One year later, does anyone regret taking Fant over Bush?

[Duffman]

So a big talking point right after the draft was sure we traded down and picked up Noah Fant, but MLB was such a bigger need and I saw a lot of people and “experts” trashing us for having Devin Bush and letting him go.

Did Fant show enough this season to give us a calm mind because we know Bush was good this year and should be a stud going forward for Pittsburgh?

 

[wishful thinking]

Not one bit. If we stayed at #10 and got Bush, then we would've never gotten either Risner or Locke with that extra pick. And we have an extra 3rd round pick this year.

 

[fightinredantz]

At this point I think both Fant and Bush will be very good players at worst. Fant should take another step next year, by year 3 be a force that teams just don't know what to do with. It takes time for TEs to develop. Given where this team was I think taking a difference maker on Offense was more important then another difference maker on Defense. Before last year who was a difference maker on this offense? Sanders? Lindsay? The list is bit longer on Defense.

 

[SpringStein]

I made an argument with Nicki Jhabvala at The Athletic that the trade worked out well. She disagrees, saying there would have been other ways to get Lock, Risner and Bush rather than trading down out of 20.

That seems to entail some imagination as well as luck.

 

[Mingo]

I made an argument with Nicki Jhabvala at The Athletic that the trade worked out well. She disagrees, saying there would have been other ways to get Lock, Risner and Bush rather than trading down out of 20.

That seems to entail some imagination as well as luck.

That's what you call betting on magical assumptions.

Under Nikki's theory - the Broncos were targeting Lock - it is the only way her theory works. The Broncos were aware of Lock and could have had in earlier in the draft and didn't. In fact - if they wanted Lock as a target - you would want the 5th year contract rights to a hot shot QB and picked him in round 1. No, the Broncos were locking for the best player available and it turned out it was Lock. Not part of the plan, but an opportunity that presented itself.

 

[MileHigh64]

I think the Broncos were masterful in their moves to land Fant, Risner and Lock. Time will tell but I'm usually right about these things!

 

[cdumler7]

I"ll be honest the Broncos got absolutely lucky to end up with Lock in the 2nd round. They had him really high on their board but the problem was they were still of the mindset they were a playoff contending team with Flacco and knew they had to add a huge weapon especially at the TE position. The trade back allowed them to maneuver some and build both for the short and long-term. Without those extra picks they would have only been able to be all-in on Flacco being the man.

Also there were a lot of teams that had Lock as their top guy at the QB position. Most of those teams already had an entrenched starter so hard to justify taking a QB round 1 in that situation. Heck the Raiders had told the Lock family they were planning on drafting him. Raiders then passed on him like 4 times. So again Broncos kind of lucked into that situation and while the injury to Flacco I don't wish on anybody was a bit of a lucky break to allow the team to see Lock a little this past season.

As for Fant vs. Bush I would say this is one of those drafts that both teams could consider themselves winners. Fant showed flashed as did Bush. Both have the potential to be in the league for a very long time and be big time contributors.

 

[58crash]

Not one bit. If we stayed at #10 and got Bush, then we would've never gotten either Risner or Locke with that extra pick. And we have an extra 3rd round pick this year.

^this!

 

[58crash]

We got two players and a MLBer that developed that might have gotten cut had we drafted Bush ..We won thank goodness.

 

[58crash]

Also if you don't try to be great this never happens. Elway puts his kneck out and yes he is wrong sometimes but this time he was spot on and somewhat locky

 

[Draft Crazy]

We got two players and a MLBer that developed that might have gotten cut had we drafted Bush ..We won thank goodness.

Johnson surely wasn’t getting cut. He proved himself in preseason.

 

[Draft Crazy]

As far as the question?

No- It’s stil early to tell but you can tell Fant is gonna be really really good. You gotta look more then just his stats. Look at the development. He got cleaner, seperatiom us amazing. He cleaned up the slop we saw early in the season. Very happy with our draft this year. Fant, Risner, Lock and Jones all made impacts and all got better as the season went on.

 

[Mingo]

As far as the question?

No- It’s stil early to tell but you can tell Fant is gonna be really really good. You gotta look more then just his stats. Look at the development. He got cleaner, seperatiom us amazing. He cleaned up the slop we saw early in the season. Very happy with our draft this year. Fant, Risner, Lock and Jones all made impacts and all got better as the season went on.

I will add - Fant started off a better blocker than everyone thought he was going to be and got dramatically better as a blocker down the stretch. That's another 10-20 yards if PL as the ball..

This is a good question because Bush lived up to his reputation very well - and established himself as a top ILB in his rookie season.

I think we will see Fant among the top 5 TEs in the league in the next season or two. Another cool thing about his growing blocking reputation - is defensive guys don't know if you are going to block them or run away from them with the ball - that's an exploitable edge - and could make Fant a great TE.

 

[CEH]

Fant’s stat we’re pretty amazing for a rookie TE. The TE is a crucial element To any great offense. For Denver I’d take the TE over the LBer because of Fangio. He can find a Devin bush caliber player.

 

[cdumler7]

Fant’s stat we’re pretty amazing for a rookie TE. The TE is a crucial element To any great offense. For Denver I’d take the TE over the LBer because of Fangio. He can find a Devin bush caliber player.

Heck just look at the Super Bowl. Kittle and Kelce are the two best TE's in football and hey look their teams are in the Super Bowl and both are on explosive offenses.

 

[Mingo]

It's all in how you corn feed some of these fellows from that area.

 

[cdumler7]

It's all in how you corn feed some of these fellows from that area.

You can boil it, fry it, bake it, grill it, sizzle it in some butter, roast it, slow cook it.

 

[58crash]

Heck just look at the Super Bowl. Kittle and Kelce are the two best TE's in football and hey look their teams are in the Super Bowl and both are on explosive offenses.

Add in all those NE SB's..TE seems to be huge.

 

[cdumler7]

Add in all those NE SB's..TE seems to be huge.

If you find a good one they are the toughest matchup on the field. CB's are too small to handle them 1-on-1. Safeties can sometimes not be as athletic or if they are then not as strong and tall. LB's for the most part can't keep up with the good ones. There are just so few players that can be expected to cover them 1-on-1. Heck I would say there are 0 that an entire game can be expected to handle that job and completely shut them down. Top CB's don't even follow the best WR for the entire game as they need some breaks every once in a while.

Hopefully that is what Fant will turn into. Easy to see he is about as athletically gifted as they come. He finished 95th percentile among all TE's that have run at the combine in the 40, vertical jump, broad jump, and 3-cone drill.

 

[listopencil]

I don't regret it because it's not one of those huge self inflicted wounds that pop up from time to time. I regret taking Bolles over Ramczyk. I regret taking Tim Crowder over Brandon Mebane. I regret taking Ashlie Lelie over Ed Reed. I wasn't excited about the Fant pick but I wasn't upset over it either. And I'm not upset about missing out on a different player that looks to be around the same talent level. Shit happens.