2021 Draft Discussion - Bolts Pick 13th

[Parcells]

What's my point? My point is, at least half these guys are gonna be available when we pick in the second round, so why the hell should we panic, and reach for one of them at 13, just so we can say we are protecting Herbert? Look...maybe the draft goes down in such a way that one of those guys will be one of the BPAs...in that case, sure...why not? But if a Parsons or Farley or Surtain or Chase or Pitts or AVT fall to us, I'm not passing on one of those guys for fucking Cosmi or Darrisaw, just so we can say we got a first round LT...GTFO with that "cut your nose off to spite your face" stuff...

I think people are underrating Darrisaw. Most places I’ve read have him ranked as the 2nd or 3rd best tackle in this group. He’s faced a bunch of the top edge rushers in this draft, and I think he did pretty well basically shutting them down.

[Lone Bolt]

He had 1 bad game in college. 2018 vs ND.
In the 9 games that followed, included his lone 2019 game vs NW, he gave up 0 sacks, 3 pressures, and had 67 domination blocks

Career Accolades

• Pac-12 Fall Academic Honor Roll (2019)
• All-Pac-12 first team (2018)
• Pac-12 All-Academic honorable mention (2018)
• All-Pac-12 honorable mention (2017)
• Pac-12 Freshman Offensive Co-Player of the Year (2017)
• ESPN Freshman All-America (2017)
• Stanford's first true freshman to start at left tackle since 2000 (Kirk Chambers)

As a Senior (2020)

• Outland Trophy watch list
• Reese's Senior Bowl Top 250 watch list
• Preseason All-America second team (Walter Camp Football Foundation)
• Preseason All-America second team (Phil Steele)
• Preseason All-America fourth team (Athlon)
• Preseason All-Pac-12 first team (Phil Steele)
• Preseason All-Pac-12 second team (A

Good stuff. Been doing a lot of LIttle watching lately, and in the spirit of complete transparency and objectivity, I will admit I found a pretty good wrinkle in his game...I think he lacks power, more so than is evident by his production/success at the position. I find he uses angles and positioning in the run game to keep his mark out of the plays, and solid technique and footwork and base setting to handle pass rush. Whenever he failed, it was when he was outsmarted, and wasn't able to respond quickly enough with technique to recover the rep...Notre Dame came to play, that was a blitzkrieg, and I think he and the rest of the oline got flustered, and couldn't get their heads back in the game....but I digress. We are talking about his lack of power, and this is most evident when you see him spun...which is the most common way he gets beat, but a lot of times, luckily, didn't result in a significant QB pressure or hit. I watched a video where some British guy pointed out how well he sets his base and responds to the bull rush...again using tech and leverage to win against power...but when he is inconsistent, and lapses a bit, his feet end up too close together, and a sudden Bull rush or redirect will actually spin him, where you see one of his shoulders give way, and then he is beat...not getting his feet in good position AND locking up those legs on the bullrush is how you get spun...

This is not a big issue, IMO...I almost moved him into my first round cluster, but I am waiting to see if any buzz comes out of his pro day. If he has been rage lifting, and working and drilling with coaches, chomping at the bit to get after this process, and succeed in the pros...he is a favorite of mine.

By the way, falling back into that old habit was how he got injured. In his first and last game last season, he had begun favoring the right knee...I saw him stop after a few plays, lift his foot off the ground, and sort of flex the joint a few times...been there, done that...he probably had a mild sprain...but now he is probably putting more weight than usual on the left leg, and when he locks up on a bull rush, and gets spun to his left, that extra weight keeps his left foot planted firmly in the ground and "pop" goes the left knee...sadly, with just a few minutes left in the game.

Bottom line, right now, he is the best of the second tier of OTs, unless he has a meek showing at his pro day. He has shown he can play at a high level, he has shown he has the tech down, and the size and length are what you want in a 10-12 year starter at LT...say what you want about measurables, when a OT starts approaching 28, 29, 30 years of age, they lose some of their nimbleness...and it's their tech, their experience, and their LENGTH that keeps them playing at a high level.

[electricgold]

Najee isn’t the best RB in this draft. He had the benefit of running behind a monster O-line. I wouldn’t really want him at pick 45.

Ok but the Chargers need a dynamic RB because Austin isn't a #1 RB. Will Jaret Patterson be available at pick 45??

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OwRiI0jVyLs

[JOJAX85]

If they don't want to draft a RB, I hope they look in to Mike Davis of the Panthers via FA. Only 27 so he's still got some tread left & he runs hard.

[Boltjolt]

Ok but the Chargers need a dynamic RB because Austin isn't a #1 RB. Will Jaret Patterson be available at pick 45??

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OwRiI0jVyLs

Yes, probably later than that but not sure why we would want a 195 lb RB?

If you look at the Rams RBs, their lightest RB is 208 LBs which is Robinson. He also is the one that got hurt and didnt finish the season. The Saints lightest RB is Kamara at 215. Id say with Lombardi and Staley we arent going to be drafting any smaller RBs.

