Draft thread

[The Consigliere]

Yeah this is the draft to get an elite RB prospect. Ekeler is aging and B Rob is looking more and more like a JAG. We're seeing a meta shift now: pairing a good(at least) QB with a stud RB really devastates defenses. Round 2 would be the perfect spot, but if there is a Jahmyr Gibbs-like prospect available in round 1 I'd pull the trigger. We need more blue chip talent and the force multiplier effect of Daniels with a stud RB would be massive.

We're pretty lucky in that sense, the RB depth this year is probably stronger than any draft since '17, even if it lacks the pile of top end prospects you saw in great years like '17 and '20, and to a lesser extent '23. There's a clear drop off after Jeanty, but before the combine, you have

Tier 1:
1. Jeanty

Tier 2:
2. Hampton
3. Kaleb Johnson
4. Q. Judkins
5. Dylan Sampson
6. Trey Henderson

Tier 3:
7? Ollie Gordon

There's basically a core group people tend to agree on with Jeanty, and then another 6 or 7 guys. What will be interesting is how they decide to address this. They gutted the middle of the draft for a bad trade for Lattimore, so if they trade that 3rd, they'll be SOL for basically the majority of the rest of the draft, so trading up for RB help would not be ideal.

Picking where they are, should they just take the best available guy (probably a DB, Edge, OL or RB), or should they trade down, and go after RB in the early to mid 2nd? Not sure.

I need to dig into the prospect, but for now, I like all of tier 2, though Trey Henderson scares me a bit, and I'm not sure if Kaleb is a fiction built by the line Iowa has. The most attractive target for me is probably Hampton, Judkins, and Sampson as the likely mega athlete. Ollie Gordon has dropped like a rock after a bad year, but was a monster in '23, he might be worth looking at too.

Based on the talent available, it definitely feels like we should draft a RB early, day 1 or day 2, we should try and add DL or DB help day 1 or day 2 as well, and WR, well, WR is a problem, because this draft and next year's are terrible at WR, and the FA class sucks other than past it vets. I'd love to trade for a WR, but we probably don't have the pick ammo.

It's unfortunate we lost all those picks for Lattimore, reduced flexibility, even if it did, theoretically cross CB off the list of immediate priorities.

[The Consigliere]

Been saying for years BRob is fine but they can do better and I met with a lot of pushback. But I still feel this way and I have to believe they wlll be looking for someone with more explosiveness.

BRob is a good backup. We need a bell cow back who can get 1200-1300+ yards. He’s just not that type of back

I actually think BRob was fine spackle and probably would have been that kind of back if he hadn't gotten shot, and the team hadn't been total --- w/one of the worst OL's on the planet for the bulk of his rookie deal. He was actually pretty efficient, and solid enough, just not elite or particularly athletic, perfectly fine while we sucked, but now that we're actually getting reasonably good and he's hitting the RB age cliff (he hits the age cliff year, 26, in March), and it's a great RB class, we really should be looking for a replacement. There are no answers on the roster. We really need 2 Rb's but should look for at least 1 this offseason to develop into the starter by mid '25 to early '26.

[The Consigliere]

Been saying for years BRob is fine but they can do better and I met with a lot of pushback. But I still feel this way and I have to believe they wlll be looking for someone with more explosiveness.

BRob is a good backup. We need a bell cow back who can get 1200-1300+ yards. He’s just not that type of back

The '26 RB class sucks, and FA RB's are typically a bad idea based on post age 26 RB production. We need to find the RB in this class.
I think they will be looking for more speed at the position and rotate him with BRob. After next year Robinson walks, no way they give him another contract IMO, and they will have a different prime back. But backs are easy to find, I'm not worried.

[Warhead36]

What about TE? This appears to be a pretty good TE class. Not as good as 23 but definitely better than last year. I like Sinnott's upside but ultimately he didn't do much of anything his rookie year.

[Darrell Green Fan]

What about TE? This appears to be a pretty good TE class. Not as good as 23 but definitely better than last year. I like Sinnott's upside but ultimately he didn't do much of anything his rookie year.

