grimesgoat

opens a roster spot?

I've been thinking about this and I've gotten on and off the WR train several times this year. I'd love a stud WR like Johnson, but the Panthers like to play conservative. I think they want to ground and pound, meaning a game manager type QB and a strong ball-control running attack. I think we'll be picking around 9-12, which is the perfect place to draft the TE Mayer. Then grab another developmental QB in the second, maybe McKee. I think the QBs will fall. The only teams that will be looking at QB first round are Houston, Carolina, Indy, TB, and maybe Atlanta. I think Houston will take Young. Indy will give up everything to move up for Stroud. Atlanta has Ridder and Mariota is still under contract next year. Tampa Bay will probably sign a vet - not sure they are ready to rebuild. Everyone else is probably ok with who they have. I think Levis, Richardson, or McKee will be around if we want them late in the first/early in the second. Risk reward is better there.

If Darnold goes 4-1 in the last five (meaning he would be 5-1 on the season), we will be picking around 12-16 and the current coaching staff will still be in place. We will be out of range of Young and Stroud. We should sign him for 2 years, 12 million - with 6 million guaranteed (meaning we can cut him in year two for a cap savings of 6m.) Use the first for Mayer or an Edge, then use a second on another developmental QB - Levis, McKee, Richardson, Penix, Ward, etc. One or possibly all of these will be available. Darnold is a bridge at a reasonable cost while we develop two young QBs. Even if Darnold sucks the rest of the year, I doubt we go into the draft next year with just Corral on the roster. We'll offer someone a 1 year, 5m deal, just to have an adult in the room. If Darnold is terrible, Young or Stroud will be back on the table. I could see Houston taking Stroud and Young falling due to his size. It would not shock me if he fell all the way to the 7-10 range and we snag him.

I said several weeks ago, there is a somewhat realistic scenario where everyone in our division finishes 7-10 and we make the playoffs with the best in-conference record. I realize we would then be picking around 18/19 and out of the top QB chase, but hosting a playoff game could be a positive building block.

I agree. I just have a feeling we will not be picking in the top 5. I think we will win 3-4 more games which will leave us in the 9-12 pick range, which is where Mayer should go.

The problem is the team with Pick #1 next year (assuming it is not us) likely sucks and needs a QB. They will not be trading that top pick for anything. If we are in a position to draft Young, then I would do it. Otherwise, get a late first/second round type guy to compete with Corral and use the first on Michael Mayer, the TE from ND. Everyone focuses on the QB position, and rightly so, but if you look at most of the most recent superb owl winners, you see dominating TE play - Gronkowski, Kelce, Ertz. We really need that guy to help our young QBs along.

I like him, but I think he will go in the top 6 and we will be picking in the 10-12 range. I think the guy we end up with and the guy that will help this team more than any other is Michael Mayer. Maybe its because I just watched what Kelce can do last night, but a big pass-catching stick-moving TE is desperately needed.

I doubt we stay at in the top 2, but I'll go on record of preferring Young. Size will be an issue in his first few years as he gets use to the speed of the NFL, but he is really good at ducking out of harm's way, from what I have seen. His instincts are mahommes-like.

Baker is 3-5 against the ravens. It's not unthinkable that this is close. I don't expect a win, but if the ball bounces our way a couple of times, we could pull off a surprise. I put the odds around 20%. We should at least cover, for what that's worth.

Looking at everyone's remaining schedule, there is a decent chance all 4 teams finish 7-10 and we win the head-to-head tie-breaker. We have by far the easiest remaining schedule. We probably lose to the Ravens and Seahawks, but the rest are winnable. It could come down to the head-to-head games within the division in the last two weeks. Could be crazy.

I just think assuming he's a bust because he was not a first rounder seems premature. Other than Pickett, I think the consensus among prognosticators was that all better QBs - Ridder, Willis, Corral, Howell - were going to need a redshirt year and would probably be late first or second rounders. You can remind me which teams were "super needy". I recall Pittsburgh, Carolina, Houston, and Seattle were all assumed to need QBs. Detroit (Goff), New Orleans (Winston), Atlanta (Marriota), and Washington (Wentz) were sort of on the needy list at one time but certainly not desperate and could be patient. Why would any team consider a late round 1 or round 2 talent at QB if their franchise guy was already there. Much bigger needs. So Pittsburgh took a QB in round 1. Atlanta used their 3rd on Ridder (a project), the Titans surprised by going Willis in the 3rd despite having Tannehill, and we moved ahead of Detroit at 97 to grab Corral at 94. The only surprise to me was Seattle and Houston passing multiple times on QBs. I guess a case can be made there, but still weak. Bottom line - I think most teams did not need a QB or were not comfortable with giving a development year for this group. I think we were extraordinary lucky to get a guy with the potential of Corral late on the second day. I view him as a second round talent that slipped a little for non-football reasons, and could be really special with some seasoning and coaching.

Isn't that what happened with Corral? We valued him as a first round guy and we drafted him in the third. Glad to see you coming around...

Are you ready to draft a T in the first round again this year if a T is the best value on the board? Or would you rather consider a TE, QB, or Edge that may have slightly less "value".

In my opinion, your conclusion is flawed. The first two days of the draft are based on talent and need. If a team doesn't need a quarterback, they will not draft him in the first 3 rounds, despite his talent. You simply can't say, for example, that GB, KC, Baltimore, SD, etc. all thought he was a third round talent. They didn't pass on him because they thought he was a third round talent, they simply didn't need another QB.

