NFL 2022: The draft thread

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*Legion* wrote:

Niners draft QB Brock Purdy as Mr. Irrelevant.

Carson Strong goes undrafted, which tells us pretty much everything we need to know about the state of his knee. But he has signed with Philly as a UDFA.

*Legion* wrote:

Carson Strong goes undrafted, which tells us pretty much everything we need to know about the state of his knee. But he has signed with Philly as a UDFA.

Yeah but he got $300k, which seems wild for a UDFA.

As much as the Ravens like to pull their guards and tackles, I am just trying to imagine Faalele getting a running start and pancake blocking a 200 lb. DB in the open field. The rules committee might need to come up with a Faalele Rule to prevent folks from getting killed.

Bears 3rd round rookie WR Velus Jones is a month older than both of the veteran WRs that were traded during round 1: A.J. Brown and Hollywood Brown.

He is three years older than Trey Lance.

Cal's Elijah Hicks gets drafted by the Bears in the last round. I hope he makes the team... I can guarantee Bears fans that he'll be better than the last Cal safety that they drafted.

IMAGE(https://i.imgur.com/RjLC1jF.jpg)

Dude is right where Stele wants to be.

Looks like Tyrann Mathieu to the Saints is happening.

Him and Brady can continue the conversation they were having from the super bowl!

I thought KC had a good draft especially shoring up the D but this was still an outstanding question mark I had.

Enix wrote:
*Legion* wrote:

Panthers take Corral.

LOL good luck.

Panthers Twitter is thrilled. They see a value QB who has the potential to start right away.

This is the part I find ridiculous.

I don't mind Matt Corral as a 3rd round pick. That's about where his risk/reward merited him going. The part I can't accept is Matt Corral being Plan A at quarterback in 2022. He's a long way away from being NFL game ready. Lane Kiffin's offense was designed to prevent Corral from ever having to make anything more than a pre-designated read. Corral's ability to read defenses is remedial even by college standards. It doesn't mean he can't ever do it, but expecting someone who didn't do it in college to be able to do it in the NFL right away is probably unrealistic.

But, it turns out, Corral might not end up being Plan A after all. Carolina is supposedly still considering acquiring one of the veteran QBs. The fact that they aren't necessarily looking at Corral as The Answer is a good thing, for Rhule and Fitterer at least. Starting a veteran and then maybe working Corral in later if he's a fast learner isn't a bad plan. Going into the season expecting to start the guy that's going to ask, "what's a progression?" on the first day of rookie minicamps isn't.

Good for Teddy!

Wait, it said "knees," right?

Mike Tanier's draft "not grades" article is up.

He trashes the Bears and has some other good stuff in there, but the part that jumped out to me was enumerating the trades the Saints made for the pick that ended up being Chris Olave:

The Saints traded a 2023 first-rounder, 2024 second-rounder and 2022 third-rounder for the 16th overall pick. Then they traded that pick, their compensatory 2022 third-rounder and a fourth-rounder to move up for Chris Olave. That's five selections in the top four rounds for Olave, a solid prospect at a position of need, but also the WR3 in the Ohio State offense (behind Garrett Wilson and underclassman Jaxon Smith-Njigba) last year.

A 1st, a 2nd, two 3rds, and a 4th to take one receiver who doesn't really have any "X" receiver potential. Such an incredible amount of draft capital burning on a roster that has plenty of needs.

Didn't think too much about the first trade when it looked like it was an attempt to chase a QB. But that's not what it ended up being, and with it all laid out like that, it's just ridiculous.

*Legion* wrote:

IMAGE(https://i.imgur.com/RjLC1jF.jpg)

Dude is right where Stele wants to be.

I vegged on the couch yesterday watching PFF's draft evaluation on YouTube, and they made that same point about the Olave pick; it's an insane amount of draft capital to spend on one guy, and it just doesn't make sense. They've got massive holes almost everywhere on that roster and they had the picks to very possibly just shrug this year, trade for next year, and then shoot for a QB in a much better draft. Instead, they're rolling with Winston this year in what is pretty clearly an evaluation for long-term, and basically hoping he turns out by giving him a shiny new toy.

I mean, between that and both the Falcons and Panthers taking QBs high enough to where it doesn't prevent them from looking for better options, but certainly increases the odds that Ridder/Corral look good enough they might skip a QB next year that, well, I kind of like how this draft went. I mean, the Bucs had what seems to be universally regarded as a perfectly acceptable draft of decent players with no massive highlights or negatives, but just not a huge fan of what any of the other teams in the division did. Sure, maybe Drake London is a stud, but a guy who averaged 12.2 yards/catch his senior year? That's barely scraping past the Treadwell Line. How good does Drake London have to be to justify a #8 overall pick on a WR with that denuded of a roster?

MilkmanDanimal wrote:

Sure, maybe Drake London is a stud, but a guy who averaged 12.2 yards/catch his senior year? That's barely scraping past the Treadwell Line. How good does Drake London have to be to justify a #8 overall pick on a WR with that denuded of a roster?

If Drake London ends up being a legitimate WR1, he will be an extreme outlier.

Everyone wants to compare him to Mike Evans, but Mike Evans ran a 4.53 40.

London refused to run (for good reason), but it's expected he would have ended up in the low 4.7s.

In other words, Anquan Boldin territory.

And it's called "Anquan Boldin territory" because in the nearly 20 years since Anquan Boldin's draft, no receiver running a 4.7 has been worth a damn. (People try to lump Keenan Allen into this group because he ran low 4.7 40s at his Pro Day, but Allen was working his way back from a PCL tear and was not 100% - he was basically showing off that his ligament was working at all since they opted against surgery. Allen has supposedly been timed at 4.56 when not hurt. Still slow-ish for the position, but a whole lot closer to the mean than a 4.7 runner).

