Draft General (News, Media Mocks, Big Boards, Rumors)

[Forge]

 

[paul-mac]

I really hate that the media has adopted the term “top 30 visit” to describe a player visiting a team. You can invite any 30 players you want, not necessarily the top 30 on your board 

[THE DUKE]

1 minute ago, paul-mac said:

I really hate that the media has adopted the term “top 30 visit” to describe a player visiting a team. You can invite any 30 players you want, not necessarily the top 30 on your board 

The Bengals have brought in guys projected to go all over the draft.  Some potentials at 31, but some day 3 guys as well.

[Daniel]

25 minutes ago, THE DUKE said:

The Bengals have brought in guys projected to go all over the draft.  Some potentials at 31, but some day 3 guys as well.

Hell, the Titans are bringing in guys probably going in the second, where they don't have a pick, at positions that aren't even really needs.

Every team does those differently.  I think some just look at prospects they haven't gotten a good feel for yet.

[Ray Reed]

1 hour ago, Forge said:

 

The Ravens should trade up with WAS to 11 to procure one of Jermaine Johnson or Stingley.

We have 2 3rds and 5 4ths so it could make sense for both sides compensation-wise.

[MikeT14]

20 minutes ago, Ray Reed said:

The Ravens should trade up with WAS to 11 to procure one of Jermaine Johnson or Stingley.

We have 2 3rds and 5 4ths so it could make sense for both sides compensation-wise.

1.11 for 1.14 + 3.76 is probably enough for me. Gets us back into the 3rd and we could still walk away with likely Hamilton, Stingley (if you don't take him) or a WR. 

[jebrick]

Steelers often bring in players that will be 6-7-UDFA so they can build a relationship incase the player is UDFA and needs to choose between teams to sign with.

[CWood21]

5 minutes ago, MikeT14 said:

1.11 for 1.14 + 3.76 is probably enough for me. Gets us back into the 3rd and we could still walk away with likely Hamilton, Stingley (if you don't take him) or a WR. 

That might be a touch high, but nothing crazy.  Think Washington probably needs to send another pick back.

[MikeT14]

2 minutes ago, CWood21 said:

That might be a touch high, but nothing crazy.  Think Washington probably needs to send another pick back.

Nah 😁 

(but yes I thought about it - we don't have too many picks though, so we want to accumulate some. If swapping 4.113 (WAS) for 4.128 (BAL) gets it done, then maybe)

[CWood21]

3 hours ago, paul-mac said:

I’m struggling to see QB landing spots given the strong rumors that the Panthers are going to take an OT at 6 and then trade for Mayfield.

 

I honestly expect the Steelers to stay at 20 and have their pick of the litter. Malik Willis would surely be the pick at that point. 
 

Detroit at 32 are surely likely to draft a QB. Then you’ve got two QB needy teams in Seattle and Atlanta who both have two second rounders, so I you could see one or both of them trading into the back end of the first to leapfrog Detroit and get the second guy. Other than that I’m pretty stumped on landing spots. 

It'll certainly be interesting to see how the QB dominoes fall.  I'm still not sure I can envision a scenario in which Malik Willis isn't picked inside the top 15.  Someone will take him whether it be Atlanta, New Orleans, or someone else.  Pittsburgh likely takes a QB at 20, but beyond that I'm not sure we're going to see more then 2 QBs go off the board Day 1.

[eh3034]

3 hours ago, paul-mac said:

I’m struggling to see QB landing spots given the strong rumors that the Panthers are going to take an OT at 6 and then trade for Mayfield.

 

To me this is the most interesting area of the draft this year.  The way I see it is, if Carolina doesn't take Pickett (either at 6 or trade down and still take him) then why would there be optimism that anyone else would want him early?  There are so many ties to Pickett and Carolina, that if they actually passed on him I think it could signal a free fall. 

I think the same with Atlanta and Willis. No team this offseason has done more due diligence on the QBs than Atlanta, so if after all of that they pass on Willis at 8, why would there be optimism elsewhere?  If we get passed pick 8 and both Carolina and Atlanta pick anything but a QB, things will get very interesting and it will be very long nights for those guys.

On the flip side, there are other rumors (yes it is smokescreen time) that if Pickett and Willis do come off the board to Carolina and Atlanta, that Ridder and Corral could get shot up the boards.  There have been rumors of a "top 15" team that loves Ridder, and with a poster earlier on this thread today stating Washington may not be in on WRs, it is hard to not tie the Ridder rumor to Washington.  Additionally, there are Corral to Pittsburgh rumblings as well if Willis is gone (though I'm not convinced like everyone else that Pittsburgh will take a QB at all). 

Finally, with Seattle, the only QB I've seen them show any remote interest in is Howell, so I expect that to be where Howell goes in the 2nd round with 40/41.  Of course it is possible that Seattle likes someone else and it just hiding it, but to me it is curious that they've only shown their hand in the QB class really with Howell.

Anyway, this could all mean the QBs plunge, or 4 QBs could go top 20, depending on what rumors we choose to believe vs ignore.  I'm going to have to make like 4 mock drafts to cover all these potential scenarios lol!

