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CW21's 2018 NFL Draft Review (Browns Up)


CWood21

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On 6/3/2018 at 10:19 AM, CWood21 said:

Sorry it took me so long to get the next one up...

1(21) - Billy Price [C; Ohio State]
2(54) - Jessie Bates [S; Wake Forest]
3(77) - Sam Hubbard [DE; Ohio State]
3(78) - Malik Jefferson [LB; Texas]
4(112) - Mark Walton [RB; Miami (FL)]
5(151) - Davontae Harris [CB; Illinois State]
5(158) - Andrew Brown [DT; Virginia]
5(170) - Darius Phillips [CB; Western Michigan]
7(249) - Logan Woodside [QB; Toledo]
7(252) - Rod Taylor [OG; Ole Miss]
7(253) - Auden Tate [WR; Florida State]

One of these days, I'll figure out what's going on in Mike Brown's head.  But until then, I'll continue to speculate and make fun of his interesting decisions. After almost all of the NFL believed that the Bengals and Marvin Lewis were about to part ways, they ended up retaining Marvin Lewis as their head coach and entered the 2018 draft looking to continue to improve their roster.  In the first round, the Bengals drafted Billy Price out of Ohio State coming off a torn pectoral muscle.  Most of the time that you see this kind of significant injury, the player would be in line for a tumble down the draft board.  Fortunately for Billy Price, medical doctors believed he was on track to recover from the injury in time for the start of the regular season.  Combine that with his excellent play and you've got yourself a first round pick.  In the second, they grabbed Jessie Bates.  Safeties in general seem to be devalued around the league, likely because teams are turning aging, slowing corners into safeties.  He's a solid safety, but I question how much upside he truly has and I don't think he'll ever be a huge playmaking safety in the NFL.  I really, really am trying to find something positive to say about Sam Hubbard, but I'm convinced he's the 4th best pass rusher on that Buckeyes DL.  I'd sooner have taken Tyquan Lewis or Jaylyn Holmes if I've got my choice between the three draft-eligible pass rushers this year.  Despite that, they took Malik Jefferson in the third round pick who if he would have came out a year earlier we're probably talking about a guy who probably would have pushed for a Day 1 pick.  He regressed a bit last year, but the kid is tremendously talented and should be a starter sooner rather than later.  Mark Walton was a pretty solid pick.  The Bengals already have pretty solid depth at the RB position, but Mark Walton adds more depth.  He probably won't get a ton of burn as a rookie but if they move on from Giovanni Bernard he'll get more reps.  Didn't really watch a bunch of Davontae Harris, but grabbing a guy with his physical profile this late in the draft is a reasonable gamble.  He's a little tight in the hips, which blurs his projection at cornerback but if he has to transition to safety that wouldn't be the worst situation to have.  Andrew Brown was a former highly ranked prospect, and his athletic profile projects him to be a good project.  Quite frankly, he was one of the DL I had my eyes in terms of finding value later in the draft and I think the Bengals made a very good choice with him.  The Bengals continued with solid depth with Darius Phillips and Rod Taylor.  Phillips projects to be more of a slot cornerback for me, while Rod Taylor add some good depth to the IOL.  Logan Woodside was one of my favorite UDFA prospects for the QB position.  He's a bit of a rough translation to the NFL, but it's hard to ignore the tools.  At the very least, he should give you some good throws in camp and probably starts the year on the PS or the 3rd QB on the depth chart.  Auden Tate is a big WR who is going to be a good red zone target, but I'm not sure he offers much more than that.  I almost wonder if he should bulk up a bit and be a TE-lite.  I just don't think he offers much between the 20s.  Overall, the Bengals had a really good draft but it didn't really have the upside I've been accustomed to seeing with them.  It seems like they went relatively safe in this draft, and I felt the Bengals needed a little something to get them over the hump.  I think when we look back at this draft in 5+ years, it won't be viewed as a disappointing draft but also not a franchise-changing one either.

Best Value Pick: Andrew Brown [DT; Virginia]
Worst Value Pick: Sam Hubbard [DE; Ohio State]
Grade: B

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Compared to your other writeups, you seemed to be heading toward a C or C+ rating. Compare Baltimore, for example. Except for Lamar Jackson, you gave them similar verbiage. Of the two, I like the Ravens better. 

