The Browns have 4/5 pieces of a very good O-line, only missing right tackle. The Browns O-line looks bad because McCoy is extremely hard to block for - holds the ball for too long, bad pocket presence, etc. No talent at running back this year either. They’d have a top 10 O-line easily with a solid RT, probably top 5.
Fear not, with only four teams in front of them, I can’t imagine Silatolu, Konz, and Osemele all off the board. I like all those guys.
Ok folks. I got a text from some friends who were out at the bar and I decided to avoid the PC and watch the draft with beers and friends. Might have been the right call, but I did miss the banter here and Beef’s freakout and my freakout wasn’t appreciated to the degree that it should have been. Anyways, I’m just going to do a brain dump here of my thoughts to get caught up.
First, the bar’s reaction when they drafted McClellin was priceless. It’s was a odd mixture of silence, confusion, disgust all punctuated with my screaming obscenities. It reminded me of the Challenger disaster. I’ll come back to this in more detail later, but it’s clear that I’m not the only one distraught over this and already willing to trash everything Emery does for the rest of his tenure. Any credibility he gained in the Marshall trade is utterly and completely destroyed.
I was not one that was clamoring for an offensive lineman in the draft for the Bears. I have bought into the company line somewhat that our current players are developing and a focus on the running game will solve many of our issues. I lashed out against bloggers, fans and pundits who projected Konz, Zeitler, Glenn and Martin here because I saw them as “just guys” who distracted us from actually adding impact players at greater need positions. When I made those arguments I didn’t think either Reiff or DeCastro would be available at 19. Both guys were easily top 15 players and I think DeCastro might have been one of the top 5 players in this draft. Either guy would have been a no brainer here.
Harry Potter was at the Draft. Can’t decide how I feel about this.
WTF was going on with Mark Barron’s hair?
Can you frigging believe that the Bears passed on the second best OT and the second best OL (best?) in this draft?
I was stuck in traffic when the first 5 picks came off the board. There were lots of trades but did anyone do or say anything stupid?
I haven’t had a chance to dig in on those trades but at a glance it seems like the Vikings played things masterfully.
The Broncos acted bizarrely, effectively trading back from pick 25 to pick 36 in exchange for only the 101st pick in the draft. Then again that’s pretty similar to what the Ravens got (98th pick) when they moved back from pick 29 to 35. I guess that’s the value that’s been established by the market, but there’s a pretty sizable drop off from the 25th pick to the 36th.
The Illini had 2 players drafted in the 1st round (and likely another in round 2). You’d think they’d have been a better team. Guess that tells you all you need to know about Ron Zook.
I projected AJ Jenkins going 41st overall in the Mock, higher than just about anyone, do I get credit for that when he goes in the 1st IRL? Beef nailed Poe going to the Chiefs, It’s Not Rocket Surgery! nailed Kirkpatrick going to the Bengals, albeit at the wrong overall spot. I got Tannehill to the Dolphins right but I traded back into the 1st round to get him at 20, I like my strategy better.
It’s a little interesting that only the Vikings and Bucs traded back into the 1st round, and both those moves were only a few spots. No big moves ala the Saints or Falcons this year.
The Cardinals got an amazing player and I’m very tempted to draft Skelton or Kolb next year in Fantasy. That tandem will catch a lot of balls and if they can get a RB worth a shit they’ll break a ton of big runs on the back of the downfield blocking too.
I’m not sure what else I can say about that McClellin pick. He’s basically a situational pass rusher. One that’s best suited for a 3-4 defense. So, which exactly does a dyed in the wool 4-3 team reach for him in the middle of the 1st round? No idea. McClellin might be pretty effective in the Nickel and I guess there’s an outside chance that he’s the next Clay Matthews but again, he’s not playing on 2 feet with a running start. I really hope he’s effective, but I can’t see it. Emery has said that he see’s him as a LDE, I think I might have actually been more enthusiastic about the pick had they wanted to use him as a blitzing Sam. Yeesh, this is ugly.
