(03-07-2023, 09:31 PM)WVUHomer Wrote: I mean, Hilton is 5'9"
Pff has Tre'Vius Hodge-Tomlinson listed at 5'9 180-lbs, so he is exactly the same size as Hilton. Here is his analysis:
The nephew of Hall of Fame running back LaDainian Tomlinson, Hodges-Tomlinson joined his uncle in becoming a legend in Fort Worth. He won the Jim Thorpe Award this past season, given to the best defensive back in college football. The senior forced 21 incompletions — more than any other defender in the country.
My options in the first round were Anton Harrison, Dawand Jones, Darnell Wright, Cam Smith and a few low chance DEs like Will McDonald (not really our scheme fit) and BJ Ojulari (a bit early at 28). I was really tempted to go Dawand Jones because that size is rare and he could be our day 1 RT, but I ultimately chose Harrison because he can play LT and with Williams on the last year of his rookie contract, it'd be good to see if we can upgrade the position. And, if Williams has a career year and we re-sign him, Harrison can play RT as well. Wright and Jones are probably confined to RT only (I know Wright played LT in college, but he started shining when he played on the right side).
In the second round, my options were Nathaniel Dell, Luke Wypler, Garrett Williams, Sam LePorta, Joe Tippman and Tre'Vius Hodges-Tomlinson. There may have been a few DEs there as well, but I didn't check. I was focused in on CB and TE/WR at that point. Ultimately, I feel like the CB class is deep enough that we can get a real difference maker in the 3rd round, but the TEs were drying up quickly. There were two more TEs I was interested in, but wasn't sure they would make it to the 3rd round (Kraft and Schoonmaker) and there were multiple CBs I was still interested in (Eli Ricks, Julius Brents, Kelee Ringo, Clark Phillips III, Jaylon Jones) that I figured one of them would probably still be there in the 3rd, so I went LePorta. LePorta has the pedigree, as Iowa is a TE factory in the NFL, but he also has really impressive run after the catch ability and soft hands. I felt he was the last true day 1 impact player at TE in the draft behind the big 4 (Kincaid, Mayer, Washington, Musgrave), so I pulled the trigger.
In the third round, were pretty similar to the second round, with Dell, Williams, THT still there, along with Michael Wilson, DeWayne McBride and Tank Bigsby also available. Notably, Kraft and Schoonmaker, the two TEs I was targetting in round 3 if I didn't take LePorta, were both gone, so I think I made the right choice there. The fact that Garrett Williams was still there was surprising to me, so I scooped him up. Even if he wasn't, Jaylon Jones was still there after a 3rd round run on the CBs took away Ricks, Ringo, Brents and Phillips. Dell was tempting here, but I wanted to get at least 1 defender in the first three rounds, and Williams was just too good to pass up. He is coming off an injury and didn't participate in the combine drills, so I figured that may be why he is still available here, but he's got a good profile otherwise. If the Bengals believe he has the instincts to play in zone, he could be a target in the third round if he slips like he did here.
In the fourth round, my options were beginning to thin. DeWayne McBride and Israel Abanikanda were still available, as well as some Dlinemen like Moro Ojomo and Isaiah McGuire, but they aren't ideal fits for what I'm looking for on DL right now. I am more interested in a pass rushing 3T or a quick, agile OLB pass rusher type and Ojomo is more of a 3-4 run stopping DE and McGuire is more of a run stopping DE. There were a few other DL that I wasn't that familiar with in KJ Henry and Kobie Turner. I ended up going with McBride because he has the ability to be a starting RB on day 1. I'd only make this pick, however, if Mixon is cut, since they fill that same 2 down role. If we keep Mixon and let Perine walk, Abanikanda becomes the choice, as he is quicker and could play that 3rd down back role well.
From the 5th round on, I stopped paying attention to PFF's rankings and just started taking athletic freaks. The 5th round may be a round early for Zach Kuntz, but after the combine he put together, he may end up going higher than this. People love athleticism and being the most athletic Tight End to ever test at the combine is quite the feather in Kuntz' cap.
He will need some development, but that's why we went LePorta in the 2nd. If we re-sign Hurst, this would complete our TE room with 2 steady guys up front and high upside player in the 5th. I equate this pick to the CJ Uzomah pick in 2015. A raw, highly athletic project at TE that could develop into a great playmaker (People forget Uzomah had an 8.6 RAS coming out of Auburn).