If he wins 5 of 7 and somehow wins the division (which means hosting a playoff game), then I'd offer him a 2-year contract. If he can make some chicken salad out of the chicken poo he was given, I'd reward him.

Some of you guys might want to prepare yourselves. We have 3 home games in which we should be favored - Lions, Steelers, and Broncos. We have 2 games which we will almost surely lose - At Ravens and At Seattle. Our last 2 games are At Tampa and At Saints - both of which could be toss ups. While Baker certainly underperformed under Rhule, he is a competent QB. We could win 5 more games. This is not likely, and will not get us in the playoffs, but we'd be looking at picking around 11-15. If Mayfield does win 5 of 7, I could see us offering a modest 2 year, 20m deal and drafting Richardson in the early teens. Oh and Eason was cut a few weeks ago.

If the raiders continue to suck, they will end up with the 1st or 2nd pick. They may want to re-set with Stroud or Young. Carr might be available for a 2nd. I think I would do that and let Corral learn. We'll be picking somewhere around 5-10. Get a stud WR or DE in the first and call it a day.

Trading DJ wasn't happening because of the cap hit. And assuming the GB pick is top 10 is also flawed. DJ could have been the difference in GB making the playoffs this year. If Rogers has a legit weopon, they could be dangerous down the stretch. Same is possible with Burns. Burns on the Rams may have been enough to get them into the playoffs in the coming years, making those future picks less valuable. Fitts may have thought it would be difficult to find another Burns in the 22-28 pick range. It's always risky betting on the demise of another team. Having said that - I would have done the Burns deal in a heartbeat. It seems like a real missed opportunity to me, given our now extended timeline. But those CMC, Robbie, and Daley trades were way better than I expected. I'm optimistic we will be able to improve the team through the draft over the next couple of years. Especially if we are picking top 3. Ultimately Fitterer will be judged not by an individual trade but by wins and losses. He'll ride or die with the next head coach.

Is this a joke? Are these YTD? Flott hasn't played since week 3. In 2 games played he's had 60 snaps, been targeted 6 times w/ 5 completions. Yards per completion: 13.0. 5 tackles on the year. Jones isn't much different. Played in 4 games, 75 snaps, targeted 8 times w/ 2 completions. Yards per completion 22.5. 4 tackles total. Meanwhile Henderson has logged 347 snaps, been targeted 39 times w/29 completions at 11.1 per. He has 33 tackles and 1 Int. Not bad for a 3rd rounder. We watch Henderson play and we get frustrated because he's a top ten pick. But it is a mistake to judge Henderson as a 1st rounder. He was clearly over-drafted. But as a third rounder, he's pretty decent and should improve. I have no problem with trading for him.

Dude - I'm done engaging with you. I provided a list of the last 25 or so moves over the past 12-18 months. His resume is not perfect, but it looks pretty good to me. Getting anything for Robbie was a huge win. Getting a 5th for Daley was nice and unexpected. Trading CMC was good value. He's picked up some nice core pieces in the last two drafts that could pay off. Is he perfect? Of course not. If that Burns trade was legit and he did not pull the trigger, that looks awful. That was the first time I thought he really screwed up. We'll have to wait and see. But he has done enough to convince me he knows what he is doing and can build something good.

Humphrey would have been nice in hindsight. But at the time we were rolling with Paradis and had Elflein as a backup. I think they had their eye on one of the OTs. Many thought TMJ was a steal - 6'3", 200, 4.40 speed. I saw lots of mocks of him going in the first. Getting him at 59 was great value in my opinion. Of course I have no evidence of this, but I think he was a Fitt draftee that was going to step in for Anderson in year two. My guess is Rhule went to bat for Robbie and we end up with a ridiculous overpay and TMJ riding the pine. I really think Fitt had the right idea - but Rhule fuged it up. But again, I'm not going to defend his first really early moves. He steps in the building with few resources/assets and is working with a complete dumbass. I'm sure there were better options than Elf/Erving that everyone always bitches about, but these were cheap and flexible options. Meanwhile he's tasked with getting rid of Bridgewater because he didn't fit the "brand" and he hurt someone's feelings and finding a QB out of thin air. We should evaluate his later moves, particularly the ones we know were not Rhule's dumb ideas.

I'm still bullish on TMJ. Since he started playing, he looks pretty good.

Did you read the post? I specified recent moves over the past 12-18 months that he surely had a hand in and purposefully eliminated moves that did not matter (such as 6th round picks). No one will convince me he thought an Anderson extension was a good idea. That undoubtedly came from Rhule.

I'm late to the party, but I value your opinion. Without getting into drafting a long snapper or not drafting your super-crush Trey Smith, let's take a look at the major moves Fitt has made in the last 12-18 months - primarily dealing with starters. There may be more, and I'm sure you will let me know, but I feel like these are the main moves. Tell me specifically which ones you think were fireable offences. Extend Moton. Extend DJ. Extend Jackson (i think that one was bad) Extend Luvu Draft Horn Draft TMJ Draft Tremble Draft Christenson Draft Icky Draft Corral Sign Woods Sign Ionidas Sign Corbett Sign Hecker Sign Foreman Sign Bozeman Trade for Shenault Trade for Henderson (not looking good) Trade for Mayfield Trade away Anderson Trade away CMC Did not trade Burns for 2 first and second (if true, this one has to go in the bad column). I just don't see a lot of really really bad moves on the list. The only things I have a problem with are Jackson, Burns, and maybe Henderson - although I don't think he has been as bad as people think.

until you have to pay for all these studs...