It’s only been one round, there are 2 more days. I don’t follow the draft stuff very closely - it’s all speculative witchcraft, and I just don’t have patience or knowledge for it all. But from the perspective of a Chefs fan, here are some poorly formed thoughts:
Joe Alt is a force of nature, and will be a top 3 talent from this draft whose talents will reap rewards for the Chargers for years. He’s immune from being a bust, and fits Harbaugh’s playcalling perfectly. Alt is the reason I wanted KC to find a way to take a DL, because it seemed all but inevitable Harbaugh would take him at 5.
Atlanta isn’t in KC’s sights, but this pick was too hilarious to not comment on. Penix was an awesome college talent who will do nothing of note in the NFL, and spending any sort of major draft capital is going to hurt Atlanta for a couple of years.
I was really hoping Denver would take Bo Nix, and they didn’t disappoint me. In years past, Nix would be a late 2nd round pick, and I can’t wait to watch the Donkeys flounder with him for a couple of years before they trade their 2027 2nd round pick to Atlanta for a 27 year old Penix and start the cycle anew.
My wife is a UGA alum, so I’ve watched enough Bulldog games the last couple years to know that Brock Bowers is a complete tight end stud. I’m a Notre Dame alum and have seen enough Irish games to know that Michael Meyer is also a tight end stud (but not to Bower’s level). I’ve been a Chefs fan long enough to love watching the Raiders draft talented players they absolutely should not be drafting when gaping holes are left unfilled on their roster.
Xavier Worthy seems like the type of wide receiver that Patrick Mahomes creates on Madden so he can pretend he still has Tyreek Hill on his team. He’s what the receiving corps in Kansas City needs, but I’m not sure it’s what the team needs as a whole. I’d have preferred a DL to start preparing for the eventual decline of Chris Jones, but I don’t know enough about the talent pool to know if there was anyone that fits that mould.
When the Raiders left for Las Vegas, did the ghost of Al Davis get lost and end up in Kansas City?
I will say that I love that the Chiefs have him listed as 6 foot, 1 inch tall, 172 lbs on their website. Maybe he grew 2 inches and packed on 10 lbs.
Andy Reid has forgotten more about football than I will ever know, but I hate the pick. I think Worthy is good at one thing only and he won’t be able to take the physicality of the NFL to ever be an elite WR. But with Patrick Mahomes throwing you the ball, anything can happen.
49ers pick of WR Ricky Pearsall certainly seems like a head-scratcher. Fans are not reacting positively from what I’ve seen. I had read multiple sources say a receiver could be an early target, but still expected interior O-line. Can’t say I’m thrilled, but the scheme fit is there as a slot receiverthat can be moved around like Kyle likes. Pearsall has some splashy highlights.
I figure more like Hollywood Brown, who is also on the Chiefs now, and is yet another super-fast, skinny receiver. He’ll maybe get you 600-700 yards, 5 tds a year, maybe even break 1000 one year if things go his way. But is that worth a top 30 pick when you have so many other needs?
I can’t take the blather between picks. I especially the sideline reporter whoever she is. They are all the same regardless of the network. Instead of stupid questions to the coach and inane factoids it’s inane questions to the mother.
While I like the attention, importance, and game theory aspects of the draft, the presentation and length makes it so effin annoying I can’t watch it live either. Its the same cliche, same information, spouted by clones. And the family/military stuff is just so gross.
I’ll usually check in periodically to see if my team is coming up, but fortunately this year they were right up near the top, so I could ignore it completely after the first like 20 minutes.
I understand the Penix pick was controversial but I think it’s overblown. The ideal situation is to get a quarterback who doesn’t have to start day one. Cousins is 36 and has 2 years guaranteed. In two years they most likely won’t be able to get a QB in the draft. I think in the long run it will be a good move for them. He impressed me in college.
I’m totally on board with drafting a QB, letting him learn for a year or two, and then handing him the reins.
Reaching for that kind of guy at pick #8 overall when you have so many needs on defense and just paid a free agent QB $180 million guaranteed is … not the best use of your limited resources. Penix now HAS TO become a top 10 NFL QB by year 4 or it’s a complete waste of a very high pick and a ton of time/dedication/development.
At least they didn’t trade up to do it. Bright side and all.
By “best pick” you certainly mean “most frustrating pick that sent poor Hamlet into a spiral of anger and sadness”, right?
I think you’re right. Fantastic pick for a falling, talented player. The third round pick is a hefty price to move up 4 spots, and it puts more pressure on your team to make sure Arnold does well, but damn, it certainly was worth it in my book.
That’s true of any QB picked in the 1st round. If Maye isn’t a top 10 QB in 4 years it will be seen as a waste. The only difference here is they have an old veteran QB as well. No one is expecting Cousins to be the QB at 40.
It seems to me that top 3 QBs get a pass if they bust, because they are generally all regarded by the experts as solid choices. If Daniels or Mayo bust, there aren’t many “I told ya so”s out there holding receipts. When it comes down to it, MOST QBs bust.
But the “hits” are almost always top-16-overall picks, so drafting QBs early and often until you get a hit is still maximizing your odds, if not your draft capital.
While day one gets all the hype, day 2 is where teams really make their bread and butter. These are all guys who need to be solid starters or have high ceilings of being game-changing additions. Hitting on these picks makes it so much easier for teams to create a solid roster. I think it’s the most under-rated part of the draft. And it’s my favorite.
It also gets much more interesting. As you go down in the draft, there is so much more variety in each teams’ Big Board, and so much more strategy in trading/waiting on players or positions. The same guy may have a 2nd round grade from one team and a 7th round/priority free agent from another. It gets fascinating quickly.
Packers
The Packers have two picks in each of the next two rounds, at 41, 58, 88, and 91. I suspect that today the Packers have been planning all day to move up into the top 4 picks of the second round to get a guy they love. Personally, I have 4 guys on my list for that pick at 41 that I would love to see in a Packers uniform: Cooper DeJean, Jackson Powers Johnson, Branden Fiske, and Johnny Newton. Then, grab the best ILB at 58. But my board rarely matches up with the Packers board, and the Packers have shown themselves to be pretty good at this stuff.
I don’t know whether to be disappointed or relieved that none of the sparkly new QBs got past the top 12. (Seriously, 6 QBs in the top 12, that’s unheard of.) But I don’t hate who the Seahawks got; a DT who was considered by many to be the best interior defensive lineman in the draft, and that’s a real need for them.
Another oddity… The first 14 picks were all offensive players. No defensive player was picked until the pick just before Seattle’s. And that’s pretty lucky when you consider how much the team has needed to improve its defense, and their new head coach is supposedly some kind of defensive prodigy, so being able to pick any defensive player in the draft (minus one) was a good spot to be in.
I hope he works out, the only ding I hear against him is that he’s a bit undersized, but that shouldn’t be much of a problem.