Sgt Schultz

CB is one of the tougher positions to make the transition from college to the NFL. The average NFL WR is better than most of the best they saw in college. They consistently run better routes, are faster, and the ball gets to them at the most opportune time. In college, that would happen once in a great while. Usually, the ones who make an immediate impact are faster than lightning. Deion Sanders was generally awful technically. He couldn't tackle an got out-muscled by physical receivers. What he could do is read the play and close on the ball. Speed makes up for a lot of evils in that position.

I love this quote from PFF Draft: Carolina just drafted the largest human on Earth, Deonte Brown. He didn't allow a single sack at Alabama.

If you look at our recent history (say about 10 years), our coverage has almost always been a soft, bend-but-don't-break zone. This past year it was almost certainly because it was the only thing our talent in the secondary could do. In our 2015 run our defense was not only often stifling, but also good at creating turnovers and often producing points off those turnovers while the offense was on the sidelines. This was largely because Norman was in the face of the opponent's best receiver. That allowed the safeties to cheat toward the other matchups, which made the soft zone much less soft. I don't know if any of our DBs is Norman in 2015 (but not subsequently), but Horn is certainly closer to Norman in 2015 than anyone since. I don't know anything about Taylor, but from what I read, it is worth the shot especially in round 5. If they can help the defense get off the field after a 3rd and 16, it is an improvement. Who knows, maybe we can even get off the field after a 3rd and 6!

I think you are correct. I expected Detroit to pick a WR with #7, so I was waiting eagerly, too. Then, poof.

The issue with Okung is how many game we would get out of him if we do bring him back. When he's on the field, he's fine. But he has played 13 games over the last two seasons. Unfortunately, he forces us to have depth whether we want it or not. And for whatever reason, this team does not seem to want depth at LT. I sometimes wonder if their solution is to just not have a LT.

I was going to say that, but with the caveat that they are the Bengals.

Sadly, this has been the truth. I like Fields, and I was wondering if he was going to fall into the 49ers job. In Chicago, like you, I would not be surprised to see him just flounder around. That's the problem with being a QB drafted high in the first round.....opportunities like the 49ers situation are rare. More likely than not, you wind up as a Jet, or until proven otherwise, a Jag, or a Lion, or one of a few other dead ends. Is it them, or is it the team they started with, or is it just bad coaching? Very often, we never know. I've said this a number of times, but if Tom Brady had been drafted by Cleveland, he would have been out of the league after a couple of years and nobody would remember who he is unless he happened to catch somebody's eye (like Hoodie) while in the spiral of futility. Somebody mentioned that good QBs do not throw more interceptions than TDs. Once upon a time, a QB broke into the league with Tampa during one of their several stints of being awful. In his two years there, he threw 11 TDs and 21 interceptions. He then went elsewhere and threw 221 TDs and 86 interceptions for the rest of his career. There really are some teams that are such train wrecks, they could have killed Montana's, Elway's, Brady's, or Rodger's careers. I don't know if Darnold will be good, bad, or mediocre. I do think if he has a chance of being good, his odds are a lot better here than they were with the Jets (provided we get some friggin OL help, today would be a good time). It would be completely in character or the Jets to stifle Wilson's chances.

OL, OL, and more OL would be nice. I like Eichenberg in the 2nd round. He is not Sewell or Slater right out of the blocks, but he looks as good as any option. But, I am not hard-over on him.....only that we get somebody who can play the position. Then look for an IOL later.

Looking at one round of a draft is always a fool's errand. Our problem in the past is we too often did well in the one round everybody focuses on, and did awful to mediocre after that. CB was definitely a huge need, but not our biggest need. The thing about the CB position (and I would say the same about OT, especially LT) is there is usually a solid line between a very small group who can come in and do a credible job as a starter on day one, and guys that will start but noticeably take their lumps. I guess the best way to describe it is the difference in the size of the lumps they will take. Slater, Horn, Surtain will all be starters on day one, barring an injury. What this pick showed is the staff was not high enough on Fields to make him the #8 pick. I've said for weeks, fans tend to look at a situation like the "Big Four" QBs and assume every team who has any need for a QB wants one of them. The problem is, there is probably no team probably wants any of the four, especially in the first round. They may like one, two, or three of them but it is very unlikely anybody said they would take any of them. We liked somewhere between 0 and 3 of them, most likely 2 from what I hear. Now let's let the rest of the draft play out before we drink the Drano punch.

