Tweet
Now that the collegiate players have declared for the draft, it is time for me to again revise my thoughts about this year's draft.
It was disappointing to see that Ronnie Stanley, Spencer Drango and Devonte Fields all decided to return to school. That took what appears to be the only two strong pass protecting week one starting RTs off of the board and also took away our chance to land a guy like Fields as a late round sleeper pick.
This means that we can still improve two positions (ROT and OG) by adding only one additional player, but now that will likely have to be done through free agency. By signing Bulaga, we can kick Fluker inside, which should improve us at OG as well as at ROT.
In addition to this, I am hoping we sign Iupati to play LG for us and Jared Odrick to play 3-4 DE. I think we need more speed at WR, so I would try to sign Torrey Smith as well. I think the money needed to sign Iupati and Bulaga plus what we need to re-sign our own FAs will pretty much kill any chance we might have had to sign Justin Houston.
In any event, I would like us to re-sign: Royal, Ry. Mathews, Flowers, Dunlap, Gilchrist, Wright, Gachkar, Ri. Mathews and maybe T. Robinson.
Assuming the OL FA moves described above take place (that is, that we only suck ass at center after FA), I would consider drafting as follows:
1. Danny Shelton, NT, Washington--Shelton's player comparison is Vince Wilfork. Although I have some reservations about his value at #17, I am sick of us not having a legitimate NT, being pussies on defense and getting killed in the running game. I could see DGB being available at #17 and he would likely be the BPA (probably pretty easily so at that point), but good NTs are rare and this would solve the problem that Telesco created in 2013 and has allowed to persist to the present.
2. Hauoli Kikaha, OLB, Washington--Kikaha led the nation is sacks in 2014. Johnson and Freeney are both likely gone, T. Williams remains a liability as an OLB and Ingram and Attaochu have both demonstrated a recent injury history. We need to improve our pass rush and Kikaha should do that.
3. Lorenzo Mauldin, OLB, Louisville--Mauldin is another good prospect at OLB and is perhaps more of a well rounded player than Kikaha is, albeit less of a dynamic pass rusher.
4. Corey Robinson, OT, South Carolina--Robinson replaces and is an upgrade to Smith as our new reserve swing OT. Jaquiski Tartt, a big, physical SS, is another player I considered for this draft slot and that might make more sense if Tartt were able to beat out Gilchrist and/or Addae for the starting SS position.
5. B.J. Finney, C, Kansas State--Rimington Award finalist in 2014. Finney started 52 straight games in college. He is solid and with a strong background at C. He is probably an immediate upgrade to anything we have at C right now.
6. Taiwan Jones, ILB, Michigan State--Big, tough ILB that should do well as a two-down run stopper that would likely add some nastiness to a defense that is sadly lacking in that quality. Hopefully, he can start in "the rotation" in Butler's spot when (not if) we cut Butler (either after June 1 this year or next year). I think the rotation of Conner and Butler (or Jones) in base and run defense and Te'o and Gahckar in pass coverage needs to remain in effect until we get some legitimate three down ILBs on the roster, of which it appears we have zero. I also considered Karlos Williams for this selection as a physically gifted athlete that plays RB. If he could ever get his RB skills to match his athleticism, he could potentially be a steal this late in the draft.
I continue to be of the view that this would be a great draft for us to trade back and possibly trade back more than once. I think where we are scheduled to draft and where the players fall is not a great matchup for us at all. It wouldn't shock me if we could trade back and still get Shelton or possibly Jordan Phillips, plus pick up an additional late second round pick.
It was disappointing to see that Ronnie Stanley, Spencer Drango and Devonte Fields all decided to return to school. That took what appears to be the only two strong pass protecting week one starting RTs off of the board and also took away our chance to land a guy like Fields as a late round sleeper pick.
This means that we can still improve two positions (ROT and OG) by adding only one additional player, but now that will likely have to be done through free agency. By signing Bulaga, we can kick Fluker inside, which should improve us at OG as well as at ROT.
In addition to this, I am hoping we sign Iupati to play LG for us and Jared Odrick to play 3-4 DE. I think we need more speed at WR, so I would try to sign Torrey Smith as well. I think the money needed to sign Iupati and Bulaga plus what we need to re-sign our own FAs will pretty much kill any chance we might have had to sign Justin Houston.
In any event, I would like us to re-sign: Royal, Ry. Mathews, Flowers, Dunlap, Gilchrist, Wright, Gachkar, Ri. Mathews and maybe T. Robinson.
Assuming the OL FA moves described above take place (that is, that we only suck ass at center after FA), I would consider drafting as follows:
1. Danny Shelton, NT, Washington--Shelton's player comparison is Vince Wilfork. Although I have some reservations about his value at #17, I am sick of us not having a legitimate NT, being pussies on defense and getting killed in the running game. I could see DGB being available at #17 and he would likely be the BPA (probably pretty easily so at that point), but good NTs are rare and this would solve the problem that Telesco created in 2013 and has allowed to persist to the present.
2. Hauoli Kikaha, OLB, Washington--Kikaha led the nation is sacks in 2014. Johnson and Freeney are both likely gone, T. Williams remains a liability as an OLB and Ingram and Attaochu have both demonstrated a recent injury history. We need to improve our pass rush and Kikaha should do that.
3. Lorenzo Mauldin, OLB, Louisville--Mauldin is another good prospect at OLB and is perhaps more of a well rounded player than Kikaha is, albeit less of a dynamic pass rusher.
4. Corey Robinson, OT, South Carolina--Robinson replaces and is an upgrade to Smith as our new reserve swing OT. Jaquiski Tartt, a big, physical SS, is another player I considered for this draft slot and that might make more sense if Tartt were able to beat out Gilchrist and/or Addae for the starting SS position.
5. B.J. Finney, C, Kansas State--Rimington Award finalist in 2014. Finney started 52 straight games in college. He is solid and with a strong background at C. He is probably an immediate upgrade to anything we have at C right now.
6. Taiwan Jones, ILB, Michigan State--Big, tough ILB that should do well as a two-down run stopper that would likely add some nastiness to a defense that is sadly lacking in that quality. Hopefully, he can start in "the rotation" in Butler's spot when (not if) we cut Butler (either after June 1 this year or next year). I think the rotation of Conner and Butler (or Jones) in base and run defense and Te'o and Gahckar in pass coverage needs to remain in effect until we get some legitimate three down ILBs on the roster, of which it appears we have zero. I also considered Karlos Williams for this selection as a physically gifted athlete that plays RB. If he could ever get his RB skills to match his athleticism, he could potentially be a steal this late in the draft.
I continue to be of the view that this would be a great draft for us to trade back and possibly trade back more than once. I think where we are scheduled to draft and where the players fall is not a great matchup for us at all. It wouldn't shock me if we could trade back and still get Shelton or possibly Jordan Phillips, plus pick up an additional late second round pick.
Comment