kungfoodude

I still would have preferred to not have given up that 2nd rounder(which if he is a bust would be really nice to have). We gave up the equivalent of a late first round pick for him overall, so I guess it isn't the worst gamble in the world. I just don't like that we had to resort to a guy that has such an unbelievably low floor. The history of these reclamation projects is pretty unkind overall. I guess other than the "sugar or poo" outcome, we are also going to have a pretty strong idea of how good the coaching staff is, as well. If he shows that early first round talent here, Brady and Rhule can be lauded as the guys we need to get this rebuild accomplished. If he flames out, it's a pretty safe bet we will be headed towards having a new coaching staff in a couple of seasons.

Let's not forget his takes on Clausen and various other prospects. It's pretty easy to pull out portions of the data and show Kiper to be stupid but I kind of doubt the actual scouting community views him as much more informed than any other media bobblehead with little to no background in actual scouting. That said, I wouldn't hold the Kiper KOD too much against Darnold. There were quite a few sources questioning that decision. It isn't like he wasn't a polarizing prospect.

The fact that they are now talking about "consensual" instances is probably the nail in the coffin for Watson. If this is his kink it isn't too hard of a logical leap to get to perving on or even assaulting at least a few of the women. I think that is the smoke that obscures the whole "dirty lawyer" narrative. Guess we will see how bad this gets and how long he might have to be on the Exempt list. Big Ben slid through with these allegations(and worse) but that was also at a different time.

I can understand the delusional homerism, after all we all display it from time to time. It is part of being a fan. But, we are historically one of the NFL's worst franchises. No amount of head in sand is going to change that. Eventually we have to start actually consistently winning to change that narrative.

The fact that we basically never use Moton at LT, no matter how dire the scenario, tells me that we are two staffs into not thinking he can be a LT. If we take Sewell, let him get his reps at LT and grow. I am okay taking some initial lumps for the sake of development. I have to believe he would be our best LT option day one.

Yeah, I don't mind eating crow but I really dread the scenario where we are all-in on Darnold and he still remains....Sam Darnold. I don't want to see that because I don't want to already lose faith in the FO and coaching staff. Hence why I would be all-in on a QB at 8 if one is available. At least we have a very good hedge for that bet. Maybe you even end up with two good QB's.

Is being top 10 now bad?

Sorry that triggered you.

The pro-Darnold crowd is out in full force. I sure hope they are way more accurate than the pro-Teddy crowd.

Even worse than our neglect of the LT position since Gross has been the overall neglect of the OL for the past 3-4 seasons. We have to get serious about building an NFL caliber OL.

Yeah, I personally don't believe in him so I hope they aren't going all in on him. If one of the top 4 QB's slips and we do pass on them, I am gonna be on them like a pitbull if that move fails. Absolutely nothing about Darnold says we shouldn't have a solid plan B, IMO.

Oh, I don't care even remotely about those questions. That is such a fuging BS criticism of him, IMO. But he isn't a flawless prospect, to me. He still needs to develop and get stronger at the NFL level. I would say he is the best LT prospect in a few years, to me.

I sincerely hope they aren't sold on Darnold but that is because I don't buy into him as being more than a journeyman backup. I don't think Fields will slip either. I think the best candidates to have an "Aaron Rodgers" moment are Lance and Jones. They feel like the most polarizing of the first round potential QB's.

I don't personally rate him that way. I think he still has a bust factor that had to be calculated. Obviously, I would be FLOORED to take him. After the top 4 QB's, definitely my favorite prospect.

I honestly think this is one of the least sure top 10 picks we have ever had. I cannot recall a previous top 10 pick we have had where the order uncertainty was this high

I can't agree with this. I would take Fields in a heartbeat. I can understand trading down(not agree, but understand) if the FO isn't sold on Fields. Any "QB available" trade down needs to be for a haul, though.

I don't think he is exactly a "can't miss" prospect. I think he is an ULTRA high ceiling and relatively moderate floor guy. Hard to envision him not being a successful OL in the NFL, but does he develop into an elite LT? The attributes are bananas.

That your personal evaluation, though. Remains to be seen how we(and the league) value him. I understand the viewpoint if that is your personal rating of him. Slater is one of the more interesting top 10 picks because of his elite attributes but also his high level versatility. If he is capable of being a LT, he is obviously a top 10 caliber prospect, but if he ends up being a high level RT or IOL, that top 10 pick probably seems quite high. I love him as a prospect but I will admit that you probably have to be pretty convinced he is ultimately a LT to take him in the top 10.

As in, take a QB at 8?

I don't necessarily agree with that. There are more variables that come into play than that. Strength of draft class, positional value, etc. I agree in THEORY you should be getting a starter with your first two round draft picks but the statistics also don't bear out that as the case. Hence the reason why I am skeptical of trading down. It SHOULDN'T be as hard to get a starter with the 8th pick of the draft. Results obviously vary historically, of course.

Seattle trading back is also a WAAAAAAAY different scenario than ours. Right now we have a chance to pick after only 7 players have been selected rather than in the bottom of the first where a good chunk of the top 2-3 players at their position have been taken. Moving from a bottom of the 1sr to top of the second spot isn't that big of a deal.

I would be reticent to trade down if we can land a day one starter at a position of high value or extreme need. I think that has to be a situation where the price makes that really, really worthwhile. I am not in favor of trading down for the sake of trading down.

That's not smart unless you don't like Slater, TBH(and we very well may not have him rated highly). Getting too cute on trading down isn't wise. And I say that fully knowing how much we are lacking in overall roster talent. We don't need to try and get it all in one offseason. This rebuild will be a process.

The "he is only 23 years old" thing is kind of played out. Young or old, some guys have it or some don't. It isn't some magical switch that flips when you are a certain age.

I agree. The odds of us landing a starter at 8 seem pretty high. Even Marty Hurney didn't screw up these picks. Not sure I buy enough into our FO talent evaluation yet to want to see then make one of those trade down moves. The hope is that after this offseason/draft, we have a lot more confidence in these guys.