Purdue Football Draft: Day 1 Evaluation

Since Kyle and Travis are “drafting” a Purdue team, and there aren’t enough players for 3 teams, I thought I would weight in on their drafting.

Pick 1:

Kyle

Markus Bailey: Grade - B

Do you really want to start a team with an outside linebacker. Granted, Bailey is one of the more talented players on the defense, but come on, this is basically a luxury pick with the first pick when you’re building a team from scratch.

If you’re building a team like this, you’ve got to consider scarcity of resources and while many are unproven, Purdue has a boat load of linebackers on the roster.

You build from the inside out. Talent wise, you’re going to be happy to have Bailey on your team, but I really question the value of the pick.

Remember when the Colts tried to rebuild their team by drafting safeties? This seems similar.

Pick 2:

Travis

David Blough: Grade - D

Come on T-Mill, you’re really going to pass on a QB with legit NFL potential for Purdue’s back up QB. Don’t get me wrong. I like Blough. He’s a tough guy and a great leader. I’m glad he’s a Boilermaker, but he’s the back up QB.

I mean, you can talk about Sindelar coming back off of a knee, but Blough had his foot unscrewed from his leg last season, and if memory serves me correctly, Blough’s biggest asset is his ability to move the pocket and provide a threat in the running game.

Travis must be intent on building a read-option team, because that’s Blough’s best skill. He isn’t a guy that you want sitting in the pocket and trying to move the ball through the air. Sure, Blough is capable in spurts, but he has shown a career long penchant for forcing throws and throwing it to the wrong team in crucial moments.

In terms of strategy, Travis just gave Kyle the ability to draft Purdue’s starting QB further way further down in the draft than should be possible, because Travis can’t spend another high draft pick on a QB.

This is similar to the Bears trading up to get Trubiski, when no one really wanted to draft him that high anyway.