GunnerBill

Haha definitely not a player I was even aware existed. I didn't realise until the article the other day the Chiefs invited him to rookie camp tryouts the week before we did but ultimately passed on offering him a deal so it was obviously more than just the hometown kid done good. Others had some minor levels of interest (though rookie camp tryout is pretty low down the totem pole).

Here is some hopefully interesting reading while folks wait nervously for tonight..... one of the things people say to you when you attempt to grade draft prospects is "bet you never tell us about the ones you miss on." I always try and make sure that I'm as transparent both when I miss and when I hit so one of the threads I like to do each January is look back at guys who were undrafted by the end of the draft that I had draftable grades on and anyone that I didn't have enough of an evaluation on to put on my draftboard but who I flagged in my annual sleepers thread. Reminder of some alumni of this column who have gone on to have on to have reasonable careers are Robby "Chosen" Anderson (2016); Tyrel Dodson and Carl Granderson (2019); Bryce Huff and Juwan Johnson (2020) and Ivan Pace (2023). At the end of the 2024 NFL Draft I had only 4 undrafted guys with draftable grades on my board and only one additional sleeper. So five guys to consider when looking at how their rookie year went: Beau Brade, S, Maryland Brade was a late 3rd round grade on my board. His testing numbers likely stopped him getting drafted but his tape as a hard hitting box safety was pretty solid. He was signed as a UDFA by the Ravens and made the 53 coming out of camp. He has been a core special teamer playing 70% of the snaps in the kicking game but did get a handful of defensive snaps across three games. His ST ability likely means he is going to stick in the league for a few years and give him a chance to climb the depth chart on defense. Leonard Taylor III, DT, Miami Taylor was also a late 3rd round grade on my board but his tape in his final season at Miami was mixed and saw him slip right through the draft. That was very surprising to me but Taylor was swooped up by the Jets, made their active roster, and established himself in the defensive line rotation playing 28% of the snaps and tallying 1.5 sacks, 4 pressures and 4 tackles for loss. He could take another step in 2025. Javion Cohen, IOL, Miami Cohen had a late 4th round grade on my board. He was another guy, like Brade, whose tape was better than his testing and he did seem to play heavy in his final year with Miami after transferring from Alabama. He was signed as an UDFA by the Browns and made their initial 53. He was active for one game, in week 4, before being waived and the re-signed to the practice squad where he remained before signing a futures contract after the season. I expect Cleveland are hoping a full offseason NFL conditioning programme will bring improvement in 2025. Dallin Holker, TE, Colorado State Holker was the lowest guy left on my board with a 4th/5th borderline grade and was probably the most speculative of this group in terms of him actually getting drafted. He stood out in last year's Shrine Bowl and when I went back to his Colorado State tape I saw a really solid tight end who could do a bit of everything. He went undrafted to the Saints, made the 53 (which makes it a clean sweep this year for my draftable undrafted guys) and played in 12 games in 2024 as mainly a blocking tight end and special teamer. He got his most run week 18 against the Buccaneers and had two catches on three targets. Has a chance to make an impact in 2025. The one guy that I hadn't watched enough of to have a full grade on or to have on my board but who I flagged in my sleepers list prior to the draft who then went undrafted was: Blake Watson, RB, Memphis I had an indicative 5th round grade on Watson but hadn't done enough on him to have a full grade and put him on the board. My first exposure was the Shrine Bowl where I thought he was just a pass catching back, but when I did get to some Memphis film was impressed with his running. He was signed as an UDFA by the Broncos and... you guessed it.... he made the 53! He was waived during the season and then had bounced between the practice squad and active roster, playing in two games and getting his most run week 16 against the Chargers where he had 4 carries and one reception. He was inactive vs the Bills last week in the playoffs. As groups go I think that was a pretty good one. To have draftable grades on five guys that went undrafted and for all five to make their team's roster coming out of camp is a pretty good strike rate. I'll chalk that one up as a decent year and I really like Taylor's chances, in particular, to join the alumni list for this topic in years to come. I'm already well into looking at the guys who are hoping to be selected in Green Bay at the end of April, and no doubt again there will be some of those folks to talk about come next January.

Huh. He was when I pulled this list together on Thursday. You are right though his name is no longer there. Shame.

Conclusion it doesn't matter who did or didn't want to squib vs kick deep. It is on the Head Coach whether the call was wrong or the communication was wrong. In a moment that big the Head Coach has to be in total control. There is no world in which the kick element isn't entirely on McD. The defense that they played afterwards... a mix of coaching and execution. The calls were too passive but the second on particularly the secondary botched the execution too. All around coaching failure not helped by some brain freeze among the defensive players.

