What does BPA mean?

[Ballhawk]

So, if you take a "BPA" and they don't help you win, were they really your BPA?

 

[FrankenRam]

The draft is almost entirely a subjective process. As Pat Kirwan says, it's like a beauty contest and beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Accordingly, he also says that draft boards are like finger prints...no 2 are a like. So there is no such thing as a universal BPA because teams rate players differently. If you surveyed every team as each pick was being made as to who the BPA was you'd get many different answers. Sure, at the very top of the draft there may be general agreement on player, but once you're out of the top 5-10 the divergence of opinion gets wider and wider.

The best drafting teams do the best job rating the players for their particular team and then stacking their board accordingly. Then during the draft they stick to their boards, taking the BPA for them at each pick. Also, the further you get down in the draft the more likely you'll have multiple players rated about the same. That's where need can really come into the process. If you have players rated evenly, go with your greatest need. Where teams get in trouble is where they take lower rated players over higher rated ones due to need.

All that being said, going with your BPA doesn't always guarantee success because going into every draft we know that the large majority of players drafted will never pan out. That's true every year. So all the labels that are spewed during and right after the draft mean nothing... BPA, Steal, Reach, Bargain, etc. You look back in a few years and you see how many of the labels were completely wrong.

I generally agree, but would word it somewhat differently....

IMO, there is a lot of 'art' (i.e., 'subjectivity') in evaluating/acquiring talent. Teams try to turn it into a 'science' by ranking suspects however they best see fit. But it certainly is an imperfect science, and every team will approach it somewhat differently, and some will be much more successful than others.

As imperfect as the science may be, what would be the alternative...throwing darts at a board?

 

[LesBaker]

I've always thought the BPA thing is a bit blown up by the huge media circus that is the NFL draft, and I don't mean the day it happens I mean the build up.

It's become this huge thing with 50 guys talking about draft slotting, BPA, needs, potential trades they just make up and all the rest.

It's almost this huge fairy tale unfolding every year that just keeps going.

If teams copped BPA while ignoring need or the other way around parity would be easy LOL.

 

[HometownBoy]

Many think BPA means, just take the best guy you can think of, but most coaches use BPA as, best player available at their position of need.

 

[DR RAM]

Many think BPA means, just take the best guy you can think of, but most coaches use BPA as, best player available at their position of need.

Most coaches use both, depends on if the need fits the value, or vice versa.

 

[Ballhawk]

That's just it. If you keep taking BPAs at positions you don't need you will just have a bunch of Pro Bowlers at one or two positions and the rest of the team will suck, as will your record.
I find the idea of taking a DE in this draft totally laughable and stupid, when we don't even have enough players under contract to field a competent O line.

 

[Rams43]

That's just it. If you keep taking BPAs at positions you don't need you will just have a bunch of Pro Bowlers at one or two positions and the rest of the team will suck, as will your record.
I find the idea of taking a DE in this draft totally laughable and stupid, when we don't even have enough players under contract to field a competent O line.

A bit of flawed logic there, Ballhawk.

You're presuming that if we take a DE (or any other position than OL) with our #10 that we will be unable to complete our OL.

Actually, I believe we can do both, AND draft a QB in rounds 2 or 3 while we're at it.

Of course, other opinions may vary. Lol.

 

[Ballhawk]

A bit of flawed logic there, Ballhawk.

But how can it be flawed when history clearly shows it to be true, both with this team and coach?
We can continue to add WRs and QBs and then continue to wonder why they never live up to their potential or we can fix a crucial area of the team that is in ruins.

Of course you know what Einstein said about insanity!

 

[shaunpinney]

BPA (best player available) is someone who is simply that, the best player available, not necessarily your biggest need, but a player you'd find it difficult to pass up on (Aaron Donald for instance).

There are a few ways of drafting, IMO, you get the
1. BPA draft - picking the player with the best potential, athletic ability etc disregarding team need etc.
2. The need draft - picking the Best player at the required position of need
3. The team draft - picking the player you think will work best in your team.
4. The emotion draft - picking from your favourite college, coach etc.

 

[Ballhawk]

I guess that you could go with pure BPA with your top pick, if for nothing else than to keep your fantasy guys happy, and then build the team with the rest of your picks. You have to be really good at finding value in the late rounds though.

 

[Rynie]

BPA is best player irrespective of needs...we need a RT, OG, & C...I also think we need a QB...but if the best player, according to our board is a RB....we take him...

This. And this is also why the Raiders suck.

 

[Zaphod]

So, if you take a "BPA" and they don't help you win, were they really your BPA?

This is often overlooked as you have to have a place for them on your team or that player may very well turn out to be a reach or bust.

In the end, they are all human beings, and as such the same basic rule applies, "No matter how good you are at something, someone is always better". It sounds illogical, but then you have to ask yourself, if that's true then why don't I win every spar? The simple answer is that someone else will always adjust and find a way around your technique. Which is why every year you see the most gifted athletes trying to improve themselves.

 

[DCH]

It means Bum Poop-Anus. Duh.

Now if you'll excuse me, I have to get back to my shop class.

 

[FrantikRam]

If you really think about it, BPA is a myth.

Once you factor in schemes, no two teams are going to rate a player the same. So it's just that team's opinion, and then their ability to get develop that player.

Every round, each team is going to take the best player available - take the Vikings with Christian Ponder - I'd be willing to be that whoever ultimately made the decision to draft him thought he would eventually be a very, very good QB - which would have made him, at that time, the best player available. It's easy for us to look back and say "Ha that team sucks at drafting". But the reality is, we don't know what any team's criteria is, we don't sit in on interviews, and we don't have access to as much tape as NFL teams/scouts do - and on top of all that, fans don't possess the same skills to interpret that film and project guys to the next level.

Every play in an NFL game, every player either wins or loses. Funneling that down, you could say that half the draft picks will succeed, and half wont. Figuring out why is the most complex part of it. Would Tom Brady be Tom Brady if the Rams drafted him in the 5th round that year? I think not. He'd be a JAG.

Could Ryan Leaf have succeeded on another team? He was a headcase, but it's likely that he could have.

 

[rdlkgliders]

BPA= Bowel and Prostate Aggravation

 

[Mojo Ram]

Beautiful Phat Ass

Scouting since 1969...

 

[LesBaker]

Beautiful Phat Ass

Scouting since 1969...

This is the truth.