Three picks I just didn’t get

I know teams have different needs and schemes, and I know our evaluations are certainly incomplete and based on less information than the teams drafting have, so I don’t want to criticize picks based on things I know nothing about, but a few picks from round three perplexed me.

Here are picks where I think a team just got bad value based on some other factors, or where they drafted a specific type of player whom I think is worse than a very similar player still available.

Donte Moncrief, WR, Ole Miss
Selected: Round 3, Pick 90, by Indianapolis

Once you get to a certain point where receivers are generally evenly graded, whom you select becomes much more a matter of fit and style than anything else. Why this selection perplexes me is that Moncrief has the body of a great wide receiver but his game leaves a lot to be desired. If I wanted a prospect who fit that description, I’d take Martavis Bryant, who is both younger and more physically impressive. You’re gonna have to teach either of them how to play wide receiver if you draft one; give me the guy whose physical upside is higher, and since he’s younger to boot, he’s had less time for bad habits to set in.

Charles Sims, RB, West Virginia
Selected: Round 3, Pick 69 by Tampa Bay

I’m a big Charles Sims fan. I’m also wondering what a 4-12 team that has a proven three-down back and two capable backups under contract cheaply is doing using a high third-round pick on another running back.

Tre Mason, RB, Auburn
Selected: Round 3, Pick 75, by St. Louis

Similar situation. The Rams found a bellcow in the fifth round last year, as Zac Stacy proved he could carry the workload for a run-heavy offense. Now, Mason is talented– this is about where I had him on my value board– and the depth chart is stocked with kind-of-crappy RBs (Isaiah Pead, Daryl Richardson, or Benny Cunningham), so he’s obviously going to bump someone off the roster. Even so, I can’t imagine the Rams drafted him to replace Stacy after the success he had as a rookie. I don’t like using third-round picks on backups at highly replaceable positions, and, while Mason adds more value to the Rams’ depth chart than Sims does to the Bucs’, Sims’ abilities in the passing game at least give him a unique, identifiable, and valuable skill. I think Tre Mason is a pretty good all-around back, but top-end speed aside, I don’t see what skills he brings to St. Louis that Zac Stacy doesn’t have.

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