I saw him as perhaps the safest pick in the entire draft, to be a player who will be in the rotation as the primary pass catching TE in whatever role they use him in the future. I understand rookie TEs don't do much but he was a ghost and there has to be a reason for that. I've been concerned since halfway through the season.

[Warhead36]

What about TE? This appears to be a pretty good TE class. Not as good as 23 but definitely better than last year. I like Sinnott's upside but ultimately he didn't do much of anything his rookie year.

I saw him as perhaps the safest pick in the entire draft, to be a player who will be in the rotation as the primary pass catching TE in whatever role they use him in the future. I understand rookie TEs don't do much but he was a ghost and there has to be a reason for that. I've been concerned since halfway through the season.

I think Kingsbury was bringing him along slowly the same way he brought along Trey McBride slowly his rookie year. If you look at McBride's targets and catches #s his rookie year, they were very similar to Sinnott's. The difference is, Ertz got injured that year, and as a result McBride's usage skyrocketed.

Then you factor in we had a rookie QB, so you don't wanna give too many snaps to a rookie TE. Better to have Daniels throw to an experienced vet.

I like Sinnott's upside and by all counts he's also developed into a damn good blocker. I think we'll see a lot more of him next year and if the staff is really high on him, maybe they even straight up let Ertz walk. It sounds crazy I know but that's how the good franchises operate: they get rid of guys a year too early instead of a year too late and let the young guys in their pipeline step in and produce.

[The Consigliere]

What about TE? This appears to be a pretty good TE class. Not as good as 23 but definitely better than last year. I like Sinnott's upside but ultimately he didn't do much of anything his rookie year.

Not interested. Most TE's take quite a while to develop with the in line and receiving duties. As an example, like RB, in '17 the TE class was regarded as one of the best ever, and yet only Evan Engram and Kittle appeared to hit immediately, and Engram hit largely because they didnt care about his blocking and used him as a pass catcher. OJ Howard, Njoku, Jonnu Smith, and Everett were all slow to produce, Howard and Shaheen eventually failed entirely, Kittle was an out of nowhere hit. Most years, the elite TE's largely stumble around unless they're played as passing options, and blocking is put on the back burner, Kittle and Gronk are rare exceptions to that. Sinnott was drafted, and basically replaced by Ertz as a security blanket along with Ekeler for Daniels. I don't know if Sinnott is legit or not, his rookie year was a total wash, and he was the least impactful of the day 1 and day 2 picks after a good preseason, but I don't think we can react to that by using a top pick again on a TE, like the Raiders did in '23/'24. For one, I expect the biggest of the big 3, maybe both of them, to go top 20, this is a copycat league and we've had back to back years of big impact for TE's, I also think the Defense and RB are much more urgent needs with Sinnott in house. I'd much rather use our top 3 draft capital on 3 of DL/OL/RB/DB (I don't see the WR's to justify the targeting). I also think the TE class, as far as I'm aware for now, is basically two mega studs and 1 kinda but not exactly sleeper.

Regardless, I don't care, I'd trade for a young TE rather than draft another one, this time with a first. I am fairly certain Sinnott can be at least above league average with starter snaps. Ertz was in his way and I believe, brought in to be in his way and starting over him. Still doesn't help in the eval process (a wash of a rookie year is always a bad sign when breaking down development chances), but I think its explanatory.

[brandies]

Shrine bowl players

https://www.hogshaven.com/2025/1/29/243 ... wl-preview

[Warhead36]

The more I look at this draft class the more underwhelmed I get. There's so few blue chippers compared to the last few years. The only ones I'm really seeing at the top are Ashton Jeanty, Abdul Carter and Travis Hunter and even then, I don't think Carter is in that Myles Garrett, Aidan Hutchinson, or even Chase Young tier of prospect and Hunter is interesting because of his position flexibility.

There's some good players but other than Jeanty I don't see man slam dunk blue chippers. Compare it to last year where, even without the stacked QB class, you had MH Jr and Nabors at WR, Bowers at TE, and Alt at LT. I just don't see that type of quality this year.

My dream is to trade out completely, ideally picking up a future 1st, but the 29th probably won't fetch much this year. At best we'd get like a 2nd and 4th or something.

Its a bad year to be a bad team. I'd honestly throw position value out of the door and draft Jeanty top 3.

[Brave]