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

[onejayhawk]

25 minutes ago, Spartacus said:

Alot of it is projecting what they do at the next level not necessarily what they are at the college level. 

Muma like Quay are athletic freaks but I see a much smoother athlete in Quay with better play strength which makes me think he will project better at the NFL level. 

The athletic freak at LB is Troy Anderson. He's only the 4th  LB ever with an RAS of 10.0.

Among major school players it's Leo Chenal. His RAS is 9.99. He played almost exclusively off ball in college. Don't expect that at this level. His blitz potential is too valuable to ignore.
https://ras.football/ras-information/?PlayerID=21440

Edited May 7, 2022 by onejayhawk

[Daniel]

57 minutes ago, -Hope- said:

....what exactly do you think the titans' needs are lol

All the draft sims said LB for…reasons?

But yeah, the LB they did draft is for special teams anyway.

[Xenos]

On 5/2/2022 at 7:49 PM, TheRealMcCoy said:

Araiza was a bit overrated by the general public.

There is a reason Stout was the first punter off the board. Much more accurate on short punts pinning teams deep than Ariaza and he doesn't quite have his punting power, but he still has a strong leg and in fact has better hang time on his punts than Araiza too which helps with allowing your coverage to get down there in time.

As far as the Browns taking a kicker in the 4th round it may have been a round early, but they got the best kicker in the draft and it has been a problem area for the Browns for about as long as I can remember. Now, I no longer have to hear my dad complaining about them not having a decent kicker. The last actual good Cleveland kicker there for multiple years was probably Phil Dawson and that was back in 2012. It's been a cool minute for them.

With that said, considering the capital the Browns had I think they did pretty well. I didn't love the value they got trading back from the first half of the 2nd round to the early 3rd round, but I think they got some nice value in some of the players they selected on day 3. It could've been a better draft, but considering they didn't have their 1st round pick and ended up not having their 2nd round pick either it turned out kinda okay for them.

 

Apparently a punter’s holding ability is also held in high regards. And Araiza never held a ball because he was the punter and kicker.

[Wyld Stallyns]

3 hours ago, goldfishwars said:

11. Indianapolis Colts

Man, is Will Fries still manning the right guard spot? Perhaps Pryor or Raimann fill in there 

Danny Pinter, who filled in some for Ryan Kelly at C last year will get first dibs at RG. 

[CWood21]

Just got back into town, but good work as always @goldfishwars.  Thought Green Bay would come in around the 20-24 range.

[ET80]

On 5/6/2022 at 3:34 AM, ET80 said:

Nick Caserio is officially in the top half of this draft - good for him. 

Wow, Caserio in the top 10 and with the best class in his division.

I’m so conflicted - I still don’t like Cal or Easterby, but hearing Caserio talk about his eval process and watching him operate up and around on draft day  - he might be a genius.

I don’t know how to process this.

[goldfishwars]

8 hours ago, CWood21 said:

Just got back into town, but good work as always @goldfishwars.  Thought Green Bay would come in around the 20-24 range.

Thanks, man

[TheRealMcCoy]

9 hours ago, Xenos said:

Apparently a punter’s holding ability is also held in high regards. And Araiza never held a ball because he was the punter and kicker.

Another fair point. 

Don't get me wrong Araiza has a VERY powerful leg and if he can hone is craft more with increasing the hang time a bit and working on directional punting more he could be a great punter for the Bills, but its just funny how everyone got wrapped up in the punt power and ignored everything else with him. Not like most of us were watching SDST games. I live in California and even I'm not typically turning on their games, so I know most people on the other side of the country weren't. Obviously the NFL teams/scouts saw past the narrative that everyone else was suckered into with the Punt God nicknames and the videos of the punts of his that weren't caught and bounced for like 70-80 yards. I mean who really wants to evaluate punters though? In that case I appreciate the people on Twitter whose stats I pulled for context like PFF (they can't be subjective with punt stats like player grades) and this one guy who tracked hangtime and various percentages of punts that landed inside different yard lines. They are the real MVPs.

