Nfl draft 2018

The Game Room
41

For my 49ers, both the biggest need and least available position is EDGE. Other needs are interior offensive line, DB, LB, and WR, but there’s good depth for those groups this year. I’m cool with a trade down from #9, but I’ve pretty much settled on Harold Landry, EDGE, Boston College. A pure speed outside edge rusher that we don’t currently have and would compliment the existing interior pass rush.

I’d be fine with either safety, Minkah Fitzpatrick or Derwin James. I don’t think CB Denzel Ward fits what we do (Cover 3 press), I’d rather have Josh Jackson (who maybe a target if we trade back).

I’d take Mike McGlinchey over Quinton Nelson, but both are good. I could see Braden Smith out of Auburn starting right away at guard and moving out to tackle after a few years.

Despite the likelihood of losing Reuben Foster, LB isn’t a good choice in the 1st Round. Roquan Smith could become a Patrick Willis type, though. I want nothing to do with Tremaine Edmunds.

I don’t see a WR worth taking at #9. Calvin Ridley looks good, but so do Equanimeous St. Brown and DJ Chark on Day 2.

If I can’t have Harold Landry, I want Ogbonnia Okoronkwo of Oklahoma. Arden Key is a walking red flag.

42

I think OT is the scarcest position group. I suppose there’s some symmetry in DE/Edge being weak too.

43

Holy shit.

44

About an hour ago, I heard Adam Schefter on the radio reporting that amongst all his sources, they are now saying that the Browns will select…Baker Mayfield 1st overall in the draft. LOL. Either everyone close to the situation is blowing hella smoke, or people are just making shit up.

45

Whacky prediction:

Browns trade the #4 to Buffalo for #12 and #22 and something else like a 2nd rounder next year.

Browns trade into the #25-32 range from their #33 pick.

4 first rounders.

46

This time last year:
Many expect Browns to select Mitchell Trubisky with first pick

47

The more I look into this draft the more I realize they have all gone completely insane in the bizarre chase. There is not even one QB in this draft worth a top 10 pick, let alone 4 or 5. Barkley is the only generational talent I see.

48

I’m so happy I’m not the only one! I’ve been saying the Browns should take Saquon number 1 whatever QB is available at 4. Or Chubb at 4, but everyone is afraid to challenge convention.
ETA: Of course, I’m a Falcons fan, so it’s not my team that will be getting roasted. (At least for that particular idiocy! Atlanta will have entirely different idiocy to bemoan.)

49

Heard how there’s no QB worthy of the top 5/10 every year since the Luck year. Somehow the NFL has managed to still have QBs. When was the last year there were no QBs worth a top 5 pick? The EJ Manuel year?

50

The last time was the last time. There were no QBs worth a top 5 last year, but at least they only crammed 2 in the top 10 out of desperation(and missed the guy who was worth actually a top 10 pick)

51

Whether the QB’s are “worth it” or not is completely arbitrary. It’s a risk/reward exercise that all teams drafting this high take when grabbing QB’s in the first. The want and need for a worthy person at this particular position drives them to the top of the draft, or, sometimes teams completely misread a QB and they are Aaron Rodgers dropping into the 20’s.

How many teams feel stupid for letting him slide on by had they only knew the future?

52

It’s almost time! I’m very excited, but I don’t have nearly the research under my belt this year. I normally like to watch film on the top QBs and make my own scouting reports, but I never found the time. I wish I had.

My mostly ignorant gut feeling is that Mayfield took advantage of a lot of blown coverages and lobbing up 25yd+ bombs to wide open guys. His highlight reel is literally 80% deep bombs to guys who have 3-5 yards on the nearest defender. That absolutely won’t happen in the NFL. Neither will Allen completing passes, nor Darnold limiting turnovers. It’s a crapshoot, but none of these guys looked as good to me as Wentz did, or Cam Newton, even. I like Rosen the most, without watching much film. But not enough to bet anything on it. He just seems to always know where to go a half second before the other guys, and he navigates the pocket really well from what I saw. I don’t know how his arm is, but those former two things are incredibly, incredibly important. More important to me than arm strength.

