And the Eagles don’t in any way strike me as an incompetent organization. (They’re the champions after all.) So I’m sure they had a good reason. It’s just hard to tell what it could have been.
Seahawks go offensive guard out of a highly successful FCS school. I’m liking this so far.
On the Chiefs/Eagles trade, one outside possibility is that it was actually the Chiefs who initiated the trade, not the Eagles. There’s a small difference in the contract size, about $200k, between the 31st and 32nd pick. Moving down gains a pick for the Chiefs and saves them a little money. And for whatever reason the Eagles were willing to accommodate. The Eagles had four(!) 5th round picks in a tight cluster, so maybe they liked the idea of locking up a stud LB while also shifting some superfluous assets.
The conversation could have been something like this. “Hey Howie, we’ve got two guys we like here, Campbell and Simmons. We’re leaning Campbell but would be happy with both. If you really like Campbell, we can swap picks for cheap. Let us know.” Under normal circumstances, I think Howie says no, but when you have a glut of picks maybe you say screw it.
Like was already said, we’ll never really know. Hell, maybe Howie just likes making trades and he did it just for the hell of it. If anyone can get away with being frivolous with picks it’s Roseman.
Thought this was interesting. If there’s any truth to this, it seems like the league likes the pick.
So who needs a QB and are willing to take on the Sanders circus?
I remember quite a bit of buzz about the guy before the draft. I believe he’s considered the kind of TE that might be impactful for a team, which is rare. You only get a handful of guys like Kelce or Kittle and I think there’s a chance he’ll be one of those kind of players. A good pick for a team trying to give a young QB more tools to work with.
I’d normally say the Browns but they seem uncharacteristically smart in this draft, and I expect they might have had their fill of problematic QBs already with Watson.
I wonder if Pittsburgh still takes a swing if he lasts until they can pick in round 2.
That’s the only possibility I can come up with.
I can’t see someone wanting to pick him to give him a clipboard to learn for a year or two. I can’t think of a worse distraction on the bench.
He’ll get picked by someone at some point. I could see one of the needy teams taking him, of which I’d put the Jets and Steelers as the most likely.
But I could also see a team with an older QB taking him and keeping him on the bench. Someone out there will convince themselves that his drop will teach him some humility, and with a year or two of being a backup, he could be decent or better.
As an Illinois alum, I watched a lot of B1G football this year. We played both Michigan and Penn State, so I watched Warren and Loveland both last year. Those weren’t the only games I watched of them, but I definitely paid special attention to those. And of the two, Loveland was way more of a problem for the Illini than Warren was. We did win against Michigan and lose against Penn State, but in that Michigan game it felt like Loveland was always open. We game planned for both, and we kept Warren in check was easier than Loveland. Every time we had Michigan in 3rd and long the entire stadium knew that the ball was going to Loveland…it didn’t matter, dude still got open.
More than a few people have compared Loveland to Kelce and Warren to Gronk. That’s a couple HoFer so you don’t want to get too crazy with that stuff, but stylistically it makes sense. Loveland definitely has that knack for finding space and flashing for the QB like Kelce does.
McShay was arguing that yesterday’s trade signaled loudly that the Browns were 100% out on this QB class. They were bulking up on assets to make a run at the top guy next year. Obviously, if a guy falls in their lap they might take him, but at this point it’s starting to feel like Sanders might be on the board for a while yet.
It will be interesting to see if Shough or Milroe go before Sanders.
I guess me and the Giants will be sitting out tonight.
The only leaked part of the conversation I’ve read is that the Chiefs asked the Eagles if they were picking “offense or defense”. When they said “defense” they went ahead and made the trade. So clearly they were planning on taking Simmons in either spot, and weren’t going to risk the Eagles moving up and taking their guy.
As to why the Eagles went for it, my guess is that the knew the Chiefs were shopping the pick and willing to move down a spot or two. So the Eagles probably had some concern that if they didn’t move up to get their guy the Chiefs would take a different offer to move back and Campbell would be gone.
The Eagles have so many picks over the next few years (I read somewhere they have 20 picks over the next 3/4 years) that losing a 5th to make sure you get the guy you think can help your title defense is defensible, I think.
I just saw an interesting factoid that only one QB has been selected in the 2nd round in the last 3 years (Will Levis). Players selected in the 1st round get a 5th-year option on their rookie contract, but it’s only 4 years for the 2nd round.
So if a team thinks someone is a franchise QB, it’s worth it to take them in the 1st round and get the extra year (Baltimore traded up to get Lamar with the 32nd pick for this reason). And if they aren’t a franchise QB, why use a 2nd round pick on them?
The Commanders’ OL pick has gotten mixed-to-positive reviews, and I’m happy with it. Now…someone to help stop the run.
Pittsburgh’s front office, right now:
I was watching the ABC coverage not ESPN too much fluff and a couple of cringe moments but not the worst. I am seeing a lot of complaints about ESPN making it too much about Sanders and ignoring the ones who were actually picked.
We ate lunch out today, and one of the TVs over the bar was on the draft, and the talking point banner “why did Shedeur slip to the second round” was up for at least half an hour.
To me Tyler Shough is the one that intrigues me. He’s bigger and stronger than Sanders with about the same speed. I know there are injury concerns but I don’t see the issue since it wasn’t his shoulder or knees. I think he’s a lower draft pick that can turn out to be a starter in the league.
Jalen Milroe is the one I find intriguing.
I don’t think he’s anywhere near ready to start. I think he needs a year or two to get ready. He’s not much of a pocket passer which isn’t something you want in your starter, but if he gets the right QB coach in the NFL he could really turn into something. He’s a “high ceiling, low floor” kind of guy.
A team with an established QB who doesn’t need someone right away, but would like to develop someone in the next couple of years, he might be a good fit for that team. And there are definitely a few teams in this league who fit that mold.
Now I’m really glad the Steelers drafted Harmon instead of Sanders last night.
His mom (who has had serious medical problems as Harmon was growing up) was on life support and he was able to rush to the hospital to tell her that he achieved his life dream and got drafted by an NFL team hours before she passed away.
If this was in the plot of a movie people would say this was an unbelievable cliche.
Evidently Adrian Peterson was very excited about the Vikings pick of Donovan Jackson last night.