2023 NFL Draft thread

[sparky151]

I'd rather just extend Reader a season or two and draft a CB in round 2 instead of round 7. That will give us coverage in case Chido is a bit gimpy or leaves after 2023.

[claptonrocks]

8 hours ago, sparky151 said:

I'd rather just extend Reader a season or two and draft a CB in round 2 instead of round 7. That will give us coverage in case Chido is a bit gimpy or leaves after 2023.

Id sign Reader for 3 if he performs as he has..

Hes  one of the best NTs in  the league.

 

[sparky151]

DJ is indeed one of the best NTs. But he's 28 now, turns 29 this year and the team doesn't like signing players past 30. I'd still give him a 2 year extension to hold down the fort in the middle of the line. Guys like Ted Washington or Vince Wilfork who are big and strong can play to an older age.

[Jamie_B]

23 minutes ago, sparky151 said:

DJ is indeed one of the best NTs. But he's 28 now, turns 29 this year and the team doesn't like signing players past 30. I'd still give him a 2 year extension to hold down the fort in the middle of the line. Guys like Ted Washington or Vince Wilfork who are big and strong can play to an older age.

 

I suspect they draft someone this year to groom as his replacement. I had hoped it would have been Tyler Shelvin but that didn't work out.

[I_C_Deadpeople]

1 hour ago, sparky151 said:

DJ is indeed one of the best NTs. But he's 28 now, turns 29 this year and the team doesn't like signing players past 30. I'd still give him a 2 year extension to hold down the fort in the middle of the line. Guys like Ted Washington or Vince Wilfork who are big and strong can play to an older age.

Problem may be that some other team will give him a longer contract so he may fly the coop. Why take 2 years when he can get 4 elsewhere? Unless we had more guaranteed monies. 

[Jamie_B]

45 minutes ago, I_C_Deadpeople said:

Problem may be that some other team will give him a longer contract so he may fly the coop. Why take 2 years when he can get 4 elsewhere? Unless we had more guaranteed monies. 

 

Think Ill hold off until he's officially extended.

[happyrid]

20 hours ago, High School Harry said:

I was waiting for the official MOC Draft.

btw... I like it.

 

I'd be thrilled with this draft. 

[|High School Harry|]

Just now, happyrid said:

 

I'd be thrilled with this draft. 

MOC knows his football stuff. 

[sparky151]

3 hours ago, I_C_Deadpeople said:

Problem may be that some other team will give him a longer contract so he may fly the coop. Why take 2 years when he can get 4 elsewhere? Unless we had more guaranteed monies. 

 

That's why you extend guys going into the last year of their current deal. They can't negotiate with other team. If they don't take your best offer, so be it, you can look for a replacement in the draft. If they do accept, you have continuity on the line and don't need to use a draft pick at the position. 

[I_C_Deadpeople]

https://bengalswire.usatoday.com/2023/03/21/bengals-lou-anarumo-usc-pro-day/

 

https://bengalswire.usatoday.com/2023/03/22/bengals-troy-walters-smu-pro-day-rashee-rice/

 

 

[spicoli]

^ They’ve shown a lot of interest in Rashee Rice. Wouldn’t surprise me at all if he’s the pick in R2 if he’s still around.
 

This is the last year here for Boyd and they generally like to have their replacements already in house, so a WR early makes sense. 

[sparky151]

My guess on the Boyd replacement is Jayden Reed in round 3 or 4. He can take Trent Taylor's roster spot in 2023 and return punts, then fill Boyd's role as WR3 starting in 2024. 

[|BlackJesus|]

I'll take it ...

[claptonrocks]

3 hours ago, BlackJesus said:

I'll take it ...

Concur..

I want Jonrs to complete the rebuild of the oline.

 

Nasty. road grader plus good pass protector...

Just a physical.specimen.

 

It would be a huge fortress for our QB to work his magic and Win the SB..

[sparky151]

Co-sign taking Dawand in round 1. It not only fixes the RT spot and completes the O-line, it also frees up a lot of cap space from not needing Jonah or Collins. That allows for extensions for Higgins or Wilson. 

[sparky151]

I'm a bit concerned the Chiefs might want to give us some payback by jumping us for a RT. They have a bunch of picks this year from the Tyreek Hill trade and comp picks. So they have plenty of ammo to move up if they want. Their other big need is an edge rusher so they might use their first round pick there. But it's certainly not out of the question for them to jump in front of us for Dawand Jones or Darnell Wright. If they do that, then we probably just take a TE. 

