2023 Draft Early Winners & Losers

[Spartacus]

2 hours ago, Epyon said:

I'm going to go ahead and call the Bears a loser today.

They have zero players who can play Center on the roster and they had chances to draft every Center taken, which more or less included every guy I had as a day 1 starter....

Philosophically speaking, I'd add dropping all 3 picks on defense today was questionable in itself..... Bears defense was admittedly bad last year, and I while I don't hate the picks themselves (Dexter-DT, Stevenson-CB, Pickens-DT), we are also down to the wire on evaluating Fields as a long term guy, and almost assuredly still non competitive this season. I'd much rather have seen over investment in the offense, so we give Fields every opportunity to show us he can be the guy now, and at least make the games fun to watch.

Interesting. I thought the Bears had an extremely solid draft so far. It's boring but they stayed in the premium positions and trenches without any major reaches. The exact opposite of the Lions draft which for the draft capital they had I really dislike overall and find to be about as mediocre as any team.

[Spartacus]

5 hours ago, Ragnarok said:

We could have had such a better draft to help Love next year.  JSN at 13, any other available TE at 42, just about any other player at 45.  Kraft isn't that bad in comparison, but good lord, we have sucked.

What other TE would you have taken? Your wrong about Musgrave. My favorite player in this draft and I think if he doesn't have an injury last year would probably be alot closer to getting drafted with Kincaid in the 1st then mid 2nd. 

[TankWilliams]

3 hours ago, Epyon said:

I'm going to go ahead and call the Bears a loser today.

They have zero players who can play Center on the roster and they had chances to draft every Center taken, which more or less included every guy I had as a day 1 starter....

Philosophically speaking, I'd add dropping all 3 picks on defense today was questionable in itself..... Bears defense was admittedly bad last year, and I while I don't hate the picks themselves (Dexter-DT, Stevenson-CB, Pickens-DT), we are also down to the wire on evaluating Fields as a long term guy, and almost assuredly still non competitive this season. I'd much rather have seen over investment in the offense, so we give Fields every opportunity to show us he can be the guy now, and at least make the games fun to watch.

I disagree with you. I am not in love with the players but mostly because I'm really disappointed with how the board went ahead of them. And Zero players who can play center? Whitehair started at center for a lot of games, I think it was like 5000 snaps. There is definitely room for improvement but to act as if he's a zero is not accurate in my mind.

[Hunter2_1]

I didn’t like Lions day one but I really like their day two

[JaguarCrazy2832]

20 minutes ago, Hunter2_1 said:

I didn’t like Lions day one but I really like their day two

Yea Lions had a Raiders type of draft. If you jumble it up it looks much better

[goldfishwars]

Lol - missed this. Broncos man.

 

[Ozzy]

What the hell is wrong with the NFL, Darnell Washington falls to the 3rd round and 7 TEs are drafted ahead of this guy?  Yeah Steelers got a straight up steal and a monster blocker!  Since when is Washington not a great blocker?  They talked about him after he was picked as if he is some poor blocker, dude is a physical force and impacts the game greatly as a blocker and a big body weapon you cannot really cover.  No clue what Dallas is doing, Schoonmaker is ok but in no way is he better than Darnell Washington or Tucker Kraft for that matter.   

 

 

 

[Hunter2_1]

5 minutes ago, Ozzy said:

What the hell is wrong with the NFL, Darnell Washington falls to the 3rd round and 7 TEs are drafted ahead of this guy?  Yeah Steelers got a straight up steal and a monster blocker!  Since when is Washington not a great blocker?  They talked about him after he was picked as if he is some poor blocker, dude is a physical force and impacts the game greatly as a blocker and a big body weapon you cannot really cover.  No clue what Dallas is doing, Schoonmaker is ok but in no way is he better than Darnell Washington or Tucker Kraft for that matter.   

 

 

 

It’s got to be health/fitness related.

this probably scares coaches/GMs way more than we know. We find it annoying, they find it a matter of upmost priority. We all know the “availability is the best ability” quote.

that said, I don’t know how injured he is or was, and I still would have drafted him in R2

[rob_shadows]

1 minute ago, JaguarCrazy2832 said:

Yea Lions had a Raiders type of draft. If you jumble it up it looks much better

One thing I will say about the Lions draft is the first 2 rounds they focused exclusively on players who will be major contributors from day one. 

Gibbs - Will see heavy usage from day one

Campbell - Likely day 1 starter at LB

LaPorta - Day 1 starting TE

Branch - Will be in the DB rotation from day 1

I get people saying the positions aren't as important and don't have as much "positional value" as say DE, DT, or CB and I agree those positions are more important but Gibbs was the only player picked over a D-lineman or CB who would have potentially been a day 1 impact player. Unfortunately the reality is this was a very weak D-line class at the top and the Lions just brought in two starting CBs in F/A (3 if you count CJGJ as a NB instead of a S).

As far as the "why did they take Gibbs when they have Swift and Montgomery" talk....Swift's days have been numbered for a while now, between his inability to stay healthy and the coaches not being happy with him there was zero chance he would be here beyond his rookie contract. 

My guess is the Lions feel like with the additions in F/A to the DBs they are in a position to challenge for the division title next year and wanted to get guys who would be ready to make an impact right away.