J

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  • 2 weeks later...

seahawkslogosmall.jpg

1(27) - Rashaad Penny [RB; San Diego State]
3(79) - Rasheem Greene [EDGE; USC]
4(120) - Will Dissly [TE; Washington]

5(141) - Shaquem Griffin [LB; UCF]
5(146) - Tre' Flowers [S; Oklahoma State]
5(149) - Michael Dickson [P; Texas]
5(168) - Jamarco Jones [OT; Ohio State]
6(186) - Jacob Martin [DE; Temple]
7(220) - Alex McGough [QB; Florida International]

From 2010-2012, the Seahawks were as good at drafting as any franchise in the league.  Unfortunately, since then their drafting has been pretty bad which is in large part a reason why the Seahawks have struggled to consistently stay atop the league standings and some believe that they're about to move back into the middle of the pack of teams.  To make things worse, they traded their second round pick to the Jets for Sheldon Richardson and their 3rd round pick to the Texans for Duane Brown.  Armed with only one pick in the first 100 picks, everyone and their dog knew that the Seahawks were going to be highly motivated to move down, which they did when they struck a deal with the Packers who moved back up after trading down just a few picks earlier.  The disparity between the Packers trade down with the Saints and the Seahawks trade down with the Packers shows how hamstrung the Seahawks were with a lack of second and third round picks.  After trading down with the Packers, the Seahawks surprised everyone by being the second team to take a RB in the draft when they selected SDSU's Rashaad Penny.  While I probably was higher on Penny than most, grabbing him in the first round wasn't very good value and I believe there was enough RB value left in the draft that even if they move back a second time and someone took Penny that they'd find a quality back later in the draft.  In the third round, I thought they got solid value with Rasheem Green and while he doesn't really offer huge upside in terms of pressuring the quarterback I think he's a solid fit in that scheme and should be a solid rotational pass rusher.  The Will Dissly selection was just head scratching as I had an UDFA grade on him, and felt like there were better values in the draft and FA if they were wanting to get someone in his mold.  I just have no idea how they view him as any sort of receiving threat.  Tre' Flowers was probably taken a tad earlier than I would have liked, but not terrible value.  I think he could potentially replace Kam Chancellor down the road, but he's got enough question marks about his ability to hold up in coverage consistently.  I'm not really a fan of taking special team players in the draft, and Jon Ryan is a good enough punter that I'm not sure why the Seahawks felt a real motivation to grab a punter, especially this early.  Jamarco Jones this late in the draft is good value, especially since I felt positional need would push him up the board.  The Seahawks history of developing OL isn't good, so I'm not expecting him to come in and fix the OL but the value here is strong.  Jacob Martin adds some more depth to the DL, and Alex McCough probably gets added to the PS after the cutdowns.

Best Value Pick: Rasheem Greene [EDGE; USC]
Worst Value Pick: Will Dissly [TE; Washington]
Grade: C-

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new-york-jets-logo-vector-01.png
1(3) - Sam Darnold [QB; USC]
3(72) - Nathan Shepherd [DT; Fort Hays State]
4(107) - Chris Herndon [TE; Miami (FL)]
6(179) - Parry Nickerson [CB; Tulane]
6(180) - Folorunso Fatukasi [DT; UConn]
6(204) - Trenton Cannon [RB; Virginia State]

