Received my invite from the NFL.
Looking forward to some VIP treatment in Chicago at the end of April.
This will be the 10th straight year I've attended the draft.
Seems that since the Combine, there has been more speculation that Ragland would not be a "3 down player" in NFL, due to lack of speed in pass coverage. This probably accounts for his drop. Of course the people "speculating" are not the ones doing the drafting.
YATittle posted:I agree on Ragland but something's going on. Saw another mock with him out of the first round...
What I think is going on is what goes on every year. People make many versions of mock drafts with many combinations of players going in different positions. That way they have a better chance of being nominally correct on one of them. So then they can say later "See, I predicted that" when some chunk of it works out like one of their mock draft versions shows.
The value I see in mock drafts is I get to see where other people are willing to slot a guy. I also think that those that are done prior to the combine are a better indicator because they are done based on what people saw in college and without the distortion of the combine. Injuries have an affect on those, but many of those players come with known injury history. Just my opinion.
Good for you Boris. We (or I) expect reports. 
Linebacker priority questions:
1. Can he rush the passer?
2. Can he cover the pass?
3. Does he force fumbles?
4. Does he have sideline-to-sideline range?
5. Is he a good tackler?
Can he line up a defense.
Does he have a lunchpail mentality.
Does he have a good motor.
For an ILB I think the mental game is probably more important than pass rush or coverage ability. It's obviously better to have a complete game, but the reason the Packers ILBs have struggled is not a lack of ability...we have cycled through guys who can rush the passer or are strong tacklers or are adequate in coverage. The key element that all of them have lacked is the natural instincts and feel for playing ILB...locating the ball quickly and attacking aggressively. Watch Luke Keuchly or Thomas Davis, half the time it seems they know where the play is going before the ball snaps, those instincts are critical. When the ball snaps they are aggressive. Every ILB GB has cycled through, outside of Clay, has been a step slow with the reaction and always two steps too late to make a play at LOS. Gotta have those instincts.
I agree, but the league either seems to think otherwise, or there is such a dearth of truly instinctive players they look at other traits.
That was the problem with Hawk. He just could not "pull the trigger" and trust his instincts.
A lot of smoke screens too.
"I DON’T HAVE ANY SECRETS. AND IF I DID, I WOULDN’T TELL YOU." - TT
Linebacker priority questions:
Is he available and accountable?
OK...Many good points on ILB discussion. Can I add TE to this thread, and no, it's not about Henry or Hooper. I'd like to know what you think of Jerrel Adams. He could be a 3rd or 4th rounder. Anyone see him play, and could he be a good fit for the Packer offense?
I think Thompson would like Adams. Another pure pass-catching TE. Was listed on South Carolina's website as only weighing 231 pounds (247 at combine) so it's unlikely he'll ever be seen as a complete tight end. Ted has never seemed to give a rat's ass about that though...look through his history of picking tight ends and they've all been pass-catchers (Ryan Taylor is one exception but they drafted him primarily for kick coverage...so he wasn't a typical tight end pick). Little inconsistent with the hands. Pretty similar to Jared Cook, another ex-Gamecock that was a pure pass-catcher and a little undersized (although Cook is a bit bigger than Adams).
A pretty good take, Hersch, but I personally would rearrange it this way:
1. Does he have sideline-to-sideline range?
2. Can he cover the pass?
3. Is he a good tackler?
4. Does he force fumbles?
5. Can he rush the passer?
We can have ILBs with all the instincts or talent in the world, but if they're too slow to get to the play, it doesn't matter. Until we get speed at that position, it ain't improving.
We've had some guys like Barrington and Palmer; even Brad Jones and Dez Bishop before them, that have played well in spurts, but they seem to plateau at a mediocre level, and never rise above it. Good guys in a pinch; no way they should be starting.
In any case, I want to see guys that can cover s2s, and if a TE or RB catches the ball in front of them, they are fast enough to be on them in an instant.
Not that I would discount FF and pass rush, but I want to see the other first.
