alleycat

I saw three different major mocks last night starting with Jeremiah having Latham and Alt going 5 then 7.

You overlook the value of a dominant, starting OT in this league. First, a competent swing, particularly behind an oft injured player, is a vital need (that isn’t currently on the team). Second, it is ABSOLUTELY worth taking a high upside OT this year EVEN IF he sits and learns and develops behind the staters. The long term value is too great. I’m not loookong to win a Super Bowl. I’m looking for Super Bowls. I’ll be happy with any player that makes us a better, more complete team (for example, I’m amazed at how seldom people are talking about our LB needs, even in later rounds), but to say OT should not be a major target in this draft (or by the same logic IOL given our situation next year), is a major overstatement. protect the franchise.

Heard something yesterday in relation to Mims, don’t know how true it is: guys with his low fat body type at OT tend to be injured often. The example given was Mekhi Becton.

AKA Team picking Pryor to Seattle Seeks Trade Down.

As it should be.

If only he could tackle too.

That’s an amazing draft.

33.5 inch vert at 352 lbs is nuts.

Tyrone Tracy my guy for Deebo Samuel type player to add to roster.

Beast.

That 3-cone at his size/weight is freaky.

To be honest it's a great idea for the extra point. Still call it a kickoff, but if you get it through you take the extra point there.

The 40 is often considered one of the better measures of general athletic ability. It's going to tell you less for certain positions, but when someone has this kind of number at that kind of size, they are making it clear they are supremely athletic. Geno Atkins ran a very fast 40 at 293 lbs. If he were testing today, with all of the high tech training these guys do it would have been even better, I'm sure, but the point was that he had uncommon athleticism for a guy of his size at that time. It was one of the few markers for the untapped potential that eventually flourished here.

I've heard Latham, Fuaga, and Fautanu all described as having pro bowl guard potential.

I agree, but I'd have my eye on a guy with T/G versatility (Fuaga, Fautanu, Latham), or LT/RT versatility.

For sure makes the high risk, high reward option a better gamble. If you figure out in camp that he sucks you can at least address the position again next year, instead of getting murdered today.

Simple game: Who do you add to this team that gets the most playing time this season? It's a lot less stressful to play that game right now. If Tee gets traded, it's probably a WR. If they have a plan, I could see it being Bowers. Does a Fuaga (or insert your player here) type beat out Volson and so offer something? Pretty clear Nose Tackle (if Sweat) would get a lot of time. 3T would, but in rotation. Still would get a lot. CB is the sneaky one. Get a top 2 corner and upgrade over Turner?

Maybe Brown was getting one year offers but the Bengals showed with Rankins that they are now willing to give guys on either side of 30 a 2 year deal. I'd be all in for that, with the potential upside that you light his competitive fire playing for a winner with this culture and you hit the jackpot. Best case scenario is you take a G/T prospect in this draft who moves right into a G position if Brown turns into a guy we want to extend.

That's a ton of supposition based on a hunch. How about Brown wanted to play LT, like Orlando Brown did? And after a week of FA and holding out for that, he didn't get any bites? So now he's open to playing RT? There are a million of these possibilities, the most glaring of which is probably money. Again, perhaps he thought he was worth something, and after a week of not getting what he wanted realized he was closing his own window to get the best possible deal.

There are a few tackle guard types (including the kid from Washington, and maybe even Latham, you have to wonder if one might not even fall to 50. Or a developmental guy like Paul looks a lot more intriguing there. But yeah, anytime you can truly go after BPA in the first, whether that be a Bowers or a Murphy or Newton - or any falling star (WR?), really, it’s ideal.

With this I think you can be more comfortable with Fuaga. Has experience at RT, but some worry about his lateral quickness to protect the edge. Those same pundits think he could be an all pro guard, and top 5 run blocker at the position day one. Seems like an ideal pick for us with someone like Trent brown here.

Haha. After effects of my trauma from not taking Dawand Jones last year, who I went on the record saying was worth a first.

Trent Jones coming here for a visit per schefter. Now we are talking!!

Wow. OL is if course vital and without protection doesn't matter how good everyone else is. Potentially premium pass rushing defense? Beside Trey, who/how? Premier LB duo? Really?! And CB, if we had gotten someone liike Fuller I would have felt better about. I look at the team like this: 1) Huge problem on Oline. 2) Huge problem on D Line with 3 out of 4 positions right now being empty or underperforming. 3) Woeful run defending LB corp. 3) Huge question mark in the Defensive backfield, with an uncertainty at CB and a dumpster fire of a previous season at Safety that we hope we've addressed, but who knows? 4) I like Lou but I don't think he's earned Mastermind status. He lost a couple of key pieces last year and the wheels fell off his D. We can get over some of these problems, but we need a lot of luck in the draft or some unexpected vet to cut loose and come to us (particularly at OL and DL for me to feel optimistic about improving much over last year. Yes, with Joe Burrow anything is possible. But Joe Burrow has been getting hurt, because Joe Burrow has been getting killed. This is the reason I would trade Tee TODAY for a premier RT.

This allows you to do one of two things though: 1) Bring in Bowers if for some reason he's there and build a new wrinkle in your offense, toward the receiving type move TE that we've always avoided, but seem to now be embracing. If it's going to be a significant feature of your offense, you need 3 guys who can fill this role, because ideally you will run multiple TE sets, and your system can't fall apart with one injury (as seems to have happened to these types of experiments with us before). 2) Draft a traits based guy in the 3rd or 4th who can be that complete TE in a year or two. It's no longer a burning need, and this draft is light on the 2nd round types at TE anyway. Of course, it also allows us to take one more position off the list that is competing with RT at #1, which at this point is looking almost inevitable.