The Pats, in particular Hoodie, have been interested in Garoppolo since about 2 days after the traded him to San Fran. The 49ers are well aware of that. It also depends on how sold the 49ers are that Fields, Lance, or Jones can start and win on day one or day 21. They are in a win-now situation, so pushing all the chips into the center of the table on somebody who has not yet stepped on an NFL field is probably not a risk they want to take.

Good question as to which the are thinking. I think they originally traded out of 3 and then back into 6 because they were looking at receivers, and there are three marquis wideouts and Pitts available. They didn't need the #3 pick, so they parlayed it into more picks to address more needs. Right now they have two picks in the first (6 and 18) and four in the top 50 (add 36 and 50). That is pretty much inline with the consensus I have seen on their needs. Now imagine them with another 2nd or 3rd rounder and a slightly lower first pick. They could wind up with two new receivers and filling the other needs all by pick 50. They would probably want any picks beyond that (for potentially moving down) in 2022. Barring a Hurney moment, they are going to be more talented a week from now than they are today, at least on paper.

Ah, trying to find a young QB. It really is a crapshoot, MHS831. I will add another variable to this. As Mr. Scot said about Carr, how many young QBs flamed out or never ignited might have under different circumstances? We'll never know. The lot most high draft choices face is they go to lousy teams. With QB's, it seems like they often go to chronically lousy teams. I've said that if Tom Brady had been selected by the Cleveland Browns, it is possible he would have been out of the league in three years and nobody would remember who he is. Even Lawrence, who a lot of talent analysts have as the most sure-thing since Andrew Luck, could wind up falling well short because of the team and organization around him. I think the Jets could get Wilson killed back there, because even with a new coaching staff, that is what the Jets seem to do. Situations like the 49ers sitting at #3 do not happen every day, and have to have Fields or Jones looking to the sky and yelling "thank you for making me #3." That's not to say Lawrence or Wilson won't succeed and maybe turn things around, but history is not their friend. I agree with you on Eli Manning. When he was good, and he had times when he was great. But when he was bad, he was awful. He looked like Joe Montana in two Super Bowls against the Pats. But there were times he looked like Hannah Montana in other big games. He also benefited from a defense that had Brady and Belichick talking to themselves in those two Super Bowls. So, he was a mixed bag. He was very much a part of those two Super Bowl runs, and he deserves a place in the Giants Hall of Fame. But, his overall body of work does not put him on the QB Mt. Olympus.

Yeah, I get it. I really do. We had a good draft last year, and I still have to fight the urge to think about what "diamond in the rough" we are going to beat everyone to in the second round.....even though everyone was debating whether to take them in the fifth round or perhaps sign them as an UDFA.....or not at all. It is probably some form of Stockholm Syndrome.

$7M sounds right, and right now we have about $10M. While that is cutting it close, we also have 4 times as much as the rest of our division.......combined.

Among the worst across all the major sports are the St. Louis Blues "alternate" jersey from around 1995 or 96. These were so bad that when their coach saw them hanging in the locker room before the game where they were supposed to wear them, he had a conniption fit and forbid the team from taking the ice in them. The equipment manager had to break out their normal sweaters, which were probably the worst regular uniforms in team history, themselves. As for these, I'm not even sure you would see somebody wearing them on a golf course or in a bowling alley.

The Jacksonville ones are worse......much worse. But, or perspective, compare them to these which were actually worn by the Broncos in the very early 60s.

I think this chart is the starting point. Some years the early picks will be worth more, depending on how many teams are trying to move up, some years less, but they probably average close to what this chart has. In other words, this is the base value before an increase in demand happens, like this year with people salivating over four QBs and a handful of others. But, if you are looking to move up and your initial offer is in line with the chart, the other team is probably not simply going to hang up on you. I didn't vote because I don't really evaluate any trades that happen, I just accept them.....sometimes considering the source.