[goldfishwars]

10 New York Football Giants

 

This Class In One Sentence:

The grown-ups have shown up in NYG

Pre-Draft Needs

LB, OT, C, G, S

Selections

Round 1. 5. Kayvon Thibodeaux  | DE | Oregon

Round 1. 7. Evan Neal  | OT | Alabama

Round 2. 43. Wan'Dale Robinson  | WR | Kentucky

Round 3. 67. Joshua Ezeudu  | OG | North Carolina

Round 3. 81. Cordale Flott  | CB | LSU

Round 4. 112. Daniel Bellinger  | TE | San Diego State

Round 4. 114. Dane Belton  | S | Iowa

Round 5. 146. Micah McFadden  | LB | Indiana

Round 5. 147. D. J. Davidson  | DT | Arizona State

Round 5. 173. Marcus McKethan  | OG | North Carolina

Round 6. 182. Darrian Beavers  | LB | Cincinnati

What I liked:

Remember the days when Gettleman was crowing in press-conferences and berating nerds who knew nothing? Man, that guy sucked and drove this franchise into the ground.

Man, I love the Thibodeaux selection and not just because he’s a good player. He’s a huge personality and apparently that rubbed some evaluators the wrong way, but he’s perfect for New York and perfect for a team desperately looking for an identity again. It's the Giants, that personality should always come from that defensive front. It was a smart move too, knowing they could pivot back to whichever tackle was left at 7 and knowing they would get a good one in Neal who could block out the sun if he wanted to. It was a dream for day 1 to pan out the way it did.

There are some surprises after day one, and it definitely lacked those fireworks. However smart picks were sprinkled in too. Daniel Bellinger has something at Tight End, he's huge, fast and can catch footballs – I wouldn’t be surprised if he became one of those mid-round players at the position that goes on to become a dude in the NFL. Dane Belton was a bit of a ball-hawk at the back-end, I liked him. Micah McFadden too, has a super-interesting athletic profile and I was honestly stunned to match this guy’s first name up to how he looks. Never seen that before. 13 sacks in the past two seasons, he's got that nose for the ball. Darrian Beavers was super solid at Cincinnati, without excelling in any particular facet, and helps beef-up a weakened linebacker group further. 

What I didn’t like:

Apart from Thibodeaux not booting the insanely amped-up Make-A-Wish kid off-stage, some of the criticism of the actual draft was fair. It's always weird when a team takes a player you like, but way higher than you expected. Therefore I was not crazy about Wan’Dale Robinson at 43, certainly not with George Pickens and Skyy Moore on the board. What he is, a danger with the ball in his hands, is similar to the guy they are trying to rid themselves of and comes in a nicer off-field package than Toney. Man, Toney must be such a nightmare. 

Similarly elsewhere, the Giants got some good players and played the numbers game well - but made selections which felt unnecessarily reach-y. 

Edited May 8, 2022 by goldfishwars

[43M]

18 hours ago, SteelKing728 said:

Kenny Pickett will be a better QB than Ben Roethlisberger. Bookmark it.

Thats a pretty bold statement.

Im not even Ben's biggest fan and honestly felt like he held us back quite a bit with his inconsistent play, especially in the playoffs after 2008....but that being said, he was still a top 5 to 10 QB for over a decade, and thats not easy to come by.

The Pickett selection has grown on me and I do believe he can find success here...and he will easily will be better than Ben has been in several years....but its tough to be as consistent as Ben was from year to year.   To clarify, when I said Ben was inconsistent earlier, I meant from quarter to quarter....meaning he might not show up for 2.5 quarter, but the last 1.5 he would play great.    But from season to season, Ben was stable up until he hurt his elbow.

If Pickett can be even in the same breath as Ben (but less of a drama queen dbag), Id be ecstatic.

[43M]

22 hours ago, goldfishwars said:

12. Pittsburgh Steelers

 

This Class In One Sentence:

One of the quieter operators, Colbert exits the league with a very decent last stab to re-stack the roster

Pre-Draft Needs

QB, OT, WR, S, CB 

Selections

Round 1. 20. Kenny Pickett  | QB | Pittsburgh

Round 2. 52. George Pickens  | WR | Georgia

Round 3. 84. DeMarvin Leal  | DE | Texas A&M

Round 4. 138. Calvin Austin  | WR | Memphis

Round 6. 208. Connor Heyward  | FB | Michigan State

Round 7. 225. Mark Robinson  | LB | Ole Miss

Round 7. 241. Chris Oladokun  | QB | South Dakota State

What I liked:

Parking the quarterback for now, the Steelers drafted some good players. Pickens, Leal and Calvin Austin are all talented enough to contribute to the football team this season. And I love me some George Pickens, he's long, tough and a real jerk on the field. What's more, he's better than every receiver taken before him in that second round. What's even more, he's just perfect in Pittsburgh. 

