NFL 2018 Offseason Thread (1 Viewer)

[Winston T. Boogie]

Not a word in their about his attitude and motivation, is there?

No, and nothing in the article about his evaluation of Manning. So, we don't know which QB Walsh recommended to Polian. I recall at the time Leaf was considered the QB with the better arm but Manning had the better head. Leaf was a jerk, as the Chargers soon found out, and had other issues as well. I think now they do a better job of finding the potential personal issues that have nothing to do with football talent and skills. When you have those off the field issues you will drop in a draft now. In the past, not so much.

When Manziel was drafted by the Browns teams knew he was a headcase which was why many people thought despite talent he would not last in the NFL.

 

[Scott Merryfield]

And here is the 2016 class which we can sort of begin evaluating now:

1. Jared Goff (73 points, eight first-place votes)
2. Carson Wentz (71.5, seven first-place votes)
3. Paxton Lynch (52, one first-place vote)
4. Connor Cook (29, one first-place vote)
5. Christian Hackenberg (11)
6. Dak Prescott (6)

I never understood how Hackenberg ever got ranked so high. He was terrible at Penn State. I wouldn't have used even a 6th round pick on him.

 

[Winston T. Boogie]

I never understood how Hackenberg ever got ranked so high. He was terrible at Penn State. I wouldn't have used even a 6th round pick on him.

Honestly, I think it was because he just really looked the part. He had huge accuracy issues and a lot that needed to be fixed through coaching and I think coaches like that challenge. They think "Hey, I can turn this guy into something."

There were really just three guys that were considered first round talent in the 2016 draft. The thing was they all had some big question marks.Goff and Wentz were clearly the top 2 but because Wentz was coming out of North Dakota State rather than a "big time program" like USC or UCLA they knock him down when they rate him. I think Josh Allen suffers the same issue because he is coming out of Wyoming so the scouts knock him down behind the USC and UCLA guys in this draft.

Here's the thing Allen looks like the absolute top talent but a lot of people rank him anywhere from the 4th to 6th best in this draft. Personally, I am not seeing that. I think the two top QBs in the 2018 draft are Allen and Rosen. These two, to me, look like they could be really good. Rosen should be the first to look good in the NFL, he is the most ready of every QB in the draft to step in and play. No, question. Rosen has a better arm than Darnold, better accuracy than Darnold, prepares better than Darnold, and is always pushing himself to play better and perfect his game. The comparison with Rosen is most probably Aaron Rodgers. Can he be as good as Rodgers? Who knows, that will depend on where he goes, the team he is on, how healthy he stays, how hard he works, if he gets good coaching.

Looks to me though that you have to consider Rosen really hard if you are at the top of the draft selecting a QB.

Allen is just off the charts physically gifted. I think his comparison would be Ben Roethlisberger...except he is probably even a better athlete than Ben. But they are both big guys with giant arms and incredible playmaking ability. Honestly, I think if I was picking a QB for my team I would think really, really hard on Rosen and end up selecting Allen. These two I think have the things that could make them more than just NFL starters...they could be legit franchise QBs and perhaps hall of fame players.

The third guy to me is Darnold and he looks like a fun guy to watch, but he does not have the arm of either Allen or Rosen and he needs a lot of coaching to play in the NFL. To me he looks like a QB that teammates will love, he will come in and lead the team but he will also be a bit of a wild man out there and will maybe do things you don't want him to do. It is also said of Darnold that he has a "blind spot" in the middle of the field and will throw a lot of picks there. Of the top three guys here he looks like the one that may struggle the most to adapt to the NFL.

Scouts are saying that Allen is just too seductive and his big plays look way too impressive but throwing short routes and in big college games he struggled. I think some of that can be written off to the team he played with but wow, do I want to see this kid in the NFL. Here's a highlight reel of Allen and yes, it focuses way too much on long throws but this kid makes all sorts of NFL level throws in this reel in tight windows and the ball gets where he wants to put it super fast. Plus for a guy his size he looks crazy fast on his feet and moves really well.

