2021 Draft Talk

[JDBrocks]

 

[Vikes22]

On 11/1/2020 at 12:41 PM, Ozzy said:

Are people honestly considering taking him as the 8th pick in the draft?  Zach Wilson?  I would not even take Mac Jones, who I think is better, that high in the draft either.  I thought Trey Lance was a little overrated early in the process as well.  But he is arguably the most athletic QB in the draft and has as much upside as any QB in the draft.  Oh and he is a local Minnesota kid with a grounded head on his shoulders and he knows how to protect the football and not make mistakes.  Sure it is a gamble but if we are stuck with Kirk for quite awhile more because of that awful contract, why not get a high upside project QB who can sit and develop instead of a low upside QB who is not as good of an athlete and does not have as high of a upside.  Sure would have loved to see Trey Lance this season play to prove it more and show more of what he can do, but he was a RS FR last season, and to say he cannot develop as a passer is just simply not true at all.  He has a very live arm and has more than enough tools at the next level which should be shown at the workouts.

 

Regardless I would rather talk about how great Carman and Mayfield have played this year or Wyatt Davis or Alex Leatherwood and those OL prospects.  All this QB talk gets a little sickening, as if that is all that matters. 

 

 

 

 

Well, let’s see. 
 

Zach Wilson:

21-27 ( 77.8% by the way ) 359 yards and 2 TD’s.  And also ran 1 in as well..

nothing like kicking the sh*t out of Boise State on there home turf...

will be the number 3 ranked QB before long and top 20 pick. 
 

And he is way better than lance and has faced much better competition....

[Ozzy]

1 hour ago, Vikes22 said:

Well, let’s see. 
 

Zach Wilson:

21-27 ( 77.8% by the way ) 359 yards and 2 TD’s.  And also ran 1 in as well..

nothing like kicking the sh*t out of Boise State on there home turf...

will be the number 3 ranked QB before long and top 20 pick. 
 

And he is way better than lance and has faced much better competition....

He did play great in that game no question about it.  Moved really well in the pocket and was throwing darts all of the field, quick release and on time throws.  Nice feel for the game, has a little bit of an odd release but it is a lot more common now a days since many QBs can throw accurate and not set their feet.

 

My first time seeing Boise State this year, saw them last year and they were missing a few key guys in this game but was not impressed with that defense overall compared to years past n terms of prospects.  Was hoping Zach Wilson would go up against some good defensive players but really that was not the case especially in terms of pass rush and the secondary.  Curtis Weaver last season, Vander Esch a few years ago and George Iloka, Jamar Taylor, Demarcus Lawrence etc a few years back.  Riley Whimpey currently maybe has a long shot at the league, mostly as a UDFA if that, and Avery Williams has decent toughness and quickness at corner but probably is not a next level player either.  Granted they did not have their super QB Hank Bachmeier who had and an amazing freshman season, even his backup the USC transfer Sears got hurt as well and they had a 3rd stringer in there, so obviously hurt the competitiveness of the game.

 

Hard to argue with how great Zach Wilson is playing and throwing the ball, mind you he goes up against little to zero pressure and even if pressured is athletic enough to run around and still make plays.  Great for him and great for BYU, hopefully he gets some real competition come bowl time.  See D'Eriq King on Friday.  Was amazing 430 yards passing, over 100 rushing and brought his team back to victory against a superior opponent compared to Boise State.  Kid looked almost like Kyler Murray at times out there and was impressive as well.  Then again both games have no crowd and thus little pressure to perform, so I say again Zach Wilson is not the only QB looking great in this odd college football season.  

 

But good for him, and sure if he keeps playing this great possibly will be a late 1st round pick, if anyone takes him top 10 though that is a mistake and Trey Lance is still bigger, faster, stronger and has more upside.  Sure is not as good of a passer right now but Zach Wilson does have an injury history and when hit and pressured by big elite DL he is not the same player he has shown so far this year.  Utah and Washington last year showed that a lot and both are elite defenses with multiple players who got to the NFL or will in the future.

 

 

 

[Illadelegend215]

Funny thing is, we will most likely select a dlinemen or cornerback with the first pick because our front office still believes cousins is the way to go. You’ll see lol.

[SemperFeist]

54 minutes ago, Illadelegend215 said:

Funny thing is, we will most likely select a dlinemen or cornerback with the first pick because our front office still believes cousins is the way to go. You’ll see lol.

No issue with that. D-line and CB are very much needs on this team as well. 

[byuvike88]

12 minutes ago, SemperFeist said:

No issue with that. D-line and CB are very much needs on this team as well. 

But if you have a change to change the direction of your franchise by drafting a potential franchise quarterback, you don't mess around with Defensive lineman or Defensive Backs. 

[SemperFeist]

20 minutes ago, byuvike88 said:

But if you have a change to change the direction of your franchise by drafting a potential franchise quarterback, you don't mess around with Defensive lineman or Defensive Backs. 

Of course. But, while Wilson is fun to talk about, he not a franchise QB prospect. Neither is Lance. Starters? Absolutely. Potential to be very good? Sure. But Lawrence and Fields are the only “franchise QB” level prospects in this draft.