The Jets shocked many, myself included, when they traded up in the first round more than a month before the draft.  And that's without knowing who the Browns and Giants were going to take.  In a worst case scenario, they would be looking at their third ranked QB.  Fortunately for the Jets, the Giants opted to take Saquon Barkley instead of a QB, which means that you'll hear the Saquon Barkley vs. Sam Darnold debates happen until the end of time.  Leading up to the draft, Baker Mayfield was the QB most associated with the Jets and until the Browns ended up taking him first overall it was believed that he would be the Jets QBOTF.  As it turned out, the Browns took Mayfield and the Giants took Barkley which led to Sam Darnold being the selection, many of which believed to be the best QB in the draft.  After dealing both 2nd round picks this year and one next year, the Jets next pick didn't come until the third round when they took Nathan Shepherd out of Fort Hays State.  Most of the time you're gambling on a player at that kind of school, you'd invest a later pick but the physical skillset that Shephert possesses is just too hard to pass up and ultimately I can't find any reason to fault them for this gamble.  I wouldn't anticipate much production out of him this year, but down the road he could be a really good player.  I don't hate the value of Chris Herndon, but I don't really see him ever emerging as a legitimate starting TE.  I think he lacks any true standout skillset, and probably projects more as a #2 TE.  I probably would have targeted either a TE who was clearly going to impact as a blocker or take a gamble on someone with a bit more athleticism, not that he's lacking it.  Parry Nickerson slots in nicely as a potential slot CB, but I'm not sure he's going to offer much more than that.  Both Folorunso Fatukasi and Trenton Cannon add more depth to their respective positions, but neither really project to be much more depth players in the NFL.  At the end of the day, this draft is going to be heavily influenced by Sam Darnold.  IF Darnold turns out to be a franchise QB, nobody will care that the Jets traded 3 second round picks to move up and select him.  IF the Darnold flops, they'll be discussing the players they could have had if they hadn't traded all those picks to the Colts.

Best Value Pick: Sam Darnold [QB; USC]
Worst Value Pick: Chris Herndon [TE; Miami (FL)]
Grade: B 

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20 hours ago, CWood21 said:

new-york-jets-logo-vector-01.png
1(3) - Sam Darnold [QB; USC]
3(72) - Nathan Shepherd [DT; Fort Hays State]
4(107) - Chris Herndon [TE; Miami (FL)]
6(179) - Parry Nickerson [CB; Tulane]
6(180) - Folorunso Fatukasi [DT; UConn]
6(204) - Trenton Cannon [RB; Virginia State]

The Jets shocked many, myself included, when they traded up in the first round more than a month before the draft.  And that's without knowing who the Browns and Giants were going to take.  In a worst case scenario, they would be looking at their third ranked QB.  Fortunately for the Jets, the Giants opted to take Saquon Barkley instead of a QB, which means that you'll hear the Saquon Barkley vs. Sam Darnold debates happen until the end of time.  Leading up to the draft, Baker Mayfield was the QB most associated with the Jets and until the Browns ended up taking him first overall it was believed that he would be the Jets QBOTF.  As it turned out, the Browns took Mayfield and the Giants took Barkley which led to Sam Darnold being the selection, many of which believed to be the best QB in the draft.  After dealing both 2nd round picks this year and one next year, the Jets next pick didn't come until the third round when they took Nathan Shepherd out of Fort Hays State.  Most of the time you're gambling on a player at that kind of school, you'd invest a later pick but the physical skillset that Shephert possesses is just too hard to pass up and ultimately I can't find any reason to fault them for this gamble.  I wouldn't anticipate much production out of him this year, but down the road he could be a really good player.  I don't hate the value of Chris Herndon, but I don't really see him ever emerging as a legitimate starting TE.  I think he lacks any true standout skillset, and probably projects more as a #2 TE.  I probably would have targeted either a TE who was clearly going to impact as a blocker or take a gamble on someone with a bit more athleticism, not that he's lacking it.  Parry Nickerson slots in nicely as a potential slot CB, but I'm not sure he's going to offer much more than that.  Both Folorunso Fatukasi and Trenton Cannon add more depth to their respective positions, but neither really project to be much more depth players in the NFL.  At the end of the day, this draft is going to be heavily influenced by Sam Darnold.  IF Darnold turns out to be a franchise QB, nobody will care that the Jets traded 3 second round picks to move up and select him.  IF the Darnold flops, they'll be discussing the players they could have had if they hadn't traded all those picks to the Colts.

Best Value Pick: Sam Darnold [QB; USC]
Worst Value Pick: Chris Herndon [TE; Miami (FL)]
Grade: B 

herndon was taken in the 4th, you view him maybe as a below average starter or backup TE. Not sure how that is bad value at that spot unless youre just insanely high on the two later picks but doesnt seem like you are.

