Building Through the Draft

[Washington]

I’ve read often that Ryan Pace is building this team right; through the draft. That seems like the appropriate/goal approach but I am not really sure how to conclude that a team is built through the draft. So, I’m wondering, how does one define the term “Building through the draft?”

In order to prove it out, wouldn’t there need to be metrics applied? If not, wouldn’t the term be viewed as conjecture? What are the metrics?

- A roster where every player was drafted by the current team’s GM(s).
- A roster where 1..n % of players are FAs. What is that %?
- Same as above but with breakouts by 1 year versus multi-year deals.
- How do trades impact “Building through the draft” metrics?

Now take your metrics and apply it to the NFL. What Super Bowl champions over, say the last 10 years, fit those metrics of building through the draft. IMO, a team like NE does not because BB used FA regularly and also loves to make trades. I would say that a team like GB seems to fit the Building through the draft mantra but that would depend on the metrics. I do feel that TT was canned for not using FA enough.

 

[Noonthirtyjoe]

I never understood what building thru the draft meant myself. Does it mean using only a part of your means to improve. Has any team ever had a winning record using only 1/3 of your options to build a team.

 

[bufordht]

I would say it means your core pieces mostly come from the draft. So the huge FA signings are rare.

It's obviously better to draft lots of good players, but winning the lottery is also easier than working.

I would love to see someone work out an equation and apply it to all 32 teams over the last 10 years. Somehow separate starters and depth though. If mostly like to see someone do it so that I could shake my head and say "that dude has too much free time."

 

[Washington]

Maybe dabears70 can assist here because he is one person I've seen say the Bears are building through the draft.

 

[The Doctor]

To me building through the draft means that most, if not all, a team's "core" pieces were obtained through the draft. Once you have a great core and can add to it through smart FA and UDFA signing you can have sustainable success. Look at the way Jim Finks drafted and how long that team was good. Back then the piece you had to have was a great running back/running game. He got his in '75 when he drafted Walter. They went through some lean years until the pieces around him got better. Now, with the way passing games have evolved, you need the elite QB. Enter Tru. Hopefully he will be Pace's Walter and the Bear's path to sustained success.

 

[Probie2429]

As has been stated, your core players are drafted which means you get more contract and salary cap control for a bigger window of time. This gives a team a better chance of being competitive when guys are playing well on rookie deals more or less.

 

[billwade]

I would refine it even further. i think building through the draft means the vast majority of your your impact players were homegrown.

Take the 2006 Bears as an example. I think it would be fair to say that the impact players on that team included:

Briggs
Urlacher
Hester
T. Harris
M.Brown
Tillman
Vasher (yes, Vasher was considered to be an lite corner once upon a time)

All of these players routinely made game changing plays, and they all came via the draft.

 

[MonkeyPox]

I always assumed it meant building your core players through the draft. Like the skill positions. Qb, WR, RB, maybe LB's. Basically the players that give your team its identity. The players obtained in the draft with a specific build type in mind for offense and defense I guess?

 

[Alpha Male]

I would refine it even further. i think building through the draft means the vast majority of your your impact players were homegrown.

Take the 2006 Bears as an example. I think it would be fair to say that the impact players on that team included:

Briggs
Urlacher
Hester
T. Harris
M.Brown
Tillman
Vasher (yes, Vasher was considered to be an lite corner once upon a time)

All of these players routinely made game changing plays, and they all came via the draft.

The team also had a lot of key fa. Thomas jones, ruben brown, John tait, robbie gould are just a few I can name from the top of my head. You need a good mix.

 

[TomWaddle]

I figure the advantages to ‘building through the draft include:

1. Having quality players playing on their rookie contracts thereby counting less against the cap and continually displacing older, more expensive players.

2. Known entities: We see it all the time, a free agent is signed to a new team and doesn’t perform. By re-signing your own players to second and third contracts you know they fit the system.

3. Continuity is a super important intangible. A group of guys who’ve been playing together in the same system for 5 years are going to know things that a group of assembled free agents might not know about each other and in a critical situation it could be the difference between a win and a loss.

The major disadvantage: building through the draft requires patience.

 

[Alpha Male]

Pace has failed in FA and the draft btw.

