Bretsky
05-17-2007, 06:16 AM
Anatomy of a Draft Choice
General Manager Ted Sundquist offered a hearty handshake for first-round pick Jarvis Moss when the two conferred at Broncos headquarters Sunday. By Andrew Mason
DenverBroncos.com
ENGLEWOOD, Colo. -- If you're not picking at the top of the NFL Draft, you have to learn to be flexible. And having never picked higher than fourth since the institution of the common AFL-NFL Draft four decades ago, the Broncos have never held such sway over their pick.
They've learned to sit and wait. But they've also learned how to make a key swap to get their desired player, which proved to be the case Saturday with their second draft-day trade of their first-round selection in as many years.
Flexibility entails willingness to make a swap -- and also the desire to target multiple players. In the Broncos' case, General Manager Ted Sundquist said their first-round focus locked in on three names: Florida defensive end Jarvis Moss, Florida State outside linebacker Lawrence Timmons and Tennessee defensive tackle Justin Harrell.
"There were three guys that we had our eyes on," Sundquist said.
The question was -- could the Broncos strike twice in the first round? It nearly happened.
"The hope was this – we would get one of the three guys at 21, and I had contacted everybody from 22 to 27," Sundquist said. "I had commitments from (Philadelphia) -- who traded its first-round pick -- and I had a pretty firm commitment from Dallas, the next pick behind us. On draft day, we were sitting very, very pretty with regards to having two first-rounders. And we were committed to doing that."
Then came the revision to the plan at the 15th and 16th selections. From the first of those two picks, the Pittsburgh Steelers tapped Timmons. A selection later, the Green Bay Packers called Harrell's name.
"We didn't anticipate that," Sundquist said.
LET'S MAKE A DEAL
For every trade that transpires in the NFL, there's at least a dozen potential deals that evaporate barely seconds after the idea first floats into the air.
Sundquist hit the phones repeatedly over the weeks leading into the NFL Draft. But for every call he made, he received another offering him a deal -- many from the top of the draft. There was, of course, the early-March potential trade between the Broncos and Detroit Lions that would have sent the No. 2 overall pick to Denver.
"It's no failure on our part, by any means," Sundquist said. "It was one of those deals where we had to get up there, but we weren't going after Calvin Johnson or a particular player. No. It was to try and maximize your position – which is always what you're trying to do."
That potential trade petered out just days after the National Scouting Combine. Soon enough, other clubs would ring Sundquist's line.
"Eight of the top 10 teams approached us about trading up -- not us (coming) to them. They called us and said, 'Would you be interested in trading up?' We said, 'Well, what do you want? What are you looking for?' By that time we had been into the draft process, talked about who the players were, talked about what we thought was available in the top 10, what was available 15-20 and what was going to be available from 20 to 32. As you get a better feel for who the players are and what your needs are going to be, then the appeal of being in the top 10 might not be as much as it was as it might have been right around that time of the Combine. Now you've got a little bit better hand.
"Is it worth moving up to that point and paying that particular player that kind of money when you might be able to get a similar player to fit what you're trying to do for much less? So there was plenty of opportunity."
Sundquist said only two teams in the draft's top 10 did not call the Broncos offering to swap first-round selections.
"The Raiders didn't talk to us and the Texans did not talk to us -- not ever, not once. I don't know where that (rumor) came from," Sundquist said, "but not once did we have discussions with Houston about trading to No. 10 to take Patrick Willis, which was all the rage. Where that came from, I have no idea, but certainly there was a lot of talk with teams such as Cleveland, Detroit, Tampa Bay – all those guys that were up there."
The draft arrived, and the Broncos inquired about moving up in the round to secure their chances at nabbing one of their three targeted players. But what the Broncos found for a little while was a series of dead ends.
"Green Bay had already told me, 'We're not going to trade.' Carolina had told me, 'We're not going to trade,' (although they did eventually work a deal with the New York Jets). Pittsburgh had already told me, 'We're not going to trade.'
