Official 2020 Draft Thread

@FLPACKER posted:

Not taking a WR, but taking a RB in the second round and a TE / H back two rounds earlier than he was projected 

Who the hell is Mel Kiper? You have no clue where the other 31 teams had Josiah slotted.

@FLPACKER posted:

, the philosophy that Gute seemed to employ in the last two drafts was "player development and free agency is for the present and the draft is for the future". 

Agree 👍 except the RB & the H-Back have a shot at contributing a LOT sooner than any WR especially without OTA's

@Boris posted:

Who the hell is Mel Kiper? You have no clue where the other 31 teams had Josiah slotted.

 

Based that on NFL.com site, who appeared to be the most accurate in predicting where guys would be drafted (had 47 of the first 50 players chosen in their top 50). They had DeGuara as a 5-6th rounder. You are correct , no idea if other GM's had him rated higher, however it would appear that LaFluer's offense (think of Juszczyk at SF) puts more of a value on his skill set than other offenses would. 

Exactly, plus as I mentioned before SF had Josiah rated high & were expected to take him in round 5. SF's pick was ahead of the Packers in round 5 & the Pack traded away round 4 pick for the QB. SF took Charlie Woerner in round 6 so they were definitely looking for this type of player.

They wouldn't have "gotten their guy" without trading up into round 4. 

That's how the draft works - These GM's know where the other GM's have players slotted. It doesn't matter what nfl.com or Mel Kiper or any other talking head thinks is a "reach".

If Josiah turns out to be Pro-Bowl or near pro-bowl player, none of this "picked too early" shit will matter because he will be a STEAL if that happens

I recall some thought both Jordy Nelson and James Jones were taken too early.

@Boris posted:

 

If Josiah turns out to be Pro-Bowl or near pro-bowl player, none of this "picked too early" shit will matter because he will be a STEAL if that happens

Exactly....and if AR continues to play at a high level for 5 more years, Patrick Queen turns out to be an all-pro,  Josiah turns out to be a JAG, and Leki Fotu (who we could have had in the Third) turns out to be a serviceable starter, we could have had a much better draft .....a lot of IFs on both sides of the choices. 

@YATittle posted:

I recall some thought both Jordy Nelson and James Jones were taken too early.

And Nick Collins....

Like I said, all these talking heads don't know.......

On the other side you have guys like Khyri Thornton & Richard Rodgers. Such as life in the crap shoot known as the NFL Draft.

Hitting on 40ish of the top 50 is not the hard part.

Yes, they are the easiest to reach consensus on. I did a + / - analysis of drafts based on their (NFL.com) rankings. We were #1 as far as "furthest from their board" ..... Patriots were #2. So I guess we are in pretty good company. 

@Chongo posted:

Needs...

WR, ILB, OL, DT

Re-reading this thread. Packers perceived needs

WR -- 0 / ILB -- 1 / OL -- 3 / DT -- 0

At least they drafted 3 OL. I hope at least one of them turns out good/solid player. If we get 2 out of 3 we hit the jackpot. 

@excalibur posted:

And the future QB.

Great job -- 1st round pick although I'm fairly certain you didn't want the QB in round 1.

Gutey seems to have picked BPA at every selection which is why some fans are giving him an "F" grade.

Thought it was interesting to go back & compare our thoughts as perceived team needs vs. what actually happened with players drafted. 

@FLPACKER posted:

analysis of drafts based on their (NFL.com) rankings. We were #1 as far as "furthest from their board" ..... Patriots were #2. So I guess we are in pretty good company. 

Only the 2 winningest teams over the last 2-3 decades. 

We'll see what happens after 3 years in the league. 

Could be the Twilight Zone.   Welcome back to the 70's.  doo doo Doo doo  ....  

@Boris posted:

We'll see what happens after 3 years in the league. 

3 in the league, 2 playing?

That assumes we'll have a vaccine or adequate testing in three years.

Optimist.