 

[billwade]

The team also had a lot of key fa. Thomas jones, ruben brown, John tait, robbie gould are just a few I can name from the top of my head. You need a good mix.

There's no doubt Tait, Jones, Ogunleye and Muhammad contributed, but I believe building through the draft means your impact players are home grown. That's why i make a distinction from "core" players. Impact players change the game as Urlacher, Hester, Briggs, Tillman and Harris did many times. there's a big difference between being a contributor and being an impact player.

 

[Nick80]

It means you only use FA to fill in a few holes. The majority of the team is guys you drafted. Pretty simple.

 

[RiDLer80]

There's no specific number tied to labeling a team as "built through the draft," but as others have said an overwhelming majority of your core, impact players should be homegrown. Then you sprinkle in a couple free agents to take that team to the next level.

 

[Warrior Spirit]

I never understood what building thru the draft meant myself. Does it mean using only a part of your means to improve. Has any team ever had a winning record using only 1/3 of your options to build a team.

Closest and fastest to success I can think of is Jimmy Johnson's Cowboys. The whole offense besides maybe 1 lineman and Jay Novacek was drafted and I'd say about half the defense starters were drafted.

 

[PolarBear]

You can't solely rely on it (just look at the Packers) but you have to be able to draft well to have longstanding success. I think it's for a couple reasons -

1. Obviously if you can hit big on mid-late round players they are much cheaper for the first few years of their career.

2. It's easier to resign your own guys and sometimes they will take discounts if they were drafted.

3. Compensatory picks! A very underrated tool that the good teams know how to use. If you draft well and stockpile talent, you can let good players go and not have to worry about replacing them in FA meaning you can land comp picks.

 

[Leon Sandcastle]

Pace has failed in FA and the draft btw.

 

[dabears70]

Maybe dabears70 can assist here because he is one person I've seen say the Bears are building through the draft.

Well that is what the Bears front office people have been saying so i repeat what the people that are building this team say they're doing in building this team which is building through the draft. I would think that when your main pieces on your team and a big percentage of your team is players you drafted then that would mean your team is built mostly through the draft..IMO. I think some of the teams that have won the super bowl in the last 10 that i would consider being built through the draft would be the Patriots, Ravens, Steelers, Colts, Packers and maybe even the Seahawks. The big name players on those teams that you could say lead them to the super bowl were drafted. Now i would think you would be smart enough to know that no team is completely built through drafts and would think that would be impossible to do.

Ok now you can nit pick the hell out of everything i just said which i'm sure you're sitting with your finger on the F5 button waiting to come back at me. Not sure why i was pointed out by you in this when all i was doing was repeating what the guy that's building our team has said but it looks to me like most of the teams that have won the super bowl in the last 10 years have been mostly built through the draft especially their QBs' and other main players on their teams.

Your turn.

 

[Adipost]

I mean, doesn’t every team pretty much build through the draft? Each team gets aboot the same amount of draft picks every single year. The only difference is that when a bust is drafted at a specific position, some teams supplement free agents at that position to stay on track while other teams just redraft the position, setting them back a bit.

 

[BearFanJohn]

I heard this conversation on either Sirius/XM NFL or maybe it was The Score (I think NFL b/c the Score doesn't usually speak very deeply/intelligently) about building through the draft. The conversation revolved around that you have to have good drafts and that you have to retain those players you drafted. There is no way around that fact. Draft is very important and more important than FA in many ways. Their example was something to the effect of if you "hit" on 5 draft picks per year, which is likely generous, in five years (more or less the length of a career depending on whose stats) that is only 25 players; less than half a roster. So where do you get the other half of the roster?

So, you have to be successful in FA in getting special teams guys, or guys who are capable but maybe not every game starters. You can get very lucky and find a starter in the late rounds but those guys are generally the ones that bounce around the league for a few years. But you still have to find those guys, too. One also needs to realize that there is often a reason or reasons a guy is a FA; marginal player, head case, PED or other suspension, legal troubles, etc.... So, many times FAs come with baggage and one has to be very careful when accessing that baggage. So it can be a minefield.

I think Pace has been less than successful in FA and successful in the draft. I think he has been conservative in FA, for good reason(s) in many cases, but I think this is the year he needs to be a little less conservative and maybe even swing for the fence on a guy if he fills a need.