I didn’t post for a few days, so I could calmly access Bama’s real issues, without allowing too much emotion to intercede. Let me state, no team is as good as its best game, or as bad as its worst. Also, it is early, and the our best hope lies in the fact that the remainder of the SEC West has looked awful too.
Bama’s real issue is game changing talent. Too many of us just see recruiting rankings, and 4 and 5 stars next to players names, and just expect things to turn out like they have the past decade+. It did often enough, that I, and I am sure many others, just kept assuming it would continue to do so. So I looked at the team, and said “if the NFL draft were today” how many players that are currently getting playing time would go in the first 2 rounds?
Offense- 1 player (Latham)
Defense- 1 player (Kool Aid, who struggled the last game, though no pass rush didn’t help him).
A total of 2.
Now this doesn’t mean that Downs, Proctor, Haynes, Kelly, etc will not ever develop into day one or two NFL draft picks, but as of right now, I only see two players who would get drafted in the 1st two rounds that are currently getting meaningful playing time.
Look at our teams in the past decade+ and see how many players were getting drafted in these rounds. We had the top offensive and defensive player in last years draft. We had 4 WR’s on the same team getting playing time that got drafted in the top 15 picks. These were preceded by the Julio Jones, Amari Coopers, Calvin Ridley’s, etc, and followed by the likes of J Williams. Ohio State has 2 this year, one last, and 2 the year prior, that got, or will get drafted in the top 20 picks. We don’t have a current WR that would probably get drafted in the first 4 rounds. Same goes for RB. Same for TE, OL, DL, Edge rushers, DB outside of Kool Aid. Name the true proven playmakers at any of these positions? It is almost all “potential” projections or reliable, but not game changing upper class men.
This is why I am not sure why everyone is so “shocked” at our performance. We are 3-3 in our last 6 regular season games against P5 teams, and those 3 wins came with the best offensive and defensive players in college football. They are, unfortunately, gone now, so this, imop, is why we took our worst regular season loss in over a decade, and at home no less.
This is not a doom and gloom, world is ending analysis. It is just stating the facts on how I see them today as to why we aren’t as good as CNS Bama teams of the past. Hopefully, a whole bunch of players develop into top caliber NFL draft choices this season, but as of now, I just haven’t seen any real indication of it outside the few I mentioned.
Bama’s real issue is game changing talent. Too many of us just see recruiting rankings, and 4 and 5 stars next to players names, and just expect things to turn out like they have the past decade+. It did often enough, that I, and I am sure many others, just kept assuming it would continue to do so. So I looked at the team, and said “if the NFL draft were today” how many players that are currently getting playing time would go in the first 2 rounds?
Offense- 1 player (Latham)
Defense- 1 player (Kool Aid, who struggled the last game, though no pass rush didn’t help him).
A total of 2.
Now this doesn’t mean that Downs, Proctor, Haynes, Kelly, etc will not ever develop into day one or two NFL draft picks, but as of right now, I only see two players who would get drafted in the 1st two rounds that are currently getting meaningful playing time.
Look at our teams in the past decade+ and see how many players were getting drafted in these rounds. We had the top offensive and defensive player in last years draft. We had 4 WR’s on the same team getting playing time that got drafted in the top 15 picks. These were preceded by the Julio Jones, Amari Coopers, Calvin Ridley’s, etc, and followed by the likes of J Williams. Ohio State has 2 this year, one last, and 2 the year prior, that got, or will get drafted in the top 20 picks. We don’t have a current WR that would probably get drafted in the first 4 rounds. Same goes for RB. Same for TE, OL, DL, Edge rushers, DB outside of Kool Aid. Name the true proven playmakers at any of these positions? It is almost all “potential” projections or reliable, but not game changing upper class men.
This is why I am not sure why everyone is so “shocked” at our performance. We are 3-3 in our last 6 regular season games against P5 teams, and those 3 wins came with the best offensive and defensive players in college football. They are, unfortunately, gone now, so this, imop, is why we took our worst regular season loss in over a decade, and at home no less.
This is not a doom and gloom, world is ending analysis. It is just stating the facts on how I see them today as to why we aren’t as good as CNS Bama teams of the past. Hopefully, a whole bunch of players develop into top caliber NFL draft choices this season, but as of now, I just haven’t seen any real indication of it outside the few I mentioned.
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