I wonder what the chances are that they increase the roster size and practice squads if they have a season this year.  Teams would be decimated if a bunch of players need to go into quarantine.

@H5 posted:

3 in the league, 2 playing?

3 (sometimes 4) full seasons of play is what I meant. 

If they don't "get it" after 3 or 4 (Nick Collins) time to move on. 

There is no season in 2020.

A very good possibility of NO College or High School Football this fall.

However, I do believe there will be an NFL Football 2020 Season!

(hey, if they played the Sunday after JFK was killed, they surely will play the COVID=19 Season as well)...so...that means NFL Football:

Thursday nights; Friday nights; Saturdays all day; Sundays All Day; Monday Nights.

Many teams will get "national exposure".   Bookies will be pleased!

Of course, I could be wrong.  Let's eat pie!

If students won't go back to campus, and that seems to be the train coming down the track, there surely cannot be college football.  My guess is that if the NFL has a season it will be shortened.

Hope I am wrong.  

I have a hard time believing the NFLFU will forfeit the season and leave all that potential money on the table.  It just doesn’t seem plausible. 

If nothing else they can push back the start of the season until October and no one would mind.  The real question is if fans will be allowed to attend.    Unlike baseball and basketball I can’t imagine watching a FB game without fans in the stands.  And yes, this is coming from a person that watched replacement player games during the last 2 strike seasons. 

As for college football, unless students come back I think they are screwed for this season.  There is no way you would push CFB season back or play games if students aren’t in school.

I have to admit though - watching a game at TCF or Kinnick or Camp Randall in January or February would be entertaining.  

@Pikes Peak posted:

If students won't go back to campus, and that seems to be the train coming down the track, there surely cannot be college football.  My guess is that if the NFL has a season it will be shortened.

Hope I am wrong.  

Although California has ruled that most of their college's courses will remain on-line in the Fall, they have still not ruled out D1 fall sports on those campuses. I believe the D2 sports have been cancelled for the fall. 

Athletic directors at public colleges that field sports are meeting to devise a plan to host athletes in on-campus dorms so that the Fall sports seasons can go on.

Likely, the games won't be played in front of fans.

Luckily sport like soccer and volleyball are used to playing in front of empty venues.

If another spike happens like they predict, there will be no fall sports. And if there is no football and/or basketball, universities are in huge trouble with sports budgets. We could see a lot of cuts coming to many sports, including the Big Two of football and basketball. I can see them cutting some low-revenue sports, cutting scholarships in the Big Two, and slashing coaches' salaries (which needed slashing anyway, IMHO). Big-time adjustment.

I think it's been mentioned before, but if there's no NFL or college season, how do they handle next year's draft?

They should flip the draft upside down to level things out. GB gets the #3 overall pick and takes whichever Watt or Bosa brother is eligible.

If there's no live audience at games but it's televised, they would probably add background crowd noise to make it feel more real.  And for the Vikings a laugh track.

I read that Mark Emmert, President of the NCAA, has said college sports will not happen if students aren't allowed on campus.  If campus is not safe for students, then campus is not safe for student-athletes.  While I think very little of Emmert, he's right.  

@Tschmack posted:

I have a hard time believing the NFLFU will forfeit the season and leave all that potential money on the table.  It just doesn’t seem plausible. 

If nothing else they can push back the start of the season until October and no one would mind.  The real question is if fans will be allowed to attend.    Unlike baseball and basketball I can’t imagine watching a FB game without fans in the stands.  And yes, this is coming from a person that watched replacement player games during the last 2 strike seasons. 

As for college football, unless students come back I think they are screwed for this season.  There is no way you would push CFB season back or play games if students aren’t in school.

I have to admit though - watching a game at TCF or Kinnick or Camp Randall in January or February would be entertaining.  

It is only my opinion but I think one of the driving factors is liability.  What sports leagues, colleges, etc. will be willing to accept the liability of opening up and risking getting sued if someone gets sick and sues them.

