Official 2015 NFL Draft Thread

Well might as well shut this thread down as Keith Olbermann has just called for a boycott of the NFL Draft.

Keith who?

Also boycott the Mayweather / Pacquiao fight (which I'm doing)

I boycotted Keith years ago. 

I'll be watching the big fight, but I sure as hell won't pay for it

I won't watch the fight. Floyd is a true generational piece of **** human being. That guy getting paid a dime makes me sick. I hope he takes a world class ass kicking. 

It's $100.00 ($99.95) for the PPV.....eff that.

Obviously someone streaming it from somewhere? Probably Torrent it soon after it's over too

I remarked in a thread a year or more ago that Olbermann was like a bad ass pimple that just won't go away.

Another member pointed out that was an insult to ass pimples. I stood corrected.

Perhaps P'joe's post is the first indication of his inevitable meltdown.

Let us pray...

McGinn on RBs:

http://www.jsonline.com/sports...145z1-301335901.html

http://www.jsonline.com/sports...141z1-301335331.html

While I'm not a big fan of Abdullah, that's a heck of a nice group of backs available this year.

quote:

Obviously someone streaming it from somewhere? Probably Torrent it soon after it's over too

" Ward, don't you think you being a little hard on the Beaver ? "

I'd be somewhat shocked if two aren't taken in round 1. 

All bow to the master.

[McGinn:] 

 

Green Bay — My least appealing assignment each year is doing the mock draft.

 

It didn't used to be that way. In my first two decades chasing after the Green Bay Packers, I tossed some lucky darts and enjoyed some success nailing the team's first-round draft choice.

 

Then the unfathomable Ted Thompson took over as general manager in 2005, and I've been wrong basically ever since.

 

Nine times Thompson has stood pat and exercised the Packers' scheduled selection. The late Detroit Tigers broadcaster Ernie Harwell used to say of a batter that took a called strike three, "He stood there like the house by the side of the road." Nine times that was a certain chagrined beat writer on draft day when he struck out again...

 

I've almost given up trying to figure out what Thompson might do. I'll never forget the time coach Mike McCarthy said he found who his boss was choosing in the first round when the Packers were on the clock...

Abdullah is a real wild card with some real strong positives and some real strong negatives.  I think Ted will love his overall productivity and that he's been such a strong contributor to the return game (which is something I think Ted will really, really value in this particular draft).  But on the other hand he's not very big and he's a fumbler...the worst fumbler among the top rated backs in this draft by a fairly significant margin.

Top 10 running backs in this draft ranked by fumbles/chances:

1.  Todd Gurley = 1 fumble / 195.33 chances

2.  Jeremy Langford = 1 fumble / 123.20 chances

3.  Duke Johnson = 1 fumble / 90.86 chances

4.  Javorius Allen = 1 fumble / 80.00 chances

5.  David Johnson = 1 fumble / 78.38 chances

6.  Tevin Coleman = 1 fumble / 76.57 chances

7.  Jay Ajayi = 1 fumble / 62.67 chances

8.  T.J. Yeldon = 1 fumble / 62.20 chances

9.  Melvin Gordon = 1 fumble / 55.08 chances

10.  Ameer Abdullah = 1 fumble / 42.52 chances

Hmmm, I seem to remember all those broadcasters talking about Gordon's non-fumbling during Badger broadcasts.  The numbers tell a completely different story.

Gordon's first college fumble occurred on carry 323. The numbers tell an incomplete story, as stats often tend to do.

He'd lost one in his first three years, so you certainly heard about it at that point (280+ carries).  He lost 6 his senior year (343 carries).  

7 fumbles lost in 631 carries + 22 receptions.  

That comes to losing a fumble about every 90 chances for his career.  By my math, his senior year that would be exactly 1 fumble / 62 chances.  

His first fumble came in game 3 (the one he rushed for 253 yards and  TD's in), so at that point he'd lost two career fumbles.  Might be able to give the announcers a pass there.  2nd of the year came the next play, around this point the announcers (as far as I can recall) started to talk about how fumbling was an odd thing for Gordon, considering how many years he'd gone without fumbling much.  We should still all have a lot of broadcaster outrage though, don't get me wrong.  

He certainly had the droppsies a lot more when he was asked to carry the ball more, curious how that plays out at a pro.  

quote:

In my first two decades chasing after the Green Bay Packers, I tossed some lucky darts and enjoyed some success nailing the team's first-round draft choice.