 

[Winston T. Boogie]

So, here is take two on the top five picks in the draft:

1. Browns - Well, for a while everybody seemed to indicate this was absolutely going to be Darnold. Now the Browns are wavering and it seems leaning more toward taking either QB Josh Allen or RB Saquon Barkley here. Basically, I think it looks like they are off Darnold here and it is becoming a coin flip as to whether they take Allen or Barkely with the first pick. Pretty much I think the Giants have scared them into thinking they might take Barkley with the number two pick but honestly I think that could be total smoke on the Giants part and they are doing that to force the Browns into making a mistake. The Giants pick becomes even more valuable if they con the Browns into taking Barkley at one because then all three of the top QBs would still be available when the Giants pick as would DE Bradley Chubb. I think the Browns have to take a QB at 1 but they really look like they are now saying they prefer Allen over Darnold almost as a way to pave the way to taking Barkley with the number one pick thinking Allen will slip to them at 4. Pick: QB Josh Allen

2. Giants - Obviously the Giants are dangling this pick looking for what they can get in a trade. This seems to be a clue that they feel they don't need to take a QB here and maybe will wait until next year to look at QBs. I think the Giants are in the perfect spot to draft a franchise QB right now this year and if the Browns take Allen at 1 then the guy they supposedly want, Darnold, will drop into their lap at number two. The thing is, I am not sure Darnold is the guy they want. I think if the Giants want a QB they probably would be after Rosen. Rosen wants to play in New York...either for the Jets or Giants but my bet is he would prefer the Giants. However, if the Giants want one of these guys they aren't making much noise about it. We know Gettleman is a "Best Player Available" guy. We know the Giants traded away Jason Pierre-Paul and really could use a DE. We know Bradley Chubb is the number one rated defensive player in the draft and would contribute immediately to the Giants as a starter this season. We know the Giants met with Chubb and were extremely impressed with him. I am now going to guess that Gettleman if he stays here and does not trade this pick takes the top rated player on his board. Pick: DE Bradley Chubb

3. Jets - Well, nothing changes here. I think the Jets love Rosen. They want Rosen. He is the most sure thing QB in this draft and they can probably insert him as the starting QB before the season is half over. Pick: QB Josh Rosen

4. Browns - If they take Allen with the first pick and the Giants don't take Barkley and do not trade the pick to somebody that does, seems unlikely anybody trades up to the two spot to take a RB, then it's obvious the pick here would be Barkley. I think the Bills would trade up to two for Allen so this is why the Browns should not screw up and they should get their QB with the first pick. Pick: RB Saquon Barkley

5. Broncos/Bills - Here is where I think the trade comes with Buffalo. Elway could eye Sam Darnold here as it is looking like Darnold may fall to the fifth pick. No clue what Elway thinks of Darnold and I think Chubb would have been a certain pick for Elway here had he fallen to him. Elway, who loves a bargain, stockpiles picks here and trades this pick to the Bills and the Bills get one of the top 3 QBs. The Bills I think have been considering Baker Mayfield as it began to look like they would not be able to land their first choice Josh Allen. So, they could take Mayfield here but I think Mayfield would be better going to a warm weather or dome team. If they did surprise and take Mayfield the fall of Darnold would become the talk of the draft. Pick: QB Sam Darnold

 

[Winston T. Boogie]

I think we have a high possibility of seeing every team in the AFC East draft a QB this year. We know the Jets get one at the 3 spot, we know the Bills will try to trade up to land one, we know the Patriots hope to take one in either round 1 or 2, and then there is the Dolphins. They sit quietly at the 11th pick in the first round. Could this be where Baker Mayfield goes? I doubt the Dolphins trade up but what if Baker is there when they pick at 11? Some people feel they will also look very hard at Lamar Jackson.

 

[Robert Crawford]

I heard an interesting factoid about the draft. In the last 20 years, 54 quarterbacks were drafted in the first round. Only five of them led their teams to winning a Super Bowl. The wild card in this particular draft is what are the Giants going to do at number 2? Damn, I'm glad that question will be answered in less than four days. I still say if a QB that they're totally in love with isn't available at 2, the Giants will select Barkley.

 

[Winston T. Boogie]

I heard an interesting factoid about the draft. In the last 20 years, 54 quarterbacks were drafted in the first round. Only five of them led their teams to winning a Super Bowl. The wild card in this particular draft is what are the Giants going to do at number 2? Damn, I'm glad that question will be answered in less than four days. I still say if a QB that they're totally in love with isn't available at 2, the Giants will select Barkley.

I think this will be one of the more interesting drafts in years, mainly because there are 6 QB prospects that could all go in Round 1 but certainly will likely be gone by the end of Round 2. To me this looks like one of the better QB drafts in some time which does not mean I think all 6 will end up NFL starters some day but these 6 guys will all be given the chance to become starters.