Adams is a classic jack of all trades, master of none. He can block, he can run good routes, he can catch the ball, but he's not yet shown that he's really good or elite at anything at all. If you look at Finley in college, it was clear he was an exceptional athlete who could really catch the ball...Finley wasn't much of a blocker and was very inexperienced, but that raw athleticism was clear. Adams suffered with horrible QB play,l at USC, so we haven't really seen what he can do in some respects, so he may end up being a much more successful NFL player. Hard to see him as a Day 2 prospect. I'm guessing he's available in R5.
We've had athletes at ILB though, guys who were probably physically capable of covering backs and TEs. We've seen plenty of LBs in the NFL who have terrible physical measurements and still seem to get the job done. Ideally you want a guy like Bobby Wagner or Pat Willis who is an elite athlete AND has elite instincts, but that's hard to find. Push comes to shove I will take the elite instincts and average physical talent over average instincts and superb talent.
Although not many of the TEs ran at the combine, Adams had the best 40 time at 4.64. Although that particular measurable may be over rated, almost every all pro type TE in the past 25 years has run a sub 4.70 40. His time does not predict he will be a great TE, but his chances are better than a guy who runs a 4.80.
Helmet Hair projecting we take Boise State OLB Kamalei Correia...please God no...
FLPACKER, you have no doubt seen Jake McGee play for Florida...what's your take on him? He also ran well at the combine before pulling out with an injury.
McGee has great hands & on-the-field seems pretty athletic, however he did not have a reception over 20 yards last season. In addition, he is 24 years old, being in college 6 years because of medical redshirt & playing at UF as a grad student. Got hurt at Senior Bowl practice & missed practices & game, didn't run at combine, so unless he shows well at pro day, I think he's a gamble & possibly a 6-7 round pick?
I like McGee a lot as a late-round flier pick. He has the athleticism you want and at that point his medical is a low-risk proposition.
Would you drop that far down to find a TE in this draft, though? Or does the team need to use a higher pick?
The problem with this group of TEs (like last year), is that outside of possibly Hunter, it does not appear that any of them would grade out high enough to be picked in the first three rounds. Hunter, Adams, & Higbee look like the three most likely to be threats in the deep seam, but who knows how highly TT values these guys.
I like what I've seen of Hunter Henry's tape. His combine was horrible, though. I'm waiting to see his pro day results.
I think OSU TE Nick Vannett is going to carry a higher grade than some expect. His former teammate, Jeff Heuerman, was picked in r3 by Denver a year ago and they're basically the same player. I could see Vannett going at the end of r3. I actually really like Vannett, I think he's a poor man's Rob Gronkowski at this stage. He's not as polished or experienced a receiver as Gronk, but he's a better blocker and he doesn't carry the injury risk. I will be very interested to see his 40 time at the OSU pro day...I'm sure it will be excellent on that fast track.
Big-time consensus board currently has the tight ends stacking up as follows:
Hunter Henry/Arkansas - late round one/early round two
Austin Hooper/Stanford - late round two/early round three
Nick Vannett/Ohio State - mid round three
Tyler Higbee/Western Kentucky - early to mid round four
Jerell Adams/South Carolina - mid to late round four
Bryce Williams/East Carolina - late round five (and I'll predict he'll go lower than this)
All the rest are mid sixth round to undrafted types.
Note that I have UCLA slot receiver Thomas Duarte as a WR and not a TE. Early round five grade on him.
Packmeister posted:Would you drop that far down to find a TE in this draft, though? Or does the team need to use a higher pick?
TT has had the habit of doubling up on some players at a position with a high-round pick and then a flier pick late. Say he takes Vannett in the third and McGee in the seventh.
Patiently waiting Bong's consensus board for TEs...it's a consensus of 50 drunks at a Trump rally, Oshbaul, 50 Trump-eters at a bar, and other insiders he can't name.
