Draft Poll

[Ghost of Quacksaw]

I voted DT. I believe the right guy will have more impact on 2022's W-L than any other position. Even if we take a very good vet in FA, there's nothing wrong with being able to control the line of scrimmage and crush the pocket more often than not.

This has a way of making your cornerbacks look a whole lot better, too.

[Boltjolt]

I don't really label our D as "a bad run defense", but more of a "we don't have the proper pieces in place for this scheme to work" label. Staley's defense worked beautifully with the Rams because he was working with a stud DT in Donald and a shut down corner in Ramsey. Those are probably the 2 most important positions for this scheme to truly work to its full potential. As far as the Jordan Davis arguments, I think all are valid to an extent, but we should keep in mind that no player (or a very select few) are going to come into the NFL and immediately dominate without the NFL conditioning and player development the NFL would provide to polish that player.

That = a bad run defense which needs to be fixed.

[Ghost of Quacksaw]

I think the staff is high on Pipkins and he will have a shot to win the RT spot. They kept him on and worked his technique for a reason. Still think we need to carry 4 OT so someone will have to come in from somewhere.

Murray is dead wood. Trade him for cheap to a 1 gap cover 3 team where he can play to sttength. Low football IQ isn't often fixed.

IMO Derwin could play slot so adding a DS with positional flex makes sense.

I can't hear this phrase without thinking of Anthony Lynn saying the Herb was "a backup for a reason".

In Lynn's case, the reason was very stupid. <snork!>

[AL9000]

That = a bad run defense which needs to be fixed.

Kind of but there’s more to it. For this particular scheme to truly work we need at least 1 lockdown corner AND a run stuffing DT. We have neither, but we had enough to at least play decent pass defense. Problem is if we put in more to help stop the run, then our pass D would’ve been shit. They basically had to choose their battle just to get by.

[equivocation]

Run defense requires all 11 guys to play it.

Light box run defense requires studs up front.

[Guest]

Not sure what you’ve watched on him but he’s super quick for his size. Although I disagree with you on the powerful comment, that and conditioning are solved in an NFL weight room/pro training.

Davis was a three star recruit coming into college. He averaged only 23.6 (36.5%) snaps per game, which is terrible. That is a major red flag. He was either not good enough or not conditioned enough to play more at Georgia, neither of which are good traits.

[AL9000]

Davis was a three star recruit coming into college. He averaged only 23.6 (36.5%) snaps per game, which is terrible. That is a major red flag. He was either not good enough or not conditioned enough to play more at Georgia, neither of which are good traits.

Like I said, NFL conditioning and weight room solves that. I know for a fact that the Raiders' Maxx Crosby had to add a lot of strength and conditioning his rookie year in order to become the Pro Bowl player he currently is. Sometimes you draft based on traits you cannot coach and let the team develop the player into a stud. Keep in mind this is a BIG man. It's going to take an NFL offseason program to really turn him into a beast.

[Guest]

Also there’s absolutely ZERO chance Jordan Davis doesn’t come off the board in round 1.

Actually, I believe that it is more likely than not that Jordan Davis will not go in round 1 of this year's draft. So, not only is there not zero chance that Davis will not go in round 1, but the chance is actually greater than a 50% chance that Davis goes in round 2 or later (though I think he will go no later than early in round 3 at the very latest).

The value of two-down DTs has greatly diminished over the past twenty years with the continued proliferation of the passing game in the NFL.

Only 4 times in the past decade has a DT weighing over 330 pounds (combine weight) been taken in the first round. 3 of the 4, Danny Shelton, Vita Vea, and Dexter Lawrence were strong run defenders that had demonstrated some pass rush production in college, which Davis largely did not. The other, Dontari Poe, had a freakish combine performance (4.98 40, 44 bench press reps, 1.67 10 yard split (for reference, Joey Bosa's 10 yard split was 1.68) and played a huge percentage of his team's snaps in college. The other 3 all played a greater percentage of snaps than Davis did as well. All of those players were better draft candidates than Davis for one reason or another.

IMO, you may be looking at mock drafts and big boards a little too much right now.

Large DTs usually start higher in the public pre-draft takes and fall as the process continues. There is still a combine, pro days and about 2.75 months to go before the draft takes place. Players that test as superior athletes will creep up the publicly available draft boards/mock drafts while others fall. The QBs will get overhyped. It happens that way year after year.

As for us, Telesco does not value interior DL players (3-4 DL players, including 3-4 DEs) in general, so getting him to pull the trigger on a player like Davis that lacks the production and stamina of other recent first round behemoth DTs is unlikely in the extreme. That seems to be a philosophy that he picked up from Bill Polian from his years in Indianapolis.. So, absent a radical departure by Telesco from his prior approach, we will not be taking Davis in round 1.

It becomes more interesting if he is still on the board at pick #48.

[Guest]

Like I said, NFL conditioning and weight room solves that. I know for a fact that the Raiders' Maxx Crosby had to add a lot of strength and conditioning his rookie year in order to become the Pro Bowl player he currently is. Sometimes you draft based on traits you cannot coach and let the team develop the player into a stud. Keep in mind this is a BIG man. It's going to take an NFL offseason program to really turn him into a beast.

And Maxx Crosby was selected in round 4. With a first round pick, our team is losing ground to other teams if we do not get someone that can contribute in a big way sooner rather than later. Players that may have potential but require a lot of development are not good first round draft candidates. A player that can basically only average one down played per series is unimpressive when there are players out there than can play twice as many or more snaps right now.

For example, we have a need at RT. Trevor Penning probably starts in week 1 for us and plays every snap. By contrast, Davis is not even a two-down player, much less a three-down player.

Right now, Herbert is on his rookie contract, so I hope we do not waste a draft pick on a player that at best we would have to develop over time and at worst may simply not have the endurance/ability to be an every down player.

I get that we need interior DL players in the worst way, but it is never a good idea to reach for a player whose value is below the pick being used just so we can partially (at best) fill the position of need. I would rather see us use some of our free agency dollars to help build up the DL. Bring Joseph back on a team friendly 1-2 year deal, re-sign Jones, and add at least two DL players in free agency. Then, we can draft multiple DL players where they should be drafted instead of reaching for them. And, of course, we should get rid of Tillery, which would be addition by subtraction.

[Boltjolt]

I'm passing on Jordan Davis at 17. Not like he is Jeffrey Simmons or Suh coming out. Davis will take some time to develope imo.

[sonorajim]

Also there’s absolutely ZERO chance Jordan Davis doesn’t come off the board in round 1.

True

[ghost]

Today, my answer is EDGE Cameron Thomas.

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Tough choice between Travon Walker at EDGE, but Cam Thomas reminds me so much of TJ Watt coming off the edge with energy, with the same length, I could not pass that up.

My player comp is Cam Thomas projecting to a TJ Watt. And WR Skyy Moore is a Keenan Allen. Twitchy, tough, with RAC capabilities.