Leal is nice in the third and a great fit on that defensive line. He's a powerful interior defender, someone who had tweener size concerns and a questionable work ethic. Well, he landed in a good spot to address both of those issues.  Taking a pair of speedy receivers to grow with a new QB is a smart move, with Pickens the physical straight line operator and Austin the lightning slot who can play a bit of scatback. I love it. I love that they are giving their new signal-man a pair of buddies to grow with. Pittsburgh needed to re-stack that receiver room and now it's a young, diverse and hungry group. 

Unparking the quarterback - Pickett himself is a great story, coming off a huge year and landing back at home. He's got a good feel for the game, he's accurate, he can make things happen on the move and scramble with the best of them. Getting a potential franchise QB without panicking to do that at 20, great. Not that Colbert was going to do that, I'm certain he viewed draft trades as a form of witchcraft.

Whilst Pickett isn't quite talented enough to elevate the players around him, he's capable enough to hang in the league for a while and, crucially, he’s landed in a phenomenally stable spot for him. This has been the most patient franchise in the league, loyal to a fault. Mason Rudolph is still here. They will give him every chance to succeed.

What I didn’t like:

I do worry the Pickett selection is a better story than the pick itself. He perhaps wouldn’t have been a first round pick in a better QB class, and where his hometown team weren't looking for one. He panics a little too much when pressured. And look, the small hands issue isn’t overblown – he’s fumbled the ball a bit in college. It’ll be an issue again, in inclement weather, even when it’s not his fault. It’ll come up all the time. Some asthmatic nerd from Rotoworld will mock him relentlessly for it. We’ll never let that narrative die unless he’s consistently perfect. Poor guy.

Pragmatically looking at other areas of need - no defensive back picks, no injection of fresh bodies for a offensive line in flux. That was a surprise and might hurt the team in 2022, but you can’t fix everything.

Good write up man.

I probably would've put this draft lower, but Ive warmed up to it a little more over the past week.

My biggest issues with this draft...

1)  Pickett just feels like a copy of Mitch Trubisky.   I just felt like it was a forced pick.   Maybe they really liked him....and he has some tools to work with....but I wouldnt have put a first on him.

2)  All of the picks were risky.   Pickett wasnt hugely risky IMO, but he doesn't have top notch upside either.   Both Pickens and Leal are wild cards.   Neither really showed a ton in 2021, but going into 2021 both were projected as possible top 10 picks.  Major boom/bust guys.   Austin is small and while that can be overcome, that doesn't always happen.

3) Our future GM probably isnt currently on the team.   Which means we didn't let the new GM have any say in how the team he is taking over is being built.   

This draft just feels like our 2008 draft which was considered pretty on paper, especially on offense (Mendenhall, Limas Sweed and Tony Hills), but turned into one of our worst drafts under Colbert.

Oh, and while I would have liked to grab a DB or 2, I didnt expect to target one early, especially after resigning Edmunds.   QB and WR were major needs, and DL is probably just as big of a need as DB given the ages of Heyward and Alualu and uncertainty of Tuitt going forward.  So from a positional standpoint alone, our draft made alot of sense.

Edited May 8, 2022 by 43M

[TheRealMcCoy]

18 hours ago, onejayhawk said:

That there are still two NFC East teams to come as we approach the top 10 says a great deal.

I'm really curious where he ends putting the Eagles. Obviously the spot where he ranked the Saints for misutilization of draft capital indicated to me that the Eagles should be pretty high, but we did only make 5 selections.

With the Saints trade we deferred one of our 3 first rounders to 2023 and picked up a 2nd for 2024 and also a late compensatory 3rd round pick that along with 18 overall went to the Titans for AJ Brown. I thought both of those were great examples of using the flexibility 3 first rounders provided us with, but it did kinda stink watching all these prospects only to take 1 of them in the 1st round.

