(08-21-2025, 12:30 PM)Soonerpeace Wrote: But watching preseason doesn’t the WR room not look strong? Doesn’t look like a lot of 4 wides with the addition of Fant. I have no clue their thought process but I see a lot of 02 personnel with Chase/Tee/Yoshi/Gesicki/Fant. Won’t it be hard blitzing that? I like Fant or Gesicki going to empty area in blitzes. I can see also more 12 personnel. So I’m not concerned with WR room and your strategy there. But Tee’s availability is a point. I just can’t give him up. In hindsight the emergence of Jones & Isovias and even Mitchell Tinsley seem to have solved your worries but couldn’t have known that when your moves would have had to be made.

But until the RG spot and defense improvement are fixed a playoff team is about all we are. This roster has been allowed to diminish.

Bad Sooner. You need to drink WATER. Man cannon live on preseason kool-aid alone. Lol

Burton had the 3rd most preseason receiving yards in the entire NFL last year and Isaiah Williams had the 12th most and they proceeded to have 107 and 6 receiving yards on the year, respectively. AT Perry was 1st in the NFL and he spent the entire year on a practice squad.

Andrei Iosivas was our 2023 preseason leading receiver (11th in all NFL) and he proceeded to put up 116 yards in 16 games. Austin Watkins Jr was 1st in the NFL and he was cut and went to the UFL.

Kwamie Lassiter II was our 2022 preseason leading receiver (18th in NFL) and he spent the entire season on the PS except for 1 game where he had 0 yards. Lance McCutcheon was 1st in the NFL and he put up 0 yards in 10 games that year.

.....Heck, Armon Binns had a big preseason that got many people got hyped and the whole reason we have the Golden Binns award now.

- - - - - -

I was talking about adding multiple actual NFL caliber WRs, not PS/Preseason fodder.

(08-21-2025, 10:57 AM)TheLeonardLeap Wrote: Main draft changes I would make would be...
1st: Jihaad Campbell (we could have even traded back for him)
2nd: Tate Ratledge (as G for '25, with intentions to make him C in '26 when we move on from Karras in FA)

Would have also traded back into the draft in the 7th with a 2026 6th or something to grab Quinn Ewers. That'd let me see about trading Browning to a needy team (Saints, Falcons, Jets?) rather than let him walk next offseason in FA. I don't know if you could get a 2026 low 3rd or a 4th for him, but it'd be a net positive expenditure and if Burrow isn't healthy we're pretty screwed anyway.

Trade Tee and short-term replace him with a platoon of Tyler Lockett (1yr/$4m) and Brandin Cooks (2yr/$13m) for a 2025 $7m cap hit instead of Tee's $24m, plus whatever pick I got for Tee (2nd or early 3rd?) which I would use for a more long-term replacement on a WR like Isaac TeSlaa (the 70th pick). Between the three, I feel like our WR group as a whole would both be better and for less.

Tell Logan Wilson at the very start of the offseason to either lose 20lbs or prepare to be cut/traded. 

-Sign Bobby Wagner for a year (he signed 1yr/$9m) because he's a great player but also would be an absolute font of information for Jihaad Campbell to learn from
-Pay Hendrickson.
-Sign Josh Sweat to play opposite him (he has just a $7.3m cap hit in '25)
-Sign Calais Campbell as a rotational depth piece across the entire DL (he plays DE/DT/NT) and as a leader/lockerroom guy. (He signed for 1yr, has a $6m cap hit.)
-Sign Justin Reid (he has just a $3.8m cap hit in '25) and cut Jordan Battle
-Sign Risner or Zeitler or Becton and cut Volson way before he got hurt so we're not entirely dependant upon a rookie 3rd rounder being a great starter
-Bring back Awuzie (he signed for just 1yr/$1.255m) because CB depth is always good
-Sign Michael Burton at FB (1yr/$1.422m) so we never again have back-to-back go balls on 3rd & inches and 4th & inches. (and a FB is more valuable than a 4th RB in my opinion)

I think passing on the best edge class in memory in the early rounds would be a big mistake, especially when you're passing on a stacked position of high positional value for thin classes at prospects of low positional value like stack LB and G.  FWIW, Ratledge lost the Lions starting C job to Graham Glasgow, so I would not pencil him in as a C of the future.