I think Beef should feel alright about what the Brownies did. Passing on DeCastro and Reiff is equally indefensible as it was for the Bears but Weeden is the right guy for them. He’ll play right away over McCoy which you need and he’ll have Richardson to help shoulder the load. They could have gotten Weeden at 37 (or better yet traded up to the late twenties like the Vikings and Bucs to get him to be safe) and added a stud at 22 along with him, but taking the safe route and simply selecting him there is fine. They’ll have an NFL offense this year already and there’s still room to add a Fleener, Hill or Glenn tomorrow.
Reiff to the Lions is an excellent pick. Not sexy but considering their situation with Stafford and Backus it’s a windfall. Damn the Lions and Vikings both managed to not only not screw up but actually win today.
The Packers…not so much. I really dislike Perry. He plays like a guy who is only good when there’s elite talent around him soaking up attention. He’s a bit soft and doesn’t seem to shed blockers well at all. If the Packers think he can play DE in the 3-4 they are dreaming, but he’s also never played OLB before. Players have made that conversion before but Perry doesn’t look like the type. I see a workout warrior here. Ironically I think the Bears and Packers would both be better off with the other teams selection, even though McClellin is a somewhat better player in a worse situation.
If the Bears didn’t want an OL why in the hell did they prefer McClellin to Chandler Jones? I will be watching this very closely. I’m convinced Jones will be a Pro Bowler and McClellin will be a situational player/special teamer.
Who’s going to be the 1st pick tomorrow? Do the Rams keep it and draft Stephen Hill? Cordy Glenn? Maybe Zach Brown? Do the Rams trade it to someone who talks themselves into say Fleener, Upshaw, Martin or Curry?
Who’s going to take the next QB on the board? Jacksonville? Kansas City? Denver?
Awesome write up Omni, glad you took the time to do it. Here are a few thoughts of my own.
I spent the draft at work, so I had to follow along on ESPN radio (awful) and the NFL Mobile app, which has a pretty cool draft tracker. With all the mocks, I had a pretty good idea who everyone was (uhh, except Irvin and AJ Jenkins…), but I look forward to following along tomorrow and learning more about the players as it goes. I’ll get nothing done and might get fired.
•Luck then RGIII, ho hum. Actually, I was pretty intrigued by this combo. On the radio they mentioned that this is the first time since 1999 (and 1998 before) that QBs went top two. I thought about it, and in both cases, one QB was very good (McNabb in 1999, Manning in 1998) and one a bust (Couch in 1999, Leaf in 1998). But this is a very different QB comparison. I think everyone expects both to be really good. It’ll be very interesting over the next decade to discover who turns out better. I have a feeling it’ll be a really good debate.
•I thought the top of the draft showcased really interesting strategic choices:
- Minnesota finally got their deal to move back and still got their guy anyway (smart).
- I think Tampa Bay thought they could move back and still get (supposedly) their guy, but Dallas saw an opportunity and jumped in and made a splash. I feel like TB got caught trying to be cute. I don’t understand that move at all.
- Philly moved up a couple spots and got their guy. It’s another excellent draft maneuver from a strategically excellent front office. They thought about moving up farther, but didn’t want to trade either of their 2s or their 3. Then St. Louis moved back and Carolina took Kuechly. They knew KC wanted a DT but figured they would take Poe since he fits a NT spot better. From there it was a matter of leap frogging the Rams once again. Smart move, because the Rams went DT there.
•Carolina took Kuechly. It’s starting to seem like a consensus that MLB (and RB) is devalued and not worth drafting high. I think it’s a load of shit. The game is changing, absolutely, but that dominant guy in the middle is still critical to anchoring the D. Look at the long standing strong defenses in the NFL. BAL and PIT. Ray Lewis, James Farrior. Chicago has Urlacher. The Jets have been in the top five in yards the last three years when they coincidentally picked up Bart Scott. Over the last 10 years, the top five defenses had a dominant MLB half of the time.
•Bruce Irvin happened. This reminded me of fantasy football. Almost all fantasy football GMs get so horny for their secret super sleeper. They’ll usually take him way too high to ensure they get him and lock in their bragging rights. This spot seemed like someone in Seattle wanted to showcase how smart they were by snagging “their guy.” I bet he lasted until their round 2 pick.
