Every year at this time, one or more General Managers wade into the debate regarding whether teams draft based on need, or whether they take the best available players.
On Thursday, Giants G.M. Dave Gettleman attempted to navigate that verbal minefield.
“I’m just telling you: I’m not going to force a pick,” Giants G.M. Dave Gettleman said, via Jordan Raanan of ESPN.com. “You can’t draft for need. You’ll get screwed every time. You’ll make a mistake.”
Gettleman added that he’ll make no exceptions, even when it comes to quarterback. And that’s fine. That’s fair. But it’s not realistic.
Whether a team intends to do it or not, the assessment of the best available players always is influenced at some level by need. The qualitative, subjective nature of the process is conducive to that type of reverse engineering, where the needs necessarily influence the assessment of the best available players. And then, when a team drafts for need, it can claim that it’s taking the best available players.
And why shouldn’t a team draft for need? That’s one of the benefits of the process. And if a team needs to move up or down the board to better match draft position, need, and overall value, so be it.
It nevertheless makes sense for guys like Gettleman to claim that they don’t draft for need. That way, they can always claim victory when it comes to compiling the best possible draft class, without putting excessive pressure on a guy who otherwise would be expected to immediately address an area of urgency and, in turn, would feel more pressure to perform.
It also makes sense for guys like me to say that, no matter what the G.M. says, need necessarily influences the process. The assessment of best available talent always takes need into account, consciously or not.