Yep.
So then, we’re all agreed that Hamlet should give it back.
The Rams have sooooo many holes that taking anyone at this point would be an upgrade at any position besides QB and RB. With that said…
6.St. Louis Rams
Justin Blackmon
WR, Oklahoma State
With Kalil gone the Rams need play-makers, and Blackmon fills a major need.
This is quite entertaining. Hamlet, you may cheer for the enemy, but please quit your job and go work for the Vikings. If they could drop to 5 and still get Kalil I’ll be ecstatic on draft day.
Dem’s fighting words.
7.Jacksonville
Michael Floyd
WR, Notre Dame
Easy choice. Team needs WRs, and some scouts have Floyd as better than Blackmon. He has a big body and deep speed; he starts opposite Robinson, and Mike Thomas goes in the slot.
I’d rather pick up Floyd than Blackmon, FWIW.
I actually think Michael Floyd will have greater success in the NFL, but since the general thought is Blackmon is the man I went with him. Blackmon is too short to be a true number 1, and doesn’t have great top-end speed.
I don’t like either in the top 10. Hell, I don’t like either in the top 20. Blackmon is too short and not explosive and speedy enough. And Floyd is an immature dipshit who relies on talent and disappears for games at a time. I think Floyd’s ceiling is much higher than Blackmon’s, but Blackmon’s floor is much higher than Floyd’s. And I don’t think Floyd has the mental makeup to push himself to be an elite player in the NFL. I wouldn’t want to use a top 10 pick on either of them.
The Dolphins are on the clock and are entertaining trade offers.
Incidentally if the Bears hadn’t traded away picks for Marshall I’d have been trading up to get Floyd there, and would have had no interest in Blackmon.
I may have asked this, but I forget: what causes you to doubt his mental makeup, Hamlet? The DUI? Something he said at Pro Day or the Combine?
He doesn’t give off the red flags to me that, say, Janoris Jenkins does.
One mistake, I can forgive. In 2009, when he was arrested for an alcohol related offense, it wasn’t really a problem. Two times, well… there’s a bit of maturity issue there. After his second underage alcohol charge in 2010, I could still buy the “I made an immature mistake” crap. And then, when he’s coming off two priors, has a good season, and announces he’s coming back for his senior season, he gets a DUI. Three strikes, you’re out of the top 10.
When a highly talented guy makes the same mistake three times in a row before he even gets his first “official” paycheck, it makes me think he’s not ready for primetime.
I also don’t think he’s really improved all that much. It’s hard to tell because he hasn’t had the best QB’s throwing to him, but his stats are nearly as eye popping as Blackmon’s, and his yards per catch has gone down each of his three years. I would expect a guy with his measureables to have more production.
Finally, he just disappears sometimes. I watched his game against USC, and he did nothing. In their bowl game against Florida State, he had a whopping 5 catches for 41 yards (although he was injured, he did return). He had 4 games this year with less receiving yards than the lowest Blackmon had in all year.
Maybe it is all poor QB play, maybe he has grown up, maybe he’s done making mistakes, maybe he’ll treat it as a job and get better at his craft, but I’m just not seeing it with him. He’s certainly got the size and measurables I like, but even those aren’t off the charts amazing. I think there are too many question marks and not enough upside to take in the top 10.
Fair enough; thanks for going into detail. It’s always interesting to see who does what as a pro, and I’m sure Floyd will be no different.
Are we calling a hiatus to the draft this evening?
Omni said he was at a show until later tonight, and I have Carolina after him. If he posts tonight, I am too.
Omni also posted that he’s on the clock for the Dolphins and willing to talk trade.
The Titans thought about it…but think they’ll sit tight for now. Rumor has it they are looking at multiple SEC players…
Guys, please use the format and large fonts to make your picks. Not doing that makes it a pain to figure out who was drafted.
8. Miami Dolphins
Melvin Ingram
OLB, South Carolina
It’s a difficult spot for the 'Phins. After making some effort to trade the pick the Dolphins decided against taking a lowball offer and instead go BPA. They have needs at QB, WR, DT, S and OL but none of the players available there are worth picking with this pick. The GMs heart broke a little bit when Michael Floyd came off the board at 7 since he’d have been a wonderful fit in Miami, so long as he avoided South Beach, but it wasn’t meant to be. The OTs on the board don’t have the upside and they’ve already spent too much on the group in recent drafts to go back there again. I’m speculating that Sherman neither has the confidence in Tannehill to fight for him nor the clout to get him in this draft room, and as a result the Dolphins settle for a pass rusher who can play in both a 4-3 and 3-4 and line up opposite Cameron Wake.
It’s really crazy that I ended up with Carolina. Omni may have inadvertently assigned me the team that has the most say in who the Eagles will draft, other than the Eagles themselves. All the players that Carolina seems to be realistically interested in, or should be interested in, are the same ones the Eagles are interested in. So we’ll have our first punter selected at #9!
Kidding.
9. Carolina Panthers
Fletcher Cox
DT, Mississippi St.
The Panthers seem to have three consensus areas of primary need: DT, DE, and CB. They were absolutely awful in pass coverage last year, but aside from Claiborne, there isn’t a corner good enough to take here. They would love to move up and get Claiborne, but they just don’t have the ammunition.
They really need help on the defensive line, both in creating a pass rush and stopping the run. Fletcher Cox gives you a little of the latter and a lot of the former. He’ll immediately help disrupt the offensive middle and free up the edges (hopefully giving their mediocre DEs a better chance).
How it really plays out: I think the Panthers take Cox here in the real draft as well. It’s a very good fit. But their GM has a few quotes about always going BPA and only using “need” as a tie breaker. So they represent a significant wild card in a mock draft. If someone inexplicably falls, or they’re sold on gambling with Coples being Julius Peppers 2.0, Carolina could go somewhere unexpected. I guess most teams could, really.
The Saints are getting antsy…it is still a long way to the third round, and our RB situation was a little crowded last year. We will entertain offers for Pierre Thomas or Chris Ivory…
I tend to agree: a top 10 pick is too big an investment to trust a anyone that’s even close to being a knucklehead. Were this real life, Jacksonville would be looking harder to move down. New coach plus talent-starved roster means stockpiling picks.
But I didn’t want to hold up the draft while I PMed 20 people, so I made a pick. I thought about Ingram, but at a strategic level, Jacksonville’s priority has to be giving Gabbert a chance to develop, and that meant Floyd.