either.

“I don’t think he’s had a bad game,’’ coach Todd Bowles said.

Even without the double-digit sack total, which might come eventually, there’s something to be said for consistency — especially at age 21.

http://nypost.com/2015/11/16/how-draft-experts-distract-from-full-leonard-williams-appreciation/

More at the link.

I believe he finished the year with only 2.5 sacks, but by most accounts he was a very good run stopper. At best, you can say he had a good rookie season. Like I said, not one where you'd automatically assume "he looks to be an elite DT".

It's too early to judge whether Sherff or Williams ends up the better pick, but if you're basing it on their rookie seasons alone you certainly can't come away with Williams being the better choice. Not yet, at least.

That being said, I do agree with your overall point that it's an interesting debate. Their careers will likely be forever linked.

I wonder, though, how Leonard would've fit in our defense. He'd likely be more of a DE, since I believe he lined up as a DT in more 4-3 formations with the Jets than anything else, alongside guys like Richardson and Wilkerson... so who knows how that would've affected his run stopping prowess. And having guys like Wilkerson and Richardson beside him had to have generally helped in a major way.

It's definitely intriguing. :)

Link to comment
Share on other sites
bedlamVR

bedlamVR

Posted
Posted

Sheldon Richardson was drafted in 2013 and has been so so on a very talent rich line .

Lenord Williams is the guy I think you are talking about and had a so so rookie season on a very talent rich line .

If you are going to compare Gurley to AP then I have to say how close has AP got the Vikings to the big game . Even with decent surrounding talent AP has not been th X factor . He has pulled up stats but none that mean anything .

I think the same with Gurley and to a degree Eliot.

A beastly running back can put a team over the top but only where there is a good defense and a complementaty offense .

Link to comment
Share on other sites
goskins10

goskins10

Posted
Posted

Edit..

 

That being said, I do agree with your overall point that it's an interesting debate. Their careers will likely be forever linked.

I wonder, though, how Leonard would've fit in our defense. He'd likely be more of a DE, since I believe he lined up as a DT in more 4-3 formations with the Jets than anything else, alongside guys like Richardson and Wilkerson... so who knows how that would've affected his run stopping prowess. And having guys like Wilkerson and Richardson beside him had to have generally helped in a major way.

It's definitely intriguing. :)

 

Only in Washington will those two careers be linked. It's not like Luck and Robert. If Scherff plays out his contract here and goes to another team or LW does the same, they will not still be compared - again accept in Wash.

 

Full disclosure I was a big fan of taking Scherff from day one. There were questions concerns about Williams  health - I knee I think - which is why I understand he fell. But maybe not. Just going off memory here. But the missing part of this discussion is that with a 2nd rd pick in Preston Smith, we got a pass rusher that was at least as productive as LW if not more so. Certainly in terms of production he was better as earned more and more snaps as the season went on.

 

To be fair, you make a good point that the Jets already had a good line so it was harder for LW to crack the line up. But they play the best players. Your #1 pick should be someone that can be a starter day 1. Even with Richardson out he fought for playing time.

 

Scherff on the other hand did start day one and helped solidify the right side of our offensive line. Barring injury those two will be there for 10+ years. That's what a 1st rd draft pick should do. I know people say - well you can get guards in the later rounds. There have been more and more college Tackles taken high in the draft and moved to G, at least to start.

 

I have seen nothing to change my mind that Scherff was absolutely the best pick we could make with the people on the board at that time. I guess Scherff could backslide and LW could turn into a beast. But I seriously doubt that. None of this includes injuries. But those are more bad luck than poor selections.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

Go to topic listing

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...