Signing a bunch of old vets is ok if you're going all in, but trading away Tee is the opposite of going all in.  So, that's confusing.  Cooks and Lockett only combined for 859 yards and 5 TD's last year, so no, our WR corps is not better overall with these moves.  It's a lot worse.  You're re-upping Trey and signing Sweat, which sounds good until you realize that is a lot of money to sink into a pair of DE's who will be well on the wrong side of 30 by the time these contracts are up. That's a ton of money to sink into two guys and pray they age like wine.  Signing a G doesn't really work when you're all in on Ratledge, because if you sign Zeitler, for example, you aren't drafting another RG early.  And you can't count on Ratledge being there when doing FA because hindsight isn't 20/20.  

Basically, it feels like dumping one of our best young players to create cap space to sign a bunch of declining vets who will probably continue to decline, and no plans of succession anywhere.  I could get it maybe if we came up just short of the SB, but not when we came up just short of making the playoffs.  Point blank, even with these moves, this roster isn't a realistic SB contender, so I feel this misses the mark.

(08-21-2025, 10:57 AM)TheLeonardLeap Wrote: Main draft changes I would make would be...
1st: Jihaad Campbell (we could have even traded back for him)
2nd: Tate Ratledge (as G for '25, with intentions to make him C in '26 when we move on from Karras in FA)

Would have also traded back into the draft in the 7th with a 2026 6th or something to grab Quinn Ewers. That'd let me see about trading Browning to a needy team (Saints, Falcons, Jets?) rather than let him walk next offseason in FA. I don't know if you could get a 2026 low 3rd or a 4th for him, but it'd be a net positive expenditure and if Burrow isn't healthy we're pretty screwed anyway.

Trade Tee and short-term replace him with a platoon of Tyler Lockett (1yr/$4m) and Brandin Cooks (2yr/$13m) for a 2025 $7m cap hit instead of Tee's $24m, plus whatever pick I got for Tee (2nd or early 3rd?) which I would use for a more long-term replacement on a WR like Isaac TeSlaa (the 70th pick). Between the three, I feel like our WR group as a whole would both be better and for less.

Tell Logan Wilson at the very start of the offseason to either lose 20lbs or prepare to be cut/traded. 

-Sign Bobby Wagner for a year (he signed 1yr/$9m) because he's a great player but also would be an absolute font of information for Jihaad Campbell to learn from
-Pay Hendrickson.
-Sign Josh Sweat to play opposite him (he has just a $7.3m cap hit in '25)
-Sign Calais Campbell as a rotational depth piece across the entire DL (he plays DE/DT/NT) and as a leader/lockerroom guy. (He signed for 1yr, has a $6m cap hit.)
-Sign Justin Reid (he has just a $3.8m cap hit in '25) and cut Jordan Battle
-Sign Risner or Zeitler or Becton and cut Volson way before he got hurt so we're not entirely dependant upon a rookie 3rd rounder being a great starter
-Bring back Awuzie (he signed for just 1yr/$1.255m) because CB depth is always good
-Sign Michael Burton at FB (1yr/$1.422m) so we never again have back-to-back go balls on 3rd & inches and 4th & inches. (and a FB is more valuable than a 4th RB in my opinion)

I think passing on the best edge class in memory in the early rounds would be a big mistake, especially when you're passing on a stacked position of high positional value for thin classes at prospects of low positional value like stack LB and G.  FWIW, Ratledge lost the Lions starting C job to Graham Glasgow, so I would not pencil him in as a C of the future.


