2018 Draft Prospects

[51to54]

49 minutes ago, Superman(DH23) said:

Edmunds may be 19, but he's 6'5" 260 lbs.  He has his adult NFL size.  His size isnt the issue, its the projection, bc if you want him to play on the edge, its a pure projection.  If you are playing him inside a) there are issues on tape, b) its not as valuable position wise.

Agreed. Changing his position adds another layer of uncertainty to drafting him 8. Per size,  lot's of guys get their size in their teens, but then they can still 'grow' into their adult strength. While brains keep developing into the mid-20's, I don't think that vision and awareness suddenly appear when a guy hits 23.

[G08]

On 3/24/2018 at 11:19 PM, Epyon said:

His size was covered in the Voch Lombardi vid.

Player A:   6ft 3inch Height, 32 1/2 arm length, 246lbs, 9 1/4 inch hands

Player B:   6ft 3in  height,  32  7/8 arm length, 252lbs, 9 3/8in hands  

Player C:    6ft 3inch Height, 33 3/4inch arm, 251lbs, 11inch hands 

Player D: 6ft 3inch Height, 32 1/2 arms, 246lbs, 9 3/8in hands

 

 

That's Von Miller, Harold Landry, Demarcus Lawrence, and Vic Beasley.... He's big enough.

 

 

 

Von Miller has 33 1/2" arms.

[G08]

3 hours ago, WindyCity said:

Floyd was used off the ball a ton a ton at Georgia and has settled in nicely outside.

If you want a pure ILB I just think you will end up happier with Roquan who has great instincts and awareness and is also a freak athlete.

I'm tired of liking all your replies in this thread so I'm just going to quote you and say "bingo" here.

The idea isn't drafting Edmunds to play ILB, because as you said his instincts seem to be lacking there. Could you develop him over time to play there? Sure. I look at his body time and I think he's perfect on the edge opposite Leonard Floyd. Why? Size/Speed/Length AND he has proven ability in coverage. He's covered slot WRs, he's carried RBs up the field on wheel routes, and honestly I think Fangio can tell Floyd to just pin his ears back and get after the QB if he wants Edmunds to randomly drop into coverage at times (although, knowing what we know of Fangio he's going to mix and match there).

At this point, I don't care who we take at 8 anymore. There is a stud at LG (Nelson), two or three very intriguing pass rushers (Edmunds, Landry, Davenport), and a corner/hybrid defender (Fitzpatrick). We really can't go wrong. Edmunds at 8 makes me happy, I wouldn't mind Landry at all in a small trade-down with a team like Miami or Buffalo, etc.

[IronMike84]

The problem I have with Edmunds as a pass rusher is we haven’t seen him do it much. So we’re taking about taking an ILB at #8 and having him do something he hasn’t done much purely because we like his H/W/S and that position/role switch would be done to mask his poor instincts and our frame of reference is that if Leonard Floyd did it, so can he. That’s a really tough sell to me.

If you tell me “he’s an ILB, we’re drafting him to play ILB, and we think his instincts will improve,” that still scares me a bit but I’d be much easier sold on that.

[Madmike90]

Really don't get this fascination with trying to move Edmunds outside...he might not have the greatest instincts but his physical traits allow you to think with development and coaching he can be a superstar ILB...moving him is a waste and if you are determined to draft an OLB with crazy physical traits then why not just take Davenport given that is what he has always done.

[G08]

27 minutes ago, IronMike84 said:

The problem I have with Edmunds as a pass rusher is we haven’t seen him do it much. So we’re taking about taking an ILB at #8 and having him do something he hasn’t done much purely because we like his H/W/S and that position/role switch would be done to mask his poor instincts and our frame of reference is that if Leonard Floyd did it, so can he. That’s a really tough sell to me.

If you tell me “he’s an ILB, we’re drafting him to play ILB, and we think his instincts will improve,” that still scares me a bit but I’d be much easier sold on that.

That's fair, I'd much rather see things on tape but sometimes that isn't the reality. There has to be some projection there with a prospect like this. I think his versatility would be tremendous at OLB; it would allow for Fangio to send pressure from anywhere (corner, inside, etc) and he could use Edmunds and/or Floyd in coverage. Again, kid is only 19 and I'm old enough to remember Urlacher getting ragged on for having poor instincts until he was eventually moved to MILB.

[topwop1]

56 minutes ago, Madmike90 said:

Really don't get this fascination with trying to move Edmunds outside...he might not have the greatest instincts but his physical traits allow you to think with development and coaching he can be a superstar ILB...moving him is a waste and if you are determined to draft an OLB with crazy physical traits then why not just take Davenport given that is what he has always done.

Agreed. Edmunds seems like a run and chase off the ball LB and not a pure pass rusher. As of now I'd be hesitant to draft Edmunds in the top-10 if we're projecting him as an OLB/Edge rusher. 

