2022 Draft Talk

[Ozzy]

10 hours ago, CWood21 said:

There's nothing to suggest that Karlaftis is going to test so poorly, so you're just being obtuse intentionally there. Leal and Karlaftis aren't even the same position.  Leal is more of a DT/DE tweener.  He's someone you play on the EDGE in early downs, but kick inside on obvious passing downs.  Don't think there's much ability to stand up and play as a 3-4 OLB by any means.  Honestly, don't see anything special about Walker.  Seems like a late Day 1, early Day 2 pick, but nothing that says he's going to be a EDGE1 for any team.

"don't see anything special about Walker"  

 

Not sure what exactly you are watching then, he has absolutely dominated in big games this year especially of late against Michigan and did well against Bama twice.  Long, super athletic for his size and very powerful.  Could play 4/3 DE or 3/4 DE or 4/3 DT.   Nothing special yet is most likely going to be picked ahead of Karlaftis on pure potential and should easily be a 1st round pick if he declares, guess that is not special.  

 

As for being obtuse, well do not be shocked if George Karlaftis runs a poor 40 time, but will see.  And of course Leal is not a 3/4 OLB but who really cares, and honestly not sure Karlaftis is one either.  

[battle2heaven]

So, lets talk linebackers.

Pick 12, really not too early for an off ball LB if he projects to instantly impact the defense. We have two that have different play styles, different body types, but both project to impact the game:

Devin LLoyd - Utah

Nakobe Dean - Georgia

 

Who do you guys like the best? Who do you think is a better fit for the Vikings? That last one is hard to answer as we don't know the defensive scheme for the new coaching staff but with the current roster construction, the Vikings have one starting linebacker in Kendricks and that is really it. 

At pick 12, the Vikings have enough needs where you just need to select the best, most impactful player on your board (probably defensive board). I'd rather take one of these guys then say, the 4th or 5th best edge, or the 3rd best CB. 

 

[SemperFeist]

Probably the only offensive player that I would remotely have any interest in drafting in the 1st round. 

And it would probably take a 1-11 run on defensive players to get me to consider it. 

[SteelKing728]

The Jets were given better QBs to work with, even if Willis is the most physically gifted of all of them.

[CWood21]

15 hours ago, Ozzy said:

Not sure what exactly you are watching then, he has absolutely dominated in big games this year especially of late against Michigan and did well against Bama twice.  Long, super athletic for his size and very powerful.  Could play 4/3 DE or 3/4 DE or 4/3 DT.   Nothing special yet is most likely going to be picked ahead of Karlaftis on pure potential and should easily be a 1st round pick if he declares, guess that is not special.  

Not sure using a highlight real is the best way to support your argument.  I'm sure I could find a highlight real of Karlaftis that makes him look like the next Bosa brother.  And at 275 pounds, he's going to get absolutely abused in the run game if they run at him while he's playing DT.  He's absolutely not a DT in an even scheme.  The difference between you and me is you're completely banking on his upside, which is fine but you're ignoring any possible floor he has.  Karlaftis might not have that elite pass rush upside, but I've got very little doubt that he's going to have a pretty long NFL career.

15 hours ago, Ozzy said:

As for being obtuse, well do not be shocked if George Karlaftis runs a poor 40 time, but will see.  And of course Leal is not a 3/4 OLB but who really cares, and honestly not sure Karlaftis is one either. 

When was the last time that a projected top 15 pick tested that poorly?  I think Damontre Moore was the last one, and that was in 2013.

[Ozzy]

3 minutes ago, CWood21 said:

Not sure using a highlight real is the best way to support your argument.  I'm sure I could find a highlight real of Karlaftis that makes him look like the next Bosa brother.  And at 275 pounds, he's going to get absolutely abused in the run game if they run at him while he's playing DT.  He's absolutely not a DT in an even scheme.  The difference between you and me is you're completely banking on his upside, which is fine but you're ignoring any possible floor he has.  Karlaftis might not have that elite pass rush upside, but I've got very little doubt that he's going to have a pretty long NFL career.

When was the last time that a projected top 15 pick tested that poorly?  I think Damontre Moore was the last one, and that was in 2013.

Top 15 pick?  Again I had Karlaftis a top 15 guy preseason but things have changed when the season happened.  Hutchinson obviously has blew him totally out of the water and based on the production of Leal I think Leal has went ahead of Karlaftis as well in terms of play on the field, not to mention Ojabo who also is arguably ahead of him also.

 

Travon Walker sure I am going off upside but the dude absolutely crushes tackles on the edge and completely walks them backward, and his upside is massive.  And yes I value the fact that he and Leal could play DT in a 4/3 possibly also and to me that is an added plus for both of them.

 

And I say again, did Karlaftis play better than any of these guys listed below?  The answer is no, I have Karlaftis ahead of them in the draft right now but if they work out well they could easily jump ahead of him.

Arnold Ebiketie Penn State
Jermaine Johnson Florida State
Sam Williams Ole Miss
Boye Mafe Minnesota RS

 

Habakkuk Baldonado I assume comes back to school but yeah on potential I have him ahead of Karlaftis as well.

 

But go ahead and draft him top 15 overall, good luck with that.  I think the Eagles, Ravens, Browns or Vikings fans could be kind of pissed if they picked him and passed on the likes of Leal or Ojabo and possibly even Travon Walker.  

 

In a year where almost every end prospect played great and totally increased their production, is odd Karlaftis did not really.  Not including the four guys I listed above who are also on this list, look at the season Tyree Johnson had, Isaiah Thomas, Cameron Thomas, Kingsley Enagbare, Tre Williams, Eyioma Uwazurike, Owen Carney, Michael Clemons and Zach VanValkenburg had.  All of them played great and increased their production, some did so greatly.

