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Pre-FA Mock Draft


GWH87

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43 minutes ago, ThatJerkDave said:

I disagree with you both about Lucas Patrick.  Remember, the opening day line-up included Patrick and Taylor at guard and Jenkins at RT.  He absolutely earned his PT and starting spot in 2020.  As far as his long term future, 2021 is the last year of his contract.  He is also 28.  Depending on the amount of his contract, he may not be back.  Why pay FA money for Patrick if you have rookie money on Runyan?

Consider the DL's we played against during the regular season. The only ones of note were NO, TB, Indy, and MAYBE Chicago the second time we played them because Hicks was back. We barely got out of New Orleans and they were missing a couple DL, we got manhandled by Tampa Bay, and lost to Indy due to the implosion of our offense and a meltdown on defense against the run at one point.

I'm not taking anything away from what Lucas Patrick accomplished and I don't think CWood is either; what we ARE saying is that he's not a long-term solution.

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4 hours ago, Joe said:

Consider the DL's we played against during the regular season. The only ones of note were NO, TB, Indy, and MAYBE Chicago the second time we played them because Hicks was back. We barely got out of New Orleans and they were missing a couple DL, we got manhandled by Tampa Bay, and lost to Indy due to the implosion of our offense and a meltdown on defense against the run at one point.

I'm not taking anything away from what Lucas Patrick accomplished and I don't think CWood is either; what we ARE saying is that he's not a long-term solution.

I look at him like EDS.  He is pretty good, and will fight for you.  If he is relatively cheap, that is awesome.  When it comes time to really pay that guy, you hope that you have a couple more in the pipeline.  I believe we did when we had EDS, and I believe we do now as well.  I think he has developed into a starting caliber player in the NFL.  If we obtain players that relegate him to the bench, then we have a really, really good line.  

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16 hours ago, Joe said:

Consider the DL's we played against during the regular season. The only ones of note were NO, TB, Indy, and MAYBE Chicago the second time we played them because Hicks was back. We barely got out of New Orleans and they were missing a couple DL, we got manhandled by Tampa Bay, and lost to Indy due to the implosion of our offense and a meltdown on defense against the run at one point.

I'm not taking anything away from what Lucas Patrick accomplished and I don't think CWood is either; what we ARE saying is that he's not a long-term solution.

12 came out this year saying Turner was the MVP of the team, I & we might disagree with that however I believe the staff feels the same so we trust him to fill where we need him similar to E. I believe OT is a draft need this year but a on the field need next season (CB2 is a higher need this year). So with this in mind could Oline play out this way:

Start of Season

LT: E LG:Runyan C: Patrick RG: Stepaniak RT: Turner (potential key backups Taylor & Hanson)

Bahk Back:

LT: Bahk LG: E C: Patrick RG: Step RT: Turner (Backup Runyan, Taylor & Hanson) Ben Braden could sneak in here somewhere too.

I get this might not be “optimal” but this fairs well & makes me believe OT will be snagged in Rnd 3 or 4 even thought depth is up top. 

I believe we need to hit on 4 options in this Draft CB, DL, WR & OT. If we can find a way to land those in the top 75-80 picks that’d be great & feel Gutey will maneuver to get this done. Picks 20-50 (get CB & WR/OT) Picks 60-80 (WR/OT & DL)

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12 hours ago, ThatJerkDave said:

I look at him like EDS.  He is pretty good, and will fight for you.  If he is relatively cheap, that is awesome.  When it comes time to really pay that guy, you hope that you have a couple more in the pipeline.  I believe we did when we had EDS, and I believe we do now as well.  I think he has developed into a starting caliber player in the NFL.  If we obtain players that relegate him to the bench, then we have a really, really good line.  

That's really funny you make that comparison because that's literally how I view him as well though I'd give EDS a slight edge. Again, don't get me wrong; Patrick has generally been solid, but he's that back-up you want to keep around because he can jump in in a pinch with little tail-off of the unit overall and he works very hard with what he's got. @GWH87, has Patrick played Center? I think he has, but I honestly don't remember because it may have been quite sometime ago. I wouldn't mind trying him at Center knowing his football IQ is quite possibly his greatest strength.

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5 hours ago, Joe said:

That's really funny you make that comparison because that's literally how I view him as well though I'd give EDS a slight edge. Again, don't get me wrong; Patrick has generally been solid, but he's that back-up you want to keep around because he can jump in in a pinch with little tail-off of the unit overall and he works very hard with what he's got. @GWH87, has Patrick played Center? I think he has, but I honestly don't remember because it may have been quite sometime ago. I wouldn't mind trying him at Center knowing his football IQ is quite possibly his greatest strength.

That’s where they had him slotted and playing before the move to guard. They were grooming him on the practice squad for awhile as an insurance plan. Believe that’s where his college snaps came at too.

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6 hours ago, Joe said:

That's really funny you make that comparison because that's literally how I view him as well though I'd give EDS a slight edge. Again, don't get me wrong; Patrick has generally been solid, but he's that back-up you want to keep around because he can jump in in a pinch with little tail-off of the unit overall and he works very hard with what he's got. @GWH87, has Patrick played Center? I think he has, but I honestly don't remember because it may have been quite sometime ago. I wouldn't mind trying him at Center knowing his football IQ is quite possibly his greatest strength.

I don't know where to find actual snap counts at position, but I want to say that Jenkins has been the one taking center duties the last two seasons, when Linsley has been out, and they have kept Patrick at guard.  I do believe that Patrick also can play center, but I don't think he has more than a handful of NFL snaps there.  

