2020 - TCMD GM Mock Draft Discussion

[PR]

Just now, ny92mike said:

It was an odd one to see in this type mock....but crazier stuff has happened.

My thought was to hit players that may not be heavily targeted.

[ny92mike]

Just now, PR said:

My thought was to hit players that may not be heavily targeted.

I get it...but with so many free agents to bid on with so many targeting the big dogs guys can clean up with some really solid players and landing more.  You just dove in a little to deep.

[FinneasGage]

28 minutes ago, ravens5520 said:

3 out of 4 total for round 1... Not terrible,  but the strategy wasn’t to break the bank.

0645 - Daryl Williams - LG	$14,710,648	BAL
1707 - Matt Judon - 34OLB	$14,731,557	BAL
2005 - Reggie Ragland - ILB	$3,375,000	BAL

 

How the heck did Judon not receive any bids? Stole him for 1/3rd of what he will sign this summer. Daryl and Ragland are going to compete for starting positions. 

yeah that was one of the deals that caught my eye

[Trojan]

After the first round of Free Agency, initial cuts and a pair of trades the Jaguars are sitting at around 9mil in cap space I believe (started in the red, and continue to have the ability to move on from some more contracts ie. AJ Cann @ 6mil or so as a reserve player, and have not restructured anyone).

I identified as a potential need QB, but was comfortable rolling with Gardner Minshew. Matthew Stafford became available early on, but the asking price was something winitall and I talked about for a few days (his initial asking price was roughly the value we pulled the trigger on, but we expanded the trade further). Matthew Stafford is the perfect age to not truly "block" Gardner Minshew, but has the traits needed in velocity to really be a true upgrade and make the team a contender in my opinion. That said should Stafford get injured, we retained Minshew who did win his share of games last year and won over the fan base -- essentially an ideal understudy to Stafford.

Along with the Stafford trade came Frank Ragnow, Frank was a pretty elite center prospect coming out of Arkansas a couple years back and was a first round pick. However he has played a lot of guard in the pros and didn't really live up to the billing as a guard, but when he was moved back to center he did shine as expected. That said the Jaguars already had a good center in Brandon Linder, however Linder has also played guard for the Jaguars early in his career and he, unlike Ragnow, did quite well. With the big free agent signing from 2018 in Andrew Norwell these three will from left to right, Norwell, Ragnow, Linder create the IOL of the Jaguars tentatively between Cam Robinson and Jawaan Taylor. Taylor I am very happy with, but Cam Robinson may be replace depending on how the board falls in the top ten as a number of left tackle prospects have my attention and Robinson would alternate to a nice utility reserve OL on a rookie deal (should Cann get released as a cap casualty).  I believe this line has been upgraded enough that Leonard Fournette should be a force keeping defenses honest and vulnerable to Stafford's arm, and as we know Stafford has only had a 1000 rusher once in Reggie Bush -- so I am expecting good things here.

The other trade I did involved acquiring Robert Woods, who at the start of the year will still only be 28 years old. He adds a veteran presence to the trio of DJ Chark, Dede Westbrook and Chris Conley. This last Superbowl was won by the Chiefs, who feature a high velocity armed QB and speedy field stretching WRs  and a chain moving run blocking Travis Kelce. There was no Kelce available, but Robert Woods looks to fill the chain mover find space in the zone and embrace run blocking role in this offense. Chark ran a 4.34 (combine), Dede Westbrook ran a 4.39 (Oklahoma pro day), and Chris Conley ran a 4.35 -- no Tyreek Hill, but certainly a group capable of blowing the top off a defense should they stack the box against Leonard Fournette. Josh Oliver has some potential at TE, a rookie last year, James OShaughnessy is a rosterable guy, and Geoff Swaim exists, but the TE position is a weak spot on this offense -- a reason a 4th WR was so important to acquire.

Defensively we lost Yannick Ngakoue in the tag and trade, and he was a phenomenal pass rusher -- replacing him would be critical to the defense holding up especially if our offense is to turn the corner and get our opponents playing from behind. Josh Allen returns as that pass rushing monster, but also I believe a switch to a 3-4 where he can disguise rushing and coverage will be beneficial especially with newly signed edgemate Jadeveon Clowney enforcing the other side. This pairing is something I'm very excited about, the two of them attacking the edges with Walter Payton Man of the Year (and Pro Bowl selection) Calais Campell and former first round pick Taven Bryan on the interior, should the board fall in a certain way potentially Derrick Brown would make this defensive line exceedingly fearsome.

