Cleveland drafted a guy apparently unaware he had assaulted a woman this month and may now release him. It’s hard to give them the benefit of the doubt with mismanagement like that.
So, last year people started to hone in on Ryan Pace’s apparent strategy in the draft, and this year seems to further reinforce the concept. Pace’s philosophy seems to be to make a splash in round one, throw caution to the wind and try and get a unlimited ceiling guy regardless of question marks. In 2015, it was Kevin White, physical freak but a one year wonder. In 2016 it was Leonard Floyd, Combine monster with mediocre tape that needs to fill out. In 2017, it was Trubisky, limited game tape but has the profile of a franchise QB.
In the rest of the rounds, it appears to be a pretty clear BPA approach with little to no consideration for positional fit or team needs. In 2015, that panned out with Goldman, Grasu, Langford and Amos all looking like reliable contributors. In 2016, it was even better with Whitehair and Howard being absolute stars.
Another Pace calling card, draft day trades to move up or back. Clearly he has tiers of guys in each round and doesn’t want to miss out or pick a guy too high. so he moves around a lot.
So what to make of rounds 2-7 this year for Pace and the Bears:
2.13 (45): Adam Shaheen - After trading back and recouping a bunch of picks, they grabbed a small school TE. TE isn’t really a position of need for us, but the scouting report on this kid is glowing. Level of competition is very questionable, but from everything I’ve read this is a good value. I’m sure the “Baby Gronk” stuff is ridiculous, but we definitely need playmakers. If he pans out, he will absolutely steal Kyle Long’s position as the fan favorite, let’s hope.
4.5 (112): Eddie Jackson - Pace leaped up 5 spots to make sure he got this kid. DB is a area of need for us, but I think this was clearly a player Pace targeted. He’s been graded everywhere from 2nd to 5th round, so there’s not a lot of consensus. He’s not a thumper and he’s had 2 serious leg injuries, which probably explains the lower grades. I love his tape. Looks like a really sure tackler who wraps up and rips at the ball, not a thumper who jars balls loose, but I think that quality is over rated. I’d rather a guy use his arms and hands to tackle and cause fumbles instead of being a missile who whiffs on some guys sometimes. His highlight reel show a guy who has great ball skills, keeps an inside position and tackles well in space with good pursuit. Hopefully he and Amos can become a solid tandem on the back end.
4.13 (119): Tarik Cohen - This pick was received in the Cardinals deal, and by most accounts this pick is a reach. Another small school FCS kid and one who is comically undersized. Every small RB like this is “Darren Sproles 2.0” and to be honest, his highlight reel is pretty electric. But I’m doubtful that that his dart and dash running style will work in the pros. He’s a potentially nice compliment to Howard though, he could be that 3rd down back and returner that we don’t really have right now. We have a log jam at RB so someone is hitting the bricks, maybe Langford.
5.3 (147): Jordan Morgan - Small school again, our second DII selection, and this one won the Offensive Player of the Year award as a OL, which never happens. It’s unclear where the Bears see him playing, we’re stacked up on the interior of the line and really weak at the edges, but I think it’s stretch to think this guy can make the leap from DII to the NFL as an OT. If they try and ease him in as a OG that puts Sitton, Long, Kush or Grasu somewhere else. He has the physical makeup to be a OT but that’ll take some time. This was a really weak OT class and we had needs, I have a hunch that Pace reached here a bit knowing he had no 6th or 7th round picks. We may end up looking back and wondering if there wasn’t a big school DB that would have been a wiser selection here.
So, we’ll see how this pans out. This is a hugely risky draft and it could be Pace’s last if Trubisky is a bum and these small school guys look like fish out of water. The Bears had serious needs at DE, OT, CB and WR that weren’t addressed and we spent a lot of draft capital moving around this year.
I can see a path forward though…
If Trubisky is worth the #2 overall pick and ends up being a productive starter for a decade, then no one will remember anything else.
If the FAs signed at CB combined with Amos, Jackson and a couple dozen other guys on the roster can make this an average or better secondary we’ll be able to stay in games.
If the front 7, especially Floyd, McPhee, Goldman, Young and Hicks, can stay healthy for 16 games we will get after the QB.
If Shaheen turns into Baby Gronk (or the next Jimmy Graham) as the hack writers are saying, White stays on the field and Meredith isn’t a one year wonder, then we will move the ball in the air and on the ground with Howard.
Lot of ifs, I think the chances are better that the defense pans out than the offense, which doesn’t really speak well of this year’s top 2 draft picks. Sigh.
Good day for the Pats because it capped a good off-season. They took depth at the positions they needed to, traded for or signed for the rest, and still have plenty of cap space. Not only are they loaded up for another trophy, they’re mostly still young and cheap, too.
Plus, we now know Garoppolo is their choice as next QB. No team that needed one, even Chicago, made a big enough offer, and every team that needed a QB took one. It will take a few years before they realize most of them stink, as is always the case.
Jimmy has another year left on his rookie contract, then they can franchise him for a year or two more if they need to, and by then Brady’s body will have woken up and realized it’s over 40 years old. So Jets fans can keep on despairing.
Packers end the draft picking 2 WR and 3 fucking RBs. Not seeing the rationale or value in those picks. Of course RB was a position of need, but drafting 3 of them in one draft is just … stupid. If you didn’t like the first, why draft him the 4th round? And there are plenty of free agent RB’s (Blount, Charles, Williams, Jennings, and on and on) still available. And the Packers were cutting lower round draft pick WR’s (Janis and Abrederis) last year because of a glut of them, why draft even more? And neither of them seem like the size/speed guys who could develop into a gamechanger.