[Jamie_B]

8 minutes ago, sparky151 said:

I'm a bit concerned the Chiefs might want to give us some payback by jumping us for a RT. They have a bunch of picks this year from the Tyreek Hill trade and comp picks. So they have plenty of ammo to move up if they want. Their other big need is an edge rusher so they might use their first round pick there. But it's certainly not out of the question for them to jump in front of us for Dawand Jones or Darnell Wright. If they do that, then we probably just take a TE. 

 

I saw a mock of them doing that as well, hope it doesn't happen.

[spicoli]

 

[membengal]

JoeG's quick take on same bit of news

 

 

[WRAPradio]

7 minutes ago, membengal said:

JoeG's quick take on same bit of news

 

 

 

Interesting.  

 

 

 

 

[WRAPradio]

Reminds me of a faster Dre Kirkpatrick based on the body type...

[I_C_Deadpeople]

NFL Draft Consensus Big Board, 5.0: Who’s rising and falling in top 100?

Nick Baumgardner and Austin Mock

Apr 4, 2023

12

The Athletic’s Consensus Big Board combines rankings from a wide range of draft experts to identify how the top prospects are viewed relative to the rest of this class. In theory, by the time we reach draft weekend, this set of rankings should help give us a handle on how picks could (or, at least, should) play out.

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Version 5.0 of the 2023 NFL Draft Consensus Big Board includes the latest top 100 from our own draft expert, Dane Brugler. With Dane’s rankings included, Austin Mock gives us a look at how things are shifting as we head into the home stretch. The board includes each player’s average ranking across all sources, as well as how far each player has moved within the top 100 since our previous update.

Consensus Top 100 Big Board (April 4)

