BeenPounding

#8 - I'm still on team trade back, but Pearce is growing on me. His run defense is very strong, could be a great value pick. #57 - Collins = best run defender in the draft. Fits a solid need. Him, DB, and Robinson will be solid. #74 - Royals speed freak with a great route tree. #109 - Schwesinger solid MLB with pass rush ability and could be a special teams freak while he adapts to the NFL #112 - If Mukuba last this long it would be a miracle. This pick is a good spot for a safety. Moore from Alabama, Bowmans from OK could also be options here. #140 -Dylan Sampson. He has big play RB potential. I'm not sure he really fits in our scheme. I wanted Ollie Gordon II = big bruiser. He could be a good 3rd down back and So see pick #216. #148 - Belton. We need an offensive linemen that actually plays tackle full time for depth purposes. I was going to a no trade draft, but I can't help myself. Trade = #168/#223 and a 2025 4th round pick in exchange for #172, 215, 216 #172 - Jordan Philips Maryland. I would have drafted him at #168. Lab built physical DL specimen. Very young, let's develop him. #215 - Jah Joyner - 6'5" 260 freaky athlete. Have him learn under Clowney for a year and turn him into an Edge setter with pass rush ability. #216 - Mullings - 6'2" 232 - Give us a big back where we can rest Chuba in our Jumbo set.

Our most likely quality, but subdue more at WR would be to target someone like Darius Slayton. We aren't getting into the Tee Higgins business unless we want to drive up his price. Chris Godwin is coming off a serious injury, is a little older, and would likely cost double what DS would. Additionally, you'd likely pay double for nearly the same production. My top FA additions for us would be the following: 1. Slayton WR 2. Tre’von Moehrig S 3. Milton Williams DT/DE 4. Kenneth Gainwell RB 5. Poona Ford NT You would likely have to choose between Williams and Ford, but this would give us so much more flexibility in the draft. In this scenario I am assuming we resign, M.Jackson, Tremble, Corbett, and Mayes. I really believe that we could get Corbett to take over Brady's role of utility lineman. It's not a crazy thought. Look at his NFL and College experience. College LT, played guard for the Browns and Rams, transitioned to Center with great success for us, and most importantly, he wants to be here. If we hit in free agency we could trade back and leverage our picks to load up on the strength of this draft. Or we could zero in on Will Johnson and not feel as if we had ignored our needs. We have a cap wizard and through some basic restructures of Hunt, DB, and signing Moten to a short extension we will have more cap space than we initially anticipated. Draft: Trade with SF to #11 and get #43 in exchange for #8 Offense: QB: BY, Kurtis Rourke, Plummer RB: Chuba/Gainwell/(rookie thumper Ollie Gordon II)/ RB TE: Tremble, Sanders, (rookie - Mitchel Evans), Franks LT: Icky (Yosh) LG: Lewis (Zavila) Center: Corbett/Mayes RG: Hunt RT: Moten (Austin Barber) WR: Legette, Cocker, AT, Slayton, David Moore, (Matthew Golden) Defense: NT: Poona Ford DE: DB, AR, Crumedy, Milton Williams, (Omarr Norman-Lott ) OLB: Clowney, Wonnam, (Princely Umanmielen ), DJ Johnson ILB: Jewell, Wallace, Windmon, (Carson Schwesinger), Shaq - rotate between ILB and OLB CB: Horn, MJ, CSW, (Will Johnson), Farley S: Moehrig, Richardson, (Malachi Moore) , Franklin, FA ST: JJ, FA K - Cade York, Heckler

Damn.... I guess I'm banging the table for Ashton Gillotte as my mid-round EDGE draft crush.

OR..... If we miss out on Graham with #8, use our 2nd round pick on Walker. You can't teach 6'6 345 LB's that can get sacks

Derek Brown, Mason Grahm/Deone Walker, Ashaun Robinson Solved. I'm still on team trade back to late teens and pick up an additional 2nd round pick. I'll take Jalon Walker as an Edge along with Dani-Dennis Sutton.

Next year Clowney and Wonnom have a combined cap hit of 21 million. Honestly, that isn't bad for two decent players. I like Wonnom, If he improves against the run he is a solid situational pass rusher / back-up / spot starter. That's what 8 million buys you at the EDGE. Clowney on the other hand has a 13 million cap hit. Not terrible, but he needs to stay healthier. Adding a rookie who can play 30 - 40% of the snaps could help keep JC healthier IMOP.

Draft him and his EDGE mate DDS!!!!

