Fan Relations Summed Up in 20 Seconds

[Whatever]

(09-18-2019, 11:10 AM)THE PISTONS Wrote: Nice post. And hidden in that all is the: Do we just draft bad players that teams can't develop (or) Are our coaches not developing them.

Like Price - As you mentioned, he was good in college. Did he just forget how to play here? Is it the wrong scheme? His pass blocking grade by PFF last game, was something like 7.1. That's not a typo. I've never saw one that low.

The issue with Price is that they went into the draft with no starting C, Ragnew was drafted right before them, and they basically had to take the best C available.  Yeah, they said in the presser that they had Price higher, but they say that every time a guy at the same position they drafted goes off the board in front of them.  They also said they had Zeitler higher than DeCastro and Akili higher than Couch and McNabb.  The issue is compounded because they drafted a guy who was injured and plugged him in as the immediate starter.  Now, people still trying to claim he's struggling because he's playing hurt is a huge reach, because he hasn't been on the injury report and it would be a violation of NFL rules to conceal it.

Systems also make a big difference.  Bates looked like a Pro Bowler in the making last year, but now he looks awful.  However, he was drafted to play in Austin's defense.  He isn't necessarily a scheme fit in Anarumo's defense.  Last year, we had a bunch of guys who played well in Zimmer's defense that didn't fit at all in Austin's.  I would say a big misstep this off-season was focusing on resigning a bunch of the guys from the previous regime instead of getting more guys that fit the incoming schemes.  Now, some talent can learn an adapt to a new scheme with time, but others might not.