sparky151

Why? Bowers or Brian Thomas would certainly be starters right off the bat and help the offense. We could address the O-line in round 2 and NT in round 3 or later. So taking a good offensive player should definitely be a possibility.

Anyone who won't be starting in 2024. We've had a couple of disappointing first round picks in 2022 and 2023. Let's not make it 3 years in a row. It's not as if our roster is so bullet proof we have locked in starters at every position. So a Quinyon Mitchell would be a better pick than a Byron Murphy or Johnny Newton for instance.

If you mean trading back with the Bills, not much. Thomas should be a consideration for us. He'd be a good replacement for Tee. We could even then consider trading Tee to a team that will pay him and has a late first or early 2nd round pick. Me too. If we're taking a center to succeed Karras, Jackson Powers-Johnson would be the way to go. He could play LG this season. DeJean's best position is probably FS and we're set there. I'd be happy with Quinyon Mitchell in round 1 as he'd be a top CB prospect in any draft, not just this year's thin group of CBs. No thanks on Wiggins, he's about the same size and speed as Turner but less physical. Arnold would be ok but it's not clear he's fast enough. He went to college as a 5 star safety then became a CB.

Using pick 18 on a guy who will be a backup or starting at LG is poor value. Volson isn't our biggest problem at the moment. We should draft a center as Karras and Hill are the only ones signed currently. But it can wait until day 2 or 3.

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We also signed ERFA LS Cal Adomaitis a week or two ago.

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Even accepting that argument, it still doesn't make this year's group the best in recent memory.

The team signed Browning to a 2 year deal. Good move, probably means he got a signing bonus that he likely wouldn't have on the usual 1 year deals that EFRAs get.

The vertical and broad jumps are measures of explosion, ie leg strength. Some O-line gurus focus on the agility drills as key. There's a pretty good trend of interior O-linemen with high percentiles on the 3 cone drill doing well in the NFL.

Is he calling the 2024 class the best in recent memory? If so, he sounds "business drunk". Most years the first round is dominated by early entry players. This year there were only 58 early entries, less than half as many as in recent years. So the draft pool is thin, down more than 60 top prospects. That's why a piece I saw in The Athletic this morning quoted some NFL guy as saying this draft was only 150 players deep by regular standards. Though all 257 picks will be used, the last hundred or so are players who may well have gone undrafted in an average year.

Maybe. Gesicki is the replacement for Irv Smith. Hudson and Sample are back. I think Schreck is still around too. I'd guess 3 TEs on the 53 plus 1, maybe 2 on the PS. So it wouldn't be a surprise to draft a TE, the team probably doesn't see it as a priority. Though I'd be pissed off is Bowers is available at 18 and they take someone else.

Yeah, nobody is trading for Zach Wilson to make him their starter. He has a guaranteed contract as the #2 overall pick so the Jets are probably picking up most of the cost.

Arch Manning was a freshman at Texas last year and redshirted. He'll back up Ewers this year as a freshman and will be eligible for the 2026 draft. He'll presumably be the starter in 2025 but could very plausibly spend a second year as the starter there. I'd imagine you'll see the Saints in fullbore tank mode the year before they expect him to enter the draft. They have to do it at some point anyway to fix their cap situation. Sort of. The top priority should be improving the roster as much as possible. We need a starting NT but can find one in round 3 or later. Trying to use a 3T at NT would be foolish as we get overrun in the AFCN. We are thin on the O-line and were very lucky that last year we started the same 5 players every game. That's rare and our new RT has a long history of injuries. So we need at least a good swing tackle and succession plan at RT. But it doesn't have to be done in round 1. I'm fine with us taking the RT at pick 18 but if we wait until pick 49, probably at least 1 of Paul, Rosengarten, Fisher, Suamataia, or Amegadjie will be on the board.

Yes, that was the "lose slow" tactic that had Lael Collins taking an unusually wide split. But Latham isn't quick enough to engage and push the rusher outside when facing a top rusher. See the Texas and Michigan games. Vs Texas the freshman LT had a nightmare so Latham got overlooked for criticism but he wasn't good. Vs Michigan, they got inside and around him several times, including on the critical 4th down in OT.

