2018 Draft thread - PICK THE FASTEST GUY AVAILABLE

[big_palooka]

8 hours ago, roi34 said:

Game pretty much proving sony > Chubb as I said.

1 game does not make the difference. Everyone knew coming into this game Sony would have more impact against Bama because he's sudden and can get outside. Chubb's game is between the tackles. UGA's interior line is it's weakness and Payne flat owned the LOS all night. 

Sony is terrific player. Both are 2nd round backs. You can't go wrong with either.

[big_palooka]

Roquan Smith is exactly what the Raiders need. Need to get faster at the LB spot with a player who can diagnose plays and close out quick. He's a master at that. 

[daineraider]

2 hours ago, big_palooka said:

Roquan Smith is exactly what the Raiders need. Need to get faster at the LB spot with a player who can diagnose plays and close out quick. He's a master at that. 

Yes, I’m very much hoping we don’t skip on a top tier LB again. I will be bitter about skipping on Foster for awhile, but drafting Smith will lessen it.  Re-sign Bowman and draft Smith.

[big_palooka]

50 minutes ago, daineraider said:

Yes, I’m very much hoping we don’t skip on a top tier LB again. I will be bitter about skipping on Foster for awhile, but drafting Smith will lessen it.  Re-sign Bowman and draft Smith.

Anyone who's witnessed Dieon Jones impact in Atlanta, Smith is a better. And he's better coming out than Levonte David was out of Nebraska who I was also high on. 

[CaliforniaKid7]

Just look at what the Jags are able to do with that defense and Lolortles at QB. If we keep Crab all we need on offense (assuming Lynch isn’t coming back) is a bellcow RB. Everything else could and should go to making the defense faster and more physical. 

Love watching that Jags defense. It’s fast and they fly around. So many playmakers.  

[holyghost]

1 hour ago, daineraider said:

Yes, I’m very much hoping we don’t skip on a top tier LB again. I will be bitter about skipping on Foster for awhile, but drafting Smith will lessen it.  Re-sign Bowman and draft Smith.

I am similarly bitter about Foster. Don't care about the issues or the injury risk. He was a clear top guy, top 10 without the combine crap and then the injury rumors. A moron could see his level of play. Getting him at 24 is exactly the type of value move late 1st round playoff teams have to exploit yearly. For all we know we could have had Conley in the 2nd. Not that I dislike Conley, it's just irritating. We take risks in the draft on players who have never done anything. But not risks on a guy like this?

People tend to overlook how bad we need a middle linebacker to lead a D. Bowman kinda showed us all that a bit. I know the modern NFL is all about faster smaller linebackers, but you still need a guy on the field who has a clue to set it all up. You can probably tell from my post it's still eating at me.

Burfict, Foster, Jack, we've done this a number of times now. I wouldn't complain if we drafted Smith, I just hope he's the right guy and don't know enough about him to be at all certain. Keep Bowman next to him for 2 years to show him how to run a defense and lead. Enough hitching the wagon in the middle to converted college pass rushers and 5th round prayers. 

[big_palooka]

13 minutes ago, holyghost said:

I am similarly bitter about Foster. Don't care about the issues or the injury risk. He was a clear top guy, top 10 without the combine crap and then the injury rumors. A moron could see his level of play. Getting him at 24 is exactly the type of value move late 1st round playoff teams have to exploit yearly. For all we know we could have had Conley in the 2nd. Not that I dislike Conley, it's just irritating. We take risks in the draft on players who have never done anything. But not risks on a guy like this?

People tend to overlook how bad we need a middle linebacker to lead a D. Bowman kinda showed us all that a bit. I know the modern NFL is all about faster smaller linebackers, but you still need a guy on the field who has a clue to set it all up. You can probably tell from my post it's still eating at me.

Burfict, Foster, Jack, we've done this a number of times now. I wouldn't complain if we drafted Smith, I just hope he's the right guy and don't know enough about him to be at all certain. Keep Bowman next to him for 2 years to show him how to run a defense and lead. Enough hitching the wagon in the middle to converted college pass rushers and 5th round prayers. 