In the 6th round, I took another "Combine freak" flier on Jon Gaines II, the guard out of UCLA. Check this out:
6th and 7th round picks have a notoriously low hit rate, so why not try to game the system and look for high upside players with elite athleticism? I think that short shuttle stat is incredibly interesting and I would take a flier on Gaines because of it.
And finally, in the 7th round, we take the punter with an elite hang time. Is that Turk or Baringer? I'm not sure, so I just took the one that PFF had rated higher on their board haha.
(03-08-2023, 01:58 PM)SunsetBengal Wrote: A big man with that sort of athleticism should at least be able to be a special teams demon.
They'll be able to find a role for him. And even if they don't, it's a 6th rounder haha. I'd rather take a swing at someone who could be special based on traits than someone like Trey Hill or Deshaun Davis.
I'm sure no one's 6th round picks are routinely world beaters, but it has historically been a dead zone for the Bengals and I think it's because they target players who produced in college but had fairly bad athletic profiles.
They had a few good ones in the 00s, like Bernard Scott who stuck with the team for a little bit. His RAS was 8.34. But since 2010, they've often picked unathletic players who produced in college.
There are a few in there that have good RAS who didn't produce anything, such as Ryan Whalen and Marquis Flowers. But the other two elite athletes they drafted, Jordan Evans and Brandon Wilson, did give us a little bit of production and that's all you can really expect from a 6th rounder.
I still don't know how Chris Evans can't get on the field. Every time he does, he scores a touchdown, but the coaches just won't put him out there. It's very odd.
That Deshaun Davis pick, to this day, confuses me. It almost felt like they just drew a random name out of a hat. He was dead on arrival, from a roster standpoint. Lasted less than a year in the NFL.
The point is, 6th round picks are low value, may as well draft athletes haha.
My options in the first round were Anton Harrison, Dawand Jones, Darnell Wright, Cam Smith and a few low chance DEs like Will McDonald (not really our scheme fit) and BJ Ojulari (a bit early at 28). I was really tempted to go Dawand Jones because that size is rare and he could be our day 1 RT, but I ultimately chose Harrison because he can play LT and with Williams on the last year of his rookie contract, it'd be good to see if we can upgrade the position. And, if Williams has a career year and we re-sign him, Harrison can play RT as well. Wright and Jones are probably confined to RT only (I know Wright played LT in college, but he started shining when he played on the right side).
In the second round, my options were Nathaniel Dell, Luke Wypler, Garrett Williams, Sam LePorta, Joe Tippman and Tre'Vius Hodges-Tomlinson. There may have been a few DEs there as well, but I didn't check. I was focused in on CB and TE/WR at that point. Ultimately, I feel like the CB class is deep enough that we can get a real difference maker in the 3rd round, but the TEs were drying up quickly. There were two more TEs I was interested in, but wasn't sure they would make it to the 3rd round (Kraft and Schoonmaker) and there were multiple CBs I was still interested in (Eli Ricks, Julius Brents, Kelee Ringo, Clark Phillips III, Jaylon Jones) that I figured one of them would probably still be there in the 3rd, so I went LePorta. LePorta has the pedigree, as Iowa is a TE factory in the NFL, but he also has really impressive run after the catch ability and soft hands. I felt he was the last true day 1 impact player at TE in the draft behind the big 4 (Kincaid, Mayer, Washington, Musgrave), so I pulled the trigger.
In the third round, were pretty similar to the second round, with Dell, Williams, THT still there, along with Michael Wilson, DeWayne McBride and Tank Bigsby also available. Notably, Kraft and Schoonmaker, the two TEs I was targetting in round 3 if I didn't take LePorta, were both gone, so I think I made the right choice there. The fact that Garrett Williams was still there was surprising to me, so I scooped him up. Even if he wasn't, Jaylon Jones was still there after a 3rd round run on the CBs took away Ricks, Ringo, Brents and Phillips. Dell was tempting here, but I wanted to get at least 1 defender in the first three rounds, and Williams was just too good to pass up. He is coming off an injury and didn't participate in the combine drills, so I figured that may be why he is still available here, but he's got a good profile otherwise. If the Bengals believe he has the instincts to play in zone, he could be a target in the third round if he slips like he did here.
