re: Gabriel

We've been over this. It's because:

1) It was a bad year to develop 2nd-round talent, because there was no summer league, a shortened camp, and very limited practice time throughout the season.

2) Griffin wanted to keep all his picks ready for a big trade, which he will probably do now.

But this is really just a thread hijack on your part, because taking a 2nd-round pick wouldn't have affected the Gabriel signing, because most 2nd-round picks don't make the team. If we had drafted someone in the 2nd, we wouldn't have automatically held a roster spot for that person.

A second-round pick is someone that you use a two-way slot on.

[Oh, and I forgot that there wasn't a combine.]