 

Only guys who did not have a really dominating season being a pretty hyped DE prospect coming into the year was Zach Harrison and Tyreke Smith on Ohio State.  Honestly George Karlaftis disappointed this year considering what Hutchinson did with less proven production coming into the season.  Myjai Sanders also kind of disappointed this year but he was still impactful in getting after the QB but showed he might be more of a 3/4 OLB than a 4/3 DE.  

 

 

[CWood21]

3 minutes ago, Ozzy said:

Top 15 pick?  Again I had Karlaftis a top 15 guy preseason but things have changed when the season happened.  Hutchinson obviously has blew him totally out of the water and based on the production of Leal I think Leal has went ahead of Karlaftis as well in terms of play on the field, not to mention Ojabo who also is arguably ahead of him also.

Comparing him to the season that Hutch had seems a bit of an odd way to go about that.  I mean, how many players played as well as Hutch did this season?  By that logic, were you quick to discredit Rashawn Slater last year because after all, Sewell was a MUCH better prospect then Slater.  Again, I think you're fixating on upside a little too hard.  There's enough concern that Ojabo's production is inflated because of having Hutch on the other side.  And Leal was pretty unimpressive considering we were talking about him as a potential top 5 pick coming into the season.

5 minutes ago, Ozzy said:

Travon Walker sure I am going off upside but the dude absolutely crushes tackles on the edge and completely walks them backward, and his upside is massive.  And yes I value the fact that he and Leal could play DT in a 4/3 possibly also and to me that is an added plus for both of them.

How many 275 pound DTs are there in the NFL?  You could probably kick him inside on obvious passing downs, but in no way, shape, or form can he play there legitimately.

[Robb_K]

On 12/31/2021 at 8:59 AM, swede700 said:

Based on the options that are available in the draft, it'd probably be foolish to trade Cousins (as much as I'd want to get out of the contract).  There are probably a couple available that I'd consider, but I certainly wouldn't be trading Cousins before the draft, which is what they'd have to do.  They'd be basically repeating the same mistake that they did when they drafted Ponder.

Except that they shouldn't choose the 2022 Draft to use a high draft choice on a QB.  They should wait until the 2023 Draft, which will have a much better choice of higher quality QBs from which to choose.  Still it might behoove them to trade Cousins THIS offseason, to get rid of his big Cap problems, and acquire a stop-gap lower-end starting QB, so they can use the Cap savings to start building the team with higher quality draftees and and any young veterans they can acquire in trades or maybe a key hole-filling FA signing, so there will be a better supporting roster around the new QB, when he arrives in 2023.  That would mean that the stop-gap QB would likely be needed to start for all of 2022, and, possibly, at least the start of 2023, before the newly-drafted QB is ready to take over.  A relatively young low cost veteran QB, like Mariota, Minshew, or Huntley might be best.  This team won't be weak enough to tank.  But it will, after letting walk and trading off some of the costly older veterans, be mediocre enough to produce a lower middle of the pack draft position to allow The Vikings to move up enough spots to grab one of the top QBs.  I think that trading off Cousins now would be better than keeping him for one more year, and finishing with 2-3 more wins that will not help this team in the long run; and letting suffering the $45 million Cap hit hurt the start of retooling, and weaken the roster support on the team that could ortherwise help the rookie QB in his starting year of 2023.

[gopherwrestler]

3 hours ago, Ozzy said:

I have Karlaftis ahead of them in the draft right now but if they work out well they could easily jump ahead of him.
Boye Mafe Minnesota RS

Well then you should be ready to move Boye. Little bit of a Gopher homer, hard not to be a little.... but.... he is going to test so well. He is such an athlete. 

[gopherwrestler]

Wirfs was a state champion wrestler his senior year. 
 

 

[Ozzy]

1 hour ago, gopherwrestler said:

Wirfs was a state champion wrestler his senior year. 
 

 

Wow that is impressive but was a long time ago and not sure Wirfs was a natural wrestler anyway especially at that height.

 

But Linderbaum is what 6-3 290 now, Wirfs is 6-5 320 and runs a what 4.85 40, 36.5" vertical, 24 reps at 225.  I thought he should have been the #4 pick overall by the Giants and first OL off the board in that stacked OL class, turns out he should have been since he is a 1st team All Pro now as a 2nd year player.

Not sure Linderbaum will accomplish that, much less cannot do this either.  

 

 

But hell Vikings should at least take a look at him at center, #12 is a little high for him but is probably better than Bradbury.  Most likely goes to the Raiders if no one else takes a shot at him, they need a center also.  

[gopherwrestler]

5 minutes ago, Ozzy said:

Wow that is impressive but was a long time ago and not sure Wirfs was a natural wrestler anyway especially at that height.

Wirfs size at 285lbs had to be excellent. I doubt he was 6’5”, but he was a state champ. Having length like that isn’t terrible at heavyweight. 

[wcblack34]

1 hour ago, gopherwrestler said:

Wirfs size at 285lbs had to be excellent. I doubt he was 6’5”, but he was a state champ. Having length like that isn’t terrible at heavyweight. 

I was a tall heavyweight in high school. 6'2" and 255 with 34/35 inch arms. Blessing and a curse for me. Harder to move the low center of gravity guys, but also let me dictate range. However, I wasn't throwing up 400 pounds on the bench and 600 on the squat rack either. 

Still love watching heavyweight wrestling tho. 

[gopherwrestler]

21 hours ago, gopherwrestler said:

Well then you should be ready to move Boye. Little bit of a Gopher homer, hard not to be a little.... but.... he is going to test so well. He is such an athlete. 

I am all that is insider 

 

[gopherwrestler]

Sauce😍