If Ted takes Vannett I'd classify it as a tendency-breaker. He seems to place a premium on college production when it comes to pass-catchers. Over the last two seasons Vannett caught 38 passes, 382 yards and 5 TDs. I don't think that's any fault of Vannett but more a by-product of the offense that was run...but Ted still seems to like production from pass-catchers and it just wasn't there with Vannett. Really disappointed that he didn't do anything at the combine either.
Hunter Henry is tops in this area. Last two seasons in the SEC he had 1200+ yards and an average per catch over 14.
Tyler Higbee = 38-563-14.8-8 in only 9 games last year.
Jerell Adams = 49 catches, 700 yards, 4 touchdowns combined over the last two years. Over two years that's not super impressive. As GD already pointed out the QB situation there was not ideal. And while the totals might not be that impressive, the 14.3 yard per catch average in the SEC (combined with his 40 time) is.
Bryce Williams (58-588-10.1-4) had some impressive pass-catching numbers as a senior but ran a terrible 40 at Indianapolis and it certainly doesn't appear that he'd be a field-stretcher in the NFL. I don't think Thompson would take him.
Beau Sandland (Montana State) had a big year catching the ball at Montana State (37-632-17.1-9). But that was his only year at Montana State, prior to that he was at Miami, Fl and couldn't get off the bench there. Decent chance that Thompson will have interest in him, I wouldn't.
The big sleeper in terms of tight end production is Harvard's Ben Braunecker. 48-850-17.7-8 this past season. He also had one of the better workouts for tight ends at Indianapolis. Braunecker is currently my favorite of all the late round tight end candidates. Level of competition is a significant concern, but the combine numbers show he has a chance to play with the big boys. 6-3 3/8, 250. 40 times = 4.73 (5th out of 9 participants). Reps of 225 = 20 (3rd out of 12). Vertical = 35'5" (2nd out of 12). Broad = 10'1" (2nd out of 12). 3-cone = 6.90 (2nd out of 12). Short shuttle = 4.20 (2nd out of 12). 60-yard shuttle = 11.32 (1st out of 8).
I think his preference with TEs is based more on physical and scheme potential at least in the early rounds. Rodgers wasn't insanely productive, 2 TDs in 2 years, but his potential flexibility at the Y position is what attracted TT in my opinion. Finley was mildly productive, but highly athletic. I think if Vannett had been used more he probably would be in consideration for the top TE. Again though, his 40 and specifically his 10 will be very interesting to see. Is he an intriguing athlete who was badly underused or is he an average athlete who was probably used about as much as he needed to be? His 3-come and 20 yard shuttle are solid...7.05 and 4.20. His broad jump, vert, and bench were pretty average (9' 3", 30.5", 17 reps). His 40 needs to be between 4.65 and 4.70 and his 10 needs to be 1.56-1.60 for me to think he's an intriguing athlete. With that fast track at OSU his 40 probably needs to be in the low 4.6's.
If history with TEs in the Urban Meyer offense tells us anything, it's that he's underused but talented (I.e. Aaron Hernandez and Jordan Reed)
Finally we are talking about 40 times.
Official 40-yard dash times: Hillary 4.46, Caputo 4.62, Erickson 4.44, Hayes 5.03, Marz 5.28, Meyer 4.98, Traylor 4.81, Watt 4.69
— Benjamin Worgull (@TheBadgerNation) March 9, 2016
That's a better 40 for Erickson than I would have thought.
I think we should trade out of the first round and into the high second, and get both Henry and a big fellow or OLB in the second. ILB in the third.
Anything can happen...a lot will depend on which players are available...don't rule out a trade up, either.
A lot of teams will want to trade back. Will be easier finding a partner to trade up.
i would love to trade up and get ragland, but i also wanted to do the same with perryman last year. I like the idea of a thumper in the middle
Bong said he will drop to r4. Don't need to trade up, except maybe in r4.
As long as we can add a franchise punter in there somewhere, I'm good with it... 
Speaking of punter, do we stand pat with Masthay?
