Day 2 NFL Draft 2021 - Conclusion

[Guest]

^This. Cook is on his last legs, Parham is still really raw and Anderson and Sokol are just guys. It was an area of need.

To the extent the above is true, after selecting McKitty, the position is still a need. Other than giving us some blocking help, McKitty does not improve us in any area. He is not an elite receiver. Frankly, he is not an elite blocker either. That is why he was rated as a round 6-7 prospect. He is more well rounded than some of our TEs (like Henry was), but he is not even good enough to be a poor man's Henry.

The comparisons to Kittle are ridiculous. Kittle is a far superior athlete and better blocker than McKitty. This was a full on 2-3 round reach for a player. Just a bad draft pick, especially with us having true needs at OG, DL, and EDGE.

[Guest]

More bodies but not a single proven TE after Cook. I don't know if this guy is any good but I do know they have need at the TE position.

I agree that the team could have used a blocking TE. They did not need pass receiving TEs as both Cook and Parham are good receiving options at TE.

Unfortunately, they chose a 6th-7th round rated TE in the third round, who is more of a mixed TE (not a dominant blocker, just better than what we currently have on the roster).

The problem is that the team could have waited until rounds 6-7 and accomplished the same purpose without passing on the other good talent available in round 3.

The pick is a terrible pick for value--one of the worst for any team in the entire draft.

[Guest]

It’s Cook with a bunch of UDFA pass catchers that also can’t block.

And McKitty is not a devastating blocker either, while not improving us at all in terms of pass catching. Parham is probably the team's best receiving TE if the team would just let him play.

[Panamamike]

If you want a blocking TE, you can get that in rounds 6-7 of even as an UDFA, which is where McKitty was rated.

Perhaps in previous eras however blocking skills are no longer prevalent in college offenses.

[Guest]

I was just reviewing ESPN's pre-draft rankings of the 2017 draft. Patrick Mahomes was ranked No. 52 and when the Chiefs traded up to No. 10 draft him many considered it a pretty major reach. I'm just saying that pre-draft rankings always turn out to be way off in predicting who is going to succeed in the NFL. Just for another example, OJ Howard was ranked the No. 6 best player and top TE in the 2017 draft. Howard was drafted No. 19, the first TE off the board, by the Bucs. Meanwhile, George Kittle wasn't even on ESPN's list of the top 100. Kittle was drafted in the 5th round at No. 146, the 7th TE taken. In four seasons, Kittle has doubled OJ Howard's per game production in receptions and yards. Kittle is a two-time Pro Bowler, a second team All Pro in 2018 and first teamer in 2019. Howard has never been a Pro Bowler or an All Pro. Don't put too much stock in rankings, especially when you get outside of the 2nd round. They are not the Gospel my any means.

To me, Kittle is what happens when teams ignore the often mocked underwear games. It was obvious that Kittle was a superior athlete and the fact that all teams passed him through 4 rounds is an indictment of their thought processes. The teams should have seen him coming and blew it.

McKitty in no way resembles Kittle any more than I resemble Usain Bolt.

[Guest]

Hope so. This was very thin TE class, so the 5th or 6th best one isn't going to offer you much. 40 time I saw (4.7) is underwhelming, and broad jump/high jump were quite mediocre. I've generally seen him mocked much later.

In my view this was a thin crop of draftees. The sweet spot was 2nd round. I'd have preferred we bundled the two threes and moved up. (And I'm usually not a trade-up guy)

To give you a better perspective, NFL.com had McKitty rated as TE14 and we took him while TE5-TE13 had yet to be selected. That, I think, is a much more accurate reflection of the degree of reach we are discussing.

But even in the most favorable ratings, the pick is still a reach. The only question is the full magnitude of the reach.

[Grinners]

T-Cat

Thunder Cat
BOLT UP!!!

[Guest]

Well I felt I had him a little low. 5th round is where id ideally have him. But hey, this draft was going to be different and some of us mentioned it often. Perhaps I under projected him.
There are still some good players on the board.
You don't like it, I get it but let's see what they can do.

Just because we drafted Palmer in the 3rd don't mean he is going to be our third WR in his first year. Johnson can play, has NFL experience and the draft is about projected potential.

He wasn't on my radar but that don't mean I think he was a bad pick.
Maybe Joe Reed is indeed going to play a lot of RB this season.

I do not get the Palmer pick at all, though it is not as much of a reach as McKitty. If he is there to replace Williams in a year, why choose a receiver that is a poor man's Williams in terms of traits? The biggest problem our top 2 WRs have is a lack of speed. Why not get a good WR with speed to go with Allen? Why perpetuate a weakness?

Also, if he really is there to be WR#3 on our team, then we have the slow, slower and slowest problem at WR. Johnson and Guyton are the players that are preventing defenses from squatting on our offense like they did in 2019 after Tyrell Williams left.

[Boltjolt]

Again, blocking TEs can be had later. Also, I would hardly call McKitty the second coming of Brandon Manumaleuna in terms of his blocking skill.

Whining about it every post won't change anything. Let's wait and see what he can do.

[like54ninjas]

Whining about it every post won't change anything. Let's wait and see what he can do.

:anchorjump:

:toyou:

:rasta:

[Xenos]

To give you a better perspective, NFL.com had McKitty rated as TE14 and we took him while TE5-TE13 had yet to be selected. That, I think, is a much more accurate reflection of the degree of reach we are discussing.

But even in the most favorable ratings, the pick is still a reach. The only question is the full magnitude of the reach.

As I already mentioned, I don’t really see the difference between Tremble (a 3rd round mock) and McKitty (supposedly a 5th rounder).

[Guest]

Here is PFF's take on McKitty and our pick:

Pick97C
Tre' McKittyTEGeorgia
OVR246
POS13 / 19
Pick Grade:Poor

This is a big reach for the Chargers. If they had to take a player who struggled to produce in college, you’d at least like to see them take someone who either has size or athleticism. Instead, they take a player who has neither. McKitty’s one trait is his hand size, which is in the 99th percentile, but his 14.3% drop rate tells you that it might not matter much. A head-scratching pick for a player ranked 246th on our board.



I would say that gives a pretty good picture of the degree of the reach here. Just terrible. Not bad--terrible.

And where are the people that were knocking Schwartz because of a 10% drop rate? Inconsistency much?

Okay, rant over.

Go Chargers!!!