The NFL Thread

[felmani26]

So Falcons picking Penix was not on my radar at all but that move forced Broncos hand into picking Nix first round and as such we'll likely look to pick up Rattler in say the 4th round.

As it happens, surprised Bowers dropped to us and personally think we might have gone Fuaga or Mitchell/Arnold but he's a stud TE and under Getsy we will be running two TE schemes regularly which will help AOC or Minshew.

Tom Telesco seemingly going full BPA this year which is mightily refreshing for a Raiders fan!

Will echo the sentiments that Vikes and Bears had great first rounds albeit expected picks for them.

Good few gems left though and i'm hoping we snag McKinstry or Rakestraw as we need an outside corner badly (DeJean super talented but more slot/nickel).

 

[tommo84]

So Falcons picking Penix was not on my radar at all but that move forced Broncos hand into picking Nix first round and as such we'll likely look to pick up Rattler in say the 4th round.

As it happens, surprised Bowers dropped to us and personally think we might have gone Fuaga or Mitchell/Arnold but he's a stud TE and under Getsy we will be running two TE schemes regularly which will help AOC or Minshew.

Tom Telesco seemingly going full BPA this year which is mightily refreshing for a Raiders fan!

Will echo the sentiments that Vikes and Bears had great first rounds albeit expected picks for them.

Good few gems left though and i'm hoping we snag McKinstry or Rakestraw as we need an outside corner badly (DeJean super talented but more slot/nickel).

Yeah DeJean seems to be a repeat of what happened to Brian Branch last year. No question about his talent but falling because of teams having bigger needs elsewhere. Think he, McKinstrey and Adonai Mitchell will go very early tonight.

 

[felmani26]

Yeah DeJean seems to be a repeat of what happened to Brian Branch last year. No question about his talent but falling because of teams having bigger needs elsewhere. Think he, McKinstrey and Adonai Mitchell will go very early tonight.

Thought he would have gone to the Packers if i'm honest over Jordan Morgan but agreed, he'll be snapped up early 2nd round.

 

[yankspurs]

It's an insane pick unless he turns into Rodgers behind Favre. But like you said he's already 24 and you're going to lose the rookie contract on the bench.

Not you too! Agh! Way too many people trying to justify that pick with Rodgers/Favre & Love/Rodgers neglecting to mention both Rodgers & Love were drafted in the 20’s, were younger than Penix & didn’t have season ending injuries 4 times in college. There is no justification for drafting a not really a successor but a backup QB at #8 overall & heads need to roll. It’s inexcusable. Atlanta starting a new era off with one of the biggest fireable offenses I’ve ever seen. They’d be well within their rights to not even let the new GM & the new coach finish the draft as they proved themselves that they cannot be trusted.

 

[cwy21]

Not you too! Agh! Way too many people trying to justify that pick with Rodgers/Favre & Love/Rodgers neglecting to mention both Rodgers & Love were drafted in the 20’s, were younger than Penix & didn’t have season ending injuries 4 times in college. There is no justification for drafting a not really a successor but a backup QB at #8 overall & heads need to roll. It’s inexcusable. Atlanta starting a new era off with one of the biggest fireable offenses I’ve ever seen. They’d be well within their rights to not even let the new GM & the new coach finish the draft.

I agree with you 100%. The Packers situation is the only way it won't turn out to be a total disaster of a pick. I'm ecstatic the Vikings managed to get the edge rusher that the Falcons probably should have taken at 8.

 

[yankspurs]

I agree with you 100%. The Packers situation is the only way it won't turn out to be a total disaster of a pick. I'm ecstatic the Vikings managed to get the edge rusher that the Falcons probably should have taken at 8.

Vikings & Bears had the best drafts by far.

 

[Dirty Ewok]

Not you too! Agh! Way too many people trying to justify that pick with Rodgers/Favre & Love/Rodgers neglecting to mention both Rodgers & Love were drafted in the 20’s, were younger than Penix & didn’t have season ending injuries 4 times in college. There is no justification for drafting a not really a successor but a backup QB at #8 overall & heads need to roll. It’s inexcusable. Atlanta starting a new era off with one of the biggest fireable offenses I’ve ever seen. They’d be well within their rights to not even let the new GM & the new coach finish the draft as they proved themselves that they cannot be trusted.

I have no issue with them taking a backup QB for Cousins, he is a 35 year old QB coming off an achilles injury.

The insanity is the using the #8 pick on that back up. Your whole purpose for signing Cousins was that you had a big chunk of the roster settled enough to allow you to compete RIGHT NOW. The #8 pick was a perfect spot to address one of your needs on defense (and they have a couple). Penix is not someone (no matter how good you think he could be or how much you love him as a person) that should have been on your draft board for the first round. You already addressed the QB situation in a very expensive manner (not to mention the tampering) via free agency. Turn elsewhere.

