Way Too Early Pan Me Mock December 16

[*ochocincos*]

(12-19-2024, 10:45 AM)Whatever Wrote: While I understand your sentiment, largely because I felt that way at one point, I think we need to be realistic.  Jenkins has a 51.8 PFF grade and has played 50% of the snaps in the games he's played.  Jackson grades at 44.8.  Neither has really shown that they have their respective positions on lock or will ever be more than rotation players..  And DT's rotate a lot, so you're still getting value out of them even if they aren't starters, as opposed to other position groups.  If this was OL, WR, DB, or another position where you don't rotate much, I'd agree.

I'm going to be blunt...what do you expect most early draft picks to do, grade-wise?
Amarius Mims, the 1st rounder, has a 57.7 grade.

I think everyone needs to be realistic and understand a high majority of rookies are not going to grade 60+ their first season.

If you have a whole collection of rookies and sophomores at DT, you're more than likely going to get just meh performance the first year or two like we see with Jenkins today.

This is why I was proposing getting a veteran to go along with one early round DT rather than get two early-round DTs.
The veteran can help bridge the gap while Jenkins (and Jackson) continues to develop.
If that were to mean bringing back BJ Hill on a 1-year or 2-year contract to help stopgap, I'm game for that. He's the 2nd best DL the Bengals have this year.