•I think Cleveland fucked up twice, but in the end I have a feeling it works out well. He’ll probably start by week 10 and be a solid starter over the next few years for a team that will rely on defense (quietly a top ten defense last season, despite being awful against the run) and the running game. That could work in that division.
•New England trades up twice and ends up with two guys that I kept hearing good things about. I don’t know a lot about college players outside of the top guys, but I read and hear a lot and pick out the patterns. Jones shot up charts the week before and nobody seemed to be “down” on him. Same with Hightower.
•The Giants. There are two ways to think about this. Either they got leap frogged by Tampa and lost their guy, then panicked and took the next guy at the same position on their board, after trying for nearly their entire clock to trade the pick (bad); or Tampa jumped in front of the Giants to try to steal Martin but the Giants actually wanted Wilson all along. That means Tampa again got caught trying to be cute (bad). Either way, it’s a glimpse into how hard this drafting shit is.
I, too, am really excited about day two. I wish I didn’t have to work again. I think day two is increasingly becoming the day the real good front offices make their fortunes. It’s one thing to have a shitty team and get a high pick and take a consensus really good player. It’s another thing entirely when there isn’t consensus, when the elite players don’t stand out.
6-5 Big ten lineman. Measurables not great but durable, consistent, smart. Arms thought to be a bit too short for stardom,Considered a possible Guard rather than tackle. expected to be safe and dependable, no huge upside, not likely to be a multiple pro-bowl guy, but little bust potential as well, should be there and steady for years to come.
The more I think about Reiff the more I realize he looks like he is just Backus 2012. Which is not a bad thing at all. 
Was offline last night, but enjoying the hell out of this thread.
I think a lot of teams drafted well; I only see one or two really bad moves. A lot of teams followed my own maxim: Bad teams should trade down to fill the roster; Good teams should trade up to fill needs.
Winners:
Vikings – Trading down and still getting the guy you wanted? That only happens in bullshit mock drafts. Also, they are a bad team, and they currently have 10 more picks left.
Rams – 3 2nd round picks, in addition to the 2 1sts in 2013 and 2014, will go a long way toward remaking the roster.
Patriots – A good team, so ergo, the Pats trade up for a passrusher and a MLB.
Eagles – see above. Needed a DT, got one.
Jags – I’ll make an exception to the rule: a 1st and a 4th to try and fill a desperate need is not onerous.
Cardinals – Unless Michael Floyd is a complete knucklehead, this is a great situation for him. Really hope Kolb pulls it together.
Steelers – DeCastro is such a perfect, obvious fit.
Browns – Richardson will define their offense.
Losers:
Jets – Passed on Chandler Jones to take a questionable-character guy. Of course they did.
49ers – Almost certainly could have traded down and still gotten the same guy in round 2.
Broncos – Two trades that add up to this: they dropped from 25 to 36, and only added a pick at 101. Compared to the night’s other trades, they should have gotten more.
Dolphins – They can scream to the heavens about how they will be patient, but at #8 overall, the fans and owner are going to expect Tannehill to play sooner rather than later. And if/when he plays like a project QB thrust into a starting role on a bad team figures to, the negativity will start. Don’t see this going well.
Browns – Look away, Beef.
Here’s my bottom line on Weeden: he came back from baseball in 2006 and redshirted. In 2007 and 2008, he was 25 and 26, about the ages when young NFL QBs are earning starting jobs and coming into their prime, he was sitting behind Zac Robinson at Oklahoma State. If at age 26 he wasn’t clearly, no-doubt-about-it better than Zac Robinson, it makes me skeptical that at age 29 he’ll be clearly, no-doubt-about-it better than Colt McCoy. And if he’s not an obvious, immediate upgrade, the pick makes no sense.
And that’s not even getting into the opportunity cost, which Beef has already explained: by taking Weeden now, they not only give up on (26 year old) McCoy, they almost certainly are passing on a QB next year.
Just spitballing here, but do you think it could be that Emory is pissing on Halas Hall and letting Lovie know that he is in charge and will draft players he likes, regardless of Lovie’s system? Angelo was clearly in Lovie’s back pocket, drafting his guys for his system, but Emory may not be so enamoured with Lovie and his system. Or he could be planning ahead.