Also only 14 carries for Gibbs. Wasting 7 carries on David Montgomery because he is "physical." The Lions were not really in have to throw mode until the final 7 minutes. Gibbs should have seen more of the ball.

He was outstanding last week. I gave him a game ball. Not only is he a beast of a run game blocker for us.... he gets open better than Kincaid. He definitely doesn't run better routes so it is kind of hard to rely on it but he just consistently gets more separation even if its all a bit improvised. The Bills need to be willing to use him more in the pass game IMO. The early big play last week was a schemed shot for him. Think Brady needs to make sure he has 1 or 2 of those tonight too and for as far as we go in this post season.

Yep. You can't overcome that level of talent loss.

My personal horn toot is I really liked Dyami Brown coming out. Not really sure why it has taken his entire rookie deal for it to happen but he has fully broken out in these playoffs. Just in time to make himself some money in FA. I wouldn't hate the Bills taking a shot. That talent has always been there.

Yea I am naturally a bit sceptical of new owners. They rarely get things right first time. But give credit to the owners in Washington looks like they made some very solid hires - in my defence when they hired Adam Peters I did say that makes the HC job a bit more attractive.

They are going to go down as the greatest dynasty in NFL history. I really hope whoever prevails tomorrow can beat them. Obviously ideally the Bills. But I'd be cheering for Baltimore if its them.

Shame. The years he was out he did UK tv. He is pretty good on tv. Better at it than his brother. He is a terrible coach.

The New Orleans Saints.

It takes normally 2-3 weeks to run a hiring process. Then another week minimum to build a staff and then you have to self scout your roster which coaches are heavily involved in. You can't do that in a couple of days. Then you have to know the FAs. And there is 5 weeks between the Superbowl and FA. It isn't enough time.

There simply isn't time. Unless they are willing to truncate the pre-season and camp and move everything else back.

No it is by the start of the game tonight. If you haven't by then you wait until they are out.

You are not.

If you didn't let teams start until then they'd be in such a rush they wouldn't be working around the schedules of coordinators coaching in the Superbowl. I mean maybe you knock it back a round and it is only 2 teams coordinators who are ruled out rather than 4 but I just don't think it makes it fairer personally. The calendar is the problem. The NFL has maximised it.

I think people do aopreciate it. But that is the reason people were down on him. Because it is really hard. And Von still isn't the old Von. He has, the last 3 or 4 games, played as well as his body will allow him to but while that still means winning his reps and getting pressure that 6th gear burst to close the gap and get to the Quarterback isn't there. He is speeding QBs up and getting them out of rhythm and that is not nothing but it needs the coverage to be on point to make an impact. I'm hoping it can be enough on two or three key third or fourth downs tomorrow to make a difference.

I think what you'd end up with is coordinators of teams getting past the divisional round just never getting hired. I don't think that is a solution. The ONLY viable solution if you want to do something (and I don't have an issue with how it works currently) is to truncate pre-season and training camp, give everyone the entirity of July off and that allows you to push FA back a bit and the draft back about 3 weeks to mid May. Do your OTAs and mini camps May and June.

Although it increasingly sounds like that was an ownership direction as much as a GM decision. When Gaine went to Houston it looked a good situation. Fell apart quickly though.

You mean the whole process? Possibly. But that still squeezes the time.

There just isn't time. The NFL has maximised the calendar. If you say no coaches can interview until after the Superbowl that leaves 4 and a half weeks until free agency opens. It just isn't time to run a process, hire a coach, hire a staff, self scout your team, scout the upcoming FAs and set your free agency priorities. It is proven already that getting to the Superbowl makes it harder to get hired as a HC because even when they are chosen in advance and start work the Monday after the Superbowl and have made a start on a staff ahead of time it is STILL difficult to get everything else in place to hit the ground running by FA. I know people say well push FA back. To do that you have to then move the draft back too and they did do that one year and have it in May and the teams moaned that didn't give them enough time to get players in and settled ahead of the June down time. And that time in June has to be protected. It is the only time in the entire year coaches and personnel people get off.

Aaron Glenn is the favourite there but also with the Jets. He has to decide which, if any, of those is less toxic. If Glenn takes the Jet job I think McCarthy and Brady will be the finalists for the Saints.

They sort of have. Beane has had three guys hired off his staff to become GMs: Brian Gaine by Houston, Joe Schoen by Miami and Dan Morgan by Carolina. Gaine lost a power struggle to Bill O'Brien and ended up back pretty quickly and Schoen is on the hotseat.

Sure. I am not saying he sucks. I just don't think their chances to win or lose are dependent on him.