You need to invest at all levels of your defense so you can have draft picks develop. Brown / Robinson are good investments at one level. If Wallace makes a jump we could be solid at LB with an opportunity to draft a solid payer next to him. Clowney and Wonnum aren't terrible at the EDGE for 20M combined. Perfect opportunity to draft at that position. Having Horn locked up on one side, and hopefully we can pay Mike Jackson we are good. WHEN he resigns, hopefully we can keep him on the books for 12.5 million (2025). I doubt a new contract would be that cheap. Safety is a huge hole. We will need to sign a quality free agent. Safety may cost us resigning one linemen, thinking BC. After watching the ND/PSU game I'm ll in on BOTH Abdul Carter and Dani-Denis Sutton. If Carter isn't there, I say we trade back if we can get an additional 2nd to drop back in the 1st round.

How good would the Colts have been if they traded for Bryce. Richardson is wasting a good line and quality receivers.

Remember our cap only counts the highest 51 contracts. Many of these guys could be had for near or vet minimum contracts. Cutting those contracts has no real cap ramifications. Many of these guys played too much last year and didn't serve the role of depth players. Even though they didn't perform as starters, they could serve a valuable depth pieces. If we draft well, get healthy, and sign a few quality free agents, many would be in position to play a part of this team that serves both well. Take a look at this link and you will see some interesting stats in regard to playing time. FYI, Xavier Woods played 100% and Mike Jackson played nearly 99% of defensive snaps. They were the only two players above 95%. Hunt was the next highest at 93% and he missed the final game. Unrestricted FA's QB Andy Dalton - I like him, but we could get someone like Cooper Rush or Minshew for the same $$$$ we are paying him. C Austin Corbett - Incentive laden and team friendly C Brady Christensen - top swing OL pay replace Yosh Nijman TE Tommy Tremble - Lock him up now, multi-year cheap. He's not even 25. He will get much better. TE Ian Thomas TE Feleipe Franks - ST minimum deal WR David Moore - minimum deal RB Mike Boone DE DeShawn Williams - minimum deal (PS?) OLB Cam Gill LB Shaq Thompson - only if it is a minimum with incentives. Think late career TD or Jeremiah Trotter. Player coach CB Mike Jackson - He's going to cost more than we think, but keep the man!! CB Caleb Farley - minimum deal to prove it if he is FINALLY healthy S Xavier Woods S Jordan Fuller S Nick Scott S Sam Franklin - not breaking the bank. He is ST only. S Lonnie Johnson P Johnny Hekker - if the price is right K Eddy Piñeiro LS JJ Jansen - Can't remember a bad snap over the past 10 years. According to Google is hasn't happened since 2010. Resign tomorrow. RESTRICTED FREE AGENTS C Cade Mays - 3 million right of first refusal. WR Deven Thompkins - minimum deal RB Raheem Blackshear - minimum deal. I like him, but he didn't show much when given his shot on offense. WR Velus Jones Jr. WR Dan Chisena - minimum (PS) EXCLUSIVE RIGHTS FREE AGENTS DE LaBryan Ray - It's cheap, bottom roster PS guy LB Chandler Wooten - It's cheap, bottom roster PS guy

Corbett knows he needs to take a prove it deal and I think he will. I watched an interview and he was convincingly adamant he wants to stay. Two different injuries in two years was bad luck. It's not like it was the same thing. He knows the game and figures to end his career in a place where he is happy. You can't really compare how Bryce did with Mays compared to AC. AC was hurt week 5. Bryce was on the bench after week 2 and didn't return until week 8. Mays is basically under team control next year as a RFA. We could offer the right of first refusal for 3m. I'd offer a 2 year deal which averages a little higher so you can manipulate the cap on his deal. Additionally, I'd resign Corbett to a team friendly deal. Many forget he has positional versatility like BC. Corbett is only one year older, is two inches shorter, about 10 pounds heavier, and has arms that are one inch longer. Corbett has played LT in college and guard/center in the NFL. Ideally, bring back all three, but if BC gets big time $$$ AC and CM can battle for center and the other becomes a swing lineman. If we cut bait on Yosh Nijman we may be able to keep all three. I'd sign up for that in a heartbeat.

The more I mock, the more I want to trade back. If we could move to the mid to late teens and pick up an additional 2nd round pick I'd pounce. We need to get the interior DL and our ILB's fixed. WR would be a luxury pick this year. If we got another 2nd round pick I would look at WR Elic Ayomanor, that kid can play. However our needs in the middle of the defense are paramount. Our pass rush was really hurt because the run defense up the middle and between the tackles was SAWFT. I like a lot of the TE's in this draft as good role players. Late in the draft we need to look at Mitchel Evans from ND. Solid over the middle and he can block.