(Edit to add that I think Allen is a bust, so he’s going to the Jets for sure. Lamar Jackson will have a better career than Allen. None of the other QBs are an obvious bust to me)

For the WORLD CHAMPION / SUPER BOWL CHAMPION BEST TEAM IN THE NFL PHILADELPHIA EAGLES, they are in a very interesting spot. Without picks in rounds 2 and 3, they can’t move up, which GM Howie Roseman is very willing to do. The mocks’ consensus is Derrius Guice, but I don’t like his film at all. Not that he’s bad, but I don’t see him being much in the NFL. He isn’t shifty enough to make something out of nothing, and not bursty enough to make something out of very little. He had some cool highlights, but I didn’t see nearly enough to want him in the 1st.

And pronouncing his name with a hard-G, rhymes with “nice,” shows such a lack of judgment that I can’t ever like him. Come on, man. It’s right there.

I think the Eagles trade back with someone who wants to jump back into the 1st to take advantage of the 5th year. That has become a huge trend lately, and for good reason. Obviously, the Eagles don’t have any glaring weaknesses, so they can afford to amass assets. I think I’d try my absolute best to push picks into next year via trades to try to load up on cheap, impact rookies for when Wentz’s new deal comes due. That would extend their window for a second “generation.” I think they trade down, and I think someone else trades up for Guice around 29-31.

53

Barkley isn’t THAT good, not without tackle-breaking prowess. Plus this draft has a lot of RBs.

As for QBs, Baker Mayfield is easily the best. Josh Allen is 110% guaranteed bust. I’m wondering if there will be a sixth QB will get drafted in the late 1st, like Mason Rudolph.

54

Cleveland on the clock.

55

You say chicken, I say egg. It’s the obsession for a QB that leaves many teams in this position of the draft. They way to have a shitty team is to continuously get very poor value for your draft picks, the Lions did 0-16 the old fashioned way by vastly misjudging value on every damn draft pick at every position between '89 and '07.

But now these bad teams are turbo-charging their race to crap by focusing on a position that is egregiously bad value return for the risk.

56

Baker Mayfield…the Browns fucked it all up!!!

57

Hey, what do you know. The Browns didn’t fuck it up!

58

First round

  1. Cleveland Browns - Baker Mayfield, QB, Oklahoma
  2. New York Giants - Saquon Bakley, RB, Penn State
  3. New York Jets (from Indianapolis Colts)
  4. Cleveland Browns (from Houston Texans)
  5. Denver Broncos
  6. Indianapolis Colts (from New York Jets)
  7. Tampa Bay Buccaneers
  8. Chicago Bears
  9. San Francisco 49ers
  10. Oakland Raiders
  11. Miami Dolphins
  12. Buffalo Bills (from Cincinnati Bengals)
  13. Washington Redskins
  14. Green Bay Packers
  15. Arizona Cardinals
  16. Baltimore Ravens
  17. Los Angeles Chargers
  18. Seattle Seahawks
  19. Dallas Cowboys
  20. Detroit Lions
  21. Cincinnati Bengals (from Buffalo Bills)
  22. Buffalo Bills (from Kansas City Chiefs)
  23. New England Patriots (from Los Angeles Rams)
  24. Carolina Panthers
  25. Tennessee Titans
  26. Atlanta Falcons
  27. New Orleans Saints
  28. Pittsburgh Steelers
  29. Jacksonville Jaguars
  30. Minnesota Vikings
  31. New England Patriots
  32. Philadelphia Eagles

Edit: Gotta be Darnold next.
Edit: Nope!

59

A guy with a decent college arm, and decent college capability, in the NFL, guaranteed to start week one with no Joe Thomas.
Over-under on how many games before he gets hurt?

60

It’s the problem that without a decent QB, your season is over before it starts. Unless you’ve a defense like the 2000 Ravens, you need top third QB play to compete in the playoffs. The Eagles were fortunate to be one of the very few teams to have a top-flight backup QB (at least when Foles played for them; he wasn’t good at any of his other stops), or their season would have been over too.

So, I’m perfectly fine with the Texans giving away a good chunk of this draft to lock in on DeShaun Watson last year, and if you think that any of the Darnold/Allen/Mayfield guys are going to be that guy for you, then you should commit to landing him.

The problem of course, as you note, is that so many of these guys aren’t going to be a Watson or Luck or other-ride-him-for-the-next-15-years talent, and yet because teams are desperate, they try to shoehorn pretenders into that role. And fail.