I hate to be "that guy," but is anyone else tired of the "is a guard worth the 6th pick" discussion? It's done. There's no getting that pick back. All that's left is to assess his play and the impact on the offense's performance. On Sunday's, where a player was picked (or not picked) in the draft is irrelevant.

Amen !!! :cool:

I’ve been as critical of the Nelson pick as anyone, but I’d have to say I agree. I certainly don’t believe you can use a different players mistake to knock his selection - especially when on the same play Nelson was doing his job. At the same time using a nice block or two to justify the selection is just as ridiculous and just as common place. At this point everyone should see Nelson’s talent. His selection really will come down to the quality and speed of Ballard’s rebuild. If he builds a winner in a reasonable amount of time then where he acquired each piece will largely be irrelevant. If he struggles to make the team a contender in a reasonable amount of time then Nelson’s selection will stand out to many as a prime example of poor use of resources. Time will tell. For now I’ll let Nelson be the talented rookie he is.

I see - so what you're saying is that there's really no scenario where the Nelson pick will ever be considered good. Rather, the best we can hope for at this point - one game into his NFL career - is that the details of the pick will be lost in the euphoria of a positive rebuild.

yep


it doesn't matter at this point. really the whole draft class should just be lumped in as a whole. it doesn't matter where they were picked

I’m not really looking to rehash this and it’s not exactly what I was getting at, however I suppose if you want to look at it that way I wouldn’t disagree. Honestly, I’m not sure how else to look at it. The argument hasn’t been against Nelson the player, it’s been against the value of the position and it’s relative lack of impact on the team. That’s not just armchair GMing, it’s reflected in both the typical draft position of guards and the average salary for guards in the league. So yes, IMO, since Ballard used his second most valuable commodity to draft a position the league typically devalues, team success is what will ultimately drive the analysis of the pick. At least for me.

You do realize that if Cleveland would have taken Chubb instead of James then Nelson would have went 5th to Denver So while you may disagree GMs think otherwise And if you don’t think protecting Luck and taking that worry away is not a game changer or that we may actually be able to run the ball now is a dumb argument

What sort of high level of impact can you reasonably expect from any top 10 pick in their first NFL start? And as far as this value equation, I can easily ask, did he prevent two sacks? Would one of those sacks ended Andrew Luck's season? Ah, then it must have been worth a 6th... It just doesn't make sense.

We picked him to do a job and he is doing it.

No one can judge this pick until Nelson is done playing. I'm willing to keep an open mind.

First, I realize you don’t know where Nelson would have went if the draft fell differently. Everyone lies - before and after the draft. Second, other than landing Peyton, Elway has been full of questionable decision making. Not sure he should be your go to proof that the league values guards as top 6 picks. Third, I’ll state again that the idea that drafting Nelson was the only way to fix the Oline is a stupid argument. Would a tackle not have helped at all? Luck threw 50 times because the team couldn’t run and couldn’t stop Andy Dalton. My concern for Luck hasn’t went away from the drafting of one player. So please stop with that BS.

I was actually agreeing that at this point it doesn’t matter. I’m not sure how saying the pick will be judged by Ballards ability to build a team is crazy. The #6 pick should be a building block for the team. I believe he chose the wrong block. So how can what he ultimately builds not be considered when viewing the pick? But I’m tired of the argument. You can absolve Ballard from any responsibility for it all you want. He had no other option, I get it.