NFL 2022: The preseason pre-draft thread

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Welcome to the offseason, where everyone is both undefeated and winless.

The NFL Draft is April 28-30 in ...

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And ... that's all I've got.

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Gonna be some good backup QB's drafted this year.

Has Legion already started collecting gifs for his draft preview, or is he still too busy mourning the hated Rams taking the title?

I look forward to reading snippets of players in an endless series of mock drafts so I can pretend I want a team to draft somebody I know nothing about, because I don't watch college football.

MilkmanDanimal wrote:

Has Legion already started collecting gifs for his draft preview, or is he still too busy mourning the hated Rams taking the title?

I'LL GET OVER IT JUST GIVE ME A COUPLE DAYS GAWD

As for draft GIFs though, I'm opening up my PMs to anyone that wants to submit funny GIFs for consideration for draft guide inclusion. Note that my use of a GIF tries to coincide with my evaluation of the player, so the best GIF submissions would suggest things like catching/dropping stuff, being too small/big, throwing things well/badly, etc, and then I'll match them up with specific players once I do my evals. You can include in your PM a comment about how you interpret the GIF so you can be sure that I "get it", which is far from a foregone conclusion otherwise.

I don't expect anyone to actually take me up on this, but the offer is there for anyone who wants to play a part in my (now apparently annual) draft sh*tposting. Submitted GIFs will be credited to the submitter in the guide.

Whatever. See y'all in August.

PFF's top 101 players for 2021:

1. Trent Williams, T, Niners
2. Aaron Donald, wrecker of worlds, Rams
3. Cooper Kupp, WR, Rams
4. Zach Martin, G, Cowboys
5. Davante Adams, WR, Packers
6. Joe Brrrrrow, QB, Bengals
7. Myles Garrett, Edge, Browns
8. Deebo, swiss army knife, Niners
9. Some guy named Tom Brady?
10. LB Micah Parsons, Cowboys

Here's the rest of the list. No Panthers, Jets, Jags or Texans listed, as it should be.

Enix wrote:

No Panthers, Jets, Jags or Texans listed, as it should be.

Uh, wrong. Let me fix the list.

#1 ALL TIME: Josh Lambo, kicked, Jaguars

Sort of continuing the conversation from the superb owl thread.... I wonder if anyone has done a statistical analysis on the approaches of "build through the draft" and boom/bust of star player acquisition to see how they correlate to playoff success. I realize that the approaches are not binary and that there are varying degrees between, but I think we can agree that this year's SB winner resides pretty far on the boom/bust side of the spectrum.

I mean, just a couple years ago, the discussion was how the way to win a Super Bowl was with a QB on a rookie contract.

Which, if we had gotten only slightly better 4th quarter defense from Cincinnati, is what everyone would be saying again right now.

We've seen various team building approaches from the teams that have reached the championship games and Super Bowls over the past few years. I think focusing too tightly on Bowl winners is giving too much weight to a very small sample size.

With some rare exceptions most SB winners have playoff runs where you could say that if only the other team did X then SB winner would have lost.

*Legion* wrote:

being too big

Be right back. Looking for Daniel Faalele gifs.

TheGameguru wrote:

With some rare exceptions most SB winners have playoff runs where you could say that if only the other team did X then SB winner would have lost.

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It'd take me the better part of a day to go back over every major event that happened this past season, but all that would be completely overshadowed if every big name from the Rams not named Cooper Kupp announced their retirement.

*Legion* wrote:
TheGameguru wrote:

With some rare exceptions most SB winners have playoff runs where you could say that if only the other team did X then SB winner would have lost.

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Here I thought you would torment me with the tuck rule.

Speaking of the tuck rule, one thing I'm really appreciating right now is the perspective of seeing from the outside what happens when a team people generally dislikes wins it all.

They weren't that good. The got lucky. What if he made that catch? The refs helped them. My team should have won. My team would have beaten both of these teams. They didn't develop players. Their head coach actually sucks but the other head coach sucked even more. They're not gonna make it back, though.

This Ryan Mink tweet illustrates how much this one play business applies

Paleocon wrote:

This Ryan Mink tweet illustrates how much this one play business applies

I think there are about a dozen NFL teams who watched that Superbowl and thought that they were better than either team in the game. And another dozen who think they're as good as or close.

I mean, I just saw the Bengals 4 points away from the 'Ship and I am like... well if we had Baker healthy and another pass catcher, we are as good as that.

Yup. There is no way Buffalo loses that game to either of them.

There was also no way they'd lose to the Jaguars and yet they did.

UpToIsomorphism wrote:
Paleocon wrote:

This Ryan Mink tweet illustrates how much this one play business applies

I think there are about a dozen NFL teams who watched that Superbowl and thought that they were better than either team in the game. And another dozen who think they're as good as or close.

I mean, I just saw the Bengals 4 points away from the 'Ship and I am like... well if we had Baker healthy and another pass catcher, we are as good as that.