Then the unfathomable Ted Thompson took over as general manager in 2005, and I've been wrong basically ever since.

My post above includes all fumbles, not just lost fumbles. 

Jalen Collins failed multiple drug tests while at LSU.  Very big news as he was probably getting heavy consideration from the Packers.

http://www.nfl.com/news/story/...rug-tests-in-college

Like with P.J. Williams, it will be interesting to see what Ted thinks about this.  Certainly Guion ran into some trouble and Thompson had no issues with bringing him back.  But Guion had spent a year with the team so the Packers have a much greater insight into what type of person Guion is, the same can't be said for these draft prospects.

Collins has top half of round one talent.  I don't think anyone would argue that.  But now you look at him:

-a player with only 10 career college starts

-coming off a foot injury

-failed multiple drug tests

 ...I would argue with that. He has all the physical tools but his production did not match it. I see him as a mid second round pick

I agree that both of these players are first round players.  I also think that Thompson would see both of them as first round players even though it's completely irrelevant because both will be long off the board by the time the Packer's pick.  Those significant negatives are there, but once you get into the middle of the first round the negatives involved with these players don't negate all of their positives when stacking them against other available players.  Does Winston's off-the-field problems (the biggest being nothing more than an allegation that didn't have legs when looked at objectively) make him that much worse of a prospect than Jalen Collins who has character concerns of his own?  Does Mariota's lack of playing in a pro-style offense make him that much of a worse prospect than a smallish inside linebacker like Eric Kendricks?

Mid to late first round, I'd feel OK with both Winston and Mariota in that area.

Still see this as being an over-rated QB class from top of bottom.  I really do think this is the year the Packers would love to commit to carrying 3 QBs on the roster, but it's I think most of the QBs that will be picked in the first five rounds will be over-drafted and the Packers won't end up until taking one in the sixth, seventh or hit the undrafted free agents pretty hard.  I think it would be tough for any of those guys to earn a spot on the 53-man roster but hopefully someone can come in and show some promise.  As a Badger fan I'll be rooting for Tolzien but I have my doubts.

I'd guess Thompson stacks them like this:

1.  Marcus Mariota/Oregon (mid first)

2.  Jameis Winston/Florida State (mid to late first)

3.  Brett Hundley/UCLA (mid third)

4.  Garrett Grayson/Colorado State (early fourth)

5.  Sean Mannion/Oregon State (late fourth)

6 & 7.  Bryan Bennett/Southeastern Louisiana, Bryce Petty/Baylor (fifth)

8.  Brandon Bridge/South Alabama (sixth)

9 & 10 & 11.  Cody Fajardo/Nevada, Hutson Mason/Georgia, Gary Nova/Rutgers (seventh)

Priority free agent list : Terrance Broadway/Louisiana-Monroe, Shane Carden/East Carolina, Connor Halliday/Washington State, Taylor Heinicke/Old Dominion, Jerry Lovelocke/Prairie View A&M, Blake Sims/Alabama

This draft smells more like a trade out of the first every day. I'd be fine going town to 4-5th pick in round two and pick up an early 4th. 

As as much sense as Kevin Johnson makes at 30 if GB goes that route they miss McKinney, Anthony, Perryman, and Shaq. They won't be there at the bottom of round 2. 

IMO GB needs one of those ILBS. I like Alex Carter at the end of round 3 at CB. 

If Ted can't find a trade he might have to reach for Anthony. I'd actually be ok with that. 

Where there's smoke there's fire.

Taking a guess at how the Packer's have them stacked:

1 -3.  D.J. Humphries/Florida (OT), Andrus Peat/Stanford (OT), Brandon Scherff/Iowa (OT) (mid round one)

4 - 5.  La'el Collins/Louisiana State (OT), Ereck Flowers/Miami Fl (OT) (late round one)

6 - 7.  Cameron Erving/Florida State (OT), Jake Fisher/Oregon (OT) (early to mid round two)

8.  Ty Sambrailo/Colorado State (OT) (late round two)

9 - 10.  T.J. Clemmings/Pittsburgh (OT), Ali Marpet/Hobart (OG) (mid round three)

11 - 12.  A.J. Cann/South Carolina (OG), Donovan Smith/Penn State (OG) (late round three)

13 - 16.  Cedric Ogbuehi/Texas A&M (OT), Jeremy Poutasi/Utah (OT), Tre' Jackson/Florida State (OG), Laken Tomlinson/Duke (OG) (early round four)

