veganfan21 wrote:
I think the point is even if teams somehow knew the future about Brown, that he's a diva and whatever else might be out there, and that he's also a superstar on the field, there's no way he's still on the board after, say, the fifth pick in the first round. That's what makes Gabriel's comment dumb.
You can say the same thing about Tom Brady, and you'll be fired pretty fast drafting the next Tom Brady-like prospect in the top 5.
That's why I think it's kind of a dumb argument. Of course you would draft Brown in the top 5 if you knew exactly how his career played out. However, there could be ten players just like Brown who had the talent to play in the NFL at a high level but off the field concerns did in fact derail their career. I'll even give an example of a player I really wanted the Bears to get. James Hardy out of Indiana. He was one of the most talented college players I've ever seen. He got drafted in the second round though. He had a disappointing NFL career, had off the field issues, and eventually drowned himself.
So, if we are just talking about the hindsight of Antonio Brown and his career then of course it was a massive mistake. If you are a GM who is drafting for 2019 and there is a similar situation the decision to draft him in the first round is much harder.