Fullback

Depends what the specific team is looking for. Toney if you need a quick slot and jet sweep guy, Marshall is your prototype boundary WR who can take the top off with his strides but will take a year or two, Bateman if you need WR help right away as your 2nd or ideally 3rd WR.

My best guess is he lost some weight to clock a solid 40 yard time. His play strength won't be questioned. Speed is his biggest question mark. Benjamin St-Juste had a good Senior Bowl performance. That along with his measurables makes him a day 2, if not round 2 lock. Haven't watched him play much, but if he knows how to use his size that would be a start.

My money is on Fields to the 49ers. He obviously has the phyical and athletic traits, but more importantly great character, strong leadership and most importantly he throws a beatiful accurate ball. His main weakness is throwing with anticipation and sometimes takes too long processing from what I've seen. That said, the Shanahan offense is excellent for a QB who is maybe a slower processor (still young enough to improve) or isn't the best at throwing guys open. Shanny offense is more like "see it - throw it" in terms of hitting your receivers. Based on the outside zone run and boot action game with Fields' athleticism and arm talent, my money is on him going 3rd overall.

I will never understand, even though I appreciate being an ultimate competitor, how some of these guys elect to run the 40 only to bomb - especially if their tape tells otherwise. All these athletes ran the 40 more than a hundred times in their career. Surely all of them work on it specifically to optimize their time for the predraft process. Yet often players who were no-brainers to be selected at least late in the draft, vault themselves into UDFA territory. Safe mid round prospects fall into the late rounds. If I'm a DB with good tape I won't run the 40 if I know I'm in 4.6 territory at best. Same goes for any other drill, being explosive players on tape bombing their jumps, or twitchy players doing poor in agility drills. Do the positional drills all you want, but don't kill your stock with a cold hard numbers that ultimately doesn't mean much on Sundays.

What's the buzz on Simi Fehoko? Stacked WR classes are a common theme nowadays, but this one is particularly deep after the top guys. I guess if Fehoko runs a great 40 yard dash, he has a shot to be selected in the 2nd round. Shades of Claypool. Although I guess he is more in the JJAW tier in terms of game speed, which is a nice comp as well (judging JJAW as a prospect, not the NFL bust). Marquez Stevenson has been mentioned several times as a late round sleeper. He is indeed, I could see him going much earlier. Ankle injury cost him, although he came back and looked good considering he was far from 100%. Injuries haven't been a concern though when looking at his whole body of work. What a great playmaker. I have the gut feeling he ends up on the Chiefs.

Any NFL player ranking that has Mahomes at #4 is a joke. You could argue Lamar had an excellent regular season while Mahomes was injured for the most part. Yet even when considering the injury, Mahomes should be no lower than #2.

At first glance I thought football. But imo it's a rhetoric question. Can't be answered correctly. Just like there are people who excel in mathematics or learning a new language, there are people who grasp football easily and for some it's too complex. I played soccer and football at ambitious amateur level. Anybody with the necessary physical tools can become a good football player, even make it in the NFL. We see it all the time, kids from Africa with no knowledge of the game turn into NFL stars within a few years. Or kids from Europe who haven't heard of football until high school. As for lower level football, if you are very fast or very big/strong, you can make an immediate impact when it comes to amateur play. Hand the ball to a very fast guy who doesn't even know how to hold it and has no vision, but because he's fast as lightning he may still score. Put some big strong ox on the OL/DL and let him bury his opponent, even if he has no clue about hand placement and other technique. Soccer seems easier when you watch it. Just run around and kick the ball lol. But it's so much more complex to the point that pro soccer players have classroom meetings just as much as in football. Especially in countries like Italy where it's all about tactics. There is more freelancing in soccer of course, but lots of players movement when in possession is drawn up. Basically the whole defensive phase/movement when out of possession is schemed. I lived in Italy for some time and I can tell you even the lowest amateur teams practice tactics way more intense than your average park football team. Ideally you attack and defend as one unit in soccer. Nowadays in soccer, you have to be really dominant in attack to be able to afford not contributing in the defending phase. Maybe you can have 2 or 3 defenders who stay back all the time if you have good attackers. Then there is that: you can't become good at soccer if you start later than at child's age, even if you have worldclass athletic traits. Controlling and passing the ball is an art that requires lots of natural talent and lifelong practice. If you are weak with the ball at your feet, you have no place in soccer. Even goalkeepers these days need to be decent with the ball at their feet. In football you can take a physical freak, scheme him some touches and let his speed take over. He will understand his job in no time. But in soccer, regardless of position, you need the feel for the game and tactical knowledge in both attack and defense, as well as in counter and transition. There is no time in between plays that a coach can tell you what exactly to do. Each situation is different. You will identify a soccer player that's totally lost on the field much easier than in football. That's obviously only true for the competitive game, be it amateur or pro. You can play 5 vs 5 soccer or casual football in the park just at any age, size and next to none knowledge of the game.

