Bear Hands

Unsure. Shi's usage didn't really change after we landed Shenault. Once here, we brought Laviska in on very specific playcalls so he just seemed to be used in a more creative fashion. That was with Rhule and then a dismantled hodge-podge staff so we'll see. Even in JAX, his slot play was still in the 57% range of his passing snaps. Only 27% his rookie year.

I like Witherspoon a lot but Gonzalez sounds like he's really impressed in interviews. Those two are solidly my top 2 but starting to think Banks goes ahead of Porter Jr. Washington's type is more in line with Banks and Porter Jr. could be gifted right into a team like PIT or SEA's lap at 19/20. Brugler mentioned today to also not be surprised if DJ Turner is round 1 and to keep an eye out on him. Teams are quite high on the kid...could be there ay 39.

HOU seems to have a few better decision makers in place so we'll see...I did a big mock but here's mine with some minor revisions: 1-CAR - Bryce Young QB 2-HOU - Will Anderson EDGE 3-IND (from AZ) - CJ Stroud QB (not buying Levis rumors) 4-AZ (from IND) - Christian Gonzalez CB (my surprise right now) 5-SEA -Anthony Richardson QB 6-DET - Devon Witherspoon CB 7-LVR - Tyree Wilson DL 8-HOU (from ATL) - Will Levis QB 9-CHI - Paris Johnson Jr. LT 10-PHI - Nolan Smith OLB

For comparison, Shi Smith was played in the slot for 266 passing snaps which accounted for 78.7% of his snaps. That accounted for 38 targets with only 22 receptions. We could really use a slot upgrade. Smith was graded 110th out of 113 eligible receivers.

He seems more gadget-y to me. Want someone with more shiftiness and speed than LS, although he did grade out very well; he was in slot 51.5% of his snaps which accounted for 50 snaps in the slot the entire year.

Precisely. Definitely a Jason Witten, Todd Heap type Otherwise at TE, I have grown to be all about Tucker Kraft. Doesn't have the injury concerns Schoonmaker or Musgrave brings, but blocks, gets open, and is a pain in the bazooka to take down. My ideal path is still a trade down from 39. Would love a draft landing: 1) Bryce Young 2-from trade) DJ Turner/Julius Brents 3-from trade) Tucker Kraft 3-2) Tyler Scott 4) Kendre Miller 5) Braeden Daniels (or) EDGE

And the LAR:

132 could be a good trade down since we have 145. Get multiple picks around 160 & 190. Could be a good move for a RB & OL if we don't draft one higher.

My guess is that Stroud sold them at his pro-day to cement a minimum 2-prospect viability at 1. Young v Stroud, with many leaning CJ. They were genuinely impressed. I don't think Levis was far behind but the kid does has some big accuracy & mind-arm/hand-eye sync issues to work out. Similar with AR but with other areas-for-improvement. As they dug in, interviewed, spoke to their coaches, teammates, really studied the tape, it simply moved to Young.

It's going to be a wild Thursday after our pick. There's just so few leaks league-wide this year that media-speculation circulation is the full scope of "rumors". Reddit even had the annual "what's the big rumor for your team" thread and there's like crickets. Only decent trusted things I've seen around the web: -The Patriots are very keen on Zay Flowers & could look to trade down -O'Cyrus Torrence is high on the Jags board and could go if the top DBs are gone -Eagles love Adebawore That's about it (that I trust). Have no clue who HOU prefers, that will predicate what happens with AZ & IND. Richardson is still a ceiling that i hard to ignore and someone is going to shoot for the moon with him. Bijan & Gonzalez could go way higher than projected.

I felt like Haynes lost some early years being this situational role guy in our sub packages, but every time he's had high snap percentage games, he's made an impact. Perfect 3-4 rusher IMO.

Man, if Thielen, Chark & TMJ are cruising along, finding a shifty slot may be the perfect fit to round out the WR room. We've suddenly got a tall & quick WR room, could use a better option than Shi or Byrd. And this draft is full of them... Scott, Dell, Reed, Jones all super viable in this department.

Haynes really has a chance to break out if we don't go EDGE in R2. There's a huge opportunity for him to flourish and show why he was the all-time SEC sack leader until this Will Anderson came along. He's progressed every season and I'm rooting for him hard.

He's consistently graded well at 4-3 DE in run defense but just didn't have the pass rush skill that was teased in college. Elsewhere, damn am I happy we've got Thielen. This guy is going to be superb for a very young offensive skill unit.

Yeah he's probably the most out of place guy on the roster. Do wonder what we could get for him...

DeWayne McBride or Kendre Miller would be money in that 93-114 range.

That's actual a comp I've had. He plays a tad more safe so is less of an INT machine. Could show enough in relief to Stafford to earn himself in starter consideration.

Fun One: Outside of Bryce, CJ & Levis (the only instantly start-able guys), Jake Haener will be the first rookie in this class to start a game at QB. Before Hooker & Richardson. Haener & Moreno-Cropper stay together and go to the LA Rams.

Forgot we signed him and brought him back, but yeah he's getting old.

Checking out the squads our staff came from 2010s SF, LAR peak-McVay, Philly, & Indy they tend to have a main back w/supporting committee approach with the backups being viable in the 3-down role so I wouldn't look past us going for an all-around back--or, basically, one that's not Charbonnet or Roschon Johnson. We could just as much use a home run threat and get some speed on this offense. Chark is our only skill player sub 4.44.

Did one for HOU because why not:

I think whoever gets Tyree Wilson is going to look back and realize they missed out on some studs that came out of the pass rushing group. Wilson is very reminiscent to Armstead for me. He could have a respectable career, but a team will be picking him and missing out on the actual stars. The irony in this pass-rusher group is that the consensus 2-3 at the top seem like bigger risks than the huge pool in mid-R1 to R2. Van Ness, Kancey, Adebawore to name a few could be monsters.

To further my WR slide prediction: The Receiver slide is for real. Johnston & Hyatt fall possibly past Tyler Scott in R2. There will probably be a run in the 4th-5th of the field but R2-3 is somewhat quiet <5 taken. The outliers who don't slide: Charlie Jones & Xavier Hutchinson go higher than projected

in before "we were sneakily in for Stroud all along and did in fact buy in at his pro-day, we're gonna duke the Colts into a R1 trade, gain a 2024 1st back, and let the Texans grab Bryce" Stroud at 4 to CAR!"