CJD Mock ?.0

[CJD]

I don't know if I've done a draft this year and I didn't bother checking, so this is draft ?.0.

I used Fanspeak and set it to Walterfootball's team needs and draft board. I always have found Walterfootball has a good sense of the value of players in the draft due to their connections to scouts. So, here we go:

http://fanspeak.com/ontheclock/draft.php?d=qjblsy

9: R1P9  
TE O.J. HOWARD
ALABAMA

So, this was a pick that I made because I've decided that there are no Dlinemen other than Allen at 9 that I can realistically see falling to us. Derek Barnett is an option, but I dunno. You see these all production level players with awful combine numbers flame out a little too often for my tastes. As you can see in the link (I hope), the top 8 were Garrett, Allen, Adams, Thomas, Hooker, Trubisky, Foster and Fournette. So the selection came down to Barnett, Charlton and Howard. While I would love to pick a DE here, I went with the safe pick that I know will improve our team immediately in O.J. Howard. He may not have insane production, but he was a clutch player when needed and he had some incredible work out numbers to support his production and then some. In addition, we have a guy in Eifert who, while healthy, is amazing, but just can't stay on the field. He's in a contract year and if he has another down year, we'd be put in an awkward position of being at the mercy of the market, lest we go into 2018 with no true starting TE. This pick not only makes 2 TE sets possible with some explosive results, but also creates a leverage in next year that, if we don't like the number the market produces for Eifert's injured ass, we can let him go and not miss out too much.

41: R2P9  
EDGE JORDAN WILLIS
KANSAS STATE

I'm laughing a little because I was skeptical of Nate's mock draft that had this exact top 2 picks, and here I am mocking the exact same top 2 picks. This was kind of a...Tyler Boyd pick, if you will.  Is it ideal? No. I'd rather have Charles Harris or maybe Carl Lawson. But both were taken and there wasn't a significant upgrade at any other position that made me want to go into the third round without addressing our biggest weakness. Forrest Lamp was there, which definitely made me think for a second. But, ultimately, I knew that the edge rusher pool was drying up and if I didn't take one here, I'd only get screwed in the 3rd round.  And I was right, because Rivers, Hall, Bowser and Basham all came off the board before my next pick. I could have had DeMarcus Walker in the third, which surprised me, but ultimately I see Willis as a more complete player than Walker, even though Walker is probably a better 3rd down pass rusher right now. Willis is a hard worker with a great motor and production behind his name. He even had great combine numbers, so he checks all the boxes for potentially great player in the NFL.

73: R3P9  
G NICO SIRAGUSA
SAN DIEGO STATE

Here's where things got a little interesting. Do I think we need a new guard? Not really. I was actually planning on taking Alvin Kamara, but those Browns grabbed him at the top of the 3rd round. And then Moton, Davenport and Sharpe all went within 6 picks on my choice. Gah! I considered Tomlinson or Watkins here but, really, I find the DT position to be pretty good, overall. I also considered a Center, but Orlosky, Elflein and Pocic were all still on the board, so I figured there would still be one in the 4th round.

That left me with Siragusa or Asiata. I've seen people mock Asiata before, so I went the other direction :). There's a reason they signed Smith. Because they were not confident handing RG duties to Westerman. By drafting Siragusa, we can have our RG of the future who can open holes in the run game and can provide depth that was severely hampered with Zeitler gone and Boling coming off an injury and a rather pedestrian year. Not only that, but this selection frees up the possibility of putting Smith at RT if Fisher struggles and helps re-establish a truly road grading right side of the line. I decided not to reach for any position of need and instead took the best player available at a position that we are far from set on.

Maybe I should have gone Asiata, but I think Siragusa is a great prospect in his own right.

116: R4P9  
WR JOSH REYNOLDS
TEXAS A&M

Nice! Once again, I was going to take a center, but this is just a true value pick at a position of need to boot! We get our Marvin Jones replacement at a bargain price. He is a little wiry, but he's got that vertical threat and jumping ability that we lacked across from AJ Green. We have another pick at the end of the round, so I'm willing to risk one of the centers falling to there in order to improve our WR corps in such a way.

138: R4P31  
C ETHAN POCIC
LSU

This is a pick that I had trouble with. Against all perceived odds, neither center was selected and I had the choice between Pocic and Elflein here. My issue came in the form of what we are missing at center. While Elflein is a great run blocker, he does struggle with faster inside rushers. I.E. the exact same thing that Bodine struggles with. I felt we needed to switch that up. Pocic not only helped open holes for Fournette to run through, but he was also a very good pass blocker at Center. If we are going to replace Bodine, which I feel we should, I don't know if Pocic is superior to Elflein, but he's definitely different from what has not been working for us in Bodine. In the glory days of Braham, it wasn't really his run blocking that made him such a great center. It was all about leaving space for Palmer to step up in the pocket and that's what I think Pocic gives us.

153: R5P9  
RB SAMAJE PERINE
OKLAHOMA

I passed on Mixon in order to get an elite edge rusher. I narrowly missed on Kamara and I decided against Foreman (a bit too big for me). Perine is a one cut and run player. You know. What Hill should be if he didn't dance so damn much. I really like what he brings in the short yardage game and always seems to fall forward. Will be the thunder to Bernard's Lightning. Again...what Hill should have been if he learned how to use his body to his favor rather than as a disadvantage.

176: R5P32  
QB BRAD KAAYA
MIAMI

Say hello to the replacement for McCarron once we (ideally) trade him during the season. I didn't want to project anything in this draft, but if he's an RFA, we could easily re-sign him or trade him or even tender him and allow someone to sign him away. This selection gives us options. Kaaya is an absolute gamer. Jon Gruden loves the kid and he happens to hit most of the requirements from Bill Parcells' guide to drafting a QB. He has 23 career wins, 3 year starter, 60% career completion percentage and you can tell from his Gruden camp video that he is passionate about the game. Pro Style offense backgrounds and does progressions and reads and all that. Being here in the 5th round is just delightful.

193: R6P9  
LB RICHIE BROWN
MISSISSIPPI STATE

A tackle machine who can replace Rey Maualuga's occasional run stopping LB if we ever need it.

217: R6P33  
C JON TOTH
KENTUCKY

Did I plan to take two Centers? No. But when the value's there, especially in the 6th round, you take it. May end up being a better guard than center in the long run, but competition can never be a bad thing. Plus, I was running out of names I recognized at this point haha.

227: R7P9  
S RAYSHAWN JENKINS
MIAMI

At this point, I have fully resorted to drafting players I recognized. Safety isn't a huge need, but Jenkins is a quality prospect that fell just due to needs of the teams in the last few rounds.

251: R7P33  
OT JAVARIUS LEAMON
SOUTH CAROLINA STATE

Project pick at OT. Nothing more, nothing less.

I didn't get everything that I wanted out of the draft. I would have loved to get a quality OT early on, but the value just wasn't there. So, rather than reaching, I decided to take quality players at positions that could use an upgrade. I guess we're really going to live and die with our 3rd year OTs.

But we added 2 great weapons to the offense, a great pass rusher, some depth and possible starters on the Oline, a complimentary RB for our backfield and a new quality back up QB once we move McCarron.

Let me know what you think!