Besides DK Metcalf or Mecole Hardman, who would you have drafted besides Drew Sample?

[*ochocincos*]

(12-28-2020, 04:57 PM)Crazyjdawg Wrote: Looking at the 2nd and 3rd rounds of 2019, there has not really been many impact players that would have been available to us at our pick.  I was heartbroken when Jawaan Taylor, Greg Little, Cody Ford and Dalton Risner all went in the 9 selections before our pick. Those were the players we desperately needed and there really weren't many OTs that were graded as 2nd rounders past that point. The next offensive tackle selected was Max Scharping out of Northern Illinois, but he was being graded in the 3rd to 4th round range, so it would been a hard pill to swallow to draft him at the top of the 2nd. And he was also one of those OTs that probably fit better at guard moving forward.

I wanted Irv Smith Jr at our original pick, but he wasn't available once we traded down. Sternberger would have been a reach as well, but I don't think it was as blatant a reach as Sample was.

If I go back to my thought process in the moment and based on draft profiles rather than their production to this point, I would probably have taken Zach Allen or maybe Dre'Mont Jones. I felt DLine was a big point of emphasis that we didn't address soon enough in the actual draft.

Going back over my past threads and mock drafts, I was very interested in replacing Dalton so I suspect I would have also been sniffing around Drew Lock, as I definitely didn't want Dalton as our QB in 2019 and moving forward, but I think getting Burrow is obviously infinitely better so it's hard to endorse that pick now.

There's still time for these players to emerge and show who would have been a true value pick, but as of right now I don't think this pick was catastrophic as much as it was just disappointing and anti-climactic.

I liked DreMont Jones as an heir to Atkins, but the Bengals decided a blocking TE (edit - with pass catching upside) was more important than pass rush.
DreMont Rd 2, TE in Rd 4 vs Sample in Rd 2, Wren in Rd 4.