	PLAYER	POSITION	SCHOOL	AVG. RANK	PREVIOUS	CHANGE
1	Will Anderson Jr.	Edge	Alabama	1.4	1	0
2	Bryce Young	QB	Alabama	2.8	2	0
3	C.J. Stroud	QB	Ohio State	3.9	4	1
4	Jalen Carter	DT	Georgia	4.3	3	-1
5	Bijan Robinson	RB	Texas	8.0	5	0
6	Peter Skoronski	OT	Northwestern	9.8	6	0
7	Tyree Wilson	Edge	Texas Tech	9.8	9	2
8	Paris Johnson Jr.	OT	Ohio State	12.7	11	3
9	Myles Murphy	Edge	Clemson	12.9	7	-2
10	Quentin Johnston	WR	TCU	13.4	8	-2
11	Christian Gonzalez	CB	Oregon	14.6	14	3
12	Joey Porter Jr.	CB	Penn State	15.0	13	1
13	Jaxon Smith-Njigba	WR	Ohio State	15.5	10	-3
14	Michael Mayer	TE	Notre Dame	18.3	12	-2
15	Jordan Addison	WR	USC	19.4	15	0
16	Brian Branch	DB	Alabama	22.6	18	2
17	Bryan Bresee	DT	Clemson	23.9	17	0
18	Jahmyr Gibbs	RB	Alabama	25.2	20	2
19	Devon Witherspoon	CB	Illinois	26.0	24	5
20	Broderick Jones	OT	Georgia	26.1	22	2
21	Anthony Richardson	QB	Florida	27.8	21	0
22	Cam Smith	CB	South Carolina	28.5	16	-6
23	Dalton Kincaid	TE	Utah	29.3	28	5
24	Nolan Smith	Edge	Georgia	30.9	25	1
25	Will Levis	QB	Kentucky	32.3	19	-6
26	Lukas Van Ness	Edge	Iowa	35.3	35	9
27	Darnell Wright	OT	Tennessee	36.2	32	5
28	Trenton Simpson	LB	Clemson	37.8	26	-2
29	Anton Harrison	OT	Oklahoma	38.7	30	1
30	Zay Flowers	WR	Boston College	39.2	36	6
31	O'Cyrus Torrence	G	Florida	40.2	31	0
32	Kelee Ringo	CB	Georgia	40.6	23	-9
33	Calijah Kancey	DT	Pitt	41.2	37	4
34	Deonte Banks	CB	Maryland	41.3	38	4
35	Isaiah Foskey	Edge	Notre Dame	42.9	27	-8
36	Drew Sanders	LB	Arkansas	43.3	42	6
37	BJ Ojulari	Edge	LSU	44.3	33	-4
38	Darnell Washington	TE	Georgia	45.2	41	3
39	Antonio Johnson	S	Texas A&M	45.3	29	-10
40	Dawand Jones	OT	Ohio State	46.1	34	-6
41	Josh Downs	WR	North Carolina	47.4	40	1
42	Will McDonald IV	Edge	Iowa State	48.0	39	-3
43	Emmanuel Forbes	CB	Misssissippi St.	48.1	44	1
44	Felix Anudike-Uzomah	Edge	Kansas State	48.7	43	-1
45	Luke Musgrave	TE	Oregon State	48.8	46	1
46	Mazi Smith	DT	Michigan	49.2	47	1
47	John Michael Schmitz	C	Minnesota	50.3	45	-2
48	Jalin Hyatt	WR	Tennessee	52.3	48	0
49	Matthew Bergeron	OT	Syracuse	53.3	50	1
50	Clark Phillips III	CB	Utah	57.0	49	-1
51	Jack Campbell	LB	Iowa	57.4	57	6
52	Cody Mauch	OT	North Dakota St.	59.1	55	3
53	Derick Hall	Edge	Auburn	59.3	53	0
54	Steve Avila	C/G	TCU	59.6	62	8
55	Gervon Dexter Sr.	DT	Florida	59.8	51	-4
56	Sam LaPorta	TE	Iowa	63.0	56	0
57	Keion White	Edge	Georgia Tech	63.1	71	14
58	Siaki Ika	DT	Baylor	63.1	52	-6
59	Tuli Tuipulotu	Edge	USC	63.3	63	4
60	Devon Achane	RB	Texas A&M	64.3	54	6
61	Adetomiwa Adebawore	Edge	Northwestern	64.7	60	-1
62	Zach Charbonnet	RB	UCLA	66.8	59	-3
63	Rashee Rice	WR	SMU	69.4	65	2
64	Andre Carter II	Edge	Army	70.0	58	-6
65	Jordan Battle	S	Alabama	70.7	61	-4
66	Hendon Hooker	QB	Tennessee	70.9	74	8
67	Zach Harrison	Edge	Ohio State	71.3	64	-3
68	Joe Tippmann	C/G	Wisconsin	71.8	96	28
69	Cedric Tillman	WR	Tennessee	72.3	76	7
70	Julius Brents	CB	Kansas State	72.6	81	11
71	Tucker Kraft	TE	South Dakota St.	74.1	75	4
72	Tyrique Stevenson	CB	Miami	75.9	73	1
73	Kayshon Boutte	WR	LSU	76.3	69	-4
74	Jaelyn Duncan	OT	Maryland	76.3	66	-8
75	Keeanu Benton	DT	Wisconsin	77.0	94	19
76	Eli Ricks	CB	Alabama	77.1	70	-6
77	Marvin Mims	WR	Oklahoma	78.2	77	0
78	Daiyan Henley	LB	Washington St.	78.3	80	2
79	DJ Turner	CB	Michigan	78.9	91	12
80	Garrett Williams	CB	Syracuse	79.3	72	-8
81	Tanner McKee	QB	Stanford	81.1	68	-13
82	Noah Sewell	LB	Oregon	81.3	67	-15
83	Sydney Brown	S	Illinois	81.8	82	-1
84	Christopher Smith II	S	Georgia	82.3	84	0
85	Byron Young	Edge	Tennessee	82.9	86	1
86	Kyu Blu Kelly	CB	Stanford	83.6	79	-7
87	Blake Freeland	OT	BYU	83.8	85	-2
88	Tank Dell	WR	Houston	85.6	88	0
89	Tyler Scott	WR	Cincinnati	86.0	NR	NR
90	Henry To'oTo'o	LB	Alabama	86.1	78	-12
91	Luke Wypler	C	Ohio State	86.6	92	-1
92	Zacch Pickens	DT	South Carolina	87.6	90	-2
93	Darius Rush	CB	South Carolina	88.7	NR	NR
94	A.T. Perry	WR	Wake Forest	89.3	98	4
95	Tyler Steen	OT	Alabama	89.8	97	2
96	Jartavius Martin	S	Illinois	89.9	NR	NR
97	JL Skinner	S	Boise State	89.9	83	-14
98	Zach Evans	RB	Ole Miss	90.3	87	-11
99	Karl Brooks	DT	Bowling Green	90.7	NR	NR
100	Jaylon Jones	CB	Texas A&M	91.0	NR	NR

Thoughts from The Athletic draft analyst Nick Baumgardner on the updated consensus board:

• If we look back at the very first Consensus Big Board in this cycle, we can see how drastic some of these changes are. Florida quarterback Anthony Richardson is the obvious “riser,” as he was No. 45 on version 1.0. Of course, we told you then that was nuts.

And though Richardson is the most popular player in this conversation because of the position he plays, another prospect who jumps to mind is Iowa edge Lukas Van Ness. He was No. 50 on the second board in late January. Our write-up at the time: “Lukas Van Ness should not be behind 49 other names here.” Dane has never given Van Ness any lower than a first-round grade, which is also where most NFL teams have had him throughout this process.

