How do you define a draft reach?

A lot of discussion on this in multiple threads. I see three possible definitions.

A. Where the player is drafted relative to pre-draft rankings by media types

B. Where the player is drafted relative to his NFL performance

C. Only hypothetically if someone suggests drafting a player before he was actually drafted

C seems to be a position held by many, and it's really not a position at all. It would mean that by definition there are never any draft reaches.

Example.

"The Steelers should have drafted Creed Humphrey in the 1st."

"That's a reach, since he lasted until the 2nd."

A says he's a reach, B says he's not, C doesn't make sense since if someone did draft him in the 1st he would have been, by definition, a 1st round pick and not a reach.

 

Regarding option A, players rise and fall on a team’s list long before the media and fans catch on.

 

A reach is defined by a players pre draft ranking and the projection of where he should be drafted against where he's actually drafted....

Conversely, a player who is drafted where he's supposed to and doesn't perform to those expectations is a bust

 

I think Artie Burns might encapsulate a draft reach. By all accounts the Steelers were set to draft William Jackson in 2016, they were desperate to find a young cornerback to bolster their problematic secondary. When Jackson was taken from under their nose they took a flyer on Burns who was a good athlete. He was a developmental prospect at best and certainly wasn’t a first round talent and wasn’t ready to start in the NFL coming out of college. The pick was a disaster as we all know.

Taking developmental players is fine but not if they are forced to play too soon. A first rounder is expected to contribute with significant snaps early in their career. Burns was probably never going to make it but if he had landed in the right spot and been given time to develop who knows. His confidence was in tatters after a few seasons with the Steelers

 

When my beer is more than an arms length away, at the pub….. Draft reach.

 

That's not a reach....... That's an epic fail

 

The Steelers draft players and I root for them. If they play good and have good character I don’t get at all caught up in where they were drafted.

 

Daniel Jones

 

Sadly to say it seems that way.

 

For me, a reach is when you’re forced by the draft to pick a lesser player (based on predraft assessment) than the pick position warrants.

So Artie Burns is a good example. Huey Richardson too. Both were picked because the guys the Steelers wanted at that position were gone.

I don’t think Humphrey would have been a reach in the 1st, regardless of where he was picked.

 

A reach is usually defined by a players draft position vs. where they were projected by media "experts" (option A). I think this is generally a horrible way to assess a reach but it is what it is. Someone can underperform their draft status and not be a reach though. Jadeveon Clowney was a 1st overall selection but has been only a middling NFL player. Does this make him a reach? What about Baker? Neither were reaches, but neither have been super successful 1st overall selections. Players like AB and Brady have been late round selections, but definitely would have been considered massive reaches if they were selected in the first round. However, the way their careers panned out they would have been worth a first round selection for sure.

Typically QB's get overdrafted due to the fact that a franchise QB is super important and if you want one, you need to get them early. It also has to do with teams drafting early are usually the teams that have had poor QB play.

I think its hard to quantify a reach in reality, almost to the point that a "reach" doesn't exist. Teams evaluate players and typically draft the highest rated guy available. Only way to truly reach is to force a (much) lesser rated player at a position of need, just to fill that position.

I really am okay with the Steelers trusting their board and selecting the player that is the highest ranking available when its their turn to pick. Its definitely had mostly good results for us.

 

Nah, not necessarily reaches... but draft fails for sure haha

 

Well said, but I don't trust their board if Burns, Bush, Edmunds, and Harris were their BPA.

 

You're still butthurt the Steelers didn't draft Humphrey, get over it .

 

You’re really including Harris in that list? Lol

 

Yes, don't ever consider a RB with so many other holes to be a good pick. He'll be done by the time the Steelers are ready to compete again.

 

RBs helps your team win games too

 

Meh, they need a lot of other things to work for them to do their job, and when it all works just about anyone can do their job.

Just not a valuable position.

 

1971 Steelers were 6-8, had lots of holes.

1972 draft, took Franco Harris-RB 1st round.
Pretty sure he filled a hole that helped them win.

 

You seem to forget Art ll told them to improve the running game, and all the first round worthy OL were gone by pick #24, so they took the player that was probably the highest rated player on their board.

 

That was 50 years ago, the game has changed drastically.

 

They've improved all the way from 32nd to 26th, cuz RBs really don't matter all that much. I don't know how many different ways there are to explain this. They need a better OL and passing game, which in turn will open up the run game.