If I had to predict I think that is exactly what the NFL will do and that is come back in October and play about 10-12 games this year.  Honestly, I think the NFL is smart to take a wait and see approach before cancelling all together since a lot can happen in before then.  If things get worse and a second wave does hit? cancel it.  If things get better they took some time and made sure and I don't think many will mind taking a cautious approach.

College football is where it will get really interesting.  I don't know all the in and outs about how things work but will it be conferences making the call to play or not or is it the individual states?  for instance in the PAC 12 all of the states could say lets play the games but what if California says no? (which I think is likely) 

What about SEC country?  the majority of the SEC states are now mostly open and I believe they have said or are leaning strongly towards having school in the fall.  I could be very wrong on that but I am pretty sure that's what I heard.

All that being said i think the big deciding factor will be the almighty dollar.   Will the schools be willing to take the huge hit if college football doesn't 

That is the tricky part, the sports are governed by nation-wide organizations, but in this case could be limited by differing individual state laws. On a broader topic, the small liberal arts colleges are the ones who will really be in trouble if not able to bring students back to campus. Students are not going to pay private school tuition if they can't live on campus & have live classes. Many will close their doors permanently. 

Our favorite f**kstick Florio made a point on his show this week that relates to this mess. It was (basically) that if the season is cancelled, the NFLPA could sue for payments to the players
This could certainly be the push behind the league trying to play this season.

@Timmy! posted:

Our favorite f**kstick Florio made a point on his show this week that relates to this mess. It was (basically) that if the season is cancelled, the NFLPA could sue for payments to the players
This could certainly be the push behind the league trying to play this season.

Well that, and the fact that if they don't play the NFL owners would have only money going out and none coming in. They would definitely fight a "no play but still pay" policy.

It’s not just the colleges.  

Our two girls go to private school.  One is in high school.  It would be hard to justify the expense if it’s all distance and online learning.   I’ll just have them attend public school and save a lot of cache.  

You honestly only need about half of the support and infrastructure and probably even less actual teaching for online learning.  And this is speaking from experience as I completed my undergrad degree with online courses.  My graduate degree coursework that I attended class in person?  Totally different situation. 

Some preliminary talks with school Superintendents in my state point to students only attending school 2-3 days per week & distance learning / take home work the other days. The only way to lessen density and socially distance is to cut the number of students in the building at one time in half. 

Colleges having students stay home while having football players come to campus to make money for them for basically free....would that be good look?

@Pikes Peak posted:

Colleges having students stay home while having football players come to campus to make money for them for basically free....would that be good look?

It's not that much different than what happens in some of the Power 5 conference schools now. 

https://www.insider.com/lsu-sp...students-arent-happy

The NFL is also best equipped to play without fans in attendance. AT&T would love it as it gives them potential for about two million more subscribers, and the NFL itself would be hustling even more side deals with Amazon, Twitter and everyone else for broadcast rights to games.

I think it would be more weird for the players than it would be for us.

Inflatables.

@Herschel posted:

The NFL is also best equipped to play without fans in attendance. AT&T would love it as it gives them potential for about two million more subscribers, and the NFL itself would be hustling even more side deals with Amazon, Twitter and everyone else for broadcast rights to games.

I wonder how they might be able to do that considering the existing network deals? 

Here is Dolphins plan to allow 15,000 fans :

https://www.cbssports.com/nfl/...-pandemic-continues/ 

@antooo posted:

That assumes we'll have a vaccine or adequate testing in three years.

We have a flu vaccine and 80,000 +/- a year still die from the flu. We don't really test for the flu either. You just get it and survive or die from it like many other things.

Adequate testing won't do anything other than tell us that this thing is actually another flu by it's mortality rate. 

The current course is the best course. we slowed the spread and didn't overwhelm the health care system. That's really the best that we can hope for because just like the flu, it will be changing and coming back all the time.