MrEpsYtown

I like Ike. I always did. But he is 29 in October and coming off his second achilles. He was a raw, late bloomer at Iowa and took some time in the NFL. The notion that he is young with upside is misguided and inaccurate. At the same time I think he represents safisfactory, cheap, functional depth. But if he is starting at guard come September, something went wrong.

I can’t wait for the controversy surrounding the possibility of your face of the franchise named Pennix

He is 100% gone. Unless his market craters with all of these interesting linebackers in the draft. With all the spread RPO stuff these days, the QB doesn’t matter as much in the college game. Load up on skill players RBs and WRs. Find a smart kid who won’t turn the ball over and you can win a national championship. I think that is what we are seeing with these guys.

If I needed a QB, I would take Richardson. I like the raw athlete every time. I loved Justin Herbert coming out, guys like Trey Lance…it’s 50/50 but if you are taking a shot on a guy, this guy is the kind of guy I would shoot my shot on. I hate small qbs and game manager guys. I would make the argument that his presence at times raised the play of others. Like Torrence the guard, the big thing is that he doesn’t give up sacks. When you watch him play, Richardson bails out Torrence a lot. JMO, but I get why the scouts are drooling.

it would annoy me if the Pats took him in round 2. I don’t think he gets by the Lions. I think we would have to take him in round 1

Jack Campbell is a monster. A little slower than Tremaine, but just as big with Luke Keuchly’s instincts and crazy explosive numbers and ridiculous agility. This is the guy I want as our new Mike. I don’t know where he gets drafted, but he’s a dude. This is the actual next Brian Urlacher/Luke Keuchly

Ideally? Dawkins Bates Morse Issac Seumalo or Connor McGovern Brown Likely: Dawkins David Edwards Morse Bates Brown

I saw him on the ground a lot, which is one of those red flags for O-line play. But I like him. He isn't my favorite. Looking forward to his drills this week. I like Avila, and I would love Torrence in round 2, though he doesn't get there. I also like guys like Steen to move inside. Jaxson Kirkland is pretty interesting to me as well. Cody Mauch looks like the kind of guy they look for and I think he will test well. I really like Nick Broeker, not sure if he is a day starter, but I like his game.

I'm going to keep beating the dead horse, but this is why I love Germaine Pratt. I know he got some heat for calling out his teammate for pushing Mahomes out of bounds. I loved what he did. The play was incredibly stupid and I am glad Pratt called him out. Pratt is like Diggs but on defense. He wants to win. He has an edge, a toughness to him and he will be demanding of his teammates. McDermott's Carolina teams had guys like Greg Hardy, Thomas Davis, Charles Johnson, and Luke Keuchly. Josh Norman was a bit annoying with some of his antics, but the dude had an edge. We are sorely missing that edge. That super bowl team also had Jared Allen, and Cortland Finnegan. In Philly he had guys like Brian Dawkins, Trent Cole, Jason Babin, and Jeremiah Trotter, just tough nasty players who demanded of each other and other teams feared. As much as I was never really a huge Jerry Hughes guy, his attitude brought something to the defense that felt missing this year.

I'd do it in a heartbeat. I don't think you will find a big receiver upgrade in free agency or where we are drafting.

Replace Tremaine with Germaine Pratt and that is already a massive step in terms of bringing that edge and nastiness to the D

Unfortunately, there are exactly zero receivers in the draft that do all of those things. For the mid round guys, it’s not even close to meeting that criteria. Maybe the top guys like Johnston have a shot, those guys are out of reach. There aren’t really guys in free agency who meet that criteria either. Basically it’s OBJ, or bust if you want those six criteria. If you really want all that, you are basically looking for another Diggs. It would have to OBJ or be a vet for trade.

I took that in a little differently. He said that they want that 5th wide receiver spot to have special teams ability. On the surface it sounds like Beane let Hodgins go to keep Kumerow. That is not true. He let Hodgins go to keep McKenzie/Shakir…Beane is basically saying that Hodgins was not in their top 4 and didn’t play special teams so he was expendable. The mistake they made here was keeping McKenzie over Hodgins. You can totally justify keeping Hodgins over McKenzie if you intend to have him be a part of the offense. But you can’t justify keeping Hodgins over guys you need on gameday, special teams guys. If I recall, it was at the trade deadline when they had a bit of a roster crunch adding Marlowe and Tre White coming off IR and they probably thought they could slip him through.

I could see it. I do think there will be a meltdown when it is a defensive player. However, I don't think they will be willing to rely on a rookie at that spot. I like Sydney Brown just because he seems like a really good projection into our system having played in that Lovie Smith-style Tampa 2. But I think the linebacker and safety holes are more likely to be filled with young vets. Perhaps another underappreciated slow corner (like Hyde and Poyer were) who can make the switch. I just don't think they will be willing to stick a rookie in that spot aside from maybe Brian Branch or Brown. I love Johnson, but I'm not sure if it is the perfect fit. But that is JMO.

Well I just hope he drops to 27

Agreed. I think he is a second/third round pick. It depends on the need for safeties this year. Last year's safety class was loaded and most went in the 2-3 range. Depending how he runs, and I think he will test well, I think he's a second round pick.

Yeah, I'm not sure this matters. God forbid there is an unfortunate situation, this team has no chance to compete without #17. Then you play for the #1 pick at that point and look forward to the following year. In reality, maybe Keenum, or Barkley, or Trubisky, or Kyle Allen or something like that. But see? Does it matter?

Probably whoever replaces Tremaine. The level of play will probably be the same but PFF might come out with some BS coverage score and people will go nuts. Also Ryan Bates/Spencer Brown.

One other thing that I found interesting and we have been talking about on here is that Beane talked about the need for playmakers. He basically said that 11-15 play drives down the field are how they want to play…however he said they need more 3 play 60 yard drives. I like that they recognize the need for more playmakers and I hope they are able to find some whether its WR, RB, TE…I think that is their emphasis in the draft and I think they will look to add a starter and depth with cheap young FA vets on the OL. I don’t seem them using high luxury picks on guards. True playmakers, whether its RAC guys or take the top off the defense guys will help take some of that coverage away from Diggs. Playmakers in free agency are expensive, in the draft they only cost picks. We need those explosive plays.

To me he is one of those post draft league minimum signings if you can’t find a complimentary back in free agency or the draft.

I’m not sure Jackson is back. He is an RFA and the tender is 2.6 million. For what he provides as a depth corner, I just think it is too pricey when they are pinching pennies and can get much cheaper players in the draft or UDFA. Perhaps he is non tendered and brought back at a cheaper price as they did in the past with McKenzie. But I would not bank on him being back for sure. Unless they truly believe he is a part of their future…then the 2.6 million is fine

Yeah but this is a pretty lively message board and I think it creates conversations. Some people need to be heroes I guess, but reading between the lines is a fun activity and I think making predictions is part of the fun.

Yeah I mean Beane said “we have Dion, Mitch, Bates, Spencer back and need to fill LG since Saffold is a UFA. Also its possible we bring Saffold back.” I would not expect wholesale changes honestly

Yeah I really do think that OBJ is coming. I get the sense they feel, and I feel this too, that all those first round WR are going to be gone, and is a 3-4th round guy this year better than Gabe? Not sure.

Beane said he had a high ankle sprain that took away from his route running because he had to take an extra false step on his release. Interesting point. He also said he’s would love to have some of those drops back.