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Agreed on your assessment for the Seahawks, but I should mention Dissly is not expected to be a pass-catcher. At all. He was drafted as a return to our power run roots. He is good at run-blocking so I get it. Value was still bad though.

C- is fair. Maybe a bit kind. 

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On 6/16/2018 at 2:29 PM, CWood21 said:

seahawkslogosmall.jpg

1(27) - Rashaad Penny [RB; San Diego State]
3(79) - Rasheem Greene [EDGE; USC]
4(120) - Will Dissly [TE; Washington]

5(141) - Shaquem Griffin [LB; UCF]
5(146) - Tre' Flowers [S; Oklahoma State]
5(149) - Michael Dickson [P; Texas]
5(168) - Jamarco Jones [OT; Ohio State]
6(186) - Jacob Martin [DE; Temple]
7(220) - Alex McGough [QB; Florida International]

From 2010-2012, the Seahawks were as good at drafting as any franchise in the league.  Unfortunately, since then their drafting has been pretty bad which is in large part a reason why the Seahawks have struggled to consistently stay atop the league standings and some believe that they're about to move back into the middle of the pack of teams.  To make things worse, they traded their second round pick to the Jets for Sheldon Richardson and their 3rd round pick to the Texans for Duane Brown.  Armed with only one pick in the first 100 picks, everyone and their dog knew that the Seahawks were going to be highly motivated to move down, which they did when they struck a deal with the Packers who moved back up after trading down just a few picks earlier.  The disparity between the Packers trade down with the Saints and the Seahawks trade down with the Packers shows how hamstrung the Seahawks were with a lack of second and third round picks.  After trading down with the Packers, the Seahawks surprised everyone by being the second team to take a RB in the draft when they selected SDSU's Rashaad Penny.  While I probably was higher on Penny than most, grabbing him in the first round wasn't very good value and I believe there was enough RB value left in the draft that even if they move back a second time and someone took Penny that they'd find a quality back later in the draft.  In the third round, I thought they got solid value with Rasheem Green and while he doesn't really offer huge upside in terms of pressuring the quarterback I think he's a solid fit in that scheme and should be a solid rotational pass rusher.  The Will Dissly selection was just head scratching as I had an UDFA grade on him, and felt like there were better values in the draft and FA if they were wanting to get someone in his mold.  I just have no idea how they view him as any sort of receiving threat.  Tre' Flowers was probably taken a tad earlier than I would have liked, but not terrible value.  I think he could potentially replace Kam Chancellor down the road, but he's got enough question marks about his ability to hold up in coverage consistently.  I'm not really a fan of taking special team players in the draft, and Jon Ryan is a good enough punter that I'm not sure why the Seahawks felt a real motivation to grab a punter, especially this early.  Jamarco Jones this late in the draft is good value, especially since I felt positional need would push him up the board.  The Seahawks history of developing OL isn't good, so I'm not expecting him to come in and fix the OL but the value here is strong.  Jacob Martin adds some more depth to the DL, and Alex McCough probably gets added to the PS after the cutdowns.

Best Value Pick: Rasheem Greene [EDGE; USC]
Worst Value Pick: Will Dissly [TE; Washington]
Grade: C-

 

Nice write up - appreciate the effort that went into it. 

That said, this is honestly the first draft since 2010 (which let's face it, was LOADED and Seattle had two top 15 picks) that I've liked in the Carroll/Schneider regime.

I disagree with the Penny pick being a shock given Seattle got a call right after that selection about trading Penny (almost positive that was the Pats). Penny led all RBs with yards after first contact and broken tackles... even better than Barkley, so I can't fault Seattle taking Penny with their first, especially after acquiring a 3rd. IMO they got the a top 3 best RB in the class, the best punter (Jon Ryan will be a TOP 3 highest paid punter the next 2 years, and Seattle doesn't have the cap room while Ryan is above average but nowhere near top 5) prospect in the last 5+ years, and the best blocking TE which will sorely help the blocking game. All 3 of those guys will be immediate impact players and Greene will likely get starting time. 

Griffin was also a WTF steal and outside of his ridiculous edge speed he'll also 100% motivate and keep his brother Shaquill happy who played great last year for Seattle and appears to be one of the better up and coming corners. 