On top of it by taking Penix at #8, because of the rookie pay schedule, you are effectively paying the premium price for your #2 QB. Its fine to pay premium pricing on a backup QB, teams need them every season.....but, usually, you want them to have played in the league first. Penix is effectively your #2 QB, getting a paycheck of an upper level #2 and he has NEVER PLAYED A SNAP in the NFL. It's a mind boggling decision.

Take Verse or Turner or Murphy or Latu at #8 and address your pass rush. Hell, take Bowers and pair him with Pitts and London and give Cousins a bunch of weapons to use. Trade down and get multiple picks in this or next years draft and ensure you have more talent coming into the team. Do whatever, but if you really believe you need a backup.....wait until round 2 or later, grab Spencer Rattler or Mike Pratt or Joe Milton or Kedon fucking Slovis and make due.

This was an organization that passed (rightly or wrongly, personally i thing VERY wrongly) on Belichick partially because they didn't like his desire to control the draft. Your GM and new coach (who I actually like) just made the most bizarre pick you could think of at #8. Just a baffling decision.

Very happy that i don't pull for the Falcons but rather i get to point and laugh at another team's ridiculous decision.

 

[tommo84]

Yeah the Falcons approach is bizarre. Nothing I’ve heard so far makes it make any sense. If you liked this year’s QB class in the draft and you have the 8th pick, don’t give a huge contract to a veteran in free agency. If you don’t like the guy enough to trust him to start in the first year (or even second year!), don’t use the 8th pick on him when you have other needs. It makes zero sense. Even though the Vikings don’t have a pick in rounds 2 and 3, I can’t wait to see what happens because I’m now curious to see who Atlanta pick next!

 

[Dirty Ewok]

Yeah the Falcons approach is bizarre. Nothing I’ve heard so far makes it make any sense. If you liked this year’s QB class in the draft and you have the 8th pick, don’t give a huge contract to a veteran in free agency. If you don’t like the guy enough to trust him to start in the first year (or even second year!), don’t use the 8th pick on him when you have other needs. It makes zero sense. Even though the Vikings don’t have a pick in rounds 2 and 3, I can’t wait to see what happens because I’m now curious to see who Atlanta pick next!

I am beyond excited that my Pats got Maye. Going to be a process with him but i think his upside is enormous. Really curious to see who we take at #34 or if we use it to trade for an established player.

But, man, the Falcons fans must be fucking baffled about what to expect from this point forward.

 

[felmani26]

I wonder if the Falcons entertained any offers from the Vikings to trade up but ultimately, the two that would have looked to have gone in for Penix was the Broncos and Raiders - they could have accumulated more picks and still got their man to sit behind Cousins.

A headscratcher indeed from the Falcons organisation.

 

[felmani26]

I am beyond excited that my Pats got Maye. Going to be a process with him but i think his upside is enormous. Really curious to see who we take at #34 or if we use it to trade for an established player.

But, man, the Falcons fans must be fucking baffled about what to expect from this point forward.

Pats are massively devoid of talent so would probably be advisable to trade out and accumulate picks but failing that, build the trenches and keep Maye upright!

 

[Dirty Ewok]

Pats are massively devoid of talent so would probably be advisable to trade out and accumulate picks but failing that, build the trenches and keep Maye upright!

We aren't totally devoid of talent. We have a solid offensive line with 1 gigantic hole at LT, but even before Belichick became our coach we have had a long track record of finding and developing OL.

We desperately need outside WR talent, and have traditionally been absolute garbage at identifying them and developing them.

i personally think they end up weighing picking and OT like Kingsley Suamatia, Blake Fisher or Patrick Paul against a WR like AD Mitchell, Tony Mitchell or Ja'Lynn Polk and hoping that the depth at the 2 positions allows them to get someone at the top of the 3rd.

Media in Boston has also been reporting that we have spoken with the 49ers multiple times about what it would take to get one of their WR via trade.

Personally, i don't think we have enough to get either Samuel or Aiyuk from the 49ers (as amazing as that would be). So i would like to see us grab either AD Mitchell or Tony Franklin and see if Patrick Paul makes it to round 3.

 

[cwy21]

On top of it by taking Penix at #8, because of the rookie pay schedule, you are effectively paying the premium price for your #2 QB.

With rookie QBs their value is their rookie contract because if they become a great QB their rookie or second year you have incredible value at the position compared to your cap hit allowing you to go big in other areas (see the Texans this season). But using that rookie QB contract as a back-up when you just paid premium for a old QB coming off an achillies? Man I don't get it.

 

[Dirty Ewok]

With rookie QBs their value is their rookie contract because if they become a great QB their rookie or second year you have incredible value at the position compared to your cap hit allowing you to go big in other areas (see the Texans this season). But using that rookie QB contract as a back-up when you just paid premium for a old QB coming off an achillies? Man I don't get it.

