Ryan Pace is receiving a lot of criticism, and much of it is “earned”—but not for the reasons people think. In order to explain why Pace is the subject of so much hostility, it’s necessary to take a step back in time.
In 2012, per Football Outsiders, the three worst-rated drafts in the NFL by teams with a full-ish slate of picks belonged to the Seattle Seahawks, the Denver Broncos, and the New York Jets. Admittedly, the Saints and the Raiders received worse net grades, but a lot of that was from the picks they didn’t have (remember Bounty Gate and the trade for Carson Palmer?