The practice of pundits grading any teams' draft a couple days after the fact is (as most of them admit) assenine, but I couldn't help reading this.
I won't argue with anybody, and nobody said anything stupid, but I just need to point a few things out:
1: As Pat Kirwan, Gil Brandt, Phil Savage et al will tell you, if you like a player and expect him to come off the board before you draft again, you draft that player.
Nine times out of ten, if you "see" something special in this player, others have seen it too. If you think you're the smartest guy in the room, you will outsmart your own self.
And what the pundits say is irrelevant. You're the one who has done your own research, and you're a genuine pro. You draft that player. Period.
2: Make no assumptions about Joe Schobert, who led the NFL in missed tackles last season, and has legit trade value. And why does everybody assume Kirksey is carved in stone?
Jeez Mack Wilson is early in his growth curve, and gets picked on over his 72 overall PFF grade...but have you seen Kirksey's!?!
I think it's under 55 (not going to check it right now).
Again, Myles Garrett, Denzel Ward, Baker Mayfield, Schobert, Njoku, Callaway and Chubb all came within a two-year period, and their contracts will expire in a tight window.
The current salary cap surplus won't cover Baker Mayfield's contract for one season.
Dorsey isn't done with his housecleaning yet, and he didn't draft Schobert or Kirksey...so loading up on linebackers makes sense.
Now, one guy really liked Miami safety Redwine (like I did) and Mack Wilson where they were drafted, and that sounds rational to me.
Oh yeah...Damarius Randall's contract expires in 2020, by the way...
The downside of Dorsey's splashy trades and signings is that their Division rivals have a much clearer bead on the specific threats they will be facing. This influenced their respective drafts.
Look at the Steelers draft: Devin Bush finally (kinda) replaces Shazier, WR Dionte Johnson (ideally) replaces AB, Justin Layne joins Joe Haden trying to stifle the Browns' great receivers...
Well not exactly: None of the Browns' top three is over 6' tall, and they love humiliating taller cornerbacks who can't change directions fast enough--but they could put Layne on Njoku so that could work.
The rest of the Steelers' draft looks like best available, and I respect their history. At least half these guys stick around, and two or three are contributing in 2-3 years.
Colbert knows what he's doing.
The Ravens draft class is more frightening, as they added a truly scary slot receiver and a deadly red zone outside receiver, along with DE Jaylon Ferguson. All three of these guys are probable instastarters: the WR's are upgrades (and they already signed RB Mark Ingram from the Saints), and Ferguson will mitigate some of what the Ravens D lost in free agency.
I gotta say, I'm not as confident now as I was three days ago. The Steelers should remain an offensive juggernaut, and has just upgraded their defense significantly.
The Ravens' defense will probably lose a step, but Lamar Jackson is suddenly armed to the teeth with offensive weapons, and Hargrove can make that work.
The Browns are indeed the most talented team in the Division now, but it' still going to be a nailbiting dog-fight.
Can't even count the Bengals out. They drafted LT Jonah Williams in the first.
I don't know about TE Drew Sample (in the second round), but the fact is the Bengals draft as well as the Steelers, and I guess they now have their next TE.
They drafted Buckeye Micheal Jordan in the 4th round, too.
All three rivals probably regained lost ground on the Browns in this draft. They all had their first round picks, and generally more when the dust settled. And in reality, all three other teams draft well (except the Ravens, who have whiffed a lot in recent years--I don't get that...Ozzie lost it?)
There are messages for a bunch of you people to be found in this draft, and I will help you finger it out:
1: Dorsey and the coaches like Desmond Harrison a lot more than you do.
1a: They don't regard Left Tackle as nearly as critical as you Memorex Morons do (see recent posts: the game has evolved and Mayfield is the QB now).
2: They didn't prioritize DT depth, like we all did. There are many possible explanations for this:
A: Steve Wilks is not Gregg Williams.
B: MOST of the real DE's can line up inside.
C: Once Greedy Williams was nabbed, it guranteed two press/man shut-down corners (with Mitchell for depth).
This lets Randall (and everybody else) play zone and react more aggressively to everything else offenses attempt.
An all one-gap defensive line could work well here. You could rest Ogunjobi (the zero shade).
I'll have to get back to this later, but in a nutshell: Steve Wilks (with THREE shut-down outside corners, Avery and Taka...taki (whuh-evah)) might not NEED the big inside guys as much or as often as Williams did; ie:
If you have superb coverage, you don't need no steenking zero-technique!
I know I know you dint get that. Stay tuned.
No comments:
Post a Comment