2019 Draft Talk (Draft Order in OP)

[J-ALL-DAY]

The worst part of the Cards/Bills finishing ahead of us is they already took a QB in last year's draft so they will be going after one of our potential targets. Giants finishing ahead of us is fine as they will almost certainly go QB. 

But if Beathard plays like he did yesterday, this team can easily get 5 or 6 wins. I don't think people realize how many suspect teams are left on the schedule. You have Cards (2x), Seahawks (2x), Giants, Buccaneers, Broncos, Raiders and a Rams team in week 17 who will likely be resting their starters.

Not crazy to think we win four of five of the nine games I listed. 

[NcFinest9erFan]

6 minutes ago, Forge said:

How brutal our division is will help, but I still think we are going to win 4 games or so. I think we are probably going to end up at 5-6. I think Cardinals and Bills will be bad for most of the season, and they are my odds on favorite to pick 1 and 2. I think we will win more games than the Jets as well. The Giants is probably around where things get interesting. 

I THINK we should beat zona(2x), seattle, NYG and oakland? so 6-10 but we can still net a top 12ish pick?

[John232]

Been watching Ferrell film. He’s got some intriguing traits but some glaring weaknesses too. Quick thoughts, doing this in my phone too..

-he’s a lot stronger than he looks:

-He doesn’t get moved off the ball much. Routinely see’s double teams and hold his own when setting the edge in the run. However running inside of him is quite easy. He has a bad habit of turning his back when going to stop the run inside. gives me pause about him being a big end. .

-really bad at reading play fakes. Needs to be much faster at diagnosing plays. He’s a liability in this regard.

-when he uses his hands properly, wins the hand fighting and sheds the tackle he usually gets to the QB for a sack, pressure or hit. Saw quite a few plays where he knocked away hands and got under the pads of tackles, bending around and getting to the QB.

- but he’s stiff in the hips. He’s going to miss some easy sacks because of it. 

-hits with impact. Uses his wingspan to wrap and slam the ball out of the QB’s hands

-he’s not Harold Landry in the bend factor but shows enough to where he can get under on a rip and really drive past a tackle 

-needs to set up a second move more often. When he does, he makes guys look silly.

-really good at using his length. Really like this about him

- doesn’t come off as a freak athlete but not a poor one by any stretch either. 

-he had a great battle with Jonah Williams against Alabama. Williams looks really good but Ferrell beat him a couple times. A less athletic QB would have gotten sacked by Ferrell

-he’s not a top 10 guy to me after watching Alabama, FSU and Auburn. But too 20 for sure. He seems like he has a lot of room to grow and is a natural pass rusher. I want to watch some Aldon Smith tape because that was sort of the comparison. Looong and strong. 

 

- he also looked solid in dropping back into coverage. May be a good candidate to play the SAM+LEO hybrid. 

 

 

 

[John232]

Yeah, watching some Aldon Smith college highlights, super reminiscent of him. 

[John232]

Going to look at Brian Burns next. 

[John232]

From what I've see when it comes to Burns. Nothing really impressive about him besides his length and speed up the field. Not very strong (but stronger than his noodle arms appear). He doesn't really show great hand fighting around the Arc. runs  himself out of plays. Useless against the run. He's a developmental player for sure. I'd give him a 3rd or 4th round grade at this point. Still need to watch more though. He's definitely an athlete. 

[Ftn49]

I decided to do my own rankings for edge rushers. I was focused on the LEO position since we have numerous guys for the big end side. Since ideal for the position is roughly 6'3 250 I only ranked guys that are between 6'2 240 lbs and 6'4" 270 lbs. That eliminated several popular ones that I have seen floating around here and while there can definitely be outliers for position specs (Zack Thomas, Alex Boone) their is generally a reason to be what they are. 