That depends on who would replace him. And, of course, whether he actually does leave. I don't think we saw anything out of him last year that would scream that he is the next can't-miss head coaching prospect. If anything, I think we saw every indication he is a few years away. But, assuming he does leave, if they find someone of with the same philosophy or look at promoting somebody from the current staff (Nixon or Lombardi would probably be two most likely candidates), it might be status quo for Darnold.....or Fields.....or whoever. It is not ideal. You like to see young QBs with continuity in who is developing them. We have seen young QBs in places never get off "go" because it seemed like they had seven DCs or QB coaches in three years.

Dear Foreskins, We inherited Greg Little from the renown talent sage, Marty Hurney. We have no doubt Marty is correct, he really is a diamond in the rough, but unfortunately, we are just too incompetent to develop him to his full potential. We firmly believe he is not only a diamond, but the Hope diamond. We realize our limitations are simply holding him back. Thus, we reluctantly would like to offer the future superstar to you for the low, low price of a 5th round draft choice. It is only fair to him that we start of offers to the team we believe can give him the development and opportunity his extraordinary talent richly deserves. It is what is best for him. But wait, if you act in the next 15 minutes, we will give you not only Greg Little, but also include the emerging star QB, Will Grier. Just pay a separate fee. We believe your development process will benefit him, as well. We are humbled, and acknowledge that no one can see talent like Marty Hurney. Unfortunately, we do not deserve these talents as we are unable to nurture them. Sincerely, The Panthers

Personally, I'd limit QBs, Ks, and Ps to numbers below 20. Since they are treated like they are made of glass, their numbers should be more recognizable. Otherwise, I'm not sure I care. If the NFL is spending their rule-changing efforts on numbers, they can't be effing up any of the other rules. That is a good thing, IMO.

As somebody said, Watson needs to start taking a chaperon with him (unless he does not want a witness) or getting his massages from this person:

Definitely. It was as more of a coaching failure than anything else. They did not game plan for Miller and Ware after looking at the AFCC film, other than telling Remmers to "you need to win those battles." Same story, line our 22 up against there 22 and may the better team win. That's what Ron and company did. Not to sidetrack this thread, but you are also right that while people focus on two or three plays in that game, there were probably upwards of ten that, had we been better on maybe two more of them, the outcome would have been different. I mean, our defense gave up only 6 on anything resembling sustained drives. I don't believe our OL was great in 2015. I think they were largely average but somehow performed as a group above their talent level. We were middle-third at protecting a QB who got the ball out in about 2.5 seconds. That is actually pretty bad. If our offense is based around getting the ball out in 2.5 seconds, we need to push the upper-third to be effective. Otherwise, being middle-third for 3 seconds would be more indicative of mediocre play. It is hard to push the ball downfield at 2.5 seconds, and even if the QB is protected on the downfield throw, if the clock in his head is set at getting slaughtered by 2.55 seconds, he is not going to be very effective at it. I would like to see us scratch the upper third or fourth of the league at a time to throw approaching 3 seconds and be able to control the line on 3rd or 4th and short situations. We are nowhere near those benchmarks. Darnold was just over 2.9 seconds in time to throw in 2018 and 19, so this is not optional. We may need to take the same philosophy in drafting OL this year as Chicago does with voting: do it early and often.

I'm thinking it would have to involve a couple of U.S. Marshals and handcuffs. Even then there might be questions about whether he can beat the wrap or turn state's evidence.

I am not even sure what the big deal is. Who cares whether TB has reached out to Darnold? My cynical observation about the human species is the people who are the most judgemental and vocal about things like this are the ones who handle a similar situation extremely poorly when it happens to them. Then we hear the age-old excuse "that's different."

I don't know that Jones is a lock (his name could become Fields for that role, but one of the two are a lock to go at #3, I think), but I laughed a little when I mentioned Lawrence and Wilson. Six weeks ago I would have had the same reaction to Sewell, but there are at least credible possibilities he could be sitting there. Not likely, but possible.