I was probably the highest on the Eagles forum with the selection of Jordan Davis. Everyone was mocking him to the Chargers at 17 throughout the process until the combine and then everyone usually had him falling into the Ravens laps at 14 saying things like "he just looks like a Raven". With that said, it doesn't surprise me how interested the Eagles were in him. The way Gannon likes to play defense with a ton of 2 high safeties makes things a lot easier when you have a load up the middle that commands double teams and lets you play less guys in the box and get more in coverage. A big problem for the Eagles last year was teams early on in the season were running up the middle on us (despite the fact that we were like 6th in YPC allowed) and we generally gave up a lot of 3rd/4th & shorts. Gannon had to bring a safety down into the box a lot more as the season progressed cause of this which led to less men in coverage. I also don't think Jordan Davis is just some space eating NT like some want to bill him as. Georgia had Jalen Carter who is a great pass rusher and projected top 5 pick in a better draft class next year and Devonte Wyatt a much lighter and traditional 3T who would see the field more on 3rd downs. 

The recognition that he showed saying this at the combine made his stock go up in my eyes before we ever selected him. He knew the 350s-360s he was playing at in Georgia's defense wasn't gonna cut it at the next level. But, honestly I don't think that's really his fault and he was playing at a higher weight cause he was lazy. Georgia like I said didn't need him to be a penetrator in their defense. They needed him to be a mountain of a man and control the middle and be the wall on stunts for the looping DEs to make plays. If he can keep his weight in check and stay in a range of like high 320s to high 330s he can retain that explosion he had at the combine where he tested at 341. He reiterated at his Eagles introductory presser that his ideal weight is somewhere in the 330s. I think he walks into a perfect situation for him being able to learn from veterans like Fletcher Cox and Javon Hargrave, especially about rushing the passer. Aaron Donald is by far the best DT at winning with his insane quickness, but Fletcher Cox is probably the best DT at the bull rush in the past decade and I'm gonna love the fact Davis can improve that learning from him. We also drafted Milton Williams last year in the 3rd who is an insane athlete (tested better than Aaron Donald) and he improved as his rookie year went along. So, Jordan Davis won't be asked to play a crap ton of snaps as a rookie with a 4 deep rotation. He probably will be asked to mainly be the 0 or 1 tech this year, but I think he can play the 3T and 4i probably too in our defense, but those will probably come in future years after he's developed as a pass rusher and the vets are gone and not as a rookie.

The Cam Jurgens pick took some Eagles fans by surprise, but the writing was on the wall when Tony Pauline in his rumor column put that the Eagles were his floor at 51. The way he put that I wasn't sure if he would be there or not. Just strictly based on tape and not letting the measurables get you carried away he was probably a late 2nd to mid 2nd round prospect. Tons of Eagles fans were rioting they passed on him for Nakobe Dean, but Howie Roseman is always gonna value trenches above all else. Jurgens on tape showed amazing athleticism sometimes looking just like Kelce running way down field to block like it was nothing, but he played kinda hastily at times and the hands weren't always synced with the feet, but Jason said in a recent press conference that stuff like that is easily correctable. Plus, not only will he be learning from Kelce, but also in my opinion the best offensive line coach in the league who groomed Jason Kelce, Lane Johnson and most recently Jordan Mailata who was one of the best LTs last year and didn't even know how to buckle a chin strap when he got to Philly. It was reported that multiple teams had Jurgens above Linderbaum in their center rankings. With the situation he went to it wouldn't shock me at all if he ends up being the best center out of this class, but obviously Linderbaum with his years of consistent film deserved to be OC1 in this class. 

This was definitely Eagles fans favorite pick and its easy to see why with how little we have invested in LB. Last time we invested higher in the draft was Mychal Kendricks who we took one pick before Bobby Wagner and many picks before Lavonte David. Those two were much more instinctive LBs and how all 3 players careers panned out shouldn't be surprising. Brings me to Nakobe who knows he's not nearly the biggest and not the most athletic either. You can argue both of the other Georgia LBs had better size and pure athleticism (at least in a straight line). There is no doubting his intellect on the field or his leadership. I think Kirby Smart said he got the most votes ever on defense for captain in Georgia's history or something like that. The fact he controlled that super talented defense how he did with actions and his words on and off the field has me just as excited for as his play on it. Not sure how much of a leader a rookie stepping into a NFL team can be usually as a non QB, but I have no doubt he's gonna be a big time leader and culture changer within the next 2-3 years. He's an impressive young man and we are lucky he fell to 83.

That brings me to the Eagles last two picks which were both in the 6th round.