Signing a bunch of old vets is ok if you're going all in, but trading away Tee is the opposite of going all in.  So, that's confusing.  Cooks and Lockett only combined for 859 yards and 5 TD's last year, so no, our WR corps is not better overall with these moves.  It's a lot worse.  You're re-upping Trey and signing Sweat, which sounds good until you realize that is a lot of money to sink into a pair of DE's who will be well on the wrong side of 30 by the time these contracts are up. That's a ton of money to sink into two guys and pray they age like wine.  Signing a G doesn't really work when you're all in on Ratledge, because if you sign Zeitler, for example, you aren't drafting another RG early.  And you can't count on Ratledge being there when doing FA because hindsight isn't 20/20.  

Basically, it feels like dumping one of our best young players to create cap space to sign a bunch of declining vets who will probably continue to decline, and no plans of succession anywhere.  I could get it maybe if we came up just short of the SB, but not when we came up just short of making the playoffs.  Point blank, even with these moves, this roster isn't a realistic SB contender, so I feel this misses the mark.

(08-21-2025, 10:57 AM)TheLeonardLeap Wrote: Main draft changes I would make would be...
1st: Jihaad Campbell (we could have even traded back for him)
2nd: Tate Ratledge (as G for '25, with intentions to make him C in '26 when we move on from Karras in FA)

Would have also traded back into the draft in the 7th with a 2026 6th or something to grab Quinn Ewers. That'd let me see about trading Browning to a needy team (Saints, Falcons, Jets?) rather than let him walk next offseason in FA. I don't know if you could get a 2026 low 3rd or a 4th for him, but it'd be a net positive expenditure and if Burrow isn't healthy we're pretty screwed anyway.

Trade Tee and short-term replace him with a platoon of Tyler Lockett (1yr/$4m) and Brandin Cooks (2yr/$13m) for a 2025 $7m cap hit instead of Tee's $24m, plus whatever pick I got for Tee (2nd or early 3rd?) which I would use for a more long-term replacement on a WR like Isaac TeSlaa (the 70th pick). Between the three, I feel like our WR group as a whole would both be better and for less.

Tell Logan Wilson at the very start of the offseason to either lose 20lbs or prepare to be cut/traded. 

-Sign Bobby Wagner for a year (he signed 1yr/$9m) because he's a great player but also would be an absolute font of information for Jihaad Campbell to learn from
-Pay Hendrickson.
-Sign Josh Sweat to play opposite him (he has just a $7.3m cap hit in '25)
-Sign Calais Campbell as a rotational depth piece across the entire DL (he plays DE/DT/NT) and as a leader/lockerroom guy. (He signed for 1yr, has a $6m cap hit.)
-Sign Justin Reid (he has just a $3.8m cap hit in '25) and cut Jordan Battle
-Sign Risner or Zeitler or Becton and cut Volson way before he got hurt so we're not entirely dependant upon a rookie 3rd rounder being a great starter
-Bring back Awuzie (he signed for just 1yr/$1.255m) because CB depth is always good
-Sign Michael Burton at FB (1yr/$1.422m) so we never again have back-to-back go balls on 3rd & inches and 4th & inches. (and a FB is more valuable than a 4th RB in my opinion)

I think passing on the best edge class in memory in the early rounds would be a big mistake, especially when you're passing on a stacked position of high positional value for thin classes at prospects of low positional value like stack LB and G.  FWIW, Ratledge lost the Lions starting C job to Graham Glasgow, so I would not pencil him in as a C of the future.


Signing a bunch of old vets is ok if you're going all in, but trading away Tee is the opposite of going all in.  So, that's confusing.  Cooks and Lockett only combined for 859 yards and 5 TD's last year, so no, our WR corps is not better overall with these moves.  It's a lot worse.  You're re-upping Trey and signing Sweat, which sounds good until you realize that is a lot of money to sink into a pair of DE's who will be well on the wrong side of 30 by the time these contracts are up. That's a ton of money to sink into two guys and pray they age like wine.  Signing a G doesn't really work when you're all in on Ratledge, because if you sign Zeitler, for example, you aren't drafting another RG early.  And you can't count on Ratledge being there when doing FA because hindsight isn't 20/20.  