That's what i was getting at. As a QB1 a top 10 picked QB ends up being a bargain (especially with the 5th year option). But, you spent $100+M to bring in Cousins as your QB1 (no savings there), you are already paying Taylor Heinicke something like $7m to be QB2 and now Penix is going to be in the same range. So you are paying premium for QB2 AND ULTRA PREMIUM for QB3 unless you end up cutting Heinicke (i don't know what his dead cap hit would be) and riding with Cousins and an unproven rookie QB. On top of the fact that you still have holes on defense you need to address..... It's actually mystifying the more you look at the pick....

 

[felmani26]

Really happy Jackson Powers-Johnson fell kindly to us as he's going to be a mainstay in that O Line for years to come eventually moving from RG to C.

As for others, Commanders having a tremendous draft thus far with a superb pickup in Johnny Newton (although why Falcons traded up and took Ruke Orhorhoro ahead of him, one wonders!).

Annoyingly Chiefs and Chargers drafting well too.

 

[Dirty Ewok]

Really liked the Pats draft, Maye is a project but a huge talent. Polk is a big reciever with good hands. Wallace is a steady tackle (I wanted Patrick Paul but take what you can get in a positional run i suppose), the receiver we got in the 4th is a burner who seems to have a massive chip on his shoulder which is promising.

We drafted Joe Milton in the 6th to potentially turn him into a TE, so that may be interesting. On the other hand as a friend of mine who is a Tennessee alum gave this scouting report to me

"If you need to throw the ball 75 yards in the air Joe Milton is your guy because he can throw a ball 75 yards in the air. If you need someone to throw the ball 10 yards......well, Joe Milton can throw the ball 75 yards."

 

[LSUY]

Steelers had a very good draft. Might even say they had one of the best drafts this year. Fautanu was a steal, Frazier & Wilson* filled needs and McCormick with our 4th pick was a bargain.

* Wilson's a gamble given his medical history but if his ACL were fine he would have been a fringe first-rounder so worth the risk.

 

[tommo84]

Surprising that the Raiders didn’t even take a flyer on a Day 3 QB.

I always get a kick (no pun intended) out of teams drafting kickers so weirdly excited to see the Vikings take the first Kicker off the board.

One of the biggest questions coming out of that draft is how many of the 6 QBs taken in the first 12 picks start in Week 1. Williams, Daniels and Nix are all likely to start (the first 2 definitely). Penix almost certainly won’t. My prediction is that Maye doesn’t, and it’s 50/50 whether McCarthy starts right away for the Vikings.

Happy with the Vikings haul overall, albeit surprised we didn’t take a DT until our final pick. Interestingly while 7th Round pick Michael Jurgens (G/C) seems to have tumbled down draft boards through the spring, he was ranked 71st overall by PFF as recently as February. Could be a steal.

 

[Dirty Ewok]

Surprising that the Raiders didn’t even take a flyer on a Day 3 QB.

I always get a kick (no pun intended) out of teams drafting kickers so weirdly excited to see the Vikings take the first Kicker off the board.

One of the biggest questions coming out of that draft is how many of the 6 QBs taken in the first 12 picks start in Week 1. Williams, Daniels and Nix are all likely to start (the first 2 definitely). Penix almost certainly won’t. My prediction is that Maye doesn’t, and it’s 50/50 whether McCarthy starts right away for the Vikings.

Happy with the Vikings haul overall, albeit surprised we didn’t take a DT until our final pick. Interestingly while 7th Round pick Michael Jurgens (G/C) seems to have tumbled down draft boards through the spring, he was ranked 71st overall by PFF as recently as February. Could be a steal.

Maye won't start for the Pats, i don't think we even want him to start week 1. I think the plan is very much to let Jacoby Brissett start for as long as possible and then turn it over to Maye when he is ready. My guess is that if Maye is starting week 1 one of two things happened.....1) Alex Van Pelt is an amazing teacher and Drake is a brilliant student and he is really ready to be a contributing starter(i do not think this is what happens). 2) The QB room gets absolutely wiped out by injury in pre-season and there are no veterans looking for a gig, leaving the Pats with Drake and Milton (if he even makes the roster) in which case you end up starting Drake.

I could see JJ starting for the Vikes, i think he could do a job as a game manager and let Addison/JJefferson make plays. I think you probably start Darnold but i imagine you would move to JJ at the first sign of struggles.

I think Nix plays, since he spent 16 years in college i have seen a lot of him playing. I have never seen it with him personally but maybe Payton can make him into something. Regardless with a QB room of Nix, Stidham, Zach Wilson and Ben DiNucci if Nix is halfway respectable i think he gets the starting nod.

 

[Dirty Ewok]

Steelers had a very good draft. Might even say they had one of the best drafts this year. Fautanu was a steal, Frazier & Wilson* filled needs and McCormick with our 4th pick was a bargain.

* Wilson's a gamble given his medical history but if his ACL were fine he would have been a fringe first-rounder so worth the risk.

Friend of mine put it this way.....

"Death, Taxes and the Steelers, Eagles and Ravens having good drafts are all seemingly unavoidable."

Someone else i know commented that the Steelers and Ravens are the two teams he hates seeing on draft days because you are always left asking "how in the fuck did that guy fall to them?"