Official 2015 NFL Draft Thread

Any thoughts on Darren Waller out of GT as a TE?  He rostered at WR but didn't play a ton there and doesn't show great WR route ability.  Wonder if we could grab him later and convert to a seam/RZ dog.

NFL.com comparison of Dawson is to Jessie Tuggle. Tuggle was a journeyman's journeyman. If Dawson approached his production, he would be a steal in most any round.

 

The speed doesn't scare me that much...the comment "doesn't wrap up on tackles," does though. If they are comfy with CM3 at ILB, that really opens up who they can take round 1...could be ILB, could be CB or even OLB. Could also see them going OT that can play OG to prepare for down the road.

 

As FA shakes out, it's obvious TT has positioned himself to go BPA.

I want a solid football player at ANY position.

 

I'm a broken record every year.

 

I'm hopeful that player is a DB

Yeah Dawson is definitely more of a hitter than a wrap up tackler. He's the other extreme from AJ Hawk in my opinion. Dawson goes for the big hit, but it's always at or behind the LOS...very quick reactions and doesn't let OL get their hands on him. The flip side though is that he's prone to missing tackles always going for the big hit. He's not a "drag down 5 yards downfield" kind of player, he either blows up the play at or behind the LOS or he misses.

Ideally you want a disciplined big hitter who doesn't miss, but those guys are named Luke Keuchly and Pat Willis and they go in the top 15!

I don't think it's so much his workout speed that will hurt him but his lack of coverage ability and, to an extent, his height.

i don't know much about the 'intricate' playing pieces, but I thought an ILB's job in the 3/4 was to read/react but primarily a run stopper, cover the back in the shallow middle, but that's really it, is that wrong, obviously you want a LB to excel at both run and pass, but I thought the OLB's covered TE's and RB's in the flat.  anyone help me get this figured out?

It really depends on who you have, but preferably your ILBs should be able to cover RBs and TEs, and idealy one should be able to drop in to a deeper zone or match up on a slot receiver in a short area especially to cover for blitzing safeties and slot corners. 

 

Your 3-4 OLBs are your primary pass rushers, so not having them in coverage is often imperative to stopping the pass. A 3-4 is, in many ways, similar to a 5-2 except the outside guys have to be more versatile.

I don't think there's anything wrong with Perryman's ability in coverage. I think draftniks assume he struggles in coverage because of his height and his 40 time. There wasn't anything he showed at Miami that would make anyone think he's liability in coverage.

oh, ok, so we haven't had an ILB for about 4 years now. great. thanks.

I would have liked to see what a Barnett/Bishop tandem could have done. Barnett could run and drop, Bishop coulld hold up in the wash. All-around ILBs are hard to find, which is in no small part the reason teams play more nickel and often go to a 4-2 alignment when they do.

quote:

I want a solid football player at ANY position.

How about another long snapper? 

In a 34 you really want one of each at ILB.  Pair a thumper with a run and cover guy.

 

I don't think anyone is comfortable with Clay at ILB for more than a hand full of snaps per game.  Keep him there more than that and you're gonna break him.  See end of NFCC game.

A "less than glowing" critique on Dawson

 

http://allgbp.com/2015/03/30/n...rt-woods-wr-usc-5-2/

I'm sure he's studied hours of All 22 video to come to that conclusion.

I don't know who Lance Zierlein is or how credible his analysis is. Gil Brandt has been doing this longer than most, and even though I don't have his phone # in a box in my garage I recognize his opinion... but I still don't see franchise QB in Winston.

 

NFL Media analyst Lance Zierlein says Winston is his No. 5 quarterback in the past five years, saying Winston would've been the first quarterback selected in the 2013 and 2014 drafts; the third quarterback in 2012, behind Andrew Luck and Robert Griffin III; the second quarterback in 2011, behind Newton; and the second in 2010 behind Bradford. Bradford, Luck, and Newton were No. 1 overall picks, and Griffin went second overall.