I’m surprised. Given your dislike of Brian Bulaga, I figured you wouldn’t like Reiff, who is, in essence, Brian Bulaga. Smart, good tactician, but short arms and questionable if they can make it on the left side. But I agree, good pick for the Lions.
I chuckled with a buddy that the Bears took McClellin to piss of the Packers and the Packers said “fuck you” right back by grabbing Perry. I do like Perry’s first step though.
There’s a history with Bruce Irvin and Pete Carroll. When Carroll was at USC, he recruited Irvin hard from junior college. Carroll got a crack at him for the Seahawks, and he got him this time. Supposedly seven other teams have Bruce Irvin in their top 15, so he might not have been a total reach.
I think that’s a major, but overlooked, benefit of having more high level draft picks. Every team is going to screw up a pick, even an early one, so if you have more of them, you increase your chances of success.
Almost everyperson talking about him I heard compared him to Brian Bulaga. After a rocky rookie season, Bulaga had a great sophomore year and is looking very good. If the same holds true for Reiff, it was a good pick.
After taking the Redskins to the cleaners, I thought the Rams screwed the pooch by letting the Cowboys take the last “elite” level prospect in the draft. There are times when not trading down is the right thing to do. And at the end of a tier of good prospects is that time. I’m not sold on Brockers, and I find the dropoff between Claiborne and Brockers to be worth more than a mid second round pick, especially when you have two. Plus I hate Jeff Fisher and I hope every pick of his sucks.
I liked what they did, in large part because I like Cox so much better than Brockers.
It was a helluva deal they got, moving into the second tier of guys, pushing the Bucs out, and only paying a fourth rounder. Nice.
I love watching Rex Ryan’s ego get pounded, so I really liked the pick. It screamed “To hell with Coples’ lollygagging and questionable schematic fit, I’M REX FUCKING RYAN and I can coach the hell out of anyone!!!” Heh.
I don’t understand the thought process of “we can only have one QB on the team”. What’s wrong with having McCoy and Wheedon compete? What’s wrong with still giving McCoy a chance and see if he develops?
As a Packers fan, some thoughts on the NFC north.
Vikings (T Kalil, S Smith) and Lions (T Reiff) came out ahead in the first round, I think. Both added beef to the O-line to shore up against good pass rushing teams in GB and Chi. Double bonus to the Vikes for adding a damn good safety who can just play centerfield against three gunslinger QBs. The only team he’ll have to help with run support against is Chicago. Not his strong suit, but he can contribute there and it’s not a pressing need.
Not really sure about GB and Chi. Both added to their pass rush. Comparing the additions of Perry and McLellin to Kalil and Reiff, I give the “on paper” nod to the O lineman. It seems like there’s a million pass rushers taken every year and maybe 3-4 contribute significantly from the get go. The rest take three or four years to develop if they even develop at all. Someone said earlier that they just have to trust Thompson and Kevin Greene to find and develop the right guy and I agree with that. Lions and Vikes added immediate help, props to them.
Lions and Vikings: +1
Pack and Bears: +0
Like the Bears pick a lot… I got a chance to see this guy against UGA in the kickoff game… the good ol boys down in Athens went in yammering about SEC football… came out of that game like… “Who the fuck scheduled Boise!!”
Strong… quick… can play LB to as well… Slap me silly and call me sally but life without that idiot Jerry just got better!!! (old GM)
ISTM that it’s about avoiding the dreaded QB controversy. If you don’t make the coach pick, he just won’t. Then you can wind up with two guys playing, going hot and cold and limiting their success, possibly splitting the locker room over the decision or making one guy disgruntled and poisoning the team chemistry.
The traditional model for success is to have ONE guy who is the unquestioned leader of his offense. Since McCoy has been the leader, it might confuse or anger people and upset the team chemistry if the team just hands the keys over to Weedon (I realize you’re talking about competition, not handing it over, but some people wouldn’t see it that way I think).
It can sink a season before it starts if the QB isn’t settled quickly so everyone knows who to look to for leadership.
That’s just my opinion/observation as an armchair guy, I can’t think of any counter examples to that right this minute. I’m sure someone else will, though, who knows more than me.