"When you're dealing with another team, it takes two to tango," Sundquist said. "And you've got to get the other team wanting to feel like they've maximized their position, as well.
Enter the Jaguars.
"Jacksonville had talked about moving from 17 back, so I knew at that point in time that the highest we could go was 17, and it didn't make any sense to move up to 12, because we felt like that block of players was going to be down there.
"If I could have gotten Green Bay or Pittsburgh or Carolina to budge, sure, we would have moved up, and maybe we would have (opted for) Harrell or Timmons. But based on what we talked about -- there was one mock draft out of 90 that had Harrell going at 16. One. And that was the one (that became reality).
"We knew that all along; all it takes is one. But those clubs, prior to the draft, did not want to trade, and how much do you give up in order to move up?"
In the end, the cost was third- and sixth-round picks for the chance to venture northward two slots. It was a price Sundquist and the Broncos were willing to pay given their desire to emerge from the first round with at least one of their targeted players.
"You're sitting and waiting at 21, and between the 17th and 21st picks, you've got a chance to lose your third guy," Sundquist said. "Then you're sitting at 21, and now you're trying to trade back or trade out. Why not trade up and get the guy you'd targeted all along anyway? You gave up a third-round pick. Why not?
"(Some observers say) 'Well, you guys paid too much to move up.' No, we didn't. We had the guy (Moss) identified. We knew he was going to make the football team. He might have gone before 21 and now we're stuck with no one that we feel like is going to help our football team the way those three guys (the No. 21 pick and the third- and sixth-round picks traded to the Jaguars) would have helped our football team.
"The sixth-round pick that we gave up? We didn't even have that guy making our team. We had nobody we were going to take at that spot that we felt like would come in and contribute. Those picks – all along, they were going to be used as leverage. The third-round pick – that's what it's going to take to move up on the point-value chart. You've got to get people motivated to trade."
And at that point, a reasonable trade represented a far more palatable solution for Sundquist than remaining at No. 21 and waiting to see if the last of their three highlighted prospects would fall into their laps.
"To say, 'Well, you could have waited until 21 to get Moss,' well, we thought that about the other two (Harrell and Timmons being picked)," Sundquist said. "Who's to say that Moss would have been there at 21? So we went and got our guy, end of story."
LATE-ROUND LEVERAGE
Sundquist had designs on reducing the Broncos' compliment of selections all along. The modus operandi for this year's Broncos draft was quality over quantity, and while the Broncos ended the weekend with their smallest draft class since 1997, they also concluded it with selections from each of the first four rounds.
"Knowing what we had already added, we went into the draft feeling as if there was only room for four guys," Sundquist said, "(and) knowing that the back end of the draft was going to be leveraged to help the front end of the draft."
A major reason why Sundquist and the Broncos were so amenable to parting with late-round draft selections rested in the moves made in the months prior to the draft, from unrestricted free agency to the signing of young players to future contracts back in January, before the NFL's postseason wound to a close.
An example of such a player is former UAB quarterback Darrell Hackney, on whom the Broncos had a mid-round grade last year before he went undrafted. He was eventually signed and released by the Cleveland Browns.
"The first thing I'll say is this: Throughout the offseason, to say the only way that you build a football team is through the draft is not true -- not in today's age," Sundquist said. "There's a little bit of a misnomer that teams are built through the draft. That is one aspect of how to build a football team, and my point to that is that we have been extremely busy using the other resources that we have, a la reserve-future signings, unrestricted free agency, trades and going into the draft that there are a number of different avenues that you can take to build your football team."
And it was not only those avenues -- but what fruits they have already borne -- that helped shape the Broncos' decision to place a tight focus up front on draft weekend.
"We've been in offseason conditioning program for over a month now," Sundquist said, "and we've had an opportunity to look at a number of young players and new additions prior to the draft and have been able to answer some of those questions with regards to how they're working out for Rich Tuten out there during the offseason, throwing the football, catching the football and all kinds of things.