Basically, it feels like dumping one of our best young players to create cap space to sign a bunch of declining vets who will probably continue to decline, and no plans of succession anywhere.  I could get it maybe if we came up just short of the SB, but not when we came up just short of making the playoffs.  Point blank, even with these moves, this roster isn't a realistic SB contender, so I feel this misses the mark.

(08-21-2025, 01:32 PM)TheLeonardLeap Wrote: Bad Sooner. You need to drink WATER. Man cannon live on preseason kool-aid alone. Lol

Burton had the 3rd most preseason receiving yards in the entire NFL last year and Isaiah Williams had the 12th most and they proceeded to have 107 and 6 receiving yards on the year, respectively. AT Perry was 1st in the NFL and he spent the entire year on a practice squad.

Andrei Iosivas was our 2023 preseason leading receiver (11th in all NFL) and he proceeded to put up 116 yards in 16 games. Austin Watkins Jr was 1st in the NFL and he was cut and went to the UFL.

Kwamie Lassiter II was our 2022 preseason leading receiver (18th in NFL) and he spent the entire season on the PS except for 1 game where he had 0 yards. Lance McCutcheon was 1st in the NFL and he put up 0 yards in 10 games that year.

.....Heck, Armon Binns had a big preseason that got many people got hyped and the whole reason we have the Golden Binns award now.

- - - - - -

I was talking about adding multiple actual NFL caliber WRs, not PS/Preseason fodder.

z

I get it but Burton’s problems were doghouse related. But we’ll see. I have confidence in our WR room as is. You don’t. Those are all valid but the catches Tinsley made can’t be dismissed. But we will revisit.

(08-21-2025, 10:57 AM)TheLeonardLeap Wrote: Main draft changes I would make would be...
1st: Jihaad Campbell (we could have even traded back for him)
2nd: Tate Ratledge (as G for '25, with intentions to make him C in '26 when we move on from Karras in FA)

Would have also traded back into the draft in the 7th with a 2026 6th or something to grab Quinn Ewers. That'd let me see about trading Browning to a needy team (Saints, Falcons, Jets?) rather than let him walk next offseason in FA. I don't know if you could get a 2026 low 3rd or a 4th for him, but it'd be a net positive expenditure and if Burrow isn't healthy we're pretty screwed anyway.

Trade Tee and short-term replace him with a platoon of Tyler Lockett (1yr/$4m) and Brandin Cooks (2yr/$13m) for a 2025 $7m cap hit instead of Tee's $24m, plus whatever pick I got for Tee (2nd or early 3rd?) which I would use for a more long-term replacement on a WR like Isaac TeSlaa (the 70th pick). Between the three, I feel like our WR group as a whole would both be better and for less.

Tell Logan Wilson at the very start of the offseason to either lose 20lbs or prepare to be cut/traded. 

-Sign Bobby Wagner for a year (he signed 1yr/$9m) because he's a great player but also would be an absolute font of information for Jihaad Campbell to learn from
-Pay Hendrickson.
-Sign Josh Sweat to play opposite him (he has just a $7.3m cap hit in '25)
-Sign Calais Campbell as a rotational depth piece across the entire DL (he plays DE/DT/NT) and as a leader/lockerroom guy. (He signed for 1yr, has a $6m cap hit.)
-Sign Justin Reid (he has just a $3.8m cap hit in '25) and cut Jordan Battle
-Sign Risner or Zeitler or Becton and cut Volson way before he got hurt so we're not entirely dependant upon a rookie 3rd rounder being a great starter
-Bring back Awuzie (he signed for just 1yr/$1.255m) because CB depth is always good
-Sign Michael Burton at FB (1yr/$1.422m) so we never again have back-to-back go balls on 3rd & inches and 4th & inches. (and a FB is more valuable than a 4th RB in my opinion)

I think passing on the best edge class in memory in the early rounds would be a big mistake, especially when you're passing on a stacked position of high positional value for thin classes at prospects of low positional value like stack LB and G.  FWIW, Ratledge lost the Lions starting C job to Graham Glasgow, so I would not pencil him in as a C of the future.