Couldn't agree more. I've always been a believer in the LB position to QB your defense and act as a tone setter. 

I don't know what Conley's stock was on draft day or how far he'd have fallen. But I know Foster was a massive value at 24. And everyone wants to point to the need at CB, and I agree. But the Raiders defense hasn't been able to stop TE's in literal YEARS and they have 2 great ones in the division!! Salt in the wound is watching Foster lock down in coverage making plays. His closing speed. And the absolute wallop he hits with. He's special. Conley is going to need to be all-pro caliber for this one to rest easy for me.

[Geezy]

5 hours ago, big_palooka said:

Roquan Smith is exactly what the Raiders need. Need to get faster at the LB spot with a player who can diagnose plays and close out quick. He's a master at that. 

Yea, he would fit in well with the Raiders. We desperately need help on that 2nd level. Hes always around the ball and finishes plays. Id be all over him at our pick.

[oakdb36]

1 hour ago, CaliforniaKid7 said:

Just look at what the Jags are able to do with that defense and Lolortles at QB. If we keep Crab all we need on offense (assuming Lynch isn’t coming back) is a bellcow RB.

We need a LT. And even if we keep Crab, we need WR depth. Roberts is a below average player and Patterson isn't a true WR. Btw, I think Gruden will send a message to the team and cut Crab. Adding a young TE would make sense as well since Cook is 30 and Walford probably won't get a 2nd contract with the Raiders. Like you said, RB is a need.

[Geezy]

49 minutes ago, holyghost said:

I am similarly bitter about Foster. Don't care about the issues or the injury risk. He was a clear top guy, top 10 without the combine crap and then the injury rumors. A moron could see his level of play. Getting him at 24 is exactly the type of value move late 1st round playoff teams have to exploit yearly. For all we know we could have had Conley in the 2nd. Not that I dislike Conley, it's just irritating. We take risks in the draft on players who have never done anything. But not risks on a guy like this?

People tend to overlook how bad we need a middle linebacker to lead a D. Bowman kinda showed us all that a bit. I know the modern NFL is all about faster smaller linebackers, but you still need a guy on the field who has a clue to set it all up. You can probably tell from my post it's still eating at me.

Burfict, Foster, Jack, we've done this a number of times now. I wouldn't complain if we drafted Smith, I just hope he's the right guy and don't know enough about him to be at all certain. Keep Bowman next to him for 2 years to show him how to run a defense and lead. Enough hitching the wagon in the middle to converted college pass rushers and 5th round prayers. 

Yes, it was easy to see the impact Foster would make. He was my top player for us, and thought wed have no chance at him. I was also high on Conley, he was the 2nd best CB in the draft behind Lattimore. Cant lie, when it came down to it, I was leaning towards Foster. What hurts is that we still don't know what Conley is, he showed flashes, and has the skill set to be very good. Obviously, that would offset the fact we passed on Foster, but if we end up with Roquan Smith this year and Conley ends up being what we hope he can be then our defense will be better off in the long run.

[NightTrainLane]

33 minutes ago, big_palooka said:

Couldn't agree more. I've always been a believer in the LB position to QB your defense and act as a tone setter. 

I don't know what Conley's stock was on draft day or how far he'd have fallen. But I know Foster was a massive value at 24. And everyone wants to point to the need at CB, and I agree. But the Raiders defense hasn't been able to stop TE's in literal YEARS and they have 2 great ones in the division!! Salt in the wound is watching Foster lock down in coverage making plays. His closing speed. And the absolute wallop he hits with. He's special. Conley is going to need to be all-pro caliber for this one to rest easy for me.

