Haha, yeah... Earlier in the draft, I find it easier to talk myself out of the amateur era guys. For example, I almost drafted Phillips when I drafted Bathgate, thinking I may be able to land Phillips later (before @jigglysquishy cruelly ruined that dream). Personally, I rank Phillips ahead of Bathgate.You can take rmartin out of the pre-merger, but you can't take the pre-merger out of rmartin.
But seriously, I like it. Great pick.
But the deeper into the draft we get, the bigger the gap becomes in talent (in my opinion, of course) between those guys and the guys who traditionally go around now. So while I figured Phillips and Bathgate were close enough that I could go with the traditional consensus despite my personal rankings, I can't make that same call at this point with guys like Weldy Young and Jack Campbell in comparison to the other defenders available.
Since I've talked about Phillips a bit here, I may as well digress-
During the pre-merger project, I was very adamant that Bowie was the best amateur era guy. But as I've opened my aperture and looked at the other leagues, and having come across some more sources that take a bit away from Bowie's scoring prowess (not a ton, mind you, but a bit), I think that Phillips was The Man of that time period.
I'd rank the big 4 players of that time (on a career scale) Tommy Phillips>Russell Bowie>Frank McGee>Hod Stuart.
This isn't me coming at Bowie/McGee/Stuart, for the record. I have a great appreciation for them all, and I think they all went in good spots for them in this draft.
Now that I'm thinking about it, I'm actually a little glad that @jigglysquishy drafted Phillips, because now I can say this without there being any doubts or reservations that my change in opinion coincides with my drafting of Phillips. The dude was simply a stud, and I'm glad he's finally getting his due. He could go even higher next year, honestly.