In that case I'd be more inclined to go with either Davenport or Landry.

Edmunds is more of a Will LB than a Joker LB, which is what this defense sorely needs.

Edited March 27, 2018 by topwop1

[IronMike84]

To me, if Pace is locked into taking a pass rusher at #8–which I don’t think he is—then he has to find a way to move back, even if it’s for less compensation than he’s happy with.

We’re overthinking this Davenport/Landry thing. Granted we don’t know what Pace’s grades will look like, but on the surface it looks like much better players than Davenport/Landry will be on the board at #8.

[topwop1]

35 minutes ago, IronMike84 said:

To me, if Pace is locked into taking a pass rusher at #8–which I don’t think he is—then he has to find a way to move back, even if it’s for less compensation than he’s happy with.

We’re overthinking this Davenport/Landry thing. Granted we don’t know what Pace’s grades will look like, but on the surface it looks like much better players than Davenport/Landry will be on the board at #8.

Agreed that Pace should be able to trade down and still get a guy like Davenport or Landry, if that's who he covets.

The only guys I think he will legit take at 8 if they are there are Nelson, Chubb, Fitzpatrick or Barkley.

[Epyon]

44 minutes ago, IronMike84 said:

To me, if Pace is locked into taking a pass rusher at #8–which I don’t think he is—then he has to find a way to move back, even if it’s for less compensation than he’s happy with.

We’re overthinking this Davenport/Landry thing. Granted we don’t know what Pace’s grades will look like, but on the surface it looks like much better players than Davenport/Landry will be on the board at #8.

And if you look at Landry's non injured 2016 tape, we'd be talking about trading UP for him.... ./shrug

 

Regardless of the argument whether Landry is worth it not (I think he is), Denzel Ward-CB is the other guy I'm really heavily invested in for our range.  His size @CB is less of a concern to me than Roquan Smith @ MLB, and there's some great clips of Ward absolutely destroying guys with physicality despite his size.  I'd be very shocked if Ward didn't come away as our team's best CB even being undersized and even being a rookie by the end of year one.

Nelson, Ward, or Landry and I'm super happy with our first rounder.

 

Edited March 27, 2018 by Epyon

[IronMike84]

6 minutes ago, Epyon said:

And if you look at Landry's non injured 2016 tape, we'd be talking about trading UP for him.... ./shrug

But we can say that about a lot of guys. Stocks fall. Will Sutton is a really good Bears example of that.

[WindyCity]

8 hours ago, Madmike90 said:

Really don't get this fascination with trying to move Edmunds outside...he might not have the greatest instincts but his physical traits allow you to think with development and coaching he can be a superstar ILB...moving him is a waste and if you are determined to draft an OLB with crazy physical traits then why not just take Davenport given that is what he has always done.

Because I can’t use him in coverage like I can Edmunds.

He may be a more developed pass rusher right now, but Edmunds has a unique skill set even if he is moved to OLB.

Floyd is not rushing the passer the entire time, I envision Edmunds doing the same.

[Madmike90]

11 minutes ago, WindyCity said:

Because I can’t use him in coverage like I can Edmunds.

He may be a more developed pass rusher right now, but Edmunds has a unique skill set even if he is moved to OLB.

Floyd is not rushing the passer the entire time, I envision Edmunds doing the same.

And Edmunds can't rush the same as Davenport so what's your point?...if you want someone to cover and do a lot of different things draft Edmunds and keep him at ILB and let him to a lot of things...if you want someone to rush the passer draft Davenport and let him rush the passer...depends on what Pace values more.

[G08]

I think Nelson is going to be sitting atop Pace's board. We have a glaring hole at LG, Harry Hiestand knows him inside-out, and this offense is going to need to protect with 5. If Massie is the weak link on the line, you can have Kyle keep an eye out there and keep everyone else singled up (pending blitzes yatta yatta).

Will he be there at 8? I don't know. If he's not, I'll bet dollars-to-donuts we either draft a pass rusher or trade down.

[WindyCity]

52 minutes ago, Madmike90 said:

And Edmunds can't rush the same as Davenport so what's your point?...if you want someone to cover and do a lot of different things draft Edmunds and keep him at ILB and let him to a lot of things...if you want someone to rush the passer draft Davenport and let him rush the passer...depends on what Pace values more.

I think you are focusing too much on what they have already shown.

Davenport needs work as a pass rusher.

If I am going to be developing a pass rusher why not develop the guy who has a more interesting skill set?

I also don’t think Edmunds is not well suited to play ILB in a system that demands a ton mentally from the positon. Ideally he would play SLB in a 4-3 and just run to the Ball.

Edited March 28, 2018 by WindyCity