Signing a bunch of old vets is ok if you're going all in, but trading away Tee is the opposite of going all in.  So, that's confusing.  Cooks and Lockett only combined for 859 yards and 5 TD's last year, so no, our WR corps is not better overall with these moves.  It's a lot worse.  You're re-upping Trey and signing Sweat, which sounds good until you realize that is a lot of money to sink into a pair of DE's who will be well on the wrong side of 30 by the time these contracts are up. That's a ton of money to sink into two guys and pray they age like wine.  Signing a G doesn't really work when you're all in on Ratledge, because if you sign Zeitler, for example, you aren't drafting another RG early.  And you can't count on Ratledge being there when doing FA because hindsight isn't 20/20.  

Basically, it feels like dumping one of our best young players to create cap space to sign a bunch of declining vets who will probably continue to decline, and no plans of succession anywhere.  I could get it maybe if we came up just short of the SB, but not when we came up just short of making the playoffs.  Point blank, even with these moves, this roster isn't a realistic SB contender, so I feel this misses the mark.

(08-21-2025, 02:44 PM)Whatever Wrote: I think passing on the best edge class in memory in the early rounds would be a big mistake, especially when you're passing on a stacked position of high positional value for thin classes at prospects of low positional value like stack LB and G.  FWIW, Ratledge lost the Lions starting C job to Graham Glasgow, so I would not pencil him in as a C of the future.


Signing a bunch of old vets is ok if you're going all in, but trading away Tee is the opposite of going all in.  So, that's confusing.  Cooks and Lockett only combined for 859 yards and 5 TD's last year, so no, our WR corps is not better overall with these moves.  It's a lot worse.  You're re-upping Trey and signing Sweat, which sounds good until you realize that is a lot of money to sink into a pair of DE's who will be well on the wrong side of 30 by the time these contracts are up. That's a ton of money to sink into two guys and pray they age like wine.  Signing a G doesn't really work when you're all in on Ratledge, because if you sign Zeitler, for example, you aren't drafting another RG early.  And you can't count on Ratledge being there when doing FA because hindsight isn't 20/20.  

Basically, it feels like dumping one of our best young players to create cap space to sign a bunch of declining vets who will probably continue to decline, and no plans of succession anywhere.  I could get it maybe if we came up just short of the SB, but not when we came up just short of making the playoffs.  Point blank, even with these moves, this roster isn't a realistic SB contender, so I feel this misses the mark.

I like last years draft and this years more but ‘22-‘23 did not improve our roster. No way I trade Tee. This years draft may save us going forward.

(08-21-2025, 10:57 AM)TheLeonardLeap Wrote: Main draft changes I would make would be...
1st: Jihaad Campbell (we could have even traded back for him)
2nd: Tate Ratledge (as G for '25, with intentions to make him C in '26 when we move on from Karras in FA)

Would have also traded back into the draft in the 7th with a 2026 6th or something to grab Quinn Ewers. That'd let me see about trading Browning to a needy team (Saints, Falcons, Jets?) rather than let him walk next offseason in FA. I don't know if you could get a 2026 low 3rd or a 4th for him, but it'd be a net positive expenditure and if Burrow isn't healthy we're pretty screwed anyway.

Trade Tee and short-term replace him with a platoon of Tyler Lockett (1yr/$4m) and Brandin Cooks (2yr/$13m) for a 2025 $7m cap hit instead of Tee's $24m, plus whatever pick I got for Tee (2nd or early 3rd?) which I would use for a more long-term replacement on a WR like Isaac TeSlaa (the 70th pick). Between the three, I feel like our WR group as a whole would both be better and for less.

Tell Logan Wilson at the very start of the offseason to either lose 20lbs or prepare to be cut/traded. 