17 - 18.  Mitch Morse/Missouri (OT), Tyrus Thompson/Oklahoma (OT) (late round four)

19 - 26.  Jamon Brown/Louisville (OT), Corey Robinson/South Carolina (OT), Jamil Douglas/Arizona State (OG), Mark Glowinski/West Virginia (OG), Jarvis Harrison/Texas A&M (OG), John Miller/Louisville (OG), B.J. Finney/Kansas State (C), Hroniss Grasu/Oregon (C) (round five)

27 - 30.  Laurence Gibson/Virginia Tech (OT), Sean Hickey/Syracuse (OT), Takoby Cofield/Duke (OG), Reese Dismukes/Auburn (C) (round six)

31 - 45.  Rob Crisp/North Carolina State (OT), Andrew Donnal/Iowa (OT), Chaz Green/Florida (OT), Rob Havenstein/Wisconsin (OT), Eric Lefeld/Cincinnati (OT), Darrian Miller/Kentucky (OT), Jake Rodgers/Eastern Washington (OT), Darryl Williams/Oklahoma (OT), Bobby Hart/Florida State (OG), Arie Kouandijo/Alabama (OG), Josue Matias/Florida State (OG), Quinton Spain/West Virginia (OG), Andy Gallik/Boston College (C), Max Garcia/Florida (C), Greg Mancz/Toledo (C) (round seven)

Priority Free Agents = Tyson Chandler/North Carolina State (OT), Sean Donnelly/Tulane (OT), Tayo Fabuluje/Texas Christian (OT), Doniel Gambrell/Notre Dame College (OT), Kendall Lamm/Appalachian State (OT), Austin Shepard/Alabama (OT), Antoine Everett/McNeese State (OG), Matt Rotheram/Pittsburgh (OG), Chad Hamilton/Coastal Carolina (C), Chris Jasperse/Marshall (C), Shaq Mason/Georgia Tech (C) 

you spelled it wrong

McGinn on DL:

http://www.jsonline.com/sports...233z1-301376421.html

http://www.jsonline.com/sports...236z1-301384351.html

I am officially fired up now. Great article from LaCanfora. Right in Ted's wheelhouse, baby.

This column was going to be about the top 10 players in the 2015 NFL Draft. It really was...

Only it was difficult to get too much of a consensus -- that says something about this talent-starved, topsy-turvy crop of players upon which few execs can seem to agree -- and one of the scouts I have come to respect immensely simply wouldn't budge outside of a top five. To make it more clear -- he is adamant that there is no top 10 in this draft. He doesn't see any natural delineation at that number, if you will. He sees a clear cut top-five players in this draft, and then a significant drop in class from them, and then another drop in tier after the next handful of players, and so on and so on.

And this is coming from a guy who frankly loves this draft. Because he thinks it will separate the men from the boys not so much on the field, but in the 32 NFL front offices. He is deadset on the notion that the second round of this draft might be just as good in many spots as the [first] round and that it might not take a full three years out to discern which teams did the smartest, best work sorting out these players and which did not.

"I love this draft, I absolutely love it," he said."This is a scout's draft. If you are the average GM and you didn't go see these kids play a lot this year and you were watching film all year, you're screwed. You have to have watched the tape all season. You have to have really seen these kids, and there is no way you can find the time to watch all 12 games on them in the offseason. You have to have seen these players develop all year long to have the right track on them.

"This is my kind of a draft. Am I saying this group is loaded with Pro Bowlers? No. But there are some really good players who are going to go on the second and third day who, I'm telling you, are going to be better than a lot of kids who go on the first day. You just have to know where to find them."...

http://www.cbssports.com/nfl/w...n-the-2015-nfl-draft

disagree

Leonard Williams if those teams want to move up in round 1. If nobody moves up to #2 or #3 overall to steal him, he's going to the Raiders. I'm 99.9% certain of that.

I'm hoping TT can drop down TWICE to the 33-39 mark (stay in front of the Lions) & pickup an extra 3rd &/or 4th.

I'd even love it if someone traded next years first for our #30 straight up. Although TT has said in the past he doesn't like those type of deals but I can't see him passing on the value.

Some mocks have him as a top five pick. IDOT

@BKSportsTalk: SCOOP: Shane Ray cited for possession of marijuana this morning in Cooper County, MO.

 

http://www.mshp.dps.mo.gov/HP7...EPORTNUMBER=I243822F

Some mocks used to have him in the top 5......