[CTrout]

Ok but the Chargers need a dynamic RB because Austin isn't a #1 RB. Will Jaret Patterson be available at pick 45??

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OwRiI0jVyLs

One of my favorite players in this draft. I've seen him as low as the 5th round.

He reminds me a lot of Ekeler.

[Formula 21]

I love how people think we have to select a LT at 13...otherwise, we will be settling for 2nd tier. I got news for you all...after Sewell and Slater, they are all second tier. I would take AVT at 13 depending on who is left...but not as a 10-12 year LT...as a future all pro LG.

Darrisaw, Cosmi, Eich, Leatherwood, Little, Jenkings...they are all very promising prospects with "warts", as another poster on here called it...they have flaws. Doesn't mean they can't start in this league, doesn't even mean they can't start right away...just means they need work, might not be great right away, and have a slight risk of busting. They all got some question marks. I don't care if some pundits want to shoehorn a couple of those names into the mid first round because they faced a couple of promising edge prospects(not blue chip prospects, by any means), they are all roughly at the same overall talent level, each with different strengths and weaknesses.

What's my point? My point is, at least half these guys are gonna be available when we pick in the second round, so why the hell should we panic, and reach for one of them at 13, just so we can say we are protecting Herbert? Look...maybe the draft goes down in such a way that one of those guys will be one of the BPAs...in that case, sure...why not? But if a Parsons or Farley or Surtain or Chase or Pitts or AVT fall to us, I'm not passing on one of those guys for fucking Cosmi or Darrisaw, just so we can say we got a first round LT...GTFO with that "cut your nose off to spite your face" stuff...

I think most of those guys are gone before we pick in the 2nd. Almost every team in the league needs OL help. The positional need is too great to not take an OLT at 13 if one is there.

[Formula 21]

I think people are underrating Darrisaw. Most places I’ve read have him ranked as the 2nd or 3rd best tackle in this group. He’s faced a bunch of the top edge rushers in this draft, and I think he did pretty well basically shutting them down.

Concur. I'd take him at 13 easy.

[21&500]

by our pick in round 2 we're looking at tier 3 OTs, some with injury histories
if we're lucky we get to over draft on talent like Spencer Brown, there will absolutely be a run.
either way, you're going to over-draft or trade up so you might as well target an elite prospect
and have a plan for how to get him without giving up too much, last minute.
it's contrary to where anyone would WANT to be in, but this is the situation we find ourselves
as a natural consequence of failing to acquire/develop sufficient play at the OL positions
I think i'm being realistic, and that's not meshing with this time of "possibilities" with seniorbowl coming up
and it sure doesn't help when you play these draft simulator games and end up being the greatest GM ever haha
bite the goddamn bullet and find 1 foundational piece just one!
the OL will likely take 2 or 3 off-seasons before it's anywhere close to "good"
but can we at least move it towards "not a liability"?
I'll get off my horn about this for now, just don't be too terribly upset if TT sees it the way I do
and gives up the farm to trade up for a Slater or god forbid, Sewell.
a franchise LT is almost priceless, I don't give a shit about next years first and second if Herbert has a foundational piece
he can depend on for the next decade, not one tiny shite.

[Topcat]

Do you honestly trust TT to select a starting LT in any round outside of the first?
And by starting I mean, deserve to start in the NFL and not just over Tevi, pretty sure a day 3 guy can technically start over Tevi tomorrow

^ This. Yes, it's possible to find a starting LT in round 2 or 3, but the percentages drop considerably after the mid to late first round...if someone like AVT is there at #13, or especially someone like Slater, gotta pull the trigger...QUIT KICKING THE LT CAN DOWN THE ROAD!!!

[Topcat]

by our pick in round 2 we're looking at tier 3 OTs, some with injury histories
if we're lucky we get to over draft on talent like Spencer Brown, there will absolutely be a run.
either way, you're going to over-draft or trade up so you might as well target an elite prospect
and have a plan for how to get him without giving up too much, last minute.
it's contrary to where anyone would WANT to be in, but this is the situation we find ourselves
as a natural consequence of failing to acquire/develop sufficient play at the OL positions
I think i'm being realistic, and that's not meshing with this time of "possibilities" with seniorbowl coming up
and it sure doesn't help when you play these draft simulator games and end up being the greatest GM ever haha
bite the goddamn bullet and find 1 foundational piece just one!
the OL will likely take 2 or 3 off-seasons before it's anywhere close to "good"
but can we at least move it towards "not a liability"?
I'll get off my horn about this for now, just don't be too terribly upset if TT sees it the way I do
and gives up the farm to trade up for a Slater or god forbid, Sewell.
a franchise LT is almost priceless, I don't give a shit about next years first and second if Herbert has a foundational piece
he can depend on for the next decade, not one tiny shite.

No need to give up the farm...Slater or AVT should be there at #13...

[Topcat]

One of my favorite players in this draft. I've seen him as low as the 5th round.

He reminds me a lot of Ekeler.

We don't need another Ekkie...need a big, bruising Derrick Henry...heck, I'll even take a POOR man's Henry...