DCOrange

Using TDN's predictive board, I personally love the way it worked out (assuming OLine is mainly addressed in free agency), but I definitely do not expect as many skill position guys to be drafted as I did; the draft board just fell in a way where I felt like these guys were too good to pass up. 9. Ed Oliver, DT, Houston - To me, Oliver is still a top 3-5 prospect in the draft and he addresses what is IMO a need for this team; pretty easy decision IMO. 40. Dalton Risner, Anywhere on the O-Line, Kansas State - I feel pretty confident that if he actually falls here, Buffalo will ***** him up. Seems like he's this year's Harrison Phillips in terms of guys that are exactly what Buffalo covets. 74. Isaac Nauta, TE, Georgia - Might be a late riser; Nauta is athletic but not really flexible in terms of quick-twitch athleticism, but he's got good hands and plays hard. 106. Rodney Anderson, RB, Oklahoma - Might have been the #1 RB taken if he had avoided injuries. 125. Stanley Morgan, Jr., WR, Nebraska - I have him rated around #6 or #7 WR in the class; has great hands and knows how get open 137. DaMarkus Lodge, WR, Ole Miss - More of a raw developmental guy IMO. Has decent size at 6'1" and pairs it with 4.4 speed to be a legitimate deep threat. 148. Derrick Baity, CB, Kentucky - Has the length that McBeane like to see in a corner and knows how to play the Cover 2 already 168. Jonathan Ledbetter, DE, Georgia - A bigger DE at roughly 275 lbs, but he always seemed to make plays whenever I watched Georgia. 203. Tyre Brady, WR, Marshall - My #3 or #4 WR in the draft; I will go down with this ship; I'm much higher on him than most people are. 206. James Williams, RB, Washington State - Often compared to New England's James White, I'd love to spend a Day 3 pick on a receiving back.

This feels like a very small story to me. We've seen non-stories get blown up in the past, so it can't be ruled out, but I think any fantasies of him being forced to sell the team are extraordinarily unlikely.

The vibe I get is that KC doesn't value the RB position that way. Think they're more likely to just draft another rookie than to sign a big name like Bell.

Man, Boeheim has really turned things around after that brutal shooting start to his career. He's quickly turning into like the #2 or 3 most important player on the team. Since the amazingly bad first month (2 points per game on 16.5% TS%), Boeheim has scored roughly 7 points a game on 61.2% TS% since, and he's averaging roughly 20 points per 40 minutes with his playing time trending up over 20 minutes a game. I don't really want a lineup of 5 forwards to be our long-term solution, but given the lack of ball-handling our PGs have and Battle's ability to break his man down off the dribble, I think this 5 forward lineup makes sense for this particular roster; puts a lot of length at the top of the zone while having a lot of quickness on the backline to swarm to the ball. I still wish, even with Chukwu's awful hands, that we'd throw him the ball every once in awhile; he's constantly left completely wide open right under the basket after he sets his screens. Even he is capable of dunking the ball when nobody is around him. And his defense is still very impactful as long as he stays out of foul trouble.

Granted the Colts have a ***** ton of money and assets to play with, so they can probably afford to do it, but having said that: I don't think they need an upgrade at RB; they're already good there with Mack, Hines, and Wilkins IMO I think I remember hearing that the Colts GM is one of those guys that doesn't like spending money on RBs

I would nominate DK Metcalf and Devin White as process guys based on their physical profiles.

I won't pretend to have watched much of the Jags this year, but Malik went from being rated elite by PFF the year before to being among the lowest rated DTs in the NFL this year.

I'd make that trade with zero hesitation. Likewise with OBJ.

I agree with the sentiment being that taking TEs in the first generally doesn't work out. But regarding Engram, he was only taken a couple picks after OJ Howard who has been better so far, albeit in a less-featured role.

I'm all in for the Lego Movie. I thought that everything was awesome in the first one and I'm confident the second will be more of the same. Nothing else really gripping me at the moment. Haven't done very well in keeping up with the movies lately, but I finally got around to seeing the new animated Spider-Man movie last month and I was pretty much blown away; I turned down free tickets to see it before it hit theaters and now realize that was a mistake.

Not necessarily a deterrent for signing him, but for what it's worth, Pewter Report (very reputable Bucs website) is reporting that Adam Humphries will likely cost $8+ million per year. Says that Tampa was willing to go to $6 million a year ago but Humphries camp was pushing for $8 million and after this season, they think they can get even more than that on the open market.