I like Josh Allen the best of the QBs and would like to see him in either Buffalo or Cleveland or it would be wild if he went to the Dolphins as some people call him the next Dan Marino but I don't think he will fall to them at 11. Basically, I want to see the AFC East restock at QB as other than Brady the QBs in the division have been dismal for some time.

The next guy I like is Rosen who does remind me a bit of Rodgers in Green Bay. It would be great if he turns out to be that kind of player but now the rumor is he is going to fall in the draft because people are afraid of his durability and some past injuries he has had. Oddly, he grades out right now as the best of the QBs but now people are saying he will fall. This is fine with me if he falls to Miami because they would get a great QB prospect and they need somebody to push Tannehill out.

The third guy to me is Darnold and I like him as a prospect. Like Allen he needs to sit and learn and get coached up for at least a year. I would try to keep Allen and Darnold off the field this season. Unless your season is over and you just want to see what they can do in December. Basically, I would like to see Darnold go to the Giants. Who knows what the Giants will do at 2 though. I think four players top their board Chubb, Barkley, Ward and Darnold. However, they keep putting out there that they want to trade out if they get the right offer. The Giants have a lot of holes to fill. DE is one and so Chubb looks awfully nice there at 2. Also they could take the top corner, which is Ward, as Gettleman claims they really want a corner. I think they should go QB but I'm not Gettleman. The Browns will make it most interesting for the Giants if they draft Allen and all of the guys the Giants like are sitting there when they are on the clock. I read something recently as well though that Gettleman really likes Rosen and Allen as well.

Now there are a lot of rumors that both the Jets and Broncos have completely fallen in love with Baker Mayfield. Honestly, this guy is a mystery to me in a lot of ways. Whatever people love about him I am not seeing. Some people claim he is the best QB in this draft...I don't know why they think that. The word on the kid is he is either Johnny Manziel or he is the next Drew Brees. He is the one QB in this draft that looks and sounds like a headcase. He is only a little over 6 feet tall but he is taller than Russell Wilson...who is a good NFL starter. He did an interview with the Chargers that went pretty crappy because he told them he was not really interested in playing there so he was not interested in reading their playbook...and that they are drafting too low for him and he expects to go in the top 5. If I was the Chargers I'd wipe this kid off my draft board. I expect him to fall to the Dolphins but the word is Elway and Kubiak love him so the Broncos will take him if he is there at 5 and that the Jets will take him at 3 instead of Rosen. If Chubb falls to Elway and the Broncos at 5 and he drafts Baker Mayfield and lets Chubb fall to the Colts...I'd say Elway has lost his mind.

I think the hard thing here is these teams are all blowing so much smoke about who they like. Some people say the Browns really are still taking Darnold at one and that they only talked Allen because that is the guy that seems to be drawing the most trade up interest. The Browns now claim they have not decided on their pick yet. They say Gettleman talked about liking Allen to get somebody to trade for his pick. I am curious how it all plays out but I can see Gettleman going in any number of directions and he's pretty happy that people have no clue what he will do.

Here's a fun article on Gettleman and the Giants draft:

http://www.nj.com/giants/index.ssf/2018/04/dave_gettleman_nfl_draft_giants_press_conference_p.html

 

[Winston T. Boogie]

Hue Jackson's draft strategy is to take Saquon Barkley at 1 and then draft Bradley Chubb at 4 and then use some picks to trade back up into Round 1 and take the QB he supposedly prefers, Lamar Jackson. This is one of the rumors right now about the Browns. Word is Hue does not like any of the top 4 rated QBs and wants Jackson instead.

Personally, to me...Jackson looks like a worse version of RG3 and we know how that turned out. In fact many teams want to convert him to a WR. Hopefully, Hue does not get a big say in how they draft.

 

[Robert Crawford]

Who the freak knows about any of these quarterbacks, they all have their issues. None of them are Andrew Luck or Peyton Manning in which there is little doubt about any of them. As to these rumors and leaks coming from teams, I think they're all BS so I place no value on any of them.

 

[Dheiner]

Hue Jackson's draft strategy is to take Saquon Barkley at 1 and then draft Bradley Chubb at 4 and then use some picks to trade back up into Round 1 and take the QB he supposedly prefers, Lamar Jackson. This is one of the rumors right now about the Browns. Word is Hue does not like any of the top 4 rated QBs and wants Jackson instead.