At linebacker Myles Jack returns, but an additional unquestioned starter would be ideal as the others are more the young guys looking to impress to land a starting job type. A Paul Pozluszny grade run stopper, or Telvin Smith esque rangy athlete is missing from those elite defenses of the past -- but here also that top ten pick might have a shot at someone like Isiah Simmons -- that pick is going to land someone starting.

Cornerback is an area of need after the Jaguars lost Jalen Ramsey to the Rams, but I didn't want to strategize my round one of free agency around targeting Byron Jones -- although arguably he would have been the best potential FA acquisition -- because of the volume of bids on Byron Jones and how critically damaging I felt it would be to whiff given the attention needed at CB. Instead I rotated bids to Bradberry (Congrats to the Broncos for landing both him and Jones) and Fuller and saw significant action there as well. So I decided to go where others weren't looking and grabbed two guys that were at one time first round picks that have fizzled a bit in Eli Apple and Artie Burns to play opposite AJ Bouye and backing him up, with DJ Hayden remaining in the slot. Regardless of past stumbles, Apple and Burns have athletic traits and pedigree you would like in securing the total depth of a position group like cornerbacks. If the board fell in such a way though, Jeff Okudah could still be the pick, which was important for me to not really rule out in FA as the board could fall any number of ways and I wanted the option to address a need, but also the ability to not avoid a blue chip guy if he is there. Safety is a fairly weak point as Ronnie Harrison looks to be the only solid locked in starter, but I'd be lying if I wasn't eye balling some in the draft -- getting someone to have as insurance in FA though is still a need.

There were 7 prospects I've mentioned in consideration in the first -- LT [Wirfs, Wills, Thomas, Beckton], Derrick Brown, Isiah Simmons, Jeff Okudah --  where I am the 9th pick overall so options should be there as Burrow, Tua and Young are likely top three selections . I feel as if I did an acceptable job thusfar in FA and trades to facilitate being able to get one of those guys and plug him into a pretty dang good team.

The contracts I awarded in FA have Artie Burns making ~1.5 to ~3.5 each of his first 3 years, then mid 4mil range for the final two should he be worth keeping around. Eli Apple makes between 2.7mil - 3.1mil each year of his deal which I consider a value as my projected CB2, but not unacceptable as a reserve should DJ Hayden or Burns beat him out for the starting role. Clowney on the other hand gets ~17mil year one (roughly the same as Aaron Donald in 2020), then it moves to ~20 (still pacing Donald), then ~26 before elevating to 30mil the final two years. Where the Clowney contract expands to 26, 30, 30 there isn't a true comp contract for me to look at as both Donald and Mack have outs at that point and a new CBA upcoming. I feel like a 30% increase from 20mil to 26mil isn't ungodly under a new CBA, followed by a then 15% increase to stabilize at 30 a year the final two years instead of ballooning the final to hit artificial APY. 30mil is QB money right now, but thats 4 years in the future when it hits that point, and four years ago QB money was like Derek Carr/Matt Stafford deal era where 25 was top money, so 25 to 30 for QB asking money 4 years ago to now is a similar increase percentage wise as I projected for this Clowney deal from 26 to 30 four years from now. Maybe Clowney doesn't get a deal that paces Aaron Donald's top money, but given he hits FA and those top deals simply signed with the team that had their rights I could see him getting the top dollar.

Overall I think at this stage the Jaguars have a clear weakness at a rangy type FS, a second ILB to play next to Myles Jack could be used, Cam Robinson could be upgraded, but more likely to be done so in the draft given Norwell and Linder's contracts being pretty heavy monetary investments on the OL, a TE and additional IDL would be nice if prospect meets value or FA has an availability, and like a reserve RB and Edge to back up Fournette and Clowney could be cool too.

Edited February 9, 2020 by Trojan

[ny92mike]

32 minutes ago, Trojan said:

After the first round of Free Agency, initial cuts and a pair of trades the Jaguars are sitting at around 9mil in cap space I believe (started in the red, and continue to have the ability to move on from some more contracts ie. AJ Cann @ 6mil or so as a reserve player, and have not restructured anyone).