And then there are teams like the Panthers who thought they were close in about Week 6 so they gave away all of their draft picks and now have more cornerbacks on their roster (20, give or take) than they had wins last season (5).

They also have two long-snappers, but that's another story.

Pink Stripes wrote:

There was also no way they'd lose to the Jaguars and yet they did.

Those clearly weren't the real Bills. It was their little brother picking up the controller and mashing the buttons.

PFF is out with its best case/worst case scenarios for 2022 for each team.

Best case for Carolina? Trade out of the No. 6 spot. The problem as I see it is that a trade needs two teams and why would anyone trade up this year? There aren't any QBs worth taking. Maybe one of the O-linemen is that good?

Worst case: The Panthers reach for Kenny Pickett at No. 6, which is exactly what they'll do. Not only did Matt Rhule recruit the guy at Temple (comfort zone!), David Tepper has all sorts of Pittsburgh connections (he's a native, is a Pitt alum and owned a share of the Steelers before he bought the Panthers).

Meanwhile, Todd McShay's latest mock draft is out (paywall), and he has the Panthers adding to their collection of CBs.

I honestly think the "mock" in McShay's "mock draft" should be taken to mean not make-believe but "an act of ridicule or derision."

Enix wrote:

PFF is out with its best case/worst case scenarios for 2022 for each team.

Need to check last year to see if their Best Case for the Bengals involved almost winning the Superb Owl.

JACKSONVILLE JAGUARS

Best case: Go all-in on getting Trevor Lawrence help in free agency with ample cap space

Worst case: No worst case — the team would have to try to have a bad offseason

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I like how the 49ers one is:

Best: Get cornerbacks

Worst: Don't get cornerbacks

CLEVELAND BROWNS

Best case: Get Baker Mayfield a new pass-catcher and make the defensive line priority No. 2

Worst case: Overpay for their impending free agents — such as Jadeveon Clowney — and avoid a wide receiver in Round 1 of the 2022 NFL Draft

I would like to see us get a high-end backup to challenge for the starting job, take Wilson or Olave in the draft, and load up on D lottery tickets.

I would amend their analysis.

Best Case: Get a QB to challenge Baker for the job, and one of the two is better than last year.

Worst Case: Trade a bunch of draft capital for Watson.

The Bucs' best case is convince Brady to stick around and the worst case is to start their one QB (Kyle Trask).

UpToIsomorphism wrote:

Worst Case: Trade a bunch of draft capital for Watson.

Yeah, let's add that one to the Bucs as well.

UpToIsomorphism wrote:

Worst Case: Trade a bunch of draft capital for Watson.

I've long had Miami penciled in as Watson's landing spot, as they have been very open with their interest despite Watson's rapey rape-ness.

But the hiring of Mike (Not Josh) McDaniel seems like a Tua move. They're already talking about a 49ers-style YAC passing attack. Asking Tua to be a much less sexy Garoppolo seems like an attainable ask for Tua, certainly fits in with the things he can do well. Seems like they're willing to pin Tua's struggles on Brian Flores, and give him another shot.

Watson is apparently interested in Minnesota and Tampa.

Minnesota feels like they're going to double down on Cousins once again, at least for 2022, with their head coach hire being Cousins' former QB coach in Washington. Also, Minnesota can't trade for a QB without trading Cousins first, because they still eat all $45m of his cap figure if they cut him.

Tampa? I'd like to say Arians is better than that, but... AB. Even still, I don't know how they put another $35m on their cap. Brady retiring only gives them about $9m of relief, and only about $12.2m if they delay his retirement filing until June 2. Given Tampa's starting spot is only about $3m of cap space, they're going to have to clear a lot of salary to make the room.

I've suggested that the Bucs could make a Garoppolo trade work with a small contract extension, thanks to Jimmy being in the final year of his deal. Watson, however, is contracted through 2025, and with much bigger numbers in all 4 years than Jimmy's ~$24m.

Worst Case for the Eagles has nothing to do with QB.. its drafting another Aghlor, Reagor, JJAW, and so on and so on.

People make a bigger deal about the Pats getting a "WR1" than what it really is. Of course the offense would be much better with a Stephon Diggs or Justin Jefferson type player but what offense wouldn't?

The worse case scenario for the Pats by far is not resigning JC Jackson and DMac and not replenishing that secondary. Even if they get everyone back, that's the part of the roster that desperately needs an overhaul. Gilmore is gone and Jonathan Jones will be back from injury but they still need much better depth than Shaun Wade, D'Angelo Ross, and Joshua Bledsoe.

Since Sunday, NFL Twitter has been overrun with Stafford-stans who contend that because Matthew (aka Matt) Stafford has a ring he should be in the Hall of Fame.

So here's my first ever GWJ poll: Is Matthew Stafford a hall of famer?

No.
Hell no.

Sorry, but the GWJ poll interface only allows for two options, and these were the two best responses.

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