2012 NFL Draft: The One Position Teams Can Now Afford to Wait on in April

NFL teams are always looking to fill their specific needs in the draft, but must be intelligent in deciding when to select a certain prospect at a certain position. 

Choosing the right time and round to address roster holes is an underrated aspect of piecing together a solid draft.  

For example, if a team needs running back help, but the top two guys have already been selected in the first round, they'd be smarter to wait for the second round or later to pick up a runner and direct their attention on another position.

Why?

Because, as we've seen in today's pass-happy NFL, running backs aren't utilized as prominently as they used to be and clubs can get solid production out of mid- to late-round runners. 

If I'm a NFL general manager, I'm only taking a running back in the first 20 picks of a draft if he's a feature back that you're ready to commit to for the next five to seven years. 

He'd better have no red flags and has to be a complete back. 

He may become a good, change-of-pace runner, but C.J. Spiller was a foolish choice for the Buffalo Bills to draft No. 9 overall in the 2010 draft.

Sure, he was the consensus top back in the class, but he was a bit undersized to carry the full workload, and thus not worthy of a top-10 pick. 

Buffalo would have been better off fortifying their offensive line with a guy like Bryan Bulaga who would have been on the field every down. 

That's not to say a guy like Trent Richardson shouldn't be a first-round pick. He fits the bill; he's got everything you'd want in a running back and then some. 

Yes, Miami's Lamar Miller is an explosive runner, but in today's NFL, is he really worth a first-round selection? 

I don't think so.

We saw this trend begin in last year's draft when Alabama's Heisman Trophy winner Mark Ingram was the first running back taken with the No. 28 pick.

Did he have a great impact on the Saints in 2011?

Definitely not.

One position you can't wait on is quarterback. 

How many "great" signal-callers weren't first- or second-rounders? Not many. I'd say Tom Brady, Tony Romo and Matt Schaub are the only exceptions.

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