Draft thread

[skinsinparadise]

Been watching Tight Ends. Two of my favs for the later rounds. Dippre and Conyers. Both good athletes for their size. Physical tone setting players.

[LETMESEEYOURWARFACE]

Been watching Tight Ends. Two of my favs for the later rounds. Dippre and Conyers. Both good athletes for their size. Physical tone setting players.

I REALLY like this dude.

[Warhead36]

I'd take Starks over Watts if we go Safety.

Are you not including Emmanwori because you figure he is gone before our pick or do you like these two better? I am really big on any 3 of these guys but love Emman. What a great group
EDIT-my bad, I read your post wrong. I do like all 3 fitting in our backfield

Emmanwori gives me workout warrior vibes. I don't care how athletic my Safety is. I need him to be a mastermind when it comes to instincts and play recognition. The fact that he killed it at the combine means some team will probably take him in the teens anyway.

[Warhead36]

The way I look at it, if we want to trade down, there has to be someone worth trading up for. Last year Philly traded up with us because they wanted Dejean who was clearly a stud (still like the trade because Sarinstil was real good too and I still have faith in Sinnott).

There are really only two players I could see a team trading up for, and that's Omarion Hampton and Jaxson Dart. The RB class is loaded but Hampton looks like a blue chip talent, and Dart has cemented himself as QB3 and a team like the Giants or Raiders who aren't able to land a QB in round 1 might wanna trade up to secure their guy.

Using the Rich Hill draft value chart (basically a more modernized version of the one Jimmy Johnson developed that is supposedly more reflective of modern draft day trades), our 29th pick plus 6th round pick would equal out to the Raiders 2nd, 4th, and 5th. Point value would be 207 vs 206. I could see that realistically happening. Either the Raiders want Hampton if they don't take Jeanty in the first (Pete Carroll loves running the ball) or they could want Dart to develop behind Geno Smith for a couple years.

[The Evil Genius]

[Warhead36]

Time flying by this year. Another benefit of a deep playoff run.

[GoingCommando]

I REALLY like this dude.

Me too. Most of the projections I see for him have him somewhere around 70-100 in the draft, and unfortunately we don't currently have a pick in that range. He's the main reason I'm liking a trade down from 29. Could give us the mid-round ammo we need to get into range for Fanin without picking him at 61. That said, if we can't trade down from 29, I'm still open to picking Fanin at 61. I really love him and I actually think he could be a major weapon for our offense. Basically the plan would be to have Terry provide the verticality for the offense, and use Fanin and Deebo to put the slots and underneath coverage defenders into conflicts with things like rubs, hi-lows, screens, etc. because having two physical middle of the field YAC threats feels really hard to stop.

He's one of my favorite offensive players in the class, and I've got this dream where we trade down from 29 but still get Fanin, Xavier Watts, Hollin Pierce, and Cam Skattebo all in one massive haul from 30-something to 128.

I like the names SIP mentioned at TE, and I'll add to our list some late-round to UDFA TEs I like:
- Jackson Hawes from Georgia Tech is a nice player. Blue collar big TE who makes clutch middle-field catches and blocks. Not an NFL starter, but a rotation-worthy player in the same vein as John Bates.

- Oronde Gadsden - what happened to his draft stock? I thought he was a top 100 prospect right after the season ended, now he's a projected UDFA? Maybe it's just that he torched my favorite teams, and yeah, he's got pretty big issues separating against man coverage. But he's gotta at least be worth drafting at some point. He's a contested catch beast and you could utilize him off the bench as a red zone specialist IMO.

[GoingCommando]

If Adam Peters finds a way to get us Watts, Fanin, and Skattebo--having already gotten us Deebo and Tunsil--I will come to D.C. and help haul the stones for his monument up to the Mall, Egyptian corvée laborer style.

[Passepartout]

They are a rising and young team that could challenge the NFC East!

[mistertim]

I've watched Watts plenty in real time. And he had plenty of hype among college broadcasts, etc. Surprised not as much with mock drafters, Maybe because the in vogue safeties as far as hype seem to be the hybrid big nickle type or hybrid slot-FS. And Watts doesn't fit really either category. Though he did play his share of slot. Also guessing he's not an athletic freak like a Emmanwori. I guess we will find out on his pro day on the 27th.

Yep, if you watched a Notre Dame game sometime in the past two seasons, you heard a lot of gushing about Watts. He was the best player in the field for Notre Dame in most of their games. I'm a little surprised he feels so undervalued, but I also see it as a major opportunity for late drafting teams like us. Sometimes it feels like there is a pretty big disconnect between scouts and draftniks and the people who are much closer to the college game like the broadcasters and coaches and awards voters, and great players who are really celebrated by the college football world can get overlooked when they don't cleanly fit NFL archetypes. It's also hurt Watts's draft stock that he didn't work out at the combine, and players whose special trait is instinct almost always get undervalued anyway.

I also think the mediocre tackling and physicality are big turnoffs for draftniks, as if anyone is allowed to routinely head hunt receivers any more. I don't think Watts is poor here, over running tackles happens sometimes when you're playing fast and trying to make plays at the line from a deep position. I think it's more about the fact that he just kind of wrestles ball carriers down instead of hitting through them. Draftniks want safeties who are big hitters.

I definitely like Watts, but I'm curious whether he'd fit with what AP and DQ have seemed to look for in players, especially defensive players: very physical tone setters. Watts isn't a bad tackler and isn't afraid of contact, but physicality isn't a central part of his game. He's much more of a cerebral player, as you've noted.