Even if you think the 4.7 projection is unduly harsh of London, even the most rose-tinted glasses don't project him any faster than about mid-4.6s, which doesn't expand the "worth a damn" window very much.

It's possible London rises above all that. But he didn't create much separation on film, and relied on his (admittedly excellent) body control to create space right at the top of the route. There's not a lot of precedent for guys like that getting it done at the NFL level. His height certainly gives him the jump-ball as a way to win, but he's going to need to find ways to win at the NFL level beyond just that.

Kevin Cole describes who "won" the draft.

IMAGE(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FRrQEO6XwAAPQBK?format=jpg&name=900x900)

God I love Mike Tanier.

Carson Wentz contains within him a multitudes of paradoxes. One of them is that any team which acquires Wentz desperately needs a reliable backup, if only because Wentz forever bounces from one minor injury to the next, but any perceived threat to his starting job causes Wentz to curl into the fetal position.

In that respect, pairing Wentz with a rookie challenger with a knack for sacks and YOLO bombs who was only successful when surrounded by a top-notch supporting cast is quite a choice. Maybe putting Wentz in a room with Sam Howell will be like placing a mirror in a parrot's cage to keep it from dying of loneliness.

*Legion* wrote:
Enix wrote:
*Legion* wrote:

Panthers take Corral.

LOL good luck.

Panthers Twitter is thrilled. They see a value QB who has the potential to start right away.

This is the part I find ridiculous.

Oh, I agree. But Sam Darnold isn't Plan A, and the Panthers can't really afford Jimmy G or Baker. (Maybe if they're cut?) Also, too, the Panthers haven't shown much aptitude for finding, much less developing, QBs, which doesn't bode well for whoever ends up starting in Week 1.

*Legion* wrote:
MilkmanDanimal wrote:

Sure, maybe Drake London is a stud, but a guy who averaged 12.2 yards/catch his senior year? That's barely scraping past the Treadwell Line. How good does Drake London have to be to justify a #8 overall pick on a WR with that denuded of a roster?

If Drake London ends up being a legitimate WR1, he will be an extreme outlier.

*Legion* wrote:
Enix wrote:
*Legion* wrote:

Panthers take Corral.

LOL good luck.

Panthers Twitter is thrilled. They see a value QB who has the potential to start right away.

This is the part I find ridiculous.

I don't mind Matt Corral as a 3rd round pick. That's about where his risk/reward merited him going. The part I can't accept is Matt Corral being Plan A at quarterback in 2022. He's a long way away from being NFL game ready. Lane Kiffin's offense was designed to prevent Corral from ever having to make anything more than a pre-designated read. Corral's ability to read defenses is remedial even by college standards. It doesn't mean he can't ever do it, but expecting someone who didn't do it in college to be able to do it in the NFL right away is probably unrealistic.

I'm starting to see a pattern here.

*Legion* wrote:

If Drake London ends up being a legitimate WR1, he will be an extreme outlier.

So what you're saying is you won't be taking him with the 2nd pick in the dynasty draft.

Carlbear95 wrote:

I'm starting to see a pattern here.

London was hurt and missed the Cal game though. Technically he's only played Cal once, in 2019, and won.

ukickmydog wrote:

So what you're saying is you won't be taking him with the 2nd pick in the dynasty draft.

You can take that to the bank.

Enix wrote:

Oh, I agree. But Sam Darnold isn't Plan A, and the Panthers can't really afford Jimmy G or Baker. (Maybe if they're cut?)

It sounds like Nick Foles is on their radar now too, as an option that won't cost much.

Granted, it's... not a great option. But it's cheap enough that it might be the one they go with.

Baker won't get cut since doing so saves the Browns $0, but I still expect the Browns will end up dealing him in a trade that involves converting some salary to signing bonus so that it stays in Cleveland.

At this point, I expect Jimmy G is going to be QB2 for the 49ers. Once we get close to training camp, I expect they're going to get Jimmy to agree to a new 1-year contract for high backup money, with incentives he can earn if he ends up starting, and that Jimmy will take it rather than hit free agency because it's a better deal than he'd get in the open market in August.

DeAndre Hopkins is being suspended 6 games for violating PED rules.

I imagine the Cardinals knew that was coming, which helped spur along trading for Hollywood Brown.

Hoping the Niners face the Cardinals sometime in Weeks 1-6.

Tyler Vrabel signs with Falcons.

Mike Vrabel didn't sign his own kid as a UDFA, lol.

Drake London was the first round WR I was terrified would slide the Packers and they would take him. Not quite sure still how he was first WR off the board.

Unfounded fear really as the Packers don't draft sliding players early. They over draft players in the first 2 rounds then draft value later.

*Legion* wrote:
Carlbear95 wrote:

I'm starting to see a pattern here.

London was hurt and missed the Cal game though. Technically he's only played Cal once, in 2019, and won.

Ack your right. I got the 2018 win @ USC (first time in like 30 years) mixed up with 2019. 2021 still counts though, regardless if he played or not Congrats Atlanta... looks like you picked up the next Randy Moss!

Draft is over! Time for a preseason thread.

And, yes, that header image will haunt us for weeks.

Drake London seemed destined for the Eagles to draft…so I was excited when he become unavailable…I’m sure Howie was super depressed that he couldn’t add yet another first round WR bust to his resume.

nvm

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