"We had a good idea of what we already had on our football team."
General Manager Ted Sundquist offered a hearty handshake for first-round pick Jarvis Moss when the two conferred at Broncos headquarters Sunday. By Andrew Mason
DenverBroncos.com
ENGLEWOOD, Colo. -- If you're not picking at the top of the NFL Draft, you have to learn to be flexible. And having never picked higher than fourth since the institution of the common AFL-NFL Draft four decades ago, the Broncos have never held such sway over their pick.
They've learned to sit and wait. But they've also learned how to make a key swap to get their desired player, which proved to be the case Saturday with their second draft-day trade of their first-round selection in as many years.
Flexibility entails willingness to make a swap -- and also the desire to target multiple players. In the Broncos' case, General Manager Ted Sundquist said their first-round focus locked in on three names: Florida defensive end Jarvis Moss, Florida State outside linebacker Lawrence Timmons and Tennessee defensive tackle Justin Harrell.
"There were three guys that we had our eyes on," Sundquist said.
The question was -- could the Broncos strike twice in the first round? It nearly happened.
"The hope was this – we would get one of the three guys at 21, and I had contacted everybody from 22 to 27," Sundquist said. "I had commitments from (Philadelphia) -- who traded its first-round pick -- and I had a pretty firm commitment from Dallas, the next pick behind us. On draft day, we were sitting very, very pretty with regards to having two first-rounders. And we were committed to doing that."
Then came the revision to the plan at the 15th and 16th selections. From the first of those two picks, the Pittsburgh Steelers tapped Timmons. A selection later, the Green Bay Packers called Harrell's name.
"We didn't anticipate that," Sundquist said.
LET'S MAKE A DEAL
For every trade that transpires in the NFL, there's at least a dozen potential deals that evaporate barely seconds after the idea first floats into the air.
Sundquist hit the phones repeatedly over the weeks leading into the NFL Draft. But for every call he made, he received another offering him a deal -- many from the top of the draft. There was, of course, the early-March potential trade between the Broncos and Detroit Lions that would have sent the No. 2 overall pick to Denver.
"It's no failure on our part, by any means," Sundquist said. "It was one of those deals where we had to get up there, but we weren't going after Calvin Johnson or a particular player. No. It was to try and maximize your position – which is always what you're trying to do."
That potential trade petered out just days after the National Scouting Combine. Soon enough, other clubs would ring Sundquist's line.
"Eight of the top 10 teams approached us about trading up -- not us (coming) to them. They called us and said, 'Would you be interested in trading up?' We said, 'Well, what do you want? What are you looking for?' By that time we had been into the draft process, talked about who the players were, talked about what we thought was available in the top 10, what was available 15-20 and what was going to be available from 20 to 32. As you get a better feel for who the players are and what your needs are going to be, then the appeal of being in the top 10 might not be as much as it was as it might have been right around that time of the Combine. Now you've got a little bit better hand.
"Is it worth moving up to that point and paying that particular player that kind of money when you might be able to get a similar player to fit what you're trying to do for much less? So there was plenty of opportunity."
Sundquist said only two teams in the draft's top 10 did not call the Broncos offering to swap first-round selections.
"The Raiders didn't talk to us and the Texans did not talk to us -- not ever, not once. I don't know where that (rumor) came from," Sundquist said, "but not once did we have discussions with Houston about trading to No. 10 to take Patrick Willis, which was all the rage. Where that came from, I have no idea, but certainly there was a lot of talk with teams such as Cleveland, Detroit, Tampa Bay – all those guys that were up there."
The draft arrived, and the Broncos inquired about moving up in the round to secure their chances at nabbing one of their three targeted players. But what the Broncos found for a little while was a series of dead ends.
"Green Bay had already told me, 'We're not going to trade.' Carolina had told me, 'We're not going to trade,' (although they did eventually work a deal with the New York Jets). Pittsburgh had already told me, 'We're not going to trade.'