After that, my first criteria that I was looking for was the ability to bend the edge. Ideal Leos use speed in my understanding to rush the passer. The other part about it is they need to be able to set the edge on a run, so they also need to hold up. 

https://www.fieldgulls.com/2011/5/31/2191847/the-pete-carroll-4-3-under-defense-part-i-an-introduction

Quote

The LEO can be a little bit smaller than a normal DE and Pete Carroll tends to like a more athletic and versatile body type for his Elephant position; a guy that can speed rush the QB but also react quick enough to control his gap. Must also be able to drop back into coverage occasionally in zone blitz situations

 

All that said and with the knowledge that everything will surely change in the next 7 months once positional drills are done, more available video to watch (there were several prospects that I was unable to find much really at all) here are my rankings:

1) Nick Bosa OSU 6'3" 265- I went into this really expecting to like him more. He's number 1 on my list because he is a very good player however I don't think he's a guy who if we miss out on we would say "if only we had been able to draft Nick Bosa". One of the main reasons being he's more of a power rusher than a speed rusher. I did see him do a couple speed rushes and that's why hes number one. He can do both but he is better with the power. Walter football projection 1st round

 

2) D'Andre Walker Georgia 6'2" 250 lbs- Yes, I am a UGA homer but based on the criteria as mentioned above I don't believe I am really over ranking him. Spots 2, 3, and 4 are all kind of interchangeable, I like them all a lot. Anyway, Walker has elite closing speed, good power and plays within the defense. His biggest draw back in my opinion is he can lose his cool at times. I would assume whoever drafts him can expect a few late hits, unnecessary roughness kind of plays a year. Walter football projection 2-4

3) Josh Allen Kentucky 6'4" 250 lbs- As mentioned, I like spots 2, 3, and 4 quite a bit and there is one thing all of them have in spades... Closing speed on the ball carrier/quarterback. Allen is fantastic at it. My only question with him is that I don't know if he will hold up quite a bit as well as Walker against the run, but all in all, great player. Walter football projection 1-2

4) Ben Banogu TCU 6'3" 240 lbs- Straight up, I had never heard of this guy before I started this exercise so maybe I have him too high based on just a couple of highlights but the things I saw that I did like were the same the two before, good closing speed to the ball and disengaged well from blockers.  Walter football projection 3-4

5) Anfernee Jennings Alabama 6'3 inches 260 lbs- Nice player, I didn't see elite speed which is why I knocked him down for this list and from my understanding he has had injury issues. Kind of like Bosa he played with enough speed and he had good power so he should be able to be effective at both styles of rushing the passer. Walter football projection 1-3

 

 6) Porter Gustin USC 6'4" 267- You guys out west I'm sure know this guy more than I do. Another guy that I had never heard of but was very pleasantly surprised with. Kinda minded me of a poor mans Clay Mathews. How is his name not bigger? He seemed a touch stiff in the hips is why I lowered him a bit. Walter football projection 2-4

7) O'shane Ximines Old Dominion 6'3" 250- He was one of the tougher ones to decide how much I exactly liked him. Mostly because his highlight reel is exactly that... A highlight reel, not too many of the plays were showed at game speed. But he seemed very passionate about the game and from my understanding very intelligent always around the ball. I think he will be in the league a long time. Walter football projection 2-3

8) Chase Winovich Michigan 6'2" 260- I liked this guy too. I'm not sure how I had him all the way at 8th... Obviously a lot of people don't agree as he is projected pretty high. He seems the classic high floor/low ceiling guy. I'm not trying to dis him at all I just didn't think he was super explosive and a little bit stiff in the hips thing like a lot of the lower guys. Walter football projection 1-2

 

9) Otaro Alaka Texas A&M 6'3" 240- I think this projection suffered a little bit in comparison to other guys because it was a full game of the good, the bad and the ugly instead of just highlights. Nice speed, I'm not entirely sure he would hold up in the run game however. Walter football projection 3-5

10) Austin Bryant Clemson 6'4" 270.  He's a playmaker he's just nearly twitch quick enough from what I've seen and understand to make a good LEO. Watch his highlights though, that interception at about 2:55 against Virginia Tech was INSANE, I wish our receivers could catch that well. Walter football projection 2-4