The Kyron Johnson pick took me by surprise probably more than any other pick. I'm gonna be honest I didn't watch much Kansas (can you blame me??) in the last year college or film cut-ups, so I had to go search who he was. I remembered those Senior Bowl reps, but I didn't know who he was when he did it. Looking up his profile it was easy to see why the Eagles were on him as a back-up at the SAM backer position whose main duty will be to get after the passer as a rusher, but also have some coverage responsibilities too. We signed Haason Reddick to a 3 year contract for like 15 million per year, so he's gonna be a back-up, but its a great spot for him to come in and learn behind Reddick who has had back-to-back double digit sack seasons and who also like him wins a lot with his great speed off the edge. Kyron is a former track guy who ran a blazing 4.36-4.40 (times I've seen reported). He has a real good motor and was a special teams ace at Kansas with over 600 snaps and 17 tackles. That's how he's gonna make his impact early on, but I'm interested to see how he develops behind Reddick and when he gets his opportunity to play. Maybe down the line he can develop into a starter after Reddick's contract is up after his last year when he will be 30 years old (we don't usually re-sign guys over 30), but that is probably getting way ahead of myself. I'll take the special teams impact year 1.

Grant Calcaterra was an interesting pick. He probably would've been selected a couple rounds higher if not for the concussion history that had him step away from the game after Oklahoma suggested it to him. He's not much of a blocker that isn't his strong suit, but he's a good receiving TE that you can move around. Sirianni alluded to him being the F-TE and being able to move him around. I think he steps in as automatically the #2 receiving threat from the TE position on the roster behind Dallas Goedert who is a beast. 

Apparently he also said all the doctors he met with were okay with him returning to football, but still its a factor and can't be ignored, but he has the potential to see the field most as a rookie out of the two 6th round selections.

________________________________________________________________________________

Not sure why I ended up going on such a long post, cause I don't really want to take the shine away from @goldfishwars. Sometimes I just get carried away once I start typing and after I got halfway into the Jordan Davis stuff I figured that I might as well finish what I started and touch on the whole (small) draft class to see how my thoughts would stack up with his when he does end up dropping the Eagles write-up.

[TheRealMcCoy]

19 minutes ago, 43M said:

Good write up man.

I probably would've put this draft lower, but Ive warmed up to it a little more over the past week.

My biggest issues with this draft...

1)  Pickett just feels like a copy of Mitch Trubisky.   I just felt like it was a forced pick.   Maybe they really liked him....and he has some tools to work with....but I wouldnt have put a first on him.

2)  All of the picks were risky.   Pickett wasnt hugely risky IMO, but he doesn't have top notch upside either.   Both Pickens and Leal are wild cards.   Neither really showed a ton in 2021, but going into 2021 both were projected as possible top 10 picks.  Major boom/bust guys.   Austin is small and while that can be overcome, that doesn't always happen.

3) Our future GM probably isnt currently on the team.   Which means we didn't let the new GM have any say in how the team he is taking over is being built.   

This draft just feels like our 2008 draft which was considered pretty on paper, especially on offense (Mendenhall, Limas Sweed and Tony Hills), but turned into one of our worst drafts under Colbert.

Oh, and while I would have liked to grab a DB or 2, I didnt expect to target one early, especially after resigning Edmunds.   QB and WR were major needs, and DL is probably just as big of a need as DB given the ages of Heyward and Alualu and uncertainty of Tuitt going forward.  So from a positional standpoint alone, our draft made alot of sense.

Don't really disagree with any of your counter points here. I think all of them are pretty well-reasoned. 👌

It is kinda weird that they would select a QB in the 1st round with their GM of the future not in the fold, but I also understand not wanting to go into a season with really just Mitchell Trubisky as the answer at QB. I don't think it necessarily screws the GM that comes in if Pickett doesn't live up to expectations. Ownership isn't gonna put that pick on him and he'll be able to draft his own future signal caller if that time comes. Also, speaking of your future GM I think I speak for most Eagles fans when I ask... can you please not take Andy Weidl from us? Our front office has already been ransacked enough this off-season. 

I think where you guys got Calvin Austin at 138 overall was a steal, especially when you compare it to where some other smaller receivers went like Wan'Dale Robinson at 43 or Velus Jones at 71.... yuck. Sauce said at his combine interview that Austin was his toughest cover. Yeah, he's definitely small, but it doesn't matter if you can't touch him off the line. Dude is quick as hell and fast. Tore up the Senior Bowl when he went there. Really excited to see what he can do at the next level. I like that you paired him up with Pickens a bigger traditional X receiver with great ability to highpoint. They'll compliment each other nicely. I know Pickens has those maturity concerns which are real, but I think Mike Tomlin is the perfect coach to get the best out of him and provide a firm hand as he adjusts to being a pro.