"When you're dealing with another team, it takes two to tango," Sundquist said. "And you've got to get the other team wanting to feel like they've maximized their position, as well.
Enter the Jaguars.
"Jacksonville had talked about moving from 17 back, so I knew at that point in time that the highest we could go was 17, and it didn't make any sense to move up to 12, because we felt like that block of players was going to be down there.
"If I could have gotten Green Bay or Pittsburgh or Carolina to budge, sure, we would have moved up, and maybe we would have (opted for) Harrell or Timmons. But based on what we talked about -- there was one mock draft out of 90 that had Harrell going at 16. One. And that was the one (that became reality).
"We knew that all along; all it takes is one. But those clubs, prior to the draft, did not want to trade, and how much do you give up in order to move up?"
In the end, the cost was third- and sixth-round picks for the chance to venture northward two slots. It was a price Sundquist and the Broncos were willing to pay given their desire to emerge from the first round with at least one of their targeted players.
"You're sitting and waiting at 21, and between the 17th and 21st picks, you've got a chance to lose your third guy," Sundquist said. "Then you're sitting at 21, and now you're trying to trade back or trade out. Why not trade up and get the guy you'd targeted all along anyway? You gave up a third-round pick. Why not?
"(Some observers say) 'Well, you guys paid too much to move up.' No, we didn't. We had the guy (Moss) identified. We knew he was going to make the football team. He might have gone before 21 and now we're stuck with no one that we feel like is going to help our football team the way those three guys (the No. 21 pick and the third- and sixth-round picks traded to the Jaguars) would have helped our football team.
"The sixth-round pick that we gave up? We didn't even have that guy making our team. We had nobody we were going to take at that spot that we felt like would come in and contribute. Those picks – all along, they were going to be used as leverage. The third-round pick – that's what it's going to take to move up on the point-value chart. You've got to get people motivated to trade."
And at that point, a reasonable trade represented a far more palatable solution for Sundquist than remaining at No. 21 and waiting to see if the last of their three highlighted prospects would fall into their laps.
"To say, 'Well, you could have waited until 21 to get Moss,' well, we thought that about the other two (Harrell and Timmons being picked)," Sundquist said. "Who's to say that Moss would have been there at 21? So we went and got our guy, end of story."
LATE-ROUND LEVERAGE
Sundquist had designs on reducing the Broncos' compliment of selections all along. The modus operandi for this year's Broncos draft was quality over quantity, and while the Broncos ended the weekend with their smallest draft class since 1997, they also concluded it with selections from each of the first four rounds.
"Knowing what we had already added, we went into the draft feeling as if there was only room for four guys," Sundquist said, "(and) knowing that the back end of the draft was going to be leveraged to help the front end of the draft."
A major reason why Sundquist and the Broncos were so amenable to parting with late-round draft selections rested in the moves made in the months prior to the draft, from unrestricted free agency to the signing of young players to future contracts back in January, before the NFL's postseason wound to a close.
An example of such a player is former UAB quarterback Darrell Hackney, on whom the Broncos had a mid-round grade last year before he went undrafted. He was eventually signed and released by the Cleveland Browns.
"The first thing I'll say is this: Throughout the offseason, to say the only way that you build a football team is through the draft is not true -- not in today's age," Sundquist said. "There's a little bit of a misnomer that teams are built through the draft. That is one aspect of how to build a football team, and my point to that is that we have been extremely busy using the other resources that we have, a la reserve-future signings, unrestricted free agency, trades and going into the draft that there are a number of different avenues that you can take to build your football team."
And it was not only those avenues -- but what fruits they have already borne -- that helped shape the Broncos' decision to place a tight focus up front on draft weekend.
"We've been in offseason conditioning program for over a month now," Sundquist said, "and we've had an opportunity to look at a number of young players and new additions prior to the draft and have been able to answer some of those questions with regards to how they're working out for Rich Tuten out there during the offseason, throwing the football, catching the football and all kinds of things.
"We had a good idea of what we already had on our football team."