Personally, to me...Jackson looks like a worse version of RG3 and we know how that turned out. In fact many teams want to convert him to a WR. Hopefully, Hue does not get a big say in how they draft.

Barkley at 1 is a stupid move. Name 1 early draft pick RB that won ANYTHING!
Go ahead. I'll wait.

 

[Scott Merryfield]

Barkley at 1 is a stupid move. Name 1 early draft pick RB that won ANYTHING!
Go ahead. I'll wait.

Hey, Barry Sanders led the Lions to their only post season win in 60+ years! What's more amazing than that?

Seriously, if this were the 1970's or '80's, then taking Barkley at the top of the draft would make some sense. But in 2018, it's just a bad move. No position in sports has become more devalued in the past 15 years or so than the NFL running back. Teams are very successful using a running back by committee approach, so spending such a valuable draft asset on the position makes little sense.

 

[Winston T. Boogie]

Do not be surprised if Rob Gronkowski is traded on draft day. He badly wants out of New England it seems and is advertising that fact. Three teams claim they will make offers for him on draft day. The rumor is Belichick will ship him out if the cards fall the right way.

 

[Winston T. Boogie]

Josh Allen will enter the NFL with the strongest arm in the league.

 

[Winston T. Boogie]

Baker Mayfield frenzy!

For whatever reason the Browns, Jets, and Broncos have all put out there they love and want to draft Baker Mayfield. This seems nuts to me when there are three better options at QB.

 

[Malcolm R]

That the Browns would want him isn't that surprising. They have a history of always making the wrong choice.

 

[Winston T. Boogie]

That the Browns would want him isn't that surprising. They have a history of always making the wrong choice.

I'm thinking only the Jets are serious about Mayfield. Both the Broncos and Browns are shopping for trades to move out of the 4 and 5 spots to collect additional picks. The Jets aren't moving from 3 and so maybe they really are thinking about Mayfield over Rosen there.

It is said you can rely on bad teams to make bad choices and the Browns have made some mind-blowing bad ones so anything is possible. The heavy rumors last night were the Browns are back to they will take Darnold but the Giants rumors are they will take a QB or a RB...which seems to mean if Darnold is there it's him but if not they are drafting Barkley.

It all looks like some sort of game between the Browns and Giants where the Giants could be saying leave Darnold on the board for us and you can have Barkley at 4. However, Gettleman says that whomever he picks at 2 will have an immediate impact on the team...this could only be Barkley or Chubb because if they pick Darnold he is not likely to play this year, so no impact from picking a QB unless he means the message sent to Eli if they draft his replacement.

 

[Scott Merryfield]

The lesson here is: never believe anything said by any team before the draft.

 

[Robert Crawford]

The lesson here is: never believe anything said by any team before the draft.

Right, I haven't even watched ESPN for its draft coverage the last couple of weeks due to all the BS being spread around there and other sports stations. I'll watch tonight because my two teams pick in the top 10 then it's Avengers time.

 

[Winston T. Boogie]

The lesson here is: never believe anything said by any team before the draft.

Oh yeah, everybody is jockeying around looking for ways to improve their leverage, cut deals, and keep people in the dark as to who they really will pick. This will probably be the most fun and intriguing draft since 1983 basically due to the fact that 6 QBs are in play in round one. Also it is fun that there is no agreement on which QB is the clear number one. It seems Darnold, Rosen, Allen, and Mayfield all have supporters claiming they are the "best QB in the draft" and people claiming they will be busts.

I looked at the mocks people were doing this week and some had Allen, at one point the guy the Browns would take at one, falling all the way to the Steelers or Dolphins. Holy cow, if the Steelers or Dolphins landed Allen that would be amazing and great for them. Basically, I would call that a major steal.

 

[Scott Merryfield]

Right, I haven't even watched ESPN for its draft coverage the last couple of weeks due to all the BS being spread around there and other sports stations. I'll watch tonight because my two teams pick in the top 10 then it's Avengers time.

I'm the same way in not watching pre-draft coverage, and I stopped watching ESPN's Sports Center completely several years ago -- the only time I turn that network on now is for college football games.

I may tune in for the first part of the first round tonight, depending on what I feel like watching after getting home from my golf league, which starts this evening. I rarely watch much of the draft anymore since the NFL spread it over three days, though. It's just too much talk to fill all that air time, which I find very boring. Instead, I just check in online once in awhile to see which players were selected.