[CraigFL]

Originally Posted by JB1089

...be very happy.

There are only 3 players in all of sports that I would have tanked for in the last 10 years: Lebron James, Sidney Crosby, and Andrew Luck. In every other scenario, I want my team to win as many games as possible.


Look at the top teams in the league right now. How many of them are where they are as a result of tanking? Not a single one. If the Colts wind up being a good team down the road, that will make 1, and they tanked for the best prospect in a quarter-century.

Patriots
Steelers
Ravens
Texans
Giants
Packers
Bears
Falcons
49ers

All tanking does is fill a fan base with false hope. A high draft pick isn't going to turn your franchise around. It takes good management and coaching to do that.

There has been someone on here talking about how a Week 17 win "cost" us Matt Ryan. As if there were a guarantee that we would have taken him. The Dolphins had the first pick and no QB, they didn't take him. The Rams also didn't have a QB, and they didn't draft him either.

Thomas Dimitroff, former head of scouting for the Pats, took Matt Ryan. And he didn't just take Matt Ryan. He also drafted Sam Baker, signed Michael Turner and Tony Gonzalez, and made the trade up for Julio Jones (a move that was widely criticized at the time). If you look at the Falcons drafts since 2008, they've missed 4-5 in the first 5 rounds, and even two of those guys are still on the team as depth. They get real contribution from everyone else that they've drafted.

If you want to turn the team around, Woody needs to find the next Dimitroff.

Didn't the Patriots unintentionally tank for a couple decades before drafting Brady?