DCOrange

I'm really curious to see what the Packers end up doing. I think Michael Pittman is a really good fit for them, though people that are not me would probably say that's too early for him. I think he checks all of the boxes the Packers and LaFleur are generally looking for though.

Yes

To be fair, Atlanta is literally known as ATL. I don't think people really walk around saying "Welcome to the Buf." It still looks gross on these jerseys though.

The throwback is really sharp. Everything else...yikes. The two on the left are the best of the new jerseys but they're saying they'll be going monochrome for their main jersey combos. What I had heard was that the Falcons and Rams were going to be gross and the Bucs, Browns, and Chargers were going to be relatively decent. Seems like they're 2/2 so far.

Aside from both having red and white, they aren't really similar at all.

With the 76th pick in the NFL Draft, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers select Terrell Burgess, safety out of the University of Utah. This was easily the most difficult decision I had to make in this draft. In the first round, I had it narrowed down to whichever tackle fell, Kinlaw, or whichever of the 3 stud WRs was on the board. Ultimately Andrew Thomas was the only one that remained from that grouping, so easy enough. In the second round, I was tempted by Ashtyn Davis and JK Dobbins, but I knew that I needed a WR that could come in and start on day 1 out wide and Michael Pittman was one of the very few that I was that confident in, so ultimately, it wasn't that difficult for me. This pick though...this was brutal. I ultimately narrowed it down to Burgess, my heartthrob Amik Robertson, Josh Uche, Zack Moss, and Antonio Gibson. Ultimately, I decided to gamble on good RB prospects still being available on Day 3. Since this is my final pick of the mock, we won't know how that gamble turns out, but looking at who is still available, I'm comfortable thinking that I can get a starting RB and if not, there's starting caliber RBs available in free agency still. The same more or less goes for the edge rushers, except I'm just looking for developmental depth rather than a starter. Tampa only has two edge rushers right now though so that pick will need to be prioritized very soon (though again, there are starting caliber edge rushers available in free agency still so we could sign someone there). That left me with Amik Robertson, who I've loved throughout the draft process, and Terrell Burgess. Robertson has some size/athleticism issues that will give teams some pause, but his quickness, instincts, toughness, and ball skills give him a chance to become a great nickel corner IMO. In this case though, all of Tampa's corners showed promise last season as the year wore on. That was a pleasant surprise/potentially a fluke, but ultimately, corner just wasn't a disaster the way the safeties were last season. Justin Evans should be returning this year, which will help, but Burgess can step in and be a starter from day 1 (and he can line up in the slot if needed as well).

Just don’t really care to publish that online if I can help it haha

Yeah, I'm not saying I wouldn't do it...just saying it is a very high price to pay. I could go either way on it but I do agree that he's almost certainly better than what you'd get at 54 or even any pick after #2 really.

I think a pretty decent number of people would say he's at least on Ford/Clark's level if not better. It's obviously a very high price to pay though, especially considering we already don't have a 1st round pick.

That'll obviously depend on who is available since we aren't picking until 54. I tend to think one of the safeties are the most likely match of BPA and underrated need. I'm low-key hoping that Delpit ends up sliding like some people think he could but really, there's like 5 of them that I'd be happy with at 54. From the skill positions that I spent most of my time on, of the guys that are most likely to be available at 54, I would say Michael Pittman at WR or Clyde Edwards-Helaire at RB are probably my favorites. There's a chance that a better WR prospect slides to 54 but we'll see. And I would guess right now that Beane will ultimately take a DB or a lineman. I haven't spent too much time on them, but just off of what I've read, I'm not particularly high on the defensive linemen. I think an OG could be a solid choice though.

Rather than post the 1000 words or whatever it is again, here's a link to my BR post that includes everything I've worked on for this year's draft: https://www.buffalorumblings.com/2020/4/7/21212006/melancers-draft-info-who-weve-met-with-scouted-rb-wr-metrics-qb Included in this are: Links to my QB scouting reports for this year's prospects as well as the prior two years (and draft grades for the Mahomes class but unfortunately I lost my scouting reports from that year when I got my new laptop, which is part of the reason I do it online now) A color-coded breakdown of which prospects we've sent scouts to watch in live action A list of prospects we've met with during the draft process (including the FaceTime meetings) A breakdown of the WRs based on NFL Combine numbers, PlayerProfiler.com, and everyone's favorite, Pro Football Focus A breakdown of the RBs based on those same three sources And lastly, links to some of my older draft-related posts/metrics breakdowns to get an idea of any historical trends. For reference, I believe roughly half of our draft picks in the Beane era have been players that we scouted live, and FWIW, Singletary was one of the main standouts of my RB analysis last year. That should pretty much do it for me up until draft time. I'll obviously still be around discussing prospects in more detail, but I don't have any plans to scout additional QBs or create any other breakdowns at this time. Hope you all enjoy!

Hey man, just checking out some condos. I'll be back in 6 hours to make my 7th round selection.

I have a feeling he will go much much earlier than this in the real draft. Nice pickup this late.

I have to say I am with you Kirbs. He is no more than a late day 3 guy in this class to me. I concur with you guys. Really enjoyed watching him...his hands and contested catch ability are among the best in the class IMO, but man, to say he struggles to separate is an understatement. I think I've compared him to Duke as well. I think he could be better than Duke, but I don't really see him playing a valuable role in the NFL even if he develops nicely. Like Gunner, I'd take him late on Day 3 and see what happens, but I'm not touching him before that. It's entirely possible I've propped Shea up a bit due to how bad the bottom of the QB class is this year. Once you get past Hurts (my QB7), it's tough for me to really justify taking any of these guys. Even guys like Patterson and Anthony Gordon have very low ceilings IMO.