 

Fellow analyst Gil Brandt calls Winston "an elite talent" and one of the top 10 quarterback talents of the past decade.

 

"Outside of the perceived negativeness about his character, it's very hard to find something negative about the guy," Brandt says.

 

 

 

The NFL Network is going to broadcast Winston's pro day live later today.  No surprise that the NFL media guys have had really nice things to say about him over the last couple of days.

 

I always have been intrigued when the media hypes the #1 overall pick up in order to seemingly generate interest.  Winston is a Florida State player, will be drafted by Tampa Bay, so why should anyone outside of that state really give a **** about Winston's pro day workout?

 

Eddie Goldman is a different story.  I'll be very interested in hearing the reviews on what he does later today.

 

I think UConn's pro day is also happening today, Ted might have more interest what happens there with Byron Jones. 

Jones might run the 40, but he I'm sure he will rest on his combine numbers for everything else. He may do some drils. Not much he can do to help himself more than he has except running a good 40.

Yeah I'm very curious about Goldman. He's the 2nd best DT/NT behind Shelton in my opinion. A good workout and he's gone before 30 though.

Agree totally. Entire exercise is irrelevant and in fact demeaning. Its depressing how quickly the sports media complex has decided to rehabilitate this guy.

Who was the last clear cut entitled POS QB in college that worked out well in the NFL? That might be Cameron Newton. And Cameron Newton is a choir boy compared to Winston. 

 

 

quote:

Who was the last clear cut entitled POS QB in college that worked out well in the NFL?

Ben Roethlisberger?

Only had to go back 11 years to come up with a possible name. And Ben really transformed into a POS after Miami OH. He partied in college. He graduated to assault after he graduated. At least based on what we know...

Eisenhower was right about the sports media complex.

Word is Winston showed up to his Pro Day on the portly side of husky. 

 

His first endorsement has to be Red Lobster. 

 

 

flabby millionaires are.... still millionaires

 

signed,

JaMarcus

Fat, drunk and rich is one way to go through life.

Joe's Crab Shack?

Didn't JaMarcus ride the purple drank lightning all the way to bankruptcy? 

$40mm guaranteed (IIRC) is a lot of purple drank, even if sharing.

 

 

Isn't that what we all hope for?

It's remarkable that the NFL endured a lot of flak last year over issues like domestic violence, but Winston is getting a 'free pass' it seems. Apparently, he hasn't became the flavor-of-the-month as of yet.

 

Good lawyer means it never happened.

Looks like Goldman's pro day was pretty average.  He turned in a good 3-cone drill time (7.62) but Jordan Phillips and Carl Davis posted better numbers at the combine for the majority of the other drills.  Sounds like Goldman did well enough where I doubt that he makes it down to Green Bay's pick.

 

Byron Jones ran his 40 in the low 4.4's...most anticipated he'd be in the high 4.4's going in.  I like him quite a bit, but he just seems like the guy who falls into no man's land territory between the Packer's first and second round picks.  The list I posted earlier of the top 27 and then the next-best bunch...would probably stick Jones in the next-best bunch now.

I speculated he's show in the low 4.4s

So did Steve

The thing that I see with this draft is that the physical drop off between dlineman we could take with our first pick as compared to those available in, say the third round is significant, much more significant than for CBs. In my "perfect world", we take a DT first (Davis, Phillips, Goldman), ILBer second (Anthony, Perryman), CB third (Carter, Jones, Darby), TE fourth (James, Bell, Wilford) OT fifth (Thompson, Gibson, ?) Of course it never works out this way & we will take none of these guys. 

Eddie Goldman (Florida State) is very likely picked before #30.  When the Packer's second round pick comes up Stephone Anthony (Clemson) is very likely off the board...Denzel Perryman (Miami, Fl), I'd say slighly less than 50/50 chance that he's available.  Alex Carter (Stanford), Byron Jones (Connecticut), Ronald Darby (Florida State) all overwhelming favorites to be off the board with the Packer's third round pick.  Clive Walford (Miami, Fl) won't make it to the Packer's fourth round pick.