Foster fell because of himself and has only himself to blame. I'm tired of this hindsight crap like there wasn't clear reason to go another way with your 1st rd pick. Every team did. And now that Foster looks good on the field everyone made a mistake. No, they read the signs and decided it wasn't worth the risk. Foster could still act up and ruin his shot or blow out that shoulder. You never know. Joe Mixon and Tyreek Hill fall and while John Ross and Laquan Treadwell go in the first. Just the way things work out in the NFL.

[holyghost]

2 minutes ago, NightTrainLane said:

Foster fell because of himself and has only himself to blame. I'm tired of this hindsight crap like there wasn't clear reason to go another way with your 1st rd pick. Every team did. And now that Foster looks good on the field everyone made a mistake. No, they read the signs and decided it wasn't worth the risk. Foster could still act up and ruin his shot or blow out that shoulder. You never know. Joe Mixon and Tyreek Hill fall and while John Ross and Laquan Treadwell go in the first. Just the way things work out in the NFL.

I understand what you're saying about hindsight, and typically I am of a similar opinion about it. But like I said, a complete moron could see Foster's quality as a player. What is also terribly irritating about it is that you can say your first sentence "fell because of himself and has only himself to blame" about Gareon Conley as well. 

It's not as if we did not already take a huge risk on a falling player in the same exact draft spot!?

To me, Foster was a better player at a position of greater need. They were both awful big risks. This isn't about hindsight on Conley, it's about the fact that what we needed to happen more than anything fell right to us - Foster falling. Both the pick we made and the one we didn't were huge risks. And while there was no chance Foster would fall to us in the 2nd, there's a chance Conley might have. Which also highlights that Conley was the bigger risk in the eyes of teams around the league. Why? Because Foster was still going to step onto an NFL field in the summer. Shoulder and combine aside, he was no threat to not play. Conley's risk was that he might have never played football. 

Aside from 2014, these guys really haven't played the draft particularly well. Hindsight is one thing, but you'd be hard pressed to find anyone to controvert that.

[NightTrainLane]

10 minutes ago, holyghost said:

I understand what you're saying about hindsight, and typically I am of a similar opinion about it. But like I said, a complete moron could see Foster's quality as a player. What is also terribly irritating about it is that you can say your first sentence "fell because of himself and has only himself to blame" about Gareon Conley as well. 

It's not as if we did not already take a huge risk on a falling player in the same exact draft spot!?

To me, Foster was a better player at a position of greater need. They were both awful big risks. This isn't about hindsight on Conley, it's about the fact that what we needed to happen more than anything fell right to us - Foster falling. Both the pick we made and the one we didn't were huge risks. And while there was no chance Foster would fall to us in the 2nd, there's a chance Conley might have. Which also highlights that Conley was the bigger risk in the eyes of teams around the league. Why? Because Foster was still going to step onto an NFL field in the summer. Shoulder and combine aside, he was no threat to not play. Conley's risk was that he might have never played football. 

Aside from 2014, these guys really haven't played the draft particularly well. Hindsight is one thing, but you'd be hard pressed to find anyone to controvert that.

They were certain that Conley would be on the field. It was said by the GM and the Coach. They did their research on both guys and found Conley to be the better pick, even though Foster may be the better player, we don't know yet. Adding Foster even though he was a top ten talent was the risk of adding a cancer to your lockerroom or worse and on top of that he had injury concerns in the one place, besides the head (for thinking haha), that a MLB uses the most.

I get your argument and there is something to it but you're not looking at from the standpoint of being in the room at the time. They were sure Conley would be on the field. They weren't sure Foster would fit the team and not be a headache. Do you think the Cards, Lions, Texans, Falcons or the Saints (all teams that took a ILB in the top 3 rds) didn't dig into Foster and come away with the same risk reward assessment. That someone else was less risk and they could address LB later.

Foster has proven them wrong so far but that doesn't make the assessment incorrect at the time with the info they had.

[Blazer026]

Anyone know when the coin flip is for 9/10?

[SimonGruber]

1 minute ago, Blazer026 said:

Anyone know when the coin flip is for 9/10?

I believe it’s the combine