The problem is they are watching Latham's tape. And he does have good tape for the most part, though Texas and Michigan got the better of him. But Alabama is a flop factory when it comes to NFL linemen. They get elite recruits like Latham, put them through an NFL caliber strength program, and give them top coaching. So they usually have a good O-line with some highly ranked prospects. Then those guys get overdrafted and are disappointments at the NFL level. Think of guys like Chance Warmack (top 10 pick as a guard), Evan Neal (top 10 pick), Alex Leatherwood (mid first rounder who didn't make it to year 3). Even Jedrick Wills and Jonah Williams were taken in the first half of round 1 and not lived up to expectations. If Latham were coming from Michigan State or UCLA or North Carolina with the same tape, he'd be a better prospect because he'd have more room for improvement. Alabama is the new Nebraska, don't get suckered.

I agree with having some flexibility and taking a holistic approach. But our draft isn't Sweat or bust. We can probably get him at 80, maybe at 97 or 115. If we like him a lot more than the alternatives, then go ahead and take him at 80. If we like Boyd or Jackson or Taylor or Anderson or Rogers nearly as much, then take the risk Sweat drops and if he doesn't, move on to plan B.

I don't mind if we use pick 18 on a top talent at WR, CB, or TE. There aren't any safeties, running backs, linebackers worthy of round 1 this year and only 1 TE. It's a weak group of edge rushers which has pushed the DTs up the board a bit. This is a good draft for QBs and O-linemen and receivers. It's also fairly thin at CB.

Mims - Fuaga - Fautanu - Newton- Latham - Murphy. We don't have to use pick 18 on a RT or 3T. I'd be fine taking a CB or WR or TE if they were a top player at their position, ie a top 2 CB, top 4 WR, or top TE. We can get a big body NT in round 3 or later. We can get a decent RT prospect at 49. So we can take the player at 18 who improves our roster the most. That's not the same thing as BPA.

I trust Lapham has good inside info. But Latham would be a poor pick for the Bengals. He's probably already maxed out and while he's big and strong, he isn't quick. Garrett and Watt would have a field day with him. Mims has a much higher ceiling but the main question would be whether he can reach it under Pollack.

She seems to have forgotten about our other 3rd round pick.

The late rounds are even more of a crapshoot than the early ones. You can take a specialist like Tory Taylor (we don't need him but) Will Reichard. Or a return specialist. Or guys who have a good quality but obvious limitations that have to be schemed around. Or guys who have shown flashes but are inconsistent. Or the knuckleheads who have talent but a knack for finding trouble. Etc. There won't be flawless prospects this late but there will still be guys who can potentially contribute, even in a thinner than average draft class like 2024. We got Iosivas and Ivey in rounds 6 and 7 last year and they both made the roster. With our general lack of depth at some positions, that could easily happen again.

That's a better mock, at least hits the key positions. I'd take another DT in round 6 or 7 though.

It's probably worth noting that Brugler's evaluations don't match very closely with consensus draftnik boards or real life selections. He has Sweat rated as the 10th best DT and the only one in his top 15 over 320 lbs. I don't see Boyd dropping to the 6th round as he has him or Anderson going undrafted. But there also isn't a whole lot of demand for 2 down run stoppers. Every team wants to have one but not many have multiple.

Not a fan of that mock. Starting with Mims is fine. Pick 49 seems a bit early for Pearsall though he probably won't make it to 80. He'd be a replacement for Boyd but not really a potential replacement for Tee. No thanks to Carter at 80. He's a tweener who is average vs the run at the college level but will be overwhelmed in the NFL. Sinnott at 97 is good value but I'll guess he doesn't make it there in the real thing. Bortolini is a great athlete and good pass protector but not a good run blocker. We could do worse but maybe do better later. We don't need a safety at all in this draft. Then a couple more DTs and a pair of marginal CBs. How about a LB in there, or a RB, maybe a punter too?