I identified as a potential need QB, but was comfortable rolling with Gardner Minshew. Matthew Stafford became available early on, but the asking price was something winitall and I talked about for a few days (his initial asking price was roughly the value we pulled the trigger on, but we expanded the trade further). Matthew Stafford is the perfect age to not truly "block" Gardner Minshew, but has the traits needed in velocity to really be a true upgrade and make the team a contender in my opinion. That said should Stafford get injured, we retained Minshew who did win his share of games last year and won over the fan base -- essentially an ideal understudy to Stafford.

Along with the Stafford trade came Frank Ragnow, Frank was a pretty elite center prospect coming out of Arkansas a couple years back and was a first round pick. However he has played a lot of guard in the pros and didn't really live up to the billing as a guard, but when he was moved back to center he did shine as expected. That said the Jaguars already had a good center in Brandon Linder, however Linder has also played guard for the Jaguars early in his career and he, unlike Ragnow, did quite well. With the big free agent signing from 2018 in Andrew Norwell these three will from left to right, Norwell, Ragnow, Linder create the IOL of the Jaguars tentatively between Cam Robinson and Jawaan Taylor. Taylor I am very happy with, but Cam Robinson may be replace depending on how the board falls in the top ten as a number of left tackle prospects have my attention and Robinson would alternate to a nice utility reserve OL on a rookie deal (should Cann get released as a cap casualty).  I believe this line has been upgraded enough that Leonard Fournette should be a force keeping defenses honest and vulnerable to Stafford's arm, and as we know Stafford has only had a 1000 rusher once in Reggie Bush -- so I am expecting good things here.

The other trade I did involved acquiring Robert Woods, who at the start of the year will still only be 28 years old. He adds a veteran presence to the trio of DJ Chark, Dede Westbrook and Chris Conley. This last Superbowl was won by the Chiefs, who feature a high velocity armed QB and speedy field stretching WRs  and a chain moving run blocking Travis Kelce. There was no Kelce available, but Robert Woods looks to fill the chain mover find space in the zone and embrace run blocking role in this offense. Chark ran a 4.34 (combine), Dede Westbrook ran a 4.39 (Oklahoma pro day), and Chris Conley ran a 4.35 -- no Tyreek Hill, but certainly a group capable of blowing the top off a defense should they stack the box again Leonard Fournette. Josh Oliver has some potential at TE, a rookie last year, James OShaughnessy is a rosterable guy, and Geoff Swaim exists, but the TE position is a weak spot on this offense -- a reason a 4th WR was so important to acquire.

Defensively we lost Yannick Ngakoue in the tag and trade, and he was a phenomenal pass rusher -- replacing him would be critical to the defense holding up especially if our offense is to turn the corner and get our opponents playing from behind. Josh Allen returns as that pass rushing monster, but also I believe a switch to a 3-4 where he can disguise rushing and coverage will be beneficial especially with newly signed edgemate Jadeveon Clowney enforcing the other side. This pairing is something I'm very excited about, the two of them attacking the edges with Walter Payton Man of the Year (and Pro Bowl selection) Calais Campell and former first round pick Taven Bryan on the interior, should the board fall in a certain way potentially Derrick Brown would make this defensive line exceedingly fearsome.

At linebacker Myles Jack returns, but an additional unquestioned starter would be ideal as the others are more the young guys looking to impress to land a starting job type. A Paul Pozluszny grade run stopper, or Telvin Smith esque rangy athlete is missing from those elite defenses of the past -- but here also that top ten pick might have a shot at someone like Isiah Simmons -- that pick is going to land someone starting.

Cornerback is an area of need after the Jaguars lost Jalen Ramsey to the Rams, but I didn't want to strategize my round one of free agency around targeting Byron Jones -- although arguably he would have been the best potential FA acquisition -- because of the volume of bids on Byron Jones and how critically damaging I felt it would be to whiff given the attention needed at CB. Instead I rotated bids to Bradberry (Congrats to the Broncos for landing both him and Jones) and Fuller and saw significant action there as well. So I decided to go where others weren't looking and grabbed two guys that were at one time first round picks that have fizzled a bit in Eli Apple and Artie Burns to play opposite AJ Bouye and backing him up, with DJ Hayden remaining in the slot. Regardless of past stumbles, Apple and Burns have athletic traits and pedigree you would like in securing the total depth of a position group like cornerbacks. If the board fell in such a way though, Jeff Okudah could still be the pick, which was important for me to not really rule out in FA as the board could fall any number of ways and I wanted the option to address a need, but also the ability to not avoid a blue chip guy if he is there. Safety is a fairly weak point as Ronnie Harrison looks to be the only solid locked in starter, but I'd be lying if I wasn't eye balling some in the draft -- getting someone to have as insurance in FA though is still a need.