After watching last night's game, would anyone be opposed to drafting both Abdul Carter and Dani Dennis-Sutton (3rd - 4th round pick?)? He looked solid all game too.

Remember when BC and Austin Corbet got hurt in the last 2 games of the season and how bad it fugged us going forward??? Right call. This will keep us near the top 6-7 picks in the draft. Carter, Graham, or trade back for a haul.

THIS is the stuff that goes unnoticed by "fans" who don't understand how to build a team and build a culture. You can't just buy it. Not many teams have won consistently by free agency alone. Remember the Philadelphia "dream team"? How many time have the Dolphins won the free agency Olympics? Pats, Chiefs, Bills, Lions, 49'ers all have built culture through drafting THEN selective free agency signings.

I could see a few reasons for the move: 1. Icky is just coming back from being out 2 weeks. BC had been replacing him at LT and Mayes has done a fine job at center. IF Icky has to come out, sliding BC in at LT again keeps continuity. 2. The odds of us resigning Mayes at a cheap(er) rate is much higher than retaining BC. TBH I don't think anyone truly knows what BC's market will be next season. We have roughly 12-13 million of cap space opening up if we let go of Yosh and Corbett. (4 mil and over 8 mill respectively) If we can retain both Mayes and BC for that amount I'd be ecstatic. I'd still draft a developmental swing tackle from a power 5 conference.

I really liked his measurables and potential, but that type of thinking is what has us in the crapper. I looked at his game logs from this year and last. Every time he faces a big time school his numbers are bad. Now the tight end #44 Warren.... that guy would be a perfect addition.

Can we MAYBE focus on some positive..... Brady Christensen, in my opinion, is certainly a key player we need to retain at the end of the season. He is the perfect 6th offensive lineman. He needs to be paid as a top back-up lineman after the season. The guy is so solid and versatile. Anyone else agree? What's the over/under before this post tailspins into the negative?

Could we have the patience to let him sit for a year, maybe year and a half?

You start Dalton for the rest of the year. Everyone is arguing Bryce vs Dalton, but here is my argument. If you have decided that Bryce isn't it, and we have. XL, Coaker, Sanders, and Mingo will not improve more learning along with Bryce's mistakes. While Dalton is old, he is experienced and reliable. He is the new Fitzmagic. Fitzy was 39 when he retired. If he isn't interested go after Gardner Minshew or Jamis Winston. Shoot, you never know, maybe fixed Sam Darnold could be in play. (not really) We have been on a run of red-headed QB's! Trade back from number 1, collect an extra 2nd round pick and grab Drew Allar or even Connor Weigman and have him sit a year or two. Build the defense in FA and the draft. Getting DB back, adding a stud EDGE from the draft and FA depth signings need to happen before we think QB. BC isn't looking half bad at center, AC may want to come back at a discount. I've decided that Icky plays better everyone not named Bryce Young. OL is pretty solid. Got to look for Moten's replacement in the late rounds.

QB play across the League is garbage. Development at the college level is not pro-ready. It's going to take a few years before we see the likes of a draft with (2004) Rivers, Big Ben, Eli, followed by (2005) Rogers, Alex Smith, Fitzmagic, Cassel, Orton, then Romo came out of no where in 2006. We need to build up the entire team so we can fix someone another team lost patience with.

I wonder what the penalty is if we eat 75% of the remaining salary for this season. Would that help us in regards to dead cap? IF that is the case I'd still do it. A sunk cost is a sunk cost. Freeing up $$$ for the future is where it's at.

Call me crazy, but so far Tepper has stayed to the side, our draft is looking promising, and if we hadn't been cursed with injuries we would be in a MUCH better spot. Things are better than last year, period. DC had the stones to end the BY disaster when it needed to be ended. Even if BY ends up starting again at the end of the year, DC showed no one is above the team. Pete Carroll was an extremely underappreciated coach. If the Seahawks weren't such a rival to us back in the day maybe more of us would share that opinion. We are headed in the correct direction. Buffalo, Detroit, Washington, even San Fran had extended periods of struggle before they figured it out. I'd put DC ahead of many of the coaches most of those teams had during their struggles. DC and DM being able to pick their own defensive coordinator might be the missing link for full alignment of the team vision. My 2 cents....