In the fourth round, my options were beginning to thin. DeWayne McBride and Israel Abanikanda were still available, as well as some Dlinemen like Moro Ojomo and Isaiah McGuire, but they aren't ideal fits for what I'm looking for on DL right now. I am more interested in a pass rushing 3T or a quick, agile OLB pass rusher type and Ojomo is more of a 3-4 run stopping DE and McGuire is more of a run stopping DE. There were a few other DL that I wasn't that familiar with in KJ Henry and Kobie Turner. I ended up going with McBride because he has the ability to be a starting RB on day 1. I'd only make this pick, however, if Mixon is cut, since they fill that same 2 down role. If we keep Mixon and let Perine walk, Abanikanda becomes the choice, as he is quicker and could play that 3rd down back role well.
From the 5th round on, I stopped paying attention to PFF's rankings and just started taking athletic freaks. The 5th round may be a round early for Zach Kuntz, but after the combine he put together, he may end up going higher than this. People love athleticism and being the most athletic Tight End to ever test at the combine is quite the feather in Kuntz' cap.
He will need some development, but that's why we went LePorta in the 2nd. If we re-sign Hurst, this would complete our TE room with 2 steady guys up front and high upside player in the 5th. I equate this pick to the CJ Uzomah pick in 2015. A raw, highly athletic project at TE that could develop into a great playmaker (People forget Uzomah had an 8.6 RAS coming out of Auburn).
In the 6th round, I took another "Combine freak" flier on Jon Gaines II, the guard out of UCLA. Check this out:
6th and 7th round picks have a notoriously low hit rate, so why not try to game the system and look for high upside players with elite athleticism? I think that short shuttle stat is incredibly interesting and I would take a flier on Gaines because of it.
And finally, in the 7th round, we take the punter with an elite hang time. Is that Turk or Baringer? I'm not sure, so I just took the one that PFF had rated higher on their board haha.
Maybe I'm misinterpreting this so I'll ask to clarify my mind.
If Mixon stays, you're drafting a heavier speed back in Izzy (who I love as a prospect), but if he goes and Perine stays, you're drafting a bowling ball in McBride? So either Thunder/thunder or Lightning/lightning?
(03-09-2023, 12:36 AM)WVUHomer Wrote: Maybe I'm misinterpreting this so I'll ask to clarify my mind.
If Mixon stays, you're drafting a heavier speed back in Izzy (who I love as a prospect), but if he goes and Perine stays, you're drafting a bowling ball in McBride? So either Thunder/thunder or Lightning/lightning?
I was thinking more in the mode of what downs they are useful on. I see McBride as a 2 down back because he has limited experience catching the ball (a staggeringly low 5 receptions in his career), and I've read in scouting reports that he wasn't asked to block very much, so odds are he will make a bad 3rd down back.
If I keep Perine, who is a good 3rd down back for blocking and receiving purposes, I'd want to draft someone to take over Mixon's 2 down role.
It's not a perfect comparison because Mixon is obviously good in the receiving game as well, mostly on 1st and 2nd down as a check down (but he has been known to go out on a route from out wide on occasion), which Mcbride would need to learn how to do, but Mixon is just not a good blocker on 3rd down.
Izzy, on the other hand, has a bit more experience receiving the ball (38 career receptions) and I've read in scouting reports that he's a willing blocker. It isn't his specialty and maybe I should have just taken Izzy in either scenario since he is also a good runner of the football, but he at least has some 3rd down chops (at least relative to McBride) so I figured I'd just make a small difference in who I draft based on which of the two current RBs we end up keeping. But now that I'm thinking about it, I think I'd probably take Izzy in either scenario haha.
Once we get a better idea of what is going to happen with FA, then let the mock draft games begin. Right now, I think ppl are assuming everyone but Bates will be coming back. I think Pratt will go and Collins will be released, but the question for me is Hurst.
Given the trajectory of our free agency targets, I've changed my strategy.
I'm a diehard OL guy, but I think we may be ok (although I'm still tempted to fill RT with Dawand Jones or Darnell Wright).
I especially feel we'd be ok if we were to switch to 2 tight end sets (sorry Boyd), add a great RB, and the occasional FB/H-Back.
I think that added to Burrow's ability to read the field would afford us a plethora of options.
With that being said...