So while they’re reaching for guys who create a logjam at positions, they pass on a lot of talent at positions that they need. With a decimated secondary and unreliable linebacking corp, they draft one CB, one safety, and one linebacker. Those are the positions you want to create competition at, not at RB or WR.
Not happy at all with this draft for the Packers. I’m really hoping that I have some time in the next few days to watch tape on these guys and change my mind, but as of now, I’m just not seeing it.
Especially since they have Vontaze Burfict to mentor him.
Considering how long ago Mixon’s incident was, it could be the other way around.
Man, its great to be a Raiders fan again. Can’t wait till we spank the Pats in Mexico City.
Has any Mr. Irrelevant ever turned into a decent NFL player? If not, why do some completely undrafted players make it and the last pick never does?
It’s been mentioned a couple times already I believe but Tom Brady was the 199th pick, near the bottom of the 6th round in 2000. Richard Sherman was the 154th pick in 2011. Sometimes those really late picks work out fine.
Most of the true Mr. Irrelevants (i.e., the very last pick of the draft) make their team in their first year. Ryan Succop, the current kicker for the Titans, is pretty much the only one that even an above-average fan would have heard of (aside from ones from their own team; however, the 2016 Mr. Irrelevant was picked by my Titans and I just learned that). The short answer to your question is that there are a lot more undrafted players than final picks of the draft.
Since the draft was shortened to 7 rounds, not 17, virtually all draftees have a very good chance to make a team, or at least as good as 6th rounders. Some undrafted players get to be stars. So the old nickname is just unfair now.
Just sheer numbers. There’s only one Mr. Irrelevant every year, but probably hundreds of undrafted free agents.
Chad Kelly is probably the highest profile Mr. Irrelevant I can think of. He was actually pretty good at Ole Miss before tearing his ACL. And his uncle is Jim Kelly, so there’s that.
I had it wrong about Mixon being mentored by Vontaze Burfict.
Looks like it’ll be Pacman Jones instead.
*"After Jones’ arrest (earlier this year for assault at a downtown hotel), the team issued an apology for the cornerback’s behavior . Video from the police cruiser showed him cursing police and saying he hopes one of the officers dies. Despite their apology, the Bengals chose to keep Jones anyway.
Mixon shares an agent with Jones and has talked to him once or twice.
”He’s a good dude,” Mixon said. ”Coming over here, I’m sure he’ll show me around.”"*
http://www.foxsports.com/nfl/story/bengals-getting-backlash-over-drafting-rb-joe-mixon-042917
Interesting article about the Bears draft and the relationship between the coach and GM from Jason La Canfora. A select quote:
"“We don’t know what the hell they were doing,” said an executive from one team that is routinely in the postseason. “It’s all anyone is talking about. It’s really bad between Pace and Fox. Fox is fuming about being left in the dark on the trade (for Trubisky). I don’t know anyone who likes their draft. From the first pick on, we can’t figure out what they were doing. Go back and look at how many small-school kids they took. People around the league are shocked. It’s really bad between Pace and Fox.”
It seems like there’s a whole bunch of news articles running around where “someone” who may or may not be remotely connected to the Bears are saying everything is a mess with the Bears.
I’m on the fence with the Raiders draft. Assuming Conley gets cleared, he looks like a good pick (especially once I saw that OSU was putting him, not Lattimore, on the other teams’ best WRs). The rest of the draft feels like a lot of guys who are big on potential but could also bottom out. Melifonwu is a classic Al Davis pick, with tons of size/speed but still needs to learn coverages. Vanderdoes was a top recruit out of high school but got derailed by an ACL tear. Sharpe is big but slow apparently. I’m interested to see how Marquel Lee does since the Raiders really need an ILB, to the point I wouldn’t be surprised if Lee started just for lack of other options…
Well, that executive from a team who “routinely makes the playoffs” definitely isn’t connected with the Bears. 
Eh, RB was REALLY a position of need. This is a team who was starting a converted WR at RB, and the only other guys on the roster were Christine Michael (who already had chances with Dallas and Seattle and failed) and Don Jackson (the personification of JAG). And the Packers just cut them both!
Granted that I watched him a LOT at FSU, but am I the only one thinking that the Vikes got a steal by waiting until the 2nd Round to draft Dalvin Cook. Having watched them both a fair amount, I think Cook will outlast Fournette and end up having the longer, more productive career.
Unless his shoulder gives out or the folks he hangs out with distract him from being a pro.
But don’t those same concerns apply to Fournette? At a much higher price tag?
Any player can have injuries or off-field trouble, but Cook has bigger problems with both.
Injury-wise, Cook has hamstring issues as well as three surgeries on his shoulder since high school. Fournette has ankle issues, which may eventually need surgery, or may just need rest.
As far as ‘hanging with the wrong crowd’… Cook has been in trouble for a robbery (2009, charges dropped), firing and possession of a weapon on school property (2010, charges dropped) and battery outside a bar (2015, found not guilty). Fournette has had nothing that I know of, beyond his parents trying to sell merch.
Another reason Cook fell… he tested in the bottom 9th percentile in SPARQ score (which looks at all the combine tests) for NFL athletes. That’s pretty bad. Now, this is just based off the combine, so maybe he just had a bad day or hadn’t been prepping properly for it, or whatever, but it’s still worrisome.
I would never spend a top five draft pick on a running back, so I don’t like the Fournette pick from that angle. But I think there’s plenty of valid reasons for Cook’s fall. Of course, he could very much still do well, stay out of trouble, and outshine Fournette. It’s all a crapshoot.