11 & 12) Zabri Zuniga 6'3" 245 and Jachai Polite 6'2" 260 Florida- So I could only find one video that had these two guys in it both of which amounted to one play for each of them. In the video Zuniga gets schooled by a fake and on another play Polite makes a good play. I can't really rank these guys high or low based on that. So here they sit. Walter football projection 3-5 (both)

13) Charles Wright Vanderbuilt 6'3" 250 lbs- I saw one poor highlight video (more old dominion fans out there than vandy fans I guess) Anyway it wasn't really enough to see much either way as well Walter football projection Rd 3-5

14) Byron Cowart Maryland 6'4" 250 lbs- I could only find one video of him while he was at auburn two seasons ago. He didn't look like a liability too much but I assume he was a freshman and didn't really do too much to distinguish himself either. Walter football projection FA

15) Jesse Aniebonam Maryland 6'3" 260 lbs- The beginning of this video will fake you out. I actually didn't find it until I got to the end of this post I wanted to take one last look to see if I could find something and I did. If I redid this list he would be a fair amount higher based on the highlights he's got athleticism to him. Walter football projection 6 - FA 

16) Daelin Hayes Notre Dame 6'3" 260 lbs- I don't know if I watched the worst game that this guy has ever played or what, I must have because I wasn't impressed at all. Every snap they played he ran up to the OT and grabbed him or let the tackle grab him and they basically stood there. Walter football projection Rd 2-4

Well... there is my list. Feel free to mock it as you will.

[N4L]

Watching Rutgers illinios right now. 

Rutgers has a true freshman QB that is going to be a first round pick. He's 6'4 225 so he's got the size you look for. He has a very, very quick release. Not quite Garoppolos release but it's not that far off. Throws a good spiral too. He obviously has some stuff to work on but you can tell NFL scouts will love the guy. 

His name is Artur sitkowski 

You heard it here first 

[N4L]

#21 Sutton from Oklahoma seems like a good fit for Shanahan's offense. He's got great feet, good vision, good burst, can run inside/outside. 

Seems like another undrafted guy who could have success 

[John232]

For big receivers, I’m really digging Collin Johnson.

[N4L]

1 hour ago, N4L said:

Watching Rutgers illinios right now. 

Rutgers has a true freshman QB that is going to be a first round pick. He's 6'4 225 so he's got the size you look for. He has a very, very quick release. Not quite Garoppolos release but it's not that far off. Throws a good spiral too. He obviously has some stuff to work on but you can tell NFL scouts will love the guy. 

His name is Artur sitkowski 

You heard it here first 

He's having a really rough game, looks like an early pick has really shaken the guys confidence. How he bounces back in the second half will show me if he has what it takes or not. 

The kid has all of the tools. He's got good zip on the ball and it's a tight spiral. 

And as I'm typing this out, he's putting together a nice drive 9/9 on that drive with good timing and accuracy. That release is fantastic

[y2lamanaki]

19 hours ago, Ftn49 said:

 

I don't necessarily agree with every ranking, but dude - what an awesome post. Thanks for that. I hope you do other positions as well! 

[John232]

1 hour ago, y2lamanaki said:

I don't necessarily agree with every ranking, but dude - what an awesome post. Thanks for that. I hope you do other positions as well! 

Seriously, some great names to look at over the next couple months. 

[J-ALL-DAY]

Jachai Polite…………. 

[Ftn49]

3 hours ago, y2lamanaki said:

I don't necessarily agree with every ranking, but dude - what an awesome post. Thanks for that. I hope you do other positions as well! 

Thanks guys... sure, ill try to do a couple more. They will probably be more on the defensive side just because the ideal traits are more well defined. Oline in general would be tough just because there wont be much video available and receivers will be difficult because Kyle likes recievers who "separate" which more of those videos focus on the catch and after. I could probably do corners at least at some point.