The Browns may have panicked a pit on both of their 1st round picks. I don’t know if they really needed to trade up to 3rd for Richardson, but I don’t have a huge problem with it. I also don’t know that anyone else would have grabbed Weeden before their 37th pick, but I don’t have a huge problem with that pick at 22, either. I think you can get quality OL in later rounds and there are still a couple good WRs left to take at 37. Taking the 4th best QB (although I like him better than Tannehill) in the draft in the first round does seem like a stretch, though. But I can live with it.
According to your list of who is and who isn’t elite, maybe; pretty obviously the Rams scouts’ don’t agree. IMO a bad team like the Rams needs as many bites at the apple as they can get.
Under the CBA, you have a finite amount of time to spend coaching players, and a finite number of reps in practice. Andrew Luck and RG3 will be getting something like 80-90% of the practice reps with their teams. The coaches will spend the majority of individual coaching time working with them on footwork, delivery, etc. The plays the team spends the most time repping will be based, in large part, on playing to those QBs strengths and hiding their weaknesses. When you have two QBs, all of those things are somewhat compromised. “Give up on” was maybe a bit too strong, but you can only give one guy the very best chance to succeed. If they both get 50% of the reps and coaching attention, then they both are getting less than their very best chance to succeed.
If you find yourself in a situation where you have two relatively even guys, well, you make do. It’s especially not terrible if both guys who are veterans, and/or have been in the system for a couple years. But going out and bringing in a rookie who is not clearly better than the starter, now or in the future, is a different proposition. If the Browns think that Weeden is clearly better, and will be giving him the bulk of the reps, then , then they pretty much are giving up on McCoy.
For the Cardinals, I am happy with Floyd who is a good pick I think, in that he should free up Fitzgerald somewhat and, given what little I have seen of him, should also provide a bigger target for Kolb/Skelton and increase their margin for error. It also seems to indicate that the Cardinals will not be sucked in by need (or at least the biggest need) because I don’t think Reiff was value in the Top 15. I’d have considered trading back to pick up a second rounder and looked at Jonathan Martin there, but, I think they may well have done better standing pat and getting Floyd.
With no 2nd round pick though, the ability to address the situation at OT is compromised, so one can only hope that Kolb/Skelton get the ball out of their hands a bit more quickly than they did last year (particularly Kolb who looked worryingly fragile in 2011).
SenorBeef providing some quality entertainment in here! I still can’t believe that the Browns picked Brandon McQueeden. Or that they moved up one spot to get Richardson.
Ah well.
The Bengals needed a CB and an OG and they got two really good ones. Obviously Kirkpatrick has some character concerns, but he’s a really talented corner. And after watching some more tape on Zeitler, I am no longer bemoaning not picking DeCastro. The Bengals claimed they wanted Zeitler all along, and looked smart moving back to get him and picking up an extra third rounder. I suppose the Bengals really did like Zeitler better than DeCastro since they passed on him twice.
Zeitler is a fucking stud, a mauler.
I think it’s pretty safe to say they don’t agree. They’d be complete idiots to say “Well, Claiborne is the last elite player, but let’s go ahead and let the Cowboys grab him.”
They also need defensive playmakers and help in that depleted secondary. More than they need just numbers. Fletcher and Gordy are OK and Finnegan’s a jagoff but not horrible, but none of them are special, like I think Claiborne can be. And Brockers just doesn’t do it for me. If my choice is between a guy I think can be a real difference-maker and two guys who might be great, but I don’t think so, give me the difference maker every time. Especially if I already have two second round picks.
Good point and if it were Colt McCoy and Andrew Luck, I’d tend to agree with you. But Wheedon, while I like him, isn’t at that level yet, and has a lot to prove. But my issue isn’t with necessarily with how they run their practices, but more with why they feel the need to get rid of McCoy. It seems to me that even if they think Wheedon is going to be their starter in midyear, there isn’t really a downside to have McCoy on the roster. He’s a fine backup who you can throw out there to start the season until you’re confident Wheedon can handle it. I guess I just don’t see the need to pitch a guy who can contribute to your team for no real reason at all.
Like pick #126?
