Draft thread

[brandies]

[skinsinparadise]

if so i think little chance he's dropping to 29

[brandies]

[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.

I REALLY like this dude.

Fannin is interesting. Hard guess. Feels boom-bust. He was open all the time. Is it the scheme or was it him. Clearly it had to be him to some extent but how much? He doesn't have good size or athleticism for the spot. But he is a fun watch -- big time YAC guy, good run blocker. I'd be ok with rolling the dice but am not sure about him.

The other boom-bust TE IMO is Arroyo. His big plays are electric and looks like a stud at his best. But he's a one year wonder and brings injury concerns.

[Warhead36]

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.

Hard hitters are overrated. What do you gain from being a harder hitter than someone else? Does the offense lose yards if you hit them hard enough? Generating takeaways isn't really a thing and its been proven to be an extremely volatile and unreliable metric for evaluating prospects.

I'll take the cerebral instinctual FS every single time. Gimmie Ryan Clark over Laron Landry anyday of the week.

With that said I actually think Malaki Starks is the best S prospect in the class, but I'd be happy with Watts with our 2nd. Personally I feel like we've positioned ourselves to double dip on Edge pass rushers since we didn't really address it much in FA and its a very deep class at that position.

[brandies]

Hunter is small, but he doesn't let that hinder his physicality. He is a high-intelligence player with good eyes and anticipation in all phases of the game. His ceiling is limited due to a lack of size and length, but he's a player every NFL coach would love to have on their roster or practice squad. https://www.pff.com/draft/nfl-mock-draf ... 15d70669cf

An RB we are meeting with

[brandies]

[mistertim]

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.

Hard hitters are overrated. What do you gain from being a harder hitter than someone else? Does the offense lose yards if you hit them hard enough? Generating takeaways isn't really a thing and its been proven to be an extremely volatile and unreliable metric for evaluating prospects.

I'll take the cerebral instinctual FS every single time. Gimmie Ryan Clark over Laron Landry anyday of the week.

With that said I actually think Malaki Starks is the best S prospect in the class, but I'd be happy with Watts with our 2nd. Personally I feel like we've positioned ourselves to double dip on Edge pass rushers since we didn't really address it much in FA and its a very deep class at that position.

I wasn't making a case for or against Watts. I was expressing that thus far AP and DQ have seemed to stress a few things in who they draft, such as being physical tone setters, having top physical traits, and a fair amount of college starting experience. Watts has experience but his athleticism is so-so and he's not a very physical tone setting guy.

That said, Sainristil isn't much of a physical specimen and isn't a heavy hitter. His game is more about being smart and instincts, so maybe they would value that in Watts. Though Sainristil also has elite leadership qualities, so that counts for a lot too.

[Warhead36]

I could see Shavon Revel being a CB target for us. He fits the DQ mold of tall and lenghty (6'2'' and 194). If for some reason we pass on Edge maybe something like Revel and Watts in the 1st and 2nd round to really overhaul our secondary. Revel and Lattimore can play outside and Sarinstil can shift back to the slot and we'd still have Jones and Noah I as utility/flex DBs.

[The Evil Genius]

Dude needs to drop some weight but holy eff. 6'6" 464 and did 36 reps at 225 and has a 25" vertical and unofficial 5.86 40?

Prob a UDFA but an interesting project for someone.