Not to mention, we’re going to know long before the draft what this team is going to do with the QB position. If Cousins isn’t traded or cut, he’s this team’s plan for the next couple of years and they’re going to continue to try and build around him. As they should. Could they still draft a QB? Absolutely, but I’d expect it in the mid rounds. Not the 1st. 

If Cousins is off the roster, then QB is what this team will be pushing in all of their chips to acquire, and we’ll know that it’s what they’re going to draft. 

 

[SemperFeist]

Ibrahim would be a nice addition to the Vikings backfield. Good power, good vision, great patience, etc. He’d be a good fit in the Vikings zone run offense. 

[JDBrocks]

3 hours ago, SemperFeist said:

 Lawrence and Fields are the only “franchise QB” level prospects in this draft.

 

Wilson is the only prospect making Mahomes-esque throws. Off schedule, off platform, pure arm strength throws.

[SemperFeist]

4 minutes ago, JDBrocks said:

Wilson is the only prospect making Mahomes-esque throws. Off schedule, off platform, pure arm strength throws.

And? Just because we have a QB who can’t do that doesn’t mean a QB who only does that is a franchise QB. Part of the reason Wilson is constantly throwing off platform and off schedule is because he’s slower to read the field. He doesn’t seam to get through his progressions quickly. He also needs to learn that taking what the defense gives him is ok, and can lead big plays later. Yes, YOLO ball is fun to watch (which I’ve said about Wilson before), but playing that way is just going to lead to a lot of peaks and valleys in play. 

[byuvike88]

4 hours ago, SemperFeist said:

Of course. But, while Wilson is fun to talk about, he not a franchise QB prospect. Neither is Lance. Starters? Absolutely. Potential to be very good? Sure. But Lawrence and Fields are the only “franchise QB” level prospects in this draft.

Not to mention, we’re going to know long before the draft what this team is going to do with the QB position. If Cousins isn’t traded or cut, he’s this team’s plan for the next couple of years and they’re going to continue to try and build around him. As they should. Could they still draft a QB? Absolutely, but I’d expect it in the mid rounds. Not the 1st. 

If Cousins is off the roster, then QB is what this team will be pushing in all of their chips to acquire, and we’ll know that it’s what they’re going to draft. 

 

I'm curious what about Wilson hasn't been Franchise level to this point? His competition hasn't been the greatest but he has only finished 2 of the 8 games they have played this year. Some of the throws he has made this year it wouldn't have mattered who would've been covering the receiver. 

Alex Smith had 2 years left on his deal when the Chiefs drafted Mahomes. You could easily draft a QB, sit him this year, and then trade Cousins next year 

[byuvike88]

3 minutes ago, SemperFeist said:

And? Just because we have a QB who can’t do that doesn’t mean a QB who only does that is a franchise QB. Part of the reason Wilson is constantly throwing off platform and off schedule is because he’s slower to read the field. He doesn’t seam to get through his progressions quickly. He also needs to learn that taking what the defense gives him is ok, and can lead big plays later. Yes, YOLO ball is fun to watch (which I’ve said about Wilson before), but playing that way is just going to lead to a lot of peaks and valleys in play. 

Unless you're watching the All-22 it's hard to say that he is slow making his reads. I've said this before plenty of times only to see another angle and see no one open. 

He's not a perfect prospect and took a really bad sack in field goal range last night. He has work to do for sure. I'm not calling him Mahomes or Watson but each of them had blemishes coming out as well

[SemperFeist]

2 minutes ago, byuvike88 said:

You could easily draft a QB, sit him this year, and then trade Cousins next year 

But not really. Cousins’ contract isn’t set up that way. 

[byuvike88]

2 minutes ago, SemperFeist said:

But not really. Cousins’ contract isn’t set up that way. 

What do you mean? No team is going to trade for a QB in a lame duck year without having the thought of extending him. A team trading for him would do the same thing the Redskins did with Alex Smith.

This would then lower the cap hit for 2022

Edited November 7, 2020 by byuvike88

[SemperFeist]

4 minutes ago, byuvike88 said:

I'm not calling him Mahomes or Watson but each of them had blemishes coming out as well

And neither of them were really franchise QB prospects, either. Yes, Mahomes has developed into one, but a lot had to go right for him to do that. Plus, Mahomes has a physical skill set that really no one else has, and allows him to do things that you can’t expect others to do. And while Watson is a lot of fun to watch, he’s also a QB who doesn’t necessarily play quick enough. That allows us to see his ability to play off schedule, but it also leads to a lot of plays left on the field, and stalled drives. 

 

11 minutes ago, byuvike88 said:

What do you mean? No team is going to trade for a QB in a lame duck year without having the thought of extending him. A team trading for him would do the same thing the Redskins did with Alex Smith.

This would then lower the cap hit for 2022

That $35M salary for 2022 is fully guaranteed on the 3rd day of the 2021 league year. Not many teams are going to be interested in taking on that type of cap hit, and Cousins isn’t going to have much incentive to restructure that amount. 

Smith’s contract didn’t have much guaranteed money left on it, which made it easy for KC to move him, and made it easy for Washington to restructure/extend his contract.