Post by 50yearfan on Feb 13, 2022 11:05:16 GMT -5
Why ‘Best Player Available’ Is a Shortsighted NFL Draft Strategy
www.fantasylabs.com/articles/why-best-player-available-is-a-shortsighted-nfl-draft-strategy/
I do think there are areas of the draft in which BPA – as in selecting the top player on the board – makes sense. One is at the very top of the draft, where there can be outlier prospects, and the other is near the bottom of the draft, where drafting for need is of less importance when dealing with players unlikely to be starters (and teams should be trying to hit home runs anyway). It’s the middle ground where I think there’s massive potential to screw up, and where I think a BPA strategy makes the least sense.
Over the long run, I believe a “BPA at a Position of Need” approach – with some common sense added in – will outperform blind BPA."
I completely agree that BPA alone is a deceiving, even a bit nonsensical term. When you're talking about the talent levels of these guys, there's a lot of hair splitting that goes on, and to say one player is heads and tails above all others really isn't true. The difference any two really high rated players would make is very dependent on who's coaching them, and what schemes they use. Good drafters are able to focus on value within the system they're being drafted into. They list the things they need THEIR player to do, and try to match up players near the top of their boards to the needs they have. You could have ten safeties on your board but if 8 of them can't do the things that need to be done in your system, you really have two safeties on your board, and 8 stop gaps that you could try if you had to. And I definitely agree that you try to get the pricier positions drafted as soon as you can so that need goes away and you don't have to take a shot at someone who is either not very good, or very, very expensive.