End of day, it absolutely blows my f'ing mind that Seattle picked up the runningback with the best yards after first contact/broken tackles, the best blocking TE, and an underrated OT later rounds, not to mention signing one of the best pass blocking TEs in the NFL (Ed Dickson) and hiring a new OL coach (who has a great track record) and everyone is criticizing Seattle for 'not addressing the OLINE and run game to help Wilson'. Like... wtf? 

Seattle consistently got low draft grades from most analysts because of the "OMG IMPROVE THE LINE!" thing. Uh... they've been trying to improve the line. They've spent quite a high # of picks (including trading one for Brown) to improve it... because of Cable or something, it hasn't come together. They also finally moved on from Jimmy "I can't block for **** and have no idea why Seattle is asking me to" Graham which was probably one of the dumbest trades/acquisitions in the last 10 years...

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Can't argue much on the Jets draft.  It's all about Darnold and that's all that really matters.  I think the Jets landed the best QB in the draft even though I loved Mayfield.  

As for the rest of the draft I like Herndon, Nickerson and Shepard to all contribute this year.  I actually love the well rounded game Herndon brings at the TE spot.  Keeps the D guessing if he can do both blocking and pass catching at least average moving forward.  Nickerson looks like a nice addition to the slot with Skrine's Jets career on it's last legs.  Hopefully by mid season he starts to eat into Skrine's snaps.  Shepard and Williams could form the 2nd coming of Wilk and Sheldon without the off the field drama.  Love the upside with that pick.  Like you siad probably going to take a year to get comfortable but athletically he was on par with Williams if I recall reading his combine numbers which is obvious very exciting given how good Williams has been.

Very exciting time for the Jets if Darnold is the next great QB plus their plethora of cap space moving forward.

 

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philadelphia_eagles.png

2(49) - Dallas Goedert [TE; South Dakota State]
4(125) - Avonte Maddox [CB; Pittsburgh]
4(130) - Josh Sweat [EDGE; Florida State]
6(206) - Matt Pryor [OT; TCU]

7(233) - Jordan Mailata [OT; Australia]

Going into the draft with their 2nd pick going to the Browns as part of the Carson Wentz trade and their 3rd round pick going to the Bills as part of the Ronald Darby trade, it seemed that the Eagles who had only one pick in the first 120 picks were set to trade down from their first round pick.  After trading down from their first and picking up a 2019 2nd round pick from the Ravens, they shocked the Cowboys crowd by jumping ahead of Dallas to grab Dallas Goedert.  Goedert came into the draft process with quite a bit of hype and some comparisons made to Rob Gronkowski, but his Combine wasn't as good as some had hoped but to grab the guy that most viewed the Cowboys poised to select is a satisfying feeling for Eagles fans.  That's not to take away from the Goedert selection whose a really good TE prospect in his own right.  It might not be a huge need right now, but they can develop him as their future starting TE.  With their second pick, they took a small corner in Avonte Maddox.  I don't hate this selection, but I'm not a huge fan of taking shorter corners.  I think he's limited to the slot, which I think fits his skillset well.  The value on Josh Sweat is great even if the medical red flags probably took him off several team boards.  If the Eagles can get 3-4 good years out of him off of his rookie contract, that's considered a huge success and then let someone else pay him the big bucks when those knees give out.  Matt Pryor is a solid gamble this late in the draft, but his motivation issues and his struggles to find a consistent playing weight loom large.  In terms of adding depth, there's worse additions to make.  Don't have any real feelings on Jordan Mailata as he's a rugby player with no experience playing football.  This late in the draft, you're drafting your priority UDFA which means they probably didn't have a draftable grade on him.  Overall, the Eagles draft was pretty bland but that's to be expected when you only have one pick in the top 120 picks.  That limits what the Eagles are able to do in terms of maneuvering around the draft.  For what they had, they accomplished it well enough and wouldn't trade any of those picks they dealt away as they became Super Bowl champs because of it.

Best Value Pick: Josh Sweat [EDGE; Florida State]
Worst Value Pick: Avonte Maddox
Grade: C

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