Mason's Mailbag: Draft before free agency?

[Miles]

Broncos fan from the Netherlands here. My suggestion for the upcoming draft: Round 1, Devin White (or Bush). Round 2, Dalton Risner (for center, as he played it before switching to RT), Round 3, (or trade up to middle/late round 2 depends on which teams are ahead of you) Will Grier. Your opinion?


-- Jan Bergmans


Taking an inside linebacker would make sense at the No. 10 pick, whether it is White or Bush. I don't expect White to drop that far, but stranger things have happened. It would be nice if Risner is available in the second round, but that's a roll of the dice hoping that he falls that far given his skill set and versatility.


Grier, I'm cool on him. Once you get out of the first two rounds, you pick a quarterback on upside, because the chances of success plummet after the first round. (Even in Round 1, there is a significant decline in the success rate of quarterbacks taken in the first five picks compared with picks 6-32.) I think the scheme in which he operated provided favorable conditions for Grier to accumulate big numbers. During Senior Bowl practices, Grier needed to be the most accurate quarterback on the field, and he wasn't. I think if you don't take a quarterback in the first round, there are other options such as Auburn's Jarrett Stidham, Boise State's Brett Rypien and Buffalo's Tyree Jackson.


What are the chances for changing the order of the league year and having the NFL Draft BEFORE Free Agency? We saw glimpses of this in the lockout year and I found it accentuated the notion of "build through the draft, complement with free agency."


-- Jose Borrero


I like the idea, because I thought it created a more logical sequence -- as we saw in the 2011 lockout offseason that you referenced -- but I doubt it ever comes to pass.


The NFL has successfully turned the draft into its own season, with a buildup that lasts just over 11 weeks. Free agency grabs the spotlight for about a week, but as you've seen this past week, the focus returns to Pro Day workouts, with quarterbacks Dwayne Haskins of Ohio State and Drew Lock of Missouri attracting live national-TV coverage on consecutive days. So you cannot expect the NFL to push the draft forward. If anything, it could get moved back another week or two into May.


And if you keep the draft in its mid-spring spot, you must leave free agency where it is now, because in non-lockout years, teams will want their players in for two months of organized workouts, meetings and on-field sessions. Theoretically, they could push OTAs back and have them end just before training camp, but the grind of the season is so arduous for coaches in particular that such an arrangement would be unwise. The time off in June and July is essential to get recharged for the 100-hour weeks coaches keep during the season.