Will it work? No clue. Would I have done would they did? Ehh...I wouldn't have taken Gibbs at 12 (I would have taken Gonzalez or Van Ness) but the rest I'm fine with although admittedly with LaPorta it's more I'm fine with the position than the exact player as I don't know much about him...never watched him play...seems to have a pretty good athletic profile though...considerably more athletic than Mayer...hopefully that helps him become the better player so we don't regret making the choice.

[MikeT14]

I really like what the Bills have done. 

[rob_shadows]

Just now, Hunter2_1 said:

It’s got to be health/fitness related.

this probably scares coaches/GMs way more than we know. We find it annoying, they find it a matter of upmost priority. We all know the “availability is the best ability” quote.

that said, I don’t know how injured he is or was, and I still would have drafted him in R2

Unless his health issue is something congenital I'd have rather the Lions took him than LaPorta personally. 

[Hunter2_1]

1 minute ago, rob_shadows said:

Unless his health issue is something congenital I'd have rather the Lions took him than LaPorta personally. 

Yeah you seem to get a bit more blocking to go along with the athleticism with Wash. I do like LaPorta, but I had him 1 behind Wash 

[Ozzy]

3 minutes ago, Hunter2_1 said:

It’s got to be health/fitness related.

this probably scares coaches/GMs way more than we know. We find it annoying, they find it a matter of upmost priority. We all know the “availability is the best ability” quote.

that said, I don’t know how injured he is or was, and I still would have drafted him in R2

Musgrave was picked by the Packers at #42 and he missed basically the entire season, and was 51 picks ahead of where Washington was picked a guy you did not miss basically the entire season. 

 

Sure Kraft who I thought should have been a 2nd rounder and picked by Dallas, he missed most of last year as well outside of the first game and the last few.  And Kuntz has missed basically all of last season as well and has not been picked but is a freak show athlete.  Not sure if NFL guys do not like super tall TEs or what, but both Washington and Kuntz could be a nightmare to cover.

 

And Washington, look at that power and how easily he moves that sled compared to some of the other TEs.  No TE in that drill when I watched it live moved that thing and had that power, has been said but basically he is a 6th OL out there and was a huge part of Georgia winning over the past three years.  He is a force and a game changer, sure he can get hurt but did play 15 games last year and has played ever since he was a true freshman at the highest college level possible right out the gate.  

 

7 minutes ago, Hunter2_1 said:

Yeah you seem to get a bit more blocking to go along with the athleticism with Wash. I do like LaPorta, but I had him 1 behind Wash 

LaPorta if he played for another team than Iowa would not have been picked that highly.  I like him but athletically he is nothing great and is not real thick, probably played at 240 in college or under that most of the time but that is what the NFL wants, little TEs who can run and are basically a WR, like Kincaid.  I would rather have the guys like Rob Gronkowski, dude could block and was a monster weapon in the passing game.  A duel TE, not sure LaPorta or Kincaid are all that great of blockers, it is hard to find a good blocking TE who is a weapon in the passing game and Washington can be that and so can Kraft.  

[rob_shadows]

18 minutes ago, Ozzy said:

Musgrave was picked by the Packers at #42 and he missed basically the entire season, and was 51 picks ahead of where Washington was picked a guy you did not miss basically the entire season. 

 

Sure Kraft who I thought should have been a 2nd rounder and picked by Dallas, he missed most of last year as well outside of the first game and the last few.  And Kuntz has missed basically all of last season as well and has not been picked but is a freak show athlete.  Not sure if NFL guys do not like super tall TEs or what, but both Washington and Kuntz could be a nightmare to cover.

 

And Washington, look at that power and how easily he moves that sled compared to some of the other TEs.  No TE in that drill when I watched it live moved that thing and had that power, has been said but basically he is a 6th OL out there and was a huge part of Georgia winning over the past three years.  He is a force and a game changer, sure he can get hurt but did play 15 games last year and has played ever since he was a true freshman at the highest college level possible right out the gate.  

 

LaPorta if he played for another team than Iowa would not have been picked that highly.  I like him but athletically he is nothing great and is not real thick, probably played at 240 in college or under that most of the time but that is what the NFL wants, little TEs who can run and are basically a WR, like Kincaid.  I would rather have the guys like Rob Gronkowski, dude could block and was a monster weapon in the passing game.  A duel TE, not sure LaPorta or Kincaid are all that great of blockers, it is hard to find a good blocking TE who is a weapon in the passing game and Washington can be that and so can Kraft.  

Athletically is nothing great? He's a 9.25 RAS

4.59 40, 35" vertical, 6.91 3-cone, 4.25 shuttle

I have no idea how good he's going to end up being but if he busts it won't be due to lack of athleticism. Athletically he grades higher than the last Iowa TE the Lions drafted and that was 9th overall. He also had better production in college than Hockenson as LaPorta is Iowa's all time leader in receptions by a TE. 

Like I said I didn't watch any Iowa games...maybe they just force fed him the ball...but a better athletic profile and better production than the guy drafted 9th overall a few years ago seems pretty decent. 

...although it also highlights how stupid it was to take Hockenson 9th overall to begin with😕

 

Edited April 29, 2023 by rob_shadows

[goldfishwars]

Quite like that the Packers got a safety valve for Musgrave in Kraft. If both hit, watch out.