Goldfish's Way Too Early Draft Rankings 2022 (All Up)

[ET80]

1 hour ago, biggie. said:

Everyone said BB knocked it out of the park in 2021 and now everyone thinks he sucks even though this draft class hasn't even practiced yet.

One year doesn’t suddenly change a narrative. Jacksonville made the AFCCG one year, are they one of the top teams in the conference?

Outside of a few instances, Belicheck has not been good at drafting. He is good at other things, however: Trading for established players who are undervalued by other teams (Wes Welker) finding guys who didn’t work out on their original teams (Kyle Van Noy) and building around whatever he DOES have on tap with low priority FAs. 

The damage is mitigated, to an extent.

[Xenos]

9 hours ago, goldfishwars said:

18. Los Angeles Chargers

 

This Class In One Sentence:

Telesco rolls out another collection of competency

Pre-Draft Needs

G, OT, WR, EDGE, LB

Selections

Round 1. 17. Zion Johnson  | OG | Boston College

Round 3. 79. JT Woods  | S | Baylor

Round 4. 123. Isaiah Spiller  | RB | Texas A&M

Round 5. 160. Otito Ogbonnia  | DT | UCLA

Round 6. 195. Jamaree Salyer  | OG | Georgia

Round 6. 214. Ja'Sir Taylor  | CB | Wake Forest

Round 7. 236. Deane Leonard  | CB | Ole Miss

Round 7. 260. Zander Horvath  | FB | Purdue

 

What I liked:

I’m just wondering what it would it be like, in my lifetime, for the Chargers to have a good offensive line. I would bet good money Zion Johnson was the New England pick if he had made it to 21, he ticks all the boxes – smart, agile, technically sound. I like that pick, he’s as ready to play as an offensive line prospect can be. They pumped the ball down the fairway, to use a golf analogy. It might not have rocketed 300 yards, but there it is - in the middle. 

Jamaree Salyer is similarly pro-ready. I was shocked by his slide – unless it has a deal to do with that foot injury. Is it bad? He was great at tackle in the Alabama game. That’s a bargain unless there’s a catastrophe looming.

Ogbonnia is huge, can he help stop the run game? I don’t know, that’s a lot to put on a 5^th round pick. The Spiller addition is a good pick-up in the 4^th. Is he exciting to watch? Not especially. But he’s coming off an uber productive season and might finally give the team a back they can spell in whilst preventing Austin Ekeler from burn out without that feeling like a step-down.

What I didn’t like:

I think this is a draft which would get a better grade than where I’ve placed it stacked top to bottom. Maybe, I don’t know. In some ways it’s really good, it’s fine – and in others, I’m wondering if it really moved the needle. Did they need to move the needle? There’s a quality guard in the first round and when was the last time the Chargers had one of those? Then there’s nothing until JT Woods in the third. I really don’t know much about Woods, was he a surprise in the 3^rd? It felt like a surprise. He might be incredible and I've vastly underrated this class. I knew way more about Nick Cross and Kerby Joseph who were picked about 20 picks later – I liked both of those players quite a bit.

JT Woods was definitely a surprise. Reading more about him now, I can see why Staley wanted him. The issue is really whether we should have picked someone else with our 3rd pick and drafted him in the 4th instead based on the consensus big board. The value just wasn’t there. Maybe he’ll prove everyone wrong but it felt like the typical Telesco out of left field 3rd round pick.

[ET80]

1 minute ago, Daniel said:

Give me 1. Pickett, 2. Watson, 3. Moore, 4. Burks, 5. Wilson.

I actually like this list a lot. I’d also put James Cook somewhere on the list, as he’s going to get plenty of opportunities to generate offense for Buffalo. Cook provides a spark that Zack Moss and Devin Singletary don’t provide (Singletary does, sorta). 

[Daniel]

21 minutes ago, ET80 said:

I actually like this list a lot. I’d also put James Cook somewhere on the list, as he’s going to get plenty of opportunities to generate offense for Buffalo. Cook provides a spark that Zack Moss and Devin Singletary don’t provide (Singletary does, sorta). 

Ooh, I forgot about Cook going to the Bills.  Yeah, chalk him up there somewhere too.

[ET80]

15 minutes ago, Daniel said:

Ooh, I forgot about Cook going to the Bills.  Yeah, chalk him up there somewhere too.

Sneak him in as a HM! 😅

[TheRealMcCoy]

10 hours ago, goldfishwars said:

Keep up, man

Whoops didn’t know you had them listed already lol… lower than I thought you would’ve had them. Good job. 👍🏻

[THE DUKE]

1 hour ago, Daniel said:

This is very true, though Burks is one of the better blends of talent and having a good QB.

If I'm seriously speculating, it's probably Kenny Pickett if he starts early.  Rookie QBs don't need to do much to get ROY.

Christian Watson would be a good bet, since he's a pretty high pick with a good QB.  Skyy Moore too.

Wilson, Williams, Olave, Dotson, and London are all dealing with subpar QBs unless Zach Wilson blows up this year.  Breece Hall might be a dark horse if he quickly becomes NY's bell cow.

Give me 1. Pickett, 2. Watson, 3. Moore, 4. Burks, 5. Wilson.

 

I put Olave up there because Jameis will get yards and TD's, he'll also just throw 20+ picks to go along with it, but that won't affect Olave's numbers.

[THE DUKE]

The four most over rated words of draft evaluation "The consensus big board"

[Matts4313]

 

@goldfishwars

[Daniel]

23 minutes ago, THE DUKE said:

The four most over rated words of draft evaluation "The consensus big board"

I don't know.  There are some variances, but I don't know if there's that much.

I mean, for instance, there's no way that the consensus No. 1 QB would fall to like the bottom of the third round.  That would be ridiculous.  Never happen.

[biggie.]

1 hour ago, ET80 said:

One year doesn’t suddenly change a narrative. Jacksonville made the AFCCG one year, are they one of the top teams in the conference?

Outside of a few instances, Belicheck has not been good at drafting. He is good at other things, however: Trading for established players who are undervalued by other teams (Wes Welker) finding guys who didn’t work out on their original teams (Kyle Van Noy) and building around whatever he DOES have on tap with low priority FAs. 

The damage is mitigated, to an extent.

Lol, comparing Jacksonville to NE. Good one.

[ET80]

8 minutes ago, biggie. said:

Lol, comparing Jacksonville to NE. Good one.

If you’re going to be intentionally obtuse, I really can’t help you. Your insecurity on the topic is documented, reasonable examples have been provided proving your stance is wrong, and you’re now choosing to be willfully ignorant on very basic comparisons that even the unengaged can quickly understand.

Do you, I guess. Don’t be up in arms when people call you on it.

[ET80]

On 5/1/2022 at 3:50 AM, goldfishwars said:

Man, you know what really sucks? New England sports media. Hands-down the most sycophantic, non-critical, chippy loser, finger-pointing, crowing idiots in all of the world.

Not just reserved for New England media, as we’ve seen over the past few pages. 

Of everything you traditionally nail, @goldfishwars - you absolutely nailed this one, as the last few pages demonstrate.

[Hunter2_1]

Feel like NE media is actually slamming this draft, to be fair. 

[Matts4313]

19 minutes ago, ET80 said:

If you’re going to be intentionally obtuse

Lol, comparing Biggie to a triangle. Good geometry. 

Maybe you are right. Isoscelesee myself out.

Edited May 5, 2022 by Matts4313