Van Ness isn’t the only “he really shot up the draft charts … months after the season ended” case, but he’s a great example. Nobody has played a game since January. Why does this happen? What’s with all this board “climbing”?

GO DEEPER

Bruce Feldman's 2023 NFL mock draft: Sources dish on Stroud, Carter, Anderson and more

Part of it comes from the endless gaggle of mock drafts we see in today’s chaotic media climate. Then there’s the fact many NFL watchers don’t get heavily into college tape until winter. But a sizable part of the issue — one that doesn’t get discussed enough — is the difference in how a college-first fan/football viewer and an NFL-first person see the same player playing the same sport.

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Everything in football is situational. There are 11 spots (22 in total on every snap) to fill every phase of the game, which makes for a lot of situations. Analyzing prospects through the lens of a college box score or by how that player’s team performed can be among the most misleading things in the entire draft process. Complete context is always required, and in college football, finding that context is hard and takes a lot of work.

Thus, the ever-popular mid-winter NFL Draft board “climb” that isn’t really a climb at all.

If the Beast is the main course, this is the appetizer.

Top-100 draft board with a fresh new layout that can be categorized by position. https://t.co/wPguUxHGMK

— Dane Brugler (@dpbrugler) March 29, 2023

 

• Proof water always finds its level? Bowling Green edge Karl Brooks finally cracked the consensus top 100, and it only took four months to get there. Brooks, a glaring combine snub, was one of the most dynamic pass rushers in the country. He’s just an oddly build one: a 6-4, 300-pound interior tackle who has played outside linebacker (with success).

Brooks is a very interesting player who won’t have to wait forever to hear his name called on draft weekend. He posted more than 100 combined pressures over the last two seasons (69 in 2022 alone).

• Ditto for South Carolina cornerback Darius Rush and Illinois safety Jartavius “Quan” Martin, two players who have great college tape and put it all on display both at the combine and during the college all-star game process.

Jumping out of the stadium. 🐇@IlliniFootball DB Jartavius Martin with an insane 44" vertical.

📺: #NFLCombine on @nflnetwork
📱: Stream on NFL+ pic.twitter.com/KfMTm4xTeA

— NFL (@NFL) March 3, 2023

 

• The biggest risers on this board are a pair of Wisconsin Badgers: offensive lineman Joe Tippmann (No. 68, up 28 spots) and defensive tackle Keeanu Benton (No. 75, up 19 spots). Tippmann’s versatility in a class like this is too good to ignore. You’re not looking at a ton of great interior depth this year, and Tippman’s power at center or guard is terrific.

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It’s a similar argument for Benton. He’s a powerful, twitched-up interior defensive lineman, and he’s really difficult to move off his spot in the run game. Both guys are second-round picks, in my opinion.

It’s always interesting how the deeper we get into the process, the more old reliables — tough guys who are hard to move — find their way up draft boards.

GO DEEPER

Top remaining need for all 32 NFL teams and how the teams may address them

• Noah Sewell took the biggest tumble (down 15 spots to No. 82). Once again, that feels more like a correction of the earlier boards simply being way too high on a guy for reasons that aren’t important. Sewell was No. 32 on this thing back in January and that was a stretch to say the least. Fair or not, Sewell’s brother (Penei) is a recognizable NFL name, which led to a boost in perceived “stock” for Noah.

More relevant to the draft discussion, though, is that Sewell is a squat, 250-pound stack linebacker — a role that just isn’t valued the way it once was. For stack linebackers to earn high draft grades in the modern game, they have to be elite athletes without holes in their games and they have to be big/fast enough to play multiple spots in multiple alignments. Does Sewell fall under either umbrella?

This isn’t to say I don’t like Noah Sewell, because I do. Players like him do add value in today’s game, and he will be drafted, possibly late on Day 2. That value, however, does not carry the same premium it once did.

[membengal]

Another guy team looking at (I assume for much later rounds in the draft or for UDFA) (reminder - top 30 visit does NOT mean a guy that is being considered for first round)

 

 

[membengal]

 

[T-Dub]

On 3/23/2023 at 8:28 AM, sparky151 said:

DJ is indeed one of the best NTs. But he's 28 now, turns 29 this year and the team doesn't like signing players past 30. I'd still give him a 2 year extension to hold down the fort in the middle of the line. Guys like Ted Washington or Vince Wilfork who are big and strong can play to an older age.

 

Seem to recall another guy who was too old for an extension.. 7 years later he has a SB ring and we're hoping to have finally found a comparable replacement.