[eh3034]

56 minutes ago, Ray Reed said:

The Ravens should trade up with WAS to 11 to procure one of Jermaine Johnson or Stingley.

We have 2 3rds and 5 4ths so it could make sense for both sides compensation-wise.

It would definitely benefit Baltimore to jump Minnesota, as I think those teams would likely be targeting the same players.  That being said, there is a scenario out there where if the QBs end up going 6 and 8, it'll push one of the OL down the board.  This could bring Neal or Ekwonu into play (assuming Cross jumps at least one of them, which is rumored and trending) for Minnesota and really help Baltimore out.  There are very reasonable scenarios where, thanks mostly to the QBs, Evan Neal gets pushed down to 12.

That being said, if WRs go early, I wouldn't be surprised at all to see Houston snipe Jermaine Johnson at 13, so I definitely agree that Baltimore is a prime team to watch for a short but significant trade up.

[CWood21]

41 minutes ago, eh3034 said:

I think the same with Atlanta and Willis. No team this offseason has done more due diligence on the QBs than Atlanta, so if after all of that they pass on Willis at 8, why would there be optimism elsewhere?  If we get passed pick 8 and both Carolina and Atlanta pick anything but a QB, things will get very interesting and it will be very long nights for those guys.

I think New Orleans would have a hard time passing up on Willis.  I don't think they're going into the draft with the motivation to take a QB in R1, but I think Malik Willis being on the board would be hard for them to pass over.  And given the sheer amount of QB needs, someone is bound to jump ahead of Pittsburgh to take him.  Would it really surprise anyone if Detroit traded up ahead of Pittsburgh for Malik Willis?  I still think Atlanta ends up taking him at 8.

44 minutes ago, eh3034 said:

On the flip side, there are other rumors (yes it is smokescreen time) that if Pickett and Willis do come off the board to Carolina and Atlanta, that Ridder and Corral could get shot up the boards.  There have been rumors of a "top 15" team that loves Ridder, and with a poster earlier on this thread today stating Washington may not be in on WRs, it is hard to not tie the Ridder rumor to Washington.  Additionally, there are Corral to Pittsburgh rumblings as well if Willis is gone (though I'm not convinced like everyone else that Pittsburgh will take a QB at all). 

I think Ridder's value is pretty much set.  I do think there's a top 15 team that loves him, but they'll probably like someone higher up their board.  I think Ridder is probably going in that 20-40 range.  I could easily see a situation in which Washington takes their WR at 11, and then if Ridder is on the board at 47 takes him there.  I believe Olave has been heavily linked to the Commanders.  Don't really think Corral has had any strong links other then Seattle IIRC.  I think Pittsburgh is on the Ridder train.

46 minutes ago, eh3034 said:

Finally, with Seattle, the only QB I've seen them show any remote interest in is Howell, so I expect that to be where Howell goes in the 2nd round with 40/41.  Of course it is possible that Seattle likes someone else and it just hiding it, but to me it is curious that they've only shown their hand in the QB class really with Howell.

Pretty sure they've been linked to Corral throughout the process.

[eh3034]

59 minutes ago, CWood21 said:

I think New Orleans would have a hard time passing up on Willis.  I don't think they're going into the draft with the motivation to take a QB in R1, but I think Malik Willis being on the board would be hard for them to pass over.  And given the sheer amount of QB needs, someone is bound to jump ahead of Pittsburgh to take him.  Would it really surprise anyone if Detroit traded up ahead of Pittsburgh for Malik Willis?  I still think Atlanta ends up taking him at 8.

I think Ridder's value is pretty much set.  I do think there's a top 15 team that loves him, but they'll probably like someone higher up their board.  I think Ridder is probably going in that 20-40 range.  I could easily see a situation in which Washington takes their WR at 11, and then if Ridder is on the board at 47 takes him there.  I believe Olave has been heavily linked to the Commanders.  Don't really think Corral has had any strong links other then Seattle IIRC.  I think Pittsburgh is on the Ridder train.

Pretty sure they've been linked to Corral throughout the process.

I definitely agree on Atlanta/Willis, and I agree on Ridder's value as well.  I currently have Ridder going 47 in my personal mock as I just think the rumors of him having top 15 buzz are too far-fetched, I was just pointing out that it is out there.  I've had Ridder bouncing between 32 and 47 for the most part.

As one example with Seattle, of the "big 5" QBs in this draft they only showed up to watch Howell at his pro day.  They completely no showed Corral's (and the others') pro days.  Other than a single combine chat with Willis and private workout with Ridder, they've really only focused on Howell.  I've not actually seen anything about them engaging with Corral or Pickett at all, in fact they've spent more pre-draft time with EJ Perry than Corral and Pickett combined.

What's interesting about Seattle's Howell interest too is that he's really the only QB that Atlanta really hasn't dove into.  Atlanta has invested huge amounts of QB time with this class on pretty much everyone but Howell.  I know some teams use this time exclusively as smokescreens so we can't be forming opinions based solely on those things, but they are still interesting (to me) to point out.

[THE DUKE]

If Seatlle goes for Corral, I think it's at 40.