Also, Connor Heyward could possibly be what you guys were hoping Jaylen Samuels would be for you, but I can't lie its funny to me that you guys took yet another brother lol.

[Matts4313]

7 hours ago, ET80 said:

Wow, Caserio in the top 10 and with the best class in his division.

I’m so conflicted - I still don’t like Cal or Easterby, but hearing Caserio talk about his eval process and watching him operate up and around on draft day  - he might be a genius.

I don’t know how to process this.

I remember trying to tell you that was a possibility a year ago and you told me that dude was nothing but a puppet. 

Im glad for the Texans that its looking like he isnt a puppet. 

4 hours ago, TheRealMcCoy said:

I'm really curious where he ends putting the Eagles. Obviously the spot where he ranked the Saints for misutilization of draft capital indicated to me that the Eagles should be pretty high, but we did only make 5 selections.

With the Saints trade we deferred one of our 3 first rounders to 2023 and picked up a 2nd for 2024 and also a late compensatory 3rd round pick that along with 18 overall went to the Titans for AJ Brown. I thought both of those were great examples of using the flexibility 3 first rounders provided us with, but it did kinda stink watching all these prospects only to take 1 of them in the 1st round.

I was probably the highest on the Eagles forum with the selection of Jordan Davis. Everyone was mocking him to the Chargers at 17 throughout the process until the combine and then everyone usually had him falling into the Ravens laps at 14 saying things like "he just looks like a Raven". With that said, it doesn't surprise me how interested the Eagles were in him. The way Gannon likes to play defense with a ton of 2 high safeties makes things a lot easier when you have a load up the middle that commands double teams and lets you play less guys in the box and get more in coverage. A big problem for the Eagles last year was teams early on in the season were running up the middle on us (despite the fact that we were like 6th in YPC allowed) and we generally gave up a lot of 3rd/4th & shorts. Gannon had to bring a safety down into the box a lot more as the season progressed cause of this which led to less men in coverage. I also don't think Jordan Davis is just some space eating NT like some want to bill him as. Georgia had Jalen Carter who is a great pass rusher and projected top 5 pick in a better draft class next year and Devonte Wyatt a much lighter and traditional 3T who would see the field more on 3rd downs. 

The recognition that he showed saying this at the combine made his stock go up in my eyes before we ever selected him. He knew the 350s-360s he was playing at in Georgia's defense wasn't gonna cut it at the next level. But, honestly I don't think that's really his fault and he was playing at a higher weight cause he was lazy. Georgia like I said didn't need him to be a penetrator in their defense. They needed him to be a mountain of a man and control the middle and be the wall on stunts for the looping DEs to make plays. If he can keep his weight in check and stay in a range of like high 320s to high 330s he can retain that explosion he had at the combine where he tested at 341. He reiterated at his Eagles introductory presser that his ideal weight is somewhere in the 330s. I think he walks into a perfect situation for him being able to learn from veterans like Fletcher Cox and Javon Hargrave, especially about rushing the passer. Aaron Donald is by far the best DT at winning with his insane quickness, but Fletcher Cox is probably the best DT at the bull rush in the past decade and I'm gonna love the fact Davis can improve that learning from him. We also drafted Milton Williams last year in the 3rd who is an insane athlete (tested better than Aaron Donald) and he improved as his rookie year went along. So, Jordan Davis won't be asked to play a crap ton of snaps as a rookie with a 4 deep rotation. He probably will be asked to mainly be the 0 or 1 tech this year, but I think he can play the 3T and 4i probably too in our defense, but those will probably come in future years after he's developed as a pass rusher and the vets are gone and not as a rookie.

The Cam Jurgens pick took some Eagles fans by surprise, but the writing was on the wall when Tony Pauline in his rumor column put that the Eagles were his floor at 51. The way he put that I wasn't sure if he would be there or not. Just strictly based on tape and not letting the measurables get you carried away he was probably a late 2nd to mid 2nd round prospect. Tons of Eagles fans were rioting they passed on him for Nakobe Dean, but Howie Roseman is always gonna value trenches above all else. Jurgens on tape showed amazing athleticism sometimes looking just like Kelce running way down field to block like it was nothing, but he played kinda hastily at times and the hands weren't always synced with the feet, but Jason said in a recent press conference that stuff like that is easily correctable. Plus, not only will he be learning from Kelce, but also in my opinion the best offensive line coach in the league who groomed Jason Kelce, Lane Johnson and most recently Jordan Mailata who was one of the best LTs last year and didn't even know how to buckle a chin strap when he got to Philly. It was reported that multiple teams had Jurgens above Linderbaum in their center rankings. With the situation he went to it wouldn't shock me at all if he ends up being the best center out of this class, but obviously Linderbaum with his years of consistent film deserved to be OC1 in this class. 

