Thurman#1

Yeah, if by sophomore slump you mean a dramatic decline, those aren't all that common, and I wouldn't expect one. Plenty of guys don't improve very much, though. You want to see a lot of improvement from a soph. I'm hopeful.

Everybody's wrong. I don't get the chance to watch him much these days, not at all live. But from what I do see on after-the-fact videos, he's mellowed if anything. He's really entertaining, I think.

Yeah, I'd guess they're very open indeed. Might well be a 2018 Denver situation where they're willing to trade down but only if their guy doesn't fall to them. Oliver, maybe? Picks in the 2nd and 3rd are valuable this year even more than usual.

One of the worst things about being here in Japan is not getting ESPN. Watching Mel is fun. I'd much rather do that, but I don't have a choice.

10 draft picks. Could trade up. Or back to next year. Or not at all.

Fair enough that you don't buy the coach speak. But they mean it. And surely even you feel that what Beane and McDermott want is more important than what you want, or what I want or what anyone on here wants. And there's no such thing, really, as BPA at the biggest need. That's just called drafting for need. BPA and drafting for need are opposites. On the other hand, nobody drafts strict BPA with zero considerations for need. We wouldn't draft a QB if he were BPA in the first. And need factors into the grades. Beane has said that we wouldn't rate some guys as high as a team with a 3-4 defense would. Exactly. It ain't 100% pure BPA. If the need-free BPA were a 3-4 DE, he wouldn't be our BPA. Nobody drafts 100% for need. But Beane and McDermott feel, absolutely correctly, that drafting 100% for need pretty much guarantees that you won't draft very well. They seem to be an awful lot closer to BPA than to drafting for need. And yeah, Metcalf does seem to be the highest rated WR in this draft, for most. Brandt has him #1: http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap3000001026448/article/hot-150-gil-brandts-topranked-prospects-for-2019-nfl-draft Here's a couple of others, but there are a lot: https://thedraftnetwork.com/prospect-rankings https://www.drafttek.com/Top-100-NFL-Draft-Prospects-2019.asp Jeremiah disagrees, though. But who's the best WR is beside Beane's point. Who's the best player who would fit the system with maybe a few positions thrown out for lack of need, such as center and QB ... that would seem to be more of how Beane works. I wouldn't mind if they pick him, though my guess is they won't. But if they do, it'll be because they thought he was BPA where they picked him.

Agreed. Ssssssssssssso .... there'd be a salary cap. That would be much the same as it is now, only the defacto cap total would be higher.

That is one, count it - one, reason for the existence of thebtag. Not the only one

That would immediately create two tiers of teams, the rich ones who can always buy a franchise QB, and the others. Dallas makes a ton more revenue than Buffalo, for instance. Let them have a QB outside the system and when their QB got old, another poorer team's QB would be absolutely thrilled to move there and be paid five times more. No way does that make sense beyond the five or six teams with the highest revenue.

Nah, Kyle was good right from the beginning. As good as he would become? No, but very good. 54 tackles as a rookie DT and generally looked like he'd be a good player and a terrific bargain. Good post. Thanks.

I disagree. He started out that way, but by the end of the season he was understanding what he saw much better. But you're right, we do need that to keep going.

Absolutely not. The 26 year old Julio? Yeah. Now? Doesn't have a long future.

Ronnie Stanley.

I don't. But what's sure is that if you look at last year, Beane's only year in harness, they didn't do anything to make anyone think so. They had a ton of picks to start. And even after the trades, they left themselves with at least one pick in every round except the 2nd, but they had two in the first. If they do something this year where they move up while leaving themselves nothing in an early round, it'll be the first time.

BPA.