-Sign Bobby Wagner for a year (he signed 1yr/$9m) because he's a great player but also would be an absolute font of information for Jihaad Campbell to learn from
-Pay Hendrickson.
-Sign Josh Sweat to play opposite him (he has just a $7.3m cap hit in '25)
-Sign Calais Campbell as a rotational depth piece across the entire DL (he plays DE/DT/NT) and as a leader/lockerroom guy. (He signed for 1yr, has a $6m cap hit.)
-Sign Justin Reid (he has just a $3.8m cap hit in '25) and cut Jordan Battle
-Sign Risner or Zeitler or Becton and cut Volson way before he got hurt so we're not entirely dependant upon a rookie 3rd rounder being a great starter
-Bring back Awuzie (he signed for just 1yr/$1.255m) because CB depth is always good
-Sign Michael Burton at FB (1yr/$1.422m) so we never again have back-to-back go balls on 3rd & inches and 4th & inches. (and a FB is more valuable than a 4th RB in my opinion)

Great detailed list. I don't disagree we need a FB. To clarify a couple om your 53 man roter. Is Wilson out and Wagner in? Trade Tee and pick TeSlaa. Whic Becton or Zeitler?

Add Josh Stewart, Campbell, J. Reid, Awuzie, M. Burton, Evers

Who are you cutting to offset the add? I assume Srewart and Knight and Brooks. Still drafting Fairchild?

(08-21-2025, 10:01 AM)Soonerpeace Wrote: 4 guards and tackles? Out of 6 picks? The roster just didn’t have that luxury. Shemar is going to be a stud.Fairchild,Rivers,Brooks, Carter, and Knight were all good picks. They did very well. Their roster issues have been on drafts in 22-23 and recent free agent misses. The roster holes are years in the making and won’t be corrected unless another good draft in ‘26.

I'm confused how did the roster not have that luxury? Also, Ashton Gillotte was a better & more proven prospect over Stewart in my draft evaluation.

I would have signed Kevin Zeitler to play RG. He was given 1 year, 9M. I would happily give him 10M. I may even give him a 2 year deal if that makes him happy to come back. I don't know what was up with Teven Jenkins, but I would have definitely given him a 1 year 4M deal if he was available. He signed with Cleveland where he had no chance to start after all. Mekhi Becton would have been a good signing as well.

I would have signed Jevon Holland. 15M AAV is very reasonable for a top tier safety nowadays and we need one bad. If he was too expensive, Justin Reid was available for 10M AAV.

And I obviously would have signed Hendrickson. The sooner we did it, the better, as the market kept getting higher as the off season continued on.

I also think Malcolm Koonce would have been a good signing, who only signed for 1 year, 12M. I think he wouldn't have a place now that Shemar was drafted, but this could have been done before the draft.

Calais Campbell would have also been a good signing, at just 5.5M.

I get that we spent a lot of money on Chase and Higgins (both could have been signed for less last year, btw), but our overall inactivity was very frustrating when we had clear needs across the team.

(Yesterday, 10:07 PM)CJD Wrote: I would have signed Kevin Zeitler to play RG. He was given 1 year, 9M. I would happily give him 10M. I may even give him a 2 year deal if that makes him happy to come back. I don't know what was up with Teven Jenkins, but I would have definitely given him a 1 year 4M deal if he was available. He signed with Cleveland where he had no chance to start after all. Mekhi Becton would have been a good signing as well.

I would have signed Jevon Holland. 15M AAV is very reasonable for a top tier safety nowadays and we need one bad. If he was too expensive, Justin Reid was available for 10M AAV.

And I obviously would have signed Hendrickson. The sooner we did it, the better, as the market kept getting higher as the off season continued on.

I also think Malcolm Koonce would have been a good signing, who only signed for 1 year, 12M. I think he wouldn't have a place now that Shemar was drafted, but this could have been done before the draft.

Calais Campbell would have also been a good signing, at just 5.5M.