This was definitely Eagles fans favorite pick and its easy to see why with how little we have invested in LB. Last time we invested higher in the draft was Mychal Kendricks who we took one pick before Bobby Wagner and many picks before Lavonte David. Those two were much more instinctive LBs and how all 3 players careers panned out shouldn't be surprising. Brings me to Nakobe who knows he's not nearly the biggest and not the most athletic either. You can argue both of the other Georgia LBs had better size and pure athleticism (at least in a straight line). There is no doubting his intellect on the field or his leadership. I think Kirby Smart said he got the most votes ever on defense for captain in Georgia's history or something like that. The fact he controlled that super talented defense how he did with actions and his words on and off the field has me just as excited for as his play on it. Not sure how much of a leader a rookie stepping into a NFL team can be usually as a non QB, but I have no doubt he's gonna be a big time leader and culture changer within the next 2-3 years. He's an impressive young man and we are lucky he fell to 83.

That brings me to the Eagles last two picks which were both in the 6th round.

The Kyron Johnson pick took me by surprise probably more than any other pick. I'm gonna be honest I didn't watch much Kansas (can you blame me??) in the last year college or film cut-ups, so I had to go search who he was. I remembered those Senior Bowl reps, but I didn't know who he was when he did it. Looking up his profile it was easy to see why the Eagles were on him as a back-up at the SAM backer position whose main duty will be to get after the passer as a rusher, but also have some coverage responsibilities too. We signed Haason Reddick to a 3 year contract for like 15 million per year, so he's gonna be a back-up, but its a great spot for him to come in and learn behind Reddick who has had back-to-back double digit sack seasons and who also like him wins a lot with his great speed off the edge. Kyron is a former track guy who ran a blazing 4.36-4.40 (times I've seen reported). He has a real good motor and was a special teams ace at Kansas with over 600 snaps and 17 tackles. That's how he's gonna make his impact early on, but I'm interested to see how he develops behind Reddick and when he gets his opportunity to play. Maybe down the line he can develop into a starter after Reddick's contract is up after his last year when he will be 30 years old (we don't usually re-sign guys over 30), but that is probably getting way ahead of myself. I'll take the special teams impact year 1.

Grant Calcaterra was an interesting pick. He probably would've been selected a couple rounds higher if not for the concussion history that had him step away from the game after Oklahoma suggested it to him. He's not much of a blocker that isn't his strong suit, but he's a good receiving TE that you can move around. Sirianni alluded to him being the F-TE and being able to move him around. I think he steps in as automatically the #2 receiving threat from the TE position on the roster behind Dallas Goedert who is a beast. 

Apparently he also said all the doctors he met with were okay with him returning to football, but still its a factor and can't be ignored, but he has the potential to see the field most as a rookie out of the two 6th round selections.

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Not sure why I ended up going on such a long post, cause I don't really want to take the shine away from @goldfishwars. Sometimes I just get carried away once I start typing and after I got halfway into the Jordan Davis stuff I figured that I might as well finish what I started and touch on the whole (small) draft class to see how my thoughts would stack up with his when he does end up dropping the Eagles write-up.

That Kelce video 🤣

"Ive never seen a center who looks more like me" ... a sentence or two later .. "I mean, this guy is super athletic, so fast, so fluid, played tight end"... Way to pat yourself on the back there Kelce. 

[GHARMON9]

18 hours ago, onejayhawk said:

The athletic freak at LB is Troy Anderson. He's only the 4th  LB ever with an RAS of 10.0.

Among major school players it's Leo Chenal. His RAS is 9.99. He played almost exclusively off ball in college. Don't expect that at this level. His blitz potential is too valuable to ignore.
https://ras.football/ras-information/?PlayerID=21440

This is why I dont put that much emphasis on RAS score. Chanel does not move that well at all. Probably a great LB in the Tackle box but he will get shredded in the open field.