10-17-2017, 01:50 PM
(04-24-2017, 10:45 PM)Crazyjdawg Wrote: 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.
Bumped this because I always like to go back and see what people predicted. I was a huge Lawson fan, but his injury history was little dicey.