PFF-
Rd#1 (28): Bijan Robinson- RB (Texas)
Rd#2 (60): Sam LaPorta- TE (Iowa)
Rd#3 (92): Luke Shoonmaker- TE (Michigan)
Rd#4 (131): Kobi Turner- DI (Wake Forest)
Rd#5 (164): Chandler Zavala- G (North Carolina State)
Rd#6 (205): Cameron Brown- CB (Ohio State)
Rd#7 (247): Hunter Luepke- FB (North Dakota State)
1 - Anton Harrison - T - Oklahoma
2 - A Adebawore - DE - Northwestern - Freak athlete
3 - Hodges-Tomlinson - CB - TCU
4 - D McBride - HB - UAB
5 - Moro Ojomo - DI - Texas (It graded this an A+)
6 - Will Mallory - TE - Miami
7 - Mohamed Ibrahim - HB - Minnesotta
It graded my draft an A. But, where we picked in the 1st...I would have been reaching on a RB or TE.
(03-21-2023, 12:07 PM)THE PISTONS Wrote: I just did a mock on PFF.
1 - Anton Harrison - T - Oklahoma
2 - A Adebawore - DE - Northwestern - Freak athlete
3 - Hodges-Tomlinson - CB - TCU
4 - D McBride - HB - UAB
5 - Moro Ojomo - DI - Texas (It graded this an A+)
6 - Will Mallory - TE - Miami
7 - Mohamed Ibrahim - HB - Minnesotta
It graded my draft an A. But, where we picked in the 1st...I would have been reaching on a RB or TE.
What are your thoughts on McBride?
-Paul Brown “When you win, say nothing. When you lose, say less.”
Well I tried to snip and copy my draft from MockDraftDatabase but obviously I am not tech savvy enough to accomplish this task so here it is:
RD. 1 - 28th Overall
Darnell Wright - OT - Tennessee - 6'5" 333
Darnell Wright is the RT the Bengals have been seeking since Willie Anderson. Day 1 starter and the guy the Bengals should be able to bookend with Orlando for many years.
RD. 2 - 60th Overall
Karl Brooks - DT - Bowling Green - 6'3" 303
Some may find this selection a bit early but Brooks is difference maker on the interior of a defensive line. Brooks gives he Bengals the legit inside pass rush they have missed since Geno. The pass rush ability of Brooks make Hendrickson and Hubbard even more dangerous.
Tyjae Spears - RB - Tulane - 5'10" 201
Spears gives this offense the serious playmaker that has been missing from the backfield. Spears runs between the tackles and regularly runs through arm tackles. He has the speed to outrun the defense to the edge. When Spears hits the open field he has a whole new gear and runs away from defenders. The best part is he can pickup the blitz and pass protect and was actually lauded by the Senior Bowl coaching staff for his abilities in this area.
RD. 4 - 131st Overall
Isaiah McGuire - DE - Missouri - 6'4" 268
McGuire brings really good size, speed, and length to the position and has shown a variety of pass rush moves. He brings good skills for Hobby to cultivate into a real pro rusher.
RD. 5 - 163rd Overall
Luke Schoonmaker - TE- Michigan - 251
A good all around TE that has drawn comparisons to Dawson Knox. Should be able to step in day 1 and be productive for this offense. Needs to continue stronger which should not be an issue with a NFL training and nutrition program.
RD. 6 - 206th Overall
Rejzohn Wright - CB - Oregon State - 6'2" 193
The Bengals benefit from a very deep CB class by getting Wright at this point in the draft. Wright has very good size, length, and speed and can play both man and zone coverage. Wright needs to clean up his hand technique but he is a physically gifted corner that should be a good pro.
Rd. 7 - 246th Overall
Carter Warren - OT - Pittsburgh - 6'5.5" 311
There is a lot to like about Warren. He brings elite length and good size to the position as well as experience and leadership. Warren has the skills to be a swing tackle with a ceiling of developing into a high quality starter at either tackle spot. Solid much needed depth for the line.
There is it...sorry I could not figure out how to screenshot my draft.
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![[Image: F9RbRqt.png]](https://i.imgur.com/F9RbRqt.png)
![[Image: oN5QAdY.png]](https://i.imgur.com/oN5QAdY.png)
![[Image: maXCb2f.jpg]](https://i.imgur.com/maXCb2f.jpg)