I get that we spent a lot of money on Chase and Higgins (both could have been signed for less last year, btw), but our overall inactivity was very frustrating when we had clear needs across the team.

How do you fit all of this signings into the 2025 cap? Also, can you just choose a pick versus an eother or pick. Would you have drafted differently or like it? Would you have replaced guys we signed in FA or our own?

(Yesterday, 10:23 PM)Luvnit2 Wrote: How do you fit all of this signings into the 2025 cap? Also, can you just choose a pick versus an eother or pick. Would you have drafted differently or like it? Would you have replaced guys we signed in FA or our own?

Well, we have about 27M in cap space right now and that's without cutting down Chase and Higgins' year 1 cap hit like every other team does (24M for both). They could have easily dropped them to 15M each with a larger signing bonus and via void years (see Ceedee Lamb contract with a 15M 2025 cap hit and 3 void years).

If they did that, they'd have almost 50M in cap space, so they could get a 10M AAV guard,  give 20M to Trey (which they likely will do anyway), give 10 to 15M to one of the safeties (which you could also push out if needed), and still had 10M to roll over/ for emergencies.

Changing draft picks is too large of a variable right now, but i don't think the cap is the issue at all. The Bengals issue is they operate like a mom.and pop shop with no margin to work with. And I just don't buy that that is true. I think they're just being cheap and stubborn and free agents see that and choose to not mess with us.

FAs I wanted early were

Chase Brown

James Daniels

Ronnie Harrison

The 3 would cost us about $25 Mil/Year

(Yesterday, 08:58 PM)J24 Wrote: I'm confused how did the roster not have that luxury? Also, Ashton Gillotte was a better & more proven prospect over Stewart in my draft evaluation.

Your draft had 4 OL. That’s too many plus a QB. We needed defense
Gillotte was a steal for KC but Stewart’s athleticism is undeniable




Ashton Gillotte draft projections RD 3-4

Ashton Gillotte is a DE prospect in the 2025 draft class. He scored a 9.75 RAS out of a possible 10.00. This ranked 52 out of 2012 DE from 1987 to 2025.

Strengths
* Utilizes violent hand chops to batter tackle’s pass punch.
* Lower-body flexion allows for tight cornering at the top of the rush.
* Able to collapse the pocket with leveraged speed-to-power charge.
* Hard to knock off-balance when his rush hits the edge.
* Plays with good pad level throughout the rep.
* Initiates punch at point of attack with heavy hands.
* Has lateral twitch to widen his tackle radius in the open field.
Weaknesses
* Will have a hard time beating NFL tackles with speed.
* Below-average closing burst to the quarterback.
* Needs to develop workable counters when bull rush stalls.
* Gets widened off the edge by kick-out blocks.
* Inconsistent shedding blocks cleanly due to lack of length.
* Struggles to anchor down when blocks catch him.



Shemar Stewart draft projection RD 1

Shemar Stewart is a DE prospect in the 2025 draft class. He scored an unofficial 9.99 #RAS out of a possible 10.00. This ranked 3 out of 1802 DE from 1987 to 2025.


Strengths
* Carved from granite with a rare combo of size, length and explosiveness.
* First-step burst and good bend to create danger in the gaps.
* Strength to drive lateral blocks into the backfield.
* Exceptional chase speed to close hard off the backside.
* Speed-to-power rush knocks pass-setting tackles off their mark.
* Has bend to turn and flatten the edge and hunt the passer.
* Will threaten guards with length and quickness as a sub-rusher inside.
* Traits, versatility and upside make his development a matter of when and not if.
Weaknesses
* Puzzling lack of career production relative to his traits.
* Allows blockers into his frame, diminishing his length.
* Gets pushed off his base and widened at the edge.
* Leans into blocks instead of commanding the point of attack through force.
* Rushes the passer with intensity, but there can be a lack of plan and focus.
* His hand usage in both phases is well behind schedule.
* In desperate need of some go-to moves to kick-start his rush