There were 7 prospects I've mentioned in consideration in the first -- LT [Wirfs, Wills, Thomas, Beckton], Derrick Brown, Isiah Simmons, Jeff Okudah --  where I am the 9th pick overall so options should be there as Burrow, Tua and Young are likely top three selections . I feel as if I did an acceptable job thusfar in FA and trades to facilitate being able to get one of those guys and plug him into a pretty dang good team.

The contracts I awarded in FA have Artie Burns making ~1.5 to ~3.5 each of his first 3 years, then mid 4mil range for the final two should he be worth keeping around. Eli Apple makes between 2.7mil - 3.1mil each year of his deal which I consider a value as my projected CB2, but not unacceptable as a reserve should DJ Hayden or Burns beat him out for the starting role. Clowney on the other hand gets ~17mil year one (roughly the same as Aaron Donald in 2020), then it moves to ~20 (still pacing Donald), then ~26 before elevating to 30mil the final two years. Where the Clowney contract expands to 26, 30, 30 there isn't a true comp contract for me to look at as both Donald and Mack have outs at that point and a new CBA upcoming. I feel like a 30% increase from 20mil to 26mil isn't ungodly under a new CBA, followed by a then 15% increase to stabilize at 30 a year the final two years instead of ballooning the final to hit artificial APY. 30mil is QB money right now, but thats 4 years in the future when it hits that point, and four years ago QB money was like Derek Carr/Matt Stafford deal era where 25 was top money, so 25 to 30 for QB asking money 4 years ago to now is a similar increase percentage wise as I projected for this Clowney deal from 26 to 30 four years from now. Maybe Clowney doesn't get a deal that paces Aaron Donald's top money, but given he hits FA and those top deals simply signed with the team that had their rights I could see him getting the top dollar.

Overall I think at this stage the Jaguars have a clear weakness at a rangy type FS, a second ILB to play next to Myles Jack could be used, Cam Robinson could be upgraded, but more likely to be done so in the draft given Norwell and Linder's contracts being pretty heavy monetary investments on the OL, a TE and additional IDL would be nice if prospect meets value or FA has an availability, and like a reserve RB and Edge to back up Fournette and Clowney could be cool too.

definitely gonna have to read and comment on this tomorrow, I'm dead tired....nice work bro!

Edited February 9, 2020 by ny92mike

[ny92mike]

Really out this time.

[whodatOL]

What a first round. Really happy to get Robby Anderson at a very good price. Hurts to lose Onyemata and Bell, but no way anyone at the Saints would ever pay Bell that much, especially with CJGJ already in the building. Will comment in detail later on!

[jrry32]

3 hours ago, ravens5520 said:

3 out of 4 total for round 1... Not terrible,  but the strategy wasn’t to break the bank.

0645 - Daryl Williams - LG	$14,710,648	BAL
1707 - Matt Judon - 34OLB	$14,731,557	BAL
2005 - Reggie Ragland - ILB	$3,375,000	BAL

 

How the heck did Judon not receive any bids? Stole him for 1/3rd of what he will sign this summer. Daryl and Ragland are going to compete for starting positions. 

Yeah, that was quite an oversight lol. I'm guessing people didn't bid on him because they figured somebody else would break the bank for him and then nobody did.

[mountainpd]

4 hours ago, ravens5520 said:

3 out of 4 total for round 1... Not terrible,  but the strategy wasn’t to break the bank.

0645 - Daryl Williams - LG	$14,710,648	BAL
1707 - Matt Judon - 34OLB	$14,731,557	BAL
2005 - Reggie Ragland - ILB	$3,375,000	BAL

 

How the heck did Judon not receive any bids? Stole him for 1/3rd of what he will sign this summer. Daryl and Ragland are going to compete for starting positions. 

I changed my bid on Judon to McGovern as I guessed I would land him. One of the steals of the round. I was convinced more people would have gone in for him.

[FinneasGage]

1 hour ago, whodatOL said:

Really happy to get Robby Anderson at a very good price

GB was very close to putting in an effort that would've been higher, was definitely a nice pull. 

[mountainpd]

Dolphins first round of free agency.