I like Hodgins over Gabriel Davis fwiw.

Opinions on Delpit are all over the place. I think he can be great, but he could bust if put into a bad spot. What scheme do the Browns run and what would be the most likely role of Delpit?

Kirk Merritt has a good shot to see the field as far as UDFA Rookies go. The Dolphins aren't deep at WR to begin with, yet they didn't draft a WR. Merritt is a SPARQ freak and actually has good hands. If not for a couple of nudist incidents, we'd be talking about a day 2 talent out of a major programme. Adrian Killins is my 2nd adopted UDFA. He is what the Eagles envisioned when they picked Pumphrey. They have some backs behind Miles Sanders, but the pecking order is tbd. None of their backs have the Electric speed of Killins. Could immediately step in as their return guy and get some change of pace work.

Another KJ is the polar opposite: KJ Hamler has UDFA hands and late round size, but elite 1st round burst, agility and speed to burn.

Throw in Josiah Scott alongside Amik Robertson. Scott might actually be even stickier in coverage and athletically more gifted. Both should be among the best nickels in the NFL by year 2. Idk why teams in a league dominated by slot WRs and nickel being the main defense - still undervalue that position. It's much more important than your 3rd LB or IDL, yet it doesn't show in the draft process.

What happened to Isaiah Hodgins? He was my sleeper and should've been a mid round pick. He almost fell out of the 6th! He has arguably the best hands and body control in the draft class. The 4.6 flat wasn't shocking, and for the type of WR he is, it's not the worst time. His agility and jump/explosion numbers were really good and much better than most expected. He can run some really advanced routes for a guy this tall. Long arms as well, natural late hands to make incredible catches look like routine. Needs a bit more strength, but he is just 21 years old. He doesn't win with brute power anyway, he is a sophisticated WR, jump ball artist and RZ threat. I just have good vibes about him. Not sure about the Bills landing him, but he might become Josh Allen's best friend when he realizes that Hodgins can save him on those errant throws he makes.

You could absolutely be right. We see it each and every year. Where was Burrow a year ago? Surefire 1st rounders take nosedives, borderline draftable prospects vault themselves into high 1st round territory. Fields could put up a bigger show than Lawrence, who could stagnate, struggle with injuries, or just be dissected under the microscope. I can already hear the critics that he is a throw it up for grabs QB rather than a sophisticated passer. Lance could put up a season for the ages and if Lawrence doesn't improve on his stats, we might already have a discussion. Don't forget about Fields who could break records and take another leap as well and make a run for that top spot.

This is the same smoke and mirrors as all the predraft chatter. Team officials and sources will always try to appease the fanbase, underlining how big of a steal all their picks were. I can't remember the last time when Steve Keim of the Cardinals didn't come out after the draft claiming they had a 1st round grade on their 3rd round pick. Actually this year he may be right with Josh Jones. So basically all teams in the 1st are on record that they got a top 5 or top 10 prospect. You hear it each and every year. And in the mid and late rounds, you always hear how this player stood out from the rest of the pool, and how nobody could believe he is available. Please do yourself a favor don't buy that stuff anymore lol. Boards are different, no doubt. But don't believe things like Ayiuk, who i like, was the 1st WR on the 49ers board, or that each team that drafted a 1st round OT (or at least the top 4 OTs) magically got exactly the OT they had ranked highest. Smoke and mirrors!