 

There is a pretty good chance the top five inside linebackers (McKinney/Mississppi State, Kendricks/UCLA, Anthony/Clemson, Perryman/Miami, Fl, Dawson, Texas Christian) are all off the board with the Packer's second round pick.  The next best one after that group is probably Ramik Wilson (Georgia) and he's considered more of a late fourth round/early fifth round type.  There is always a chance that the Packers could take someone like Kwon Alexander/Louisiana State (mid-to-late third rounder) and play him inside.

 

The group of cornerbacks likely available at the end of round three:

Eric Rowe/Utah (corner/safety tweener)

Senquez Golson/Mississippi (probably too short for Ted)

Doran Grant/Ohio State (probably too short for Ted)

Charles Gaines/Louisville (probably too short for Ted)

Steven Nelson/Oregon State (probably too short for Ted)

 

Tight ends likely available with Packer's fourth round pick:

Ben Koyack/Notre Dame

Tyler Kroft/Rutgers

Rory Anderson/South Carolina

MyCole Pruitt/Southern Illinois

 

Offensive Tackles likely available at the Packer's fifth round pick:

Rob Crisp/North Carolina State (interesting player but missed almost all of the 2013 season with a concussion)

Jamil Douglas/Arizona State (Ted's type of OLman, shorter armed LT who isn't a great athlete but no slouch either) 

Corey Robinson/South Carolina (played LT but is more of a RT type, not sure if Ted would pick him)

Jamon Brown/Louisville (played both tackle spots at Louisville)

Yeah I think your projections are pretty accurate PJ. Once again we find ourselves in an awkward spot at the end of r1 where the talent drop off from the top 15 is dramatic. Lots of late 1st/2nd round players that will be available at 30. Thompson considers value above all else, even need...that's why we saw him trade back in r2 and take Eddie Lacy later rather than just take him in r2. The value has to be there and if he thinks he can get a player later because the value just isn't there  then he will trade back or pick someone of higher value. Goldman will be the only DL of 1st round value that MIGHT make it to 30. I won't be surprised if we see a similar draft to '08 where he fills a bunch of needs by trading back and loading up on 2nd and 3rd round picks.

They've already met with Denzel Perryman twice and Stephone Anthony is rumored to be a favorite of The Wizard so I think it's very possible we see one of those two in GB. Either they stand pat and take 1 at 30 or they maneuver around r2 to get a better value on one of them. Neither has a chance to make it to the r2 pick.

Is it just me, or is OLB a bigger need than DL right now?  Yes, Daniels, Raji and Guion are going to be free agents next year, but I guarantee Daniels will be resigned (young, productive, talented and available - no way TT lets him go).  And it seems to me that Guion and Raji are on 1 year "prove it" deals where the best of those two gets a long term deal.  So unless they both bomb, I have to assume one of them will be back.  Throw in D Jones, Boyd, Thorton, Pennel and Robinson and they have guys there who actually have upside.  

 

But at OLB, Neal and Perry are average players with injury issues who are at their ceiling and are really d-lineman playing out of position.  And this could easily be Peppers last year.  So in 2016, outside of CMIII you have Elliot, Mulamba and Palmer.  Way thinner than DL with almost no upside.  

"They've already met with Denzel Perryman twice and Stephone Anthony is rumored to be a favorite of The Wizard"

 

Read between the lines. 

I agree OLB is a need. My hunch is that they will bring in a mid or late round player to groom and wait to see what they have in Elliot, Mulumba, and Palmer. The latter two lost this past year of development, but this will be year 3 in the system so they should be showing signs of improvement if they are recovered from injury. Eliott is a really promising player, but he's still kind of an unknown...he could be another Dez Moses.