dave mcbride

Yes, Kincaid has a bit of Kelce in him. He can instinctually locate the soft spots in zones. He’s far more of a matchup nightmare than Knox, who is still a better than average TE.

Um … https://www.pro-football-reference.com/teams/nwe/2011.htm

“Small school” — LOL. Be better. https://www.espn.com/college-football/boxscore/_/gameId/401331239

You win with offense. They can find a corner with the 34th pick anyway.

Who would folks rather have - Addison (my favorite by a ways among the draft options) or a proven elite vet in Hopkins? I'm on the fence, but I also worry that neither will be an option.

I think Addison's short area footwork is incredible and he's also the best route runner in the draft. I'd love for him to be a Bill, but I doubt he lasts. I hope I'm wrong!

Yep. 22 is better than 27. It's pretty simple if it's coming down to that (the late first/34th overall swap). One caveat: the Ravens don't have many picks: Round 1, Pick No. 22 Round 3, Pick No. 86 Round 4, Pick No. 124 Round 5, Pick No. 157 Round 6, Pick No. 199

Regardless, Baltimore has the most to offer because their first rounder is a decent bit better than Buffalo's and KC's assuming they do a swap for 34. The issue then becomes AZ drafting a WR before Buffalo because they'll need one. I worry that the Bills end up being sh*t out of luck on the receivers who can play both inside and outside. If that ends up happening, they should do everything possible to trade down to the 30s because it's unlikely that whoever is there at 27 is worth that pick.

@GunnerBill wrote the following about Stroud in his QB e v a l post, and it seems to match up with a poor S2 result: ”- Not sure how well he diagnoses pressure. Georgia messed with his head some in the CFB semi final with lots of simulated blitzes early and then actual blitzes late in the game and he struggled to identify which was which. - Can all get a bit messy when he has to play off script. He noticeably struggles once you ask him to play outside the structure of the offense including a tendency to roll towards pressure and away from the designed routes in the play concept.”

https://theathletic.com/4455444/2023/04/27/nfl-draft-s2-cognition-cj-stroud-bryce-young/ Fascinating piece. Seems a lot more relevant than the Wonderlic.

4 forced fumbles, 4 passes defensed, AP defensive rookie of the year, a bunch of tackles for loss … come on. He was legit excellent in his rookie season, as his 14 AV attests. https://www.pro-football-reference.com/players/Y/YounCh04.htm

In three seasons as a starter on a loaded USC team with Tony Boselli as his LT and a sequence of #1 receivers that included Curtis Conway, Johnny Morton, and Keyshawn Johnson, he never beat ND or UCLA and repeatedly choked in those games. His brother Brett was the number one QB coming out of high school and flamed out at UCLA too (he blamed the program, transferred to Michigan State, and flamed out there too). There was something about RJ: despite the obvious physical talent, he dropped to round 4 for very good reasons. I was never a believer. In his final performance against UCLA in 1994, he was sacked 6 times and turned the ball over three times in a 31-19 loss. And USC was WAY more talented than UCLA that year. The six sacks were a harbinger of things to come. https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1994-11-20-sp-65097-story.html

Brown got injured and it ruined his career. He looked amazing beforehand. I think injuries disqualify someone from being a bust if they looked good before the injuries. Steve Emtman was dominant early on, but his injury rendered him a shell of himself. If not for the injuries, both Brown and Emtman would have been excellent players, I believe.

Seems like an honest and fair quote to me. He came in halfway through the season and didn't know anyone. How is that either surprising or problematic?

Most importantly, the QBs are nothing to write home about, right? None of those guys really impress me.

Kelly left in early 2013 and Freeman's first season at Oregon was 2014. I don't see the connection. Are you simply talking about the system he was plugged into at Oregon? Also, as for him being a massive bust, he was a 3rd round pick who had a couple of 500-yard seasons before going into decline. I'd say less "massive bust" rather than "mild disappointment" -- his career is pretty typical for NFL players taken after the first couple of rounds, although I suppose relative to his college production it looks pretty meager. I do take your point about scheming; Charbonnet seemed set up to produce in that system. Regardless, he looked good to me.

He's from LA and I think he simply wasn't getting playing time at Michigan. He and Hassan Haskins pretty much shared time equally in 2019 but Haskins got more in the 2020 covid season. Charbonnet then transferred, and it was a smart move. As for the Oregon RBs, LaMichael James (a bust in the NFL) wasn't his recruit, although he racked up huge numbers at Oregon under Kelly. Kenjon Barner had one season under Kelly and was drafted in the sixth round. That's really all we have to go on. Anyway, sometimes you gotta look at the player rather than the coach. People thought Aaron Rodgers was a product of Jon Tedford (a guy who had tons of productions with the QBs he coached who then failed in the pros), and he dropped to #23 overall despite his shockingly good arm talent. As for Charbonnet, I'm a bit of UCLA homer (I went there for grad school), so maybe I'm biased. But he looked like a freaking great back when I watched him. But who knows -- maybe the system did him a ton of favors.

The guy who I always found to be truly impressive was Zach Charbonnet. Your thoughts on him? I think he has the style and talent to be a pretty good pro.

Given what I know is going on in schools and colleges because of covid over the last couple of years, it wouldn't surprise me at all that this group was screwed up by it. One of my best friends is a fifth-grade teacher and has told me that covid has broken kids. And a close friend who is a Vanderbilt prof told me the same thing about college students there.

Stefon Diggs was a five-star recruit! He went in the fifth round (bad qb at Maryland, some injuries). Just sayin'.

You're forgetting Davante Adams, another second rounder. He's arguably the best receiver in the NFL.

From Albert Breer's column today: '“If you have 15 first-round grades, then the class sucks,” said one general manager Saturday. “And I got less than 15 this year.”' https://www.si.com/nfl/2023/04/24/draft-team-needs-pick-predictions-analysis

The thing about QBs is that if they pan out, you're absolutely happy you've taken them in the first round because of the fifth year option. In a weird way, if the Raiders really like Herndon, then moving up to get him in the late first is the smart play even if they're not competing for him.

Daniel Jeremiah's top 150 posted today. He has Downs at 60th: https://www.nfl.com/news/daniel-jeremiah-s-top-150-prospects-in-the-2023-nfl-draft-class.