Weirdly enough, pretty much all of the guys I'd normally peg as a sleeper per Gunner's criteria seem to have risen up draft boards to roughly where they should be now anyways. Maybe the one guy that still counts as a sleeper in my eyes is Darius Anderson, who I like in the 4th or 5th round but seems to have nearly no draft buzz. His 40 was disappointing, but on film, he looks like he accelerates very well (and I believe his 10 yard split at the combine was very good), and he's simply very difficult to tackle. He slips out of a lot of tackles. His receiving numbers are also pretty good, though not a very large sample size. Some other guys I like that don't technically qualify per Gunner's criteria: Michael Pittman Jr. - USC WR - I think he's a fringe 1st - early 2nd round prospect. For awhile he was looked at as a 3rd-4th rounder but seems like he's starting to settle in the 2nd round picture. Bryan Edwards - SC WR - He's a 2nd round talent but injuries and bad QB play will likely push him to at least the 3rd round if not Day 3. Amik Robertson - Louisiana Tech CB - Almost certainly will exclusively play in the slot, and there's some questions about if he can survive with his relatively small size and non-elite athleticism, but man, he was super impressive in college. I thought he was a sleeper candidate for sure but it seems like he's recently risen up into the 2nd-3rd round picture and that's where he should be taken IMO. Jacob Eason - UW QB - Seems like he's started to slide to the 2nd-3rd round picture, but for me, he's ever so slightly my #4 QB ahead of Justin Herbert. I have Eason, Herbert, Fromm, and Hurts all very close to one another. With Eason, you're going to need a strong O-Line in front of him, but give him protection and he has the arm talent to pick defenses apart. I think he'd be an ideal fit in Dallas, Pittsburgh, or Tampa, though none of them technically need a QB (at least not right away though that's probably for the best in Eason's case). Shea Patterson - UM QB - He might actually qualify for Gunner's criteria, but I don't feel super strong about him. He seems destined to go undrafted at this point and he's admittedly a very flawed prospect in probably serious enough ways that he's at the absolute best a decent backup QB in the NFL, but I think he has enough playmaking ability out of structure to potentially help a team as a backup QB. I still wouldn't take him before the 5th round, but I think he has more potential than most people give him credit for.

Cousins also gets ridiculed for the primetime game record, which I would argue is probably mostly just a result of playing for bad Washington teams that were generally up against superior competition in their primetime games. Like you said, he's not great, but he's good and people seem to have a misconception that he's a below average starter or average at best.

Makes sense to me, though playing devil's advocate: It's been two drafts. Doesn't necessarily mean it's a trend more than it is a coincidence. I think it could be reasonably argued that the roster is in a different place now than it was the previous two years and therefore, our strategy may be different now. I don't think RB and safety can be written off just because we haven't addressed them yet (we also could theoretically still address them before the draft though I highly doubt we'd sign a safety). Given the strength of the WR class, there's a decent chance the BPA in the 2nd or 3rd round is a WR, in which case I don't think it can be written off either. Overall though, I do tend to think our first pick will be in the secondary or trenches, and that fits this article's conclusion.

I didn't vote for Claypool and don't really think he's worth the pick here, but to be fair, I'm not sure any of the pass rushers or TEs available are good enough prospects to warrant the pick either. I do think a corner, safety, or RB probably should have been the pick in this scenario.

I'm totally fine with it if a guy like Pittman, Reagor, Higgins, Shenault, Aiyuk, etc. slide to 54. I view Claypool as like a 3rd or 4th round prospect though so I'm not really in favor of this one. Being optimistic though, he gives us a combination of size and athleticism that we don't currently have in the WR corps so he could end up having a role early on if he develops nicely.

Based on what's in my 800 sf, I would guess probably a lot?

Dugger or Ashtyn Davis would be my choice here, but absent them as options, I voted for Edwards-Helaire.

Alright alright alright. I am home. I am in my war room. And the Tampa Bay Buccaneers have reached consensus after 6 hours of deliberation. With the 45th pick in the NFL Draft, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers select Michael Pittman Jr., wide receiver from the University of Southern California. I won't spoil who else I was considering just in case they slide to the 3rd round, but ultimately, Tampa is in desperate need of a 3rd receiver to go with arguably the best WR duo in the NFL in Evans and Godwin. With Evans out wide and Godwin as a versatile but mostly slot-based WR, another wide out is the ideal fit in Tampa. This team is ready to win now and with Brady at QB, there isn't time to waste on developing a WR, so grabbing someone that can start out wide from day 1 was very important and while this is a very deep WR class, there aren't many available at this point that can step in right away and be a dependable starter outside. With Pittman coming aboard, Tampa should have the best WR trio in the NFL in my opinion. With that, @Golden Goat and the Denver Broncos are now on the clock.

Yeah haha. Almost home now and then I can sit down and figure this out. Been looking at condos for my sister in law.

Didn’t have time to make my pick this morning but I should be home in an hour or two and can make the pick then

At the end of the day, I will trust any decision McD makes when it comes to DBs. If he ultimately says he wants Dugger, I don’t see any reason to assume he won’t be good for us. I like what I’ve read and seem of him but obviously there’s very limited tape. As far as D2 prospects being immediate contributors, it obviously takes a special prospect but Dugger might be one. Ali Marpet for example went from being a D2 player to an NFL stud overnight