Nope. He's just a bench player in JUCO and even extrapolating his stats out for a 40 minute per game role, he'd only be averaging 9 points and 12 rebounds and he's only shooting 47% from the field. On the flipside, the JUCO he played for the year prior, he averaged 20 points and 18 rebounds per game while shooting a more respectable 55% from the field. Even in high school, he wasn't known for his scoring ability; it was his defense that had people excited. I think he was statistically the best shot blocker in EYBL history (one of the big AAU circuits). If we're looking for someone that can generate some offense as a big man, Tre Mitchell is much more of that type.

I think both are poor NBA prospects but would easily take Battle over Brissett. I suppose Brissett might have a higher ceiling but he shows no signs of remotely approaching that so far. Hard to remember a guy with his size and athleticism that's so bad finishing at the rim. He's 6'8" and a tank and he finishes in traffic worse than most PGs do. To me, Brissett is not a draftable prospect right now; you could talk yourself into Battle with a 2nd round pick. The biggest issue with Battle is that his offensive game is kinda outdated for the NBA; not a good 3 point shooter/has that hitch in his shot and he feasts on contested mid-range shots. On top of that, he doesn't have much of a chance to show his defensive abilities as part of the zone defense, he doesn't rebound, and he's still very much a work-in-progress as a passer. But all that said, there's at least hope that he's athletic enough to become a solid defender who can also get to the rim and finish (where he's among the best in the country I believe) and create his own jumper. Feels like if he can become a solid defender, he could have a role off the bench for someone. If Battle tests well athletically and shows a willingness to compete defensively, I think he has a chance to get himself drafted; Brissett seems like a disappointing longshot ala Tyler Roberson at the moment.

I'm with you; was just anticipating that people will try to disparage your post because one of the two years included for Keenum was almost certainly a fluke year. I was pointing out that even with Keenum coming back down to Earth last season, he's still comparable to Flacco.

For those thinking that this is simply because Keenum had the Vikings WRs to throw to and it was a fluke season for him (which it was), here's his numbers this season in which he sucked compared to Flacco's last two years (Flacco first, Keenum 2nd): Comp %: 62.9% vs. 62.3% Yd/Att: 6.04 vs. 6.63 AY/Att: 5.76 vs. 6.10 TD/Int: 1.58 vs. 1.2 TD%: 3.2% vs. 3.1% INT%: 2.0% vs. 2.6% QB Rating: 81.9 vs. 81.2 It's very close.

https://www.footballoutsiders.com/stat-analysis/2018/deep-ball-project This was done prior to this season, but Football Outsiders reviewed all of the QBs deep balls from the prior season (in which Keenum was a borderline MVP candidate) and determined that Keenum was the worst deep ball thrower in the league. Flacco was 2nd worst and the only QB Flacco had a higher accuracy percentage (different from completion percentage) than was Brett Hundley.

That doesn't answer the question. A slight upgrade over a bad QB doesn't mean Flacco is a good QB.

What in the what?

I don't think so. I don't know that they really intend to use a first round pick on a QB even before this, but I don't think Flacco takes them out of it either. He's a bad starting QB and even in the best case scenario, he's only a short-term fix.

QBR is one number (though I think Tyrod has Flacco beat across the board at this point anyways). There's no way to look at a chart of basically every relevant QB statistic, see that Flacco is in line or behind McCown in all of them, and come to the conclusion that he's anything but a below-average at best QB. I imagine they're committed to him at least for the next year or two unless the wheels really fall off, but this was just an obvious move to make. Flacco was going to be their backup QB while getting $20+ million per year and instead, they get an extra 4th round pick and can go and scoop up a decent backup QB at a fraction of the cost.

I imagine that's the only way a restructure happens; Flacco agrees to take less money while Denver agrees to guarantee a decent amount of it. Flacco must know after this trade that if he doesn't restructure, he simply won't see the end of the deal.

Who else did they get in this trade or are you referring to another move?

Correct, but we don't really care if they get it wrong; we just care if they're willing to take another QB at 10. I don't think this trade prevents that from happening.

Tough break for Denver. I wouldn't be so quick to write them off for drafting a QB still; Flacco is a bad starter at this point and surely they don't view him as the long-term guy there. Elway has been pretty aggressive about taking QBs in the past.