How Conflicted Are You In Winning or Getting a Better Draft Pick (14 Viewers)

[HouseCall]

I'm not conflicted at all. This season is OVER. Stick a fork in em, they're done. The most logical direction would be to salvage what they can from it, and maximize opportunity and potential for the next head coach.

OR, continue to win, not go to the playoffs, and get a mid to late mid round draft pick....again....

Yeah....not conflicted at all.

But it’s not technically nor mathematically over. Though the possibility to have any sort of postseason birth is almost remote.

So are you advising they tank?


I can’t get on board with that. Mostly because there is an unspoken agreement between professional teams and their fans and that is “you support us and we will try our best to win”

If they decided to start a bunch of young guys for experience and the losses came that way despite their attempts to win, I could live with that - but I couldn’t be ok with my team actively trying to lose or giving an intentionally poor effort.

Tanking guarantees nothing but a loss of trust and respect from your fan base.

Also, this is a pretty uninspiring year to be the top 3 in the draft.

So I say, give maximum effort and try to win them all - they won’t win them all anyway, but at least we know they are giving their all for themselves and the fans.

I’d rather that any day.

 

[kwkrnu]

But it’s not technically nor mathematically over. Though the possibility to have any sort of postseason birth is almost remote.

So are you advising they tank?


I can’t get on board with that. Mostly because there is an unspoken agreement between professional teams and their fans and that is “you support us and we will try our best to win”

If they decided to start a bunch of young guys for experience and the losses came that way despite their attempts to win, I could live with that - but I couldn’t be ok with my team actively trying to lose or giving an intentionally poor effort.

Tanking guarantees nothing but a loss of trust and respect from your fan base.

Also, this is a pretty uninspiring year to be the top 3 in the draft.

So I say, give maximum effort and try to win them all - they won’t win them all anyway, but at least we know they are giving their all for themselves and the fans.

I’d rather that any day.

Don't worry...it will be over soon. I'd be starting Rattler the rest of the season, and get Miller a lot more touches, see if he's he can stay on the field enough to make it worth keeping him around.

Yeah...being mediocre forever is awesome...

 

[St. Widge]

KC did blow it up. They had a GM that went from Herm Edwards, to Todd Haley, to Romeo Crennel at head coach. In 2013 they fired the GM, Veach took the job and brought in Andy Reid. Many don't know it but Veach was the GM for the Eagles for a large stint of time that Reid was Head Coach there.

The couple of years Reid started in KC, they went through some big changes. They brought in Alex Smith as Reid searched for his franchise QB (Mahomes in 2017), they let Tony G and Charles finish their career because they are Chiefs legends, but mostly everyone else was replaced over two years.

EDIT : Thinking on it, I believe Poe and Houston were also kept around.

Replacing a bunch of players over two years is not the same a blowing it up in my mind. You often have change like that any time you hire a new coach.

Blowing it up to me is trading away all your good players for picks and putting together a team you know is likely to lose so that you get good draft picks in the next draft or two. KC never did that. They remained mediocre until they found their franchise QB and even had their franchise QB sit behind medicore Alex Smith while he developed. Once you have that franchise QB you can quickly build a team around him if you are starting with a mediocre roster rather than a blown up roster.

 

[HouseCall]

Don't worry...it will be over soon. I'd be starting Rattler the rest of the season, and get Miller a lot more touches, see if he's he can stay on the field enough to make it worth keeping him around.

Yeah...being mediocre forever is awesome...

But again, what’s the path out of mediocrity? 3,5,8,10 years of sucking?

Sucking isn’t a guarantee that your fortunes will change.

And I agree that it will be mathematically over soon - well likely a week or so following the bye.

Again, once that happens - maybe you do start playing Rattler again - but again- I want them trying to win and give their best effort.

 

[3ParStillDriver]

Replacing a bunch of players over two years is not the same a blowing it up in my mind. You often have change like that any time you hire a new coach.

Blowing it up to me is trading away all your good players for picks and putting together a team you know is likely to lose so that you get good draft picks in the next draft or two. KC never did that. They remained mediocre until they found their franchise QB and even had their franchise QB sit behind medicore Alex Smith while he developed. Once you have that franchise QB you can quickly build a team around him if you are starting with a mediocre roster rather than a blown up roster.

They did trade away a few starters. If I remember right they traded away their 2nd best, or best WR Baldwin and one of their best secondary players Arena. Along with a couple of others. Got rid of their starting QB and traded a few draft picks for a new starting QB.

The only players they kept from the moment Reid and Veach took over to the start of the 2014 season (1.5 years) were good players on rookie contracts (Houston, Poe, and some vets). Charles was the only player with good trade value that wasn't on a rookie contract, and they're not going to move on from the focal point of the offense who happens to be one of, if not the best RB in the league. Also, I misspoke, Tony G was already with the Falcons at this point.

That with a new GM, completely new coaching staff, and an overhaul of the roster over the course of the year, I think that qualifies as blowing it up.

If we got a new GM, completely new coaching staff and completely overhauled the roster while trading away a few players and only keeping Kamara, Shaheed, Bresee and Fuaga, many would call that blowing it up.

EDITED: I reread it originally, and it was pretty sporadic so I condensed it.

 

[ThibodauxSaint]

But again, what’s the path out of mediocrity? 3,5,8,10 years of sucking?

Sucking isn’t a guarantee that your fortunes will change.

And I agree that it will be mathematically over soon - well likely a week or so following the bye.

Again, once that happens - maybe you do start playing Rattler again - but again- I want them trying to win and give their best effort.

I think some people need to look around the league. A majority of the league is "mediocre". Even the top teams in the league are not great like the dynasties of the past. Most teams are middle of the pack. A break here or there is really what separates teams. Rebuilding doesn't mean you can't be competitive. You can be mediocre and still competitive while you are trying to add the pieces that will get you over the top.

 

[2024InjuryApocalypse]

Your organisation and everyone in it has to believe in your culture, of which winning games is the primary goal.

Any deviation from that encourages an acceptance of the behaviour of doing less than your best, which in turn undermines and eventually destroys that culture you need for success.

And on a practical note, teams are very good at choosing terrible players high in the draft, while teams lower in the draft order are very good at choosing excellent players. Spurious 1st round examples include TJ Watt taken 30th overall, Lamar Jackson 32nd.

Yeah, this is the other issue for me with the "let's lose for draft position" mentality. Even in a bad or disappointing season, you still have young players you ideally would want to see grow and develop. It's a lot harder to do that in a culture where the team has quit on the season.

 

[solarbear88]

I know we desperately need some top picks to rejuvenate our roster.

I find it a bit hard to tune in and not hope we win, even though a part of me is saying it'd be better to lose.

 

[JRead2]

I'm not conflicted at all. You play to win the game.

 

[jasonsw]

No conflict. I want the Saints to win by 50+ every week. I want the opposing teams to crap their knickers because they’re getting their arses destroyed by our team. Sure, the draft matters - we’ve gotten some great players via the draft over the years, but when I’m watching this team play, I don’t think about that, I don’t think about the record - I just want them to win.
The Falcons were flying high coming in this past Sunday. The best in the South! The Saints humbled them.
Man, sit y’all feathered arses down!

Yes sir!!!!