HavePityPlease

I think Bush was high on the Bengals' board, but they said themselves they didn't expect Jonah to be there. So my personal guess is that it was known around the league that the Bengals at least *thought* they'd be taking Bush, but only because Jonah was considered pre-unavailable. For that reason I think it was the Stealers playing it safe, but the Bengals would have taken Jonah between the two - especially since OL was as major a need as LB, and anyone who actually knows the game knows the OL and DL should always get first priority if the players in question are comparable value.

Something I've started to wonder about is RB. Obviously as others have said, it's pretty clear this is Mixon's offense now. But what do the coaches think of Gio? How will he be used? I personally think he's quite useful in a play action scenario but what I find interesting is the team taking two RBs who both sort of fit the "straight ahead" mold, and thus it's as if they'd rather have a collection of hard chargers than the nifty scat-back type (Williams' size aside, analysts seem to agree that he's a north-south guy). Time will tell.

Will they trade two sixths for a fifth? Wouldn't surprise me at this point

Alright OSU fans, tell us about this guy

Heads up we traded back into the fourth...

Once again they follow the pattern of guys who kept improving and haven't hit a ceiling. Analysis seems to indicate all of his problems are "correctable", as long as he is willing to put in the work. A good pick at this point.

An interesting pattern I'm noticing: All of the first 3 picks were guys who have improved a lot every year and seem to have a lot of room to improve even more, and yet have been highly productive at the same time. With that said, Finley is perhaps the first pick that is a guy who, in a sense, is coming in "ready to go" and his ceiling probably isn't that high. The good thing is he might need to be that guy since we're close to the end of Andy's contract.

A couple of points here: 1. For better or worse, it's pretty much accepted that the second round is when you go get "your guy". I consider this an example of that. 2. I was actually wondering if they'd be targeting a guy like Hockenson or Fant, because play action can often include a lot of 2 TE sets. The reality of that is you need at least one of those 2 TEs to be a top-shelf blocker, but if he's a reliable pass-catcher who can, say, get you a first down when he's wide open - that's gravy. If Sample is that guy, he's not really a "backup" IMO, he's the blocker in a 2 TE set. Yes it remains to be seen if that's the idea of how to use him, but if it is then I'm cool with this.

No shock there, except perhaps that he lasted that long

Yup, take the rock-solid OT any day of the week.

A bunch of guys we can't go wrong drafting at this point... trade back? I won't be shocked if it's Haskins, but I'd expect Washington to be going nuts trying to get up the board to draft him before the 'phins can.

As good as White might be, I can't stand guys that start talking about $100M deals before they've even been drafted. Le'Veon/Antonio types can go to other teams all day as far as I'm concerned.

HavePityPlease - Ed Oliver - 92

Anyone else notice that several pundits/talking heads around the NFL are suddenly "softening" on Burfict? Comments like "he is a perfect fit for the Raiders", "this shores up their LB issue with a former Pro Bowler", etc etc I expect even further softening as the off season continues, and into the season. I mean these are some of the same thought police that said he should be kicked out of the league for *not* hitting a guy in the head last year! Now he's a great former Pro Bowler, jeezus. Honestly, leaving the Bengals is the greatest thing that ever happened to his career, even if he does continue to suck in Oakland.

It's good for Browns fans that their team is showing at least the will to try and win through all avenues, but it is still the Browns and it is a very green and unproven coaching staff. The QB is a diva, a me-first type who after his coach was fired seemed to get coddled and allowed to be as immature as he felt like. They're apparently signing one of the most diva (albeit historically excellent) defensive players in Thomas, and traded for one of the most diva (albeit also historically excellent) WR's in the league who doesn't seem too enthusiastic about joining. They signed a PR headache in Hunt, although I believe, as do others on this site, that the league is prepping the Browns to be another "sweetheart" team that can do no wrong. I expect some patty-cakes coverage of Hunt and how he's "bettering himself" to arrive in due course. The question is of course whether the coaching staff can unite this oddball group to be a winner. The Rams did it (remember that they had two of the most diva, potential head-case corners starting last year as well as a historical head case on the DL), but they were lucky that McVay is such a well prepared and focused dude who united his staff to work so cohesively. I frankly see no indication of that from the Kitchens group, but they certainly have the potential to prove me wrong. My prediction? If they're winning early it'll keep going for a while, until the NFL's knob slobbering starts to cultivate the diva in their (vast) collection of top-shelf divas. At that point there will be some internal strife and things will tail off or crash and burn altogether. On the other hand, if they're losing early the diva attitudes and crash and burn will happen even sooner. Let's wait and see.