In light of Beane’s weak drafting maybe he should move up in the early rounds.

[BigBuff423]

So, the issue with this in my mind is that good talent can be found all over the board. Cody Ford was a trade up and that didn't pan out so well, but Milano was a 5th, T. Johnson was a 4th, Shakir was a 5th (jury is still out, but looks promising), and there are a number of others across the league. So, while I can appreciate the intent to mitigate risk, honestly, I think it's more about being willing to accept the reality of certain circumstances. For example, we all know Teller shouldn't have been traded but that was because Beane believed he invested money into Spain and Feliciano. Not that either of them were terrible, but even Beane acknowledged in interviews that he wasn't "patient enough" to let Teller develop. To me, that's the issue. 

 

Once you unearth talent, you MUST develop them. No player is showing up to the NFL at their ceiling, no matter how good they might be and it takes coaching, patience, and a willingness by the player to learn. On the other hand you have McD who wants to slow-walk every player into a position. Milano took 10 weeks to get in to game play and Shakir took a similar path, somewhat ironically they were both 5th Rounders. Beane just needs to keep Drafting, McD and his staff need to keep coaching and taking some calculated risks putting the Rookies on the field. 

Edited February 23, 2023 by BigBuff423