I think it will take either drafting another stud like Jenkins, or a huge improvement from within to unseat Patrick from the starting line-up this season.  I would also let him walk in FA after this season if he is commanding more than 1.5-2 million per year.  

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15 hours ago, ThatJerkDave said:

I think it will take either drafting another stud like Jenkins, or a huge improvement from within to unseat Patrick from the starting line-up this season.  I would also let him walk in FA after this season if he is commanding more than 1.5-2 million per year.  

I think our OL was at its best when it was Bakh-Jenkins-Linsley-Turner-Bulaga. If we draft Radunz and Bakh is ready to go, I could easily see a situation where Radunz would replace Bakh in that scenario provided Linsley's back of course. I think Runyan could leapfrog Patrick with a good TC and we haven't seen Stepaniak either FWIW, same with Hanson. Come to think of it, this next TC is going to be quite critical for the OL as a unit. 

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9 hours ago, Joe said:

I think our OL was at its best when it was Bakh-Jenkins-Linsley-Turner-Bulaga. If we draft Radunz and Bakh is ready to go, I could easily see a situation where Radunz would replace Bakh in that scenario provided Linsley's back of course. I think Runyan could leapfrog Patrick with a good TC and we haven't seen Stepaniak either FWIW, same with Hanson. Come to think of it, this next TC is going to be quite critical for the OL as a unit. 

I think our line to begin the season will be some combination of Jenkins, Turner, and Patrick with Turner at one of the tackle positions.  If Jenkins is a tackle, I would guess Runyan is in the line-up.  If Jenkins stays at guard or center, our other tackle is not on the roster at the moment.  I don't expect Bakhtiari to be ready for the beginning of the season.

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18 hours ago, ThatJerkDave said:

I think our line to begin the season will be some combination of Jenkins, Turner, and Patrick with Turner at one of the tackle positions.  If Jenkins is a tackle, I would guess Runyan is in the line-up.  If Jenkins stays at guard or center, our other tackle is not on the roster at the moment.  I don't expect Bakhtiari to be ready for the beginning of the season.

I think this is the more likely scenario. We're really hurting at Tackle regardless of whether Bakh is in the line-up or not and need to play it as if he won't be.

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1 hour ago, Joe said:

I think this is the more likely scenario. We're really hurting at Tackle regardless of whether Bakh is in the line-up or not and need to play it as if he won't be.

Just something to consider.  Lane Taylor once flipped out to tackle and did a nice job.  Lane Taylor.

Maybe he is in the team's plans to be brought back.

Or....if he can do it, my guess is that we've also cross trained someone like Runyan to do it.

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4 minutes ago, vegas492 said:

Just something to consider.  Lane Taylor once flipped out to tackle and did a nice job.  Lane Taylor.

Maybe he is in the team's plans to be brought back.

Or....if he can do it, my guess is that we've also cross trained someone like Runyan to do it.

Yeah, that'd be the most logical choice. Either him or Zach Johnson who was a RT for NDSU until 2019 when he kicked into Guard. He was actually pretty damn good at RT getting FCS All American honors in both 2017 and 2018 so I'm guessing NDSU was rather weak at IOL or that they felt Johnson had a better shot at cracking the NFL at Guard rather than Tackle who knows. The guy who replaced him wasn't as good, but certainly didn't play poorly and is probably boosting his draft stock as well.

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I happen to share everyone's concerns about the o-line for next year, especially who will play tackle. They moved Turner to left tackle against Tampa Bay and that didn't turn out all that well. But even if they leave Turner at right tackle, you are still hurting at left tackle or left guard--Elgton Jenkins can only play one position at a time. Reviewing the comments on this page--and I really want to stress how uninformed I am--is there any hope at all for Yosh Nijman to play right tackle, or is that just a pipe dream?

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2 minutes ago, Gypsy1027 said:

I happen to share everyone's concerns about the o-line for next year, especially who will play tackle. They moved Turner to left tackle against Tampa Bay and that didn't turn out all that well. But even if they leave Turner at right tackle, you are still hurting at left tackle or left guard--Elgton Jenkins can only play one position at a time. Reviewing the comments on this page--and I really want to stress how uninformed I am--is there any hope at all for Yosh Nijman to play right tackle, or is that just a pipe dream?

On the positive end of things, they kept Yosh around both in 2019 and 2020, and have at least signed him to the roster as it stands before the draft.  On the negative end of things, he has played in 14 offensive snaps in his career as well as what looks like the FG unit.  From what we know now though, it is probably properly filed in the pipe dream category. 

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11 hours ago, Gypsy1027 said:

I happen to share everyone's concerns about the o-line for next year, especially who will play tackle. They moved Turner to left tackle against Tampa Bay and that didn't turn out all that well. But even if they leave Turner at right tackle, you are still hurting at left tackle or left guard--Elgton Jenkins can only play one position at a time. Reviewing the comments on this page--and I really want to stress how uninformed I am--is there any hope at all for Yosh Nijman to play right tackle, or is that just a pipe dream?

Last year at this time, it was all about how we were going to "feel" the loss of Bulaga.  Wagner and Turner stepped up and never really felt that pain.

People can bag on Turner for his last game, but he played plenty of LT last season, as well as RT and help up quite well.

So here we are now, still lamenting the o-line.  Guess I'm not worried about it in the least.  That no worries attitude could change if we don't draft one relatively high, or take someone out of the FA pool.  But I'm the camp that our o-line will be just fine. 

And I do have hope for Nijman.  Dude's got the feet for tackle, and the body.  Now he's had years of coaching and been able to learn from some really good ones.  I'd still label him a pipe dream, but I do have hope for him.

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