Hard to choose targets as still got lot of holes. I wanted to go big on one player and was deciding between Conklin, B Jones or a Edge rusher.

Picking up Gilmore in trade would have made Byron Jones a luxury pick especially when I have failed to trade Howard so removing him and focussing away from corner was a no brainer. I have hundreds of young corners on the roster already and have all the starting positions set.
 

At one point had three Oline players in my bids including Humphries, Conklin, Glasgow. But kept being drawn to value of McGovern.

Looking at number of bids on Conklin I chose to divert my big money signing to a pass rusher and then chose Barrett over Clowney and Judon. it looks like I have over spent slightly but pleased to get Barrett in as it was a major weakness on my D. 

I do not need much more interior rush as I signed Chris Jones and happy with both Godchaux and Wilkins as starters and have plans to grab another rotational guy shortly.

With my second bid I went after Humphries, he has been injured a lot but improved during 2019 and starting to look like his draft status. I feel he was underrated on PFF and hoped to snag him at a decent price. Tackle is still a huge need for the Dolphins so I bid 8.5 mil a year on him and I really didn’t know whether I was 4 mil over or 4 mil under. I didn’t bid higher as there is still some vets who could do a job on a shorter contract but wanted someone under 29 really.

My last bid changed a few times on who to go for and I was definitely influenced by being able to see bid numbers. McGovern was always one of my top targets but the decision really was nabbing him now o a really cheap deal or bidding on a more premium player and hope to get him in the second round. As he can play both Centre and Guard he gives me flexibility in future bid as I have M Deiter who can also do both. For now he will slot in at Centre.

Bring on round two.

 

 

[mountainpd]

11 hours ago, mountainpd said:

I have about 4 million young cornerbacks. As the Dolphins were stripping everyone of there practice squads. Looking for low picks to shift some of the following

Ken Webster

Ryan Lewis

Jomal Wiltz

Linden Stephens

Montre Hartage

Nate Brooks

Tae Hayes

Rashard Causey

Bumped as this was lost in the excitement. Dolphins also still looking to shift, T Charlton, A Hurns, J Grant, X Howard, C Tankersley, D Kilgore, D Isidora, 

 

[KingOfNewYork]

Jets First Round Press Conference

My goal was to protect Sam Darnold and get him another weapon. I half completed that.

Alex Lewis was priority 1 for me in re-signing as he was our best OL last year by far. His APY was reasonable and I just wanted to lock down my first OL spot of the off-season.

Emmanuel Sanders, while older than Robby Anderson, was a better fit for me in Gase's offense. His history with Gase, prior knowledge, ability to play all 3 WR spots and his new physicality trait playing for Shanahan was all intriguing. Pretty much a 2 year deal, gives us another year to find a young replacement tho I plan to develop Vyncint Smith into a consistent threat.

Glasgow was a huge priority but we just missed the bid for him. Would have plugged him in at Center for the next 4 years.

Vitai got a deal we were not anticipating, we tried to buy low thinking no one would offer him a deal in Round 1 but Cleveland offered such a huge deal that I was not planning on coming close to at all.

[whodatOL]

Saints Free Agency Press conference here!

As I said before, we are very, very happy that we could get Robby Anderson. Drew Brees finally gets another target besides Michael Thomas and Jared Cook. Anderson comes at a very fair price, which will probably not be the case in reality.
We also thought about Cory Littleton, we would probably have got him with our offer, but we wanted to stay flexible with our cap and have to consider resigning Kamara and Williams next year.
In the end we decided to invest the money in Kamalei Correa and Chris Harris. Fortunately Correa decided in our favour. He will join the team as a situational pass rusher and he will get time especially in our 3-4 and 3-3 packages. Chris Harris would have been our starting nickel corner, but unfortunately he got a slightly better offer.
We are very disappointed about the loss of our own UFAs Vonn Bell and David Onyemata. Vonn Bell got an unbelievable offer from the Browns, which we couldn't possibly match. But CJGJ is happy about his new job as Starting Strong Safety and we fullx believe he will be a great starter in the NFL! At Onyemata we gambled a little bit. He didn't get an offer until 30 minutes before the deadline and we made a very low offer. Unfortunately he was stolen just before the deadline. This loss really hurts and will change our further strategy for the next weeks, because we now need a fourth player for the interior defensive line.

[BringinDaPain]

Green Bay won Round 1