First impressions: Best and worst picks thus far?

[stl4life07]

I don’t understand forcing QB picks in Penix Jr., JJ McCarthy, and Bo Nix. Those picks feel like Jake Locker, Christian Ponder, and Blaine Gabbert. 

If I had to narrow it down Penix Jr. at 8 when the Falcons just paid a ton to Cousins really don’t make sense. He is 24 and will have to sit for two years at least. So he will be 27 before he sees the field as a starter. So an older first year starter with injury issues isn’t a good look. 
 

The Bills handing the Chiefs a speed threat to help Mahomes. Meanwhile the Bills still is looking for a receiver. That was a shocker to me.

I didn’t see Bowers falling to the Raiders at 13. Thanks to teams forcing picks at the QB position the Raiders got the steal of the draft. I also really liked the Rams getting Verse. An impact guy day one who has a high floor to be even better. Losing Donald is irreplaceable but having Verse, Young, Jones, and Turner on the front seven looks really good in the post Donald era. 

[bomont]

1 hour ago, ramssuperbowl99 said:

Exactly - different way of thinking about it: is it really any different than what the Broncos did this offseason?

Yes. COMPLETELY different. That seriously needs explaining?

Sorry, you are reaching to put it kindly. 

[bomont]

1 hour ago, diamondbull424 said:

Best Pick- Jags, Brian Thomas Jr
Best pick that stood out to me was the Jags trading down and grabbing a player they likely wanted at 17 in Brian Thomas Jr. IMO he’s the second best WR in this draft class behind MHJ. I love the fit and that’s a great dart IMO.

Worst Pick- Indy Colts, Laiatu Latu
I look at the medical situation and age and compare it to the fact that a superior prospect in Dallas Turner was available, who can do it all, and I feel like if Latu injury busts, it will have been easy to see coming. I could get it if Turner was off the board, but not with him on the board.

Agreed on both. wtf were the Colts thinking.......hey you can have the best defensive player in the country.....forget Turner, forget Verse, forget two stud CBs (a big need area for them), let's pick an injury-prone edge player. Good call! 

 

[Football_Bachelor08]

BEST 

Byron Murphy, Seahawks 

Jared Verse, Rams

Malik Nabers, Giants

Quinyon Mitchell, Eagles

Darius Robinson, Cardinals 

Caleb Williams & Rome Odunze, Bears

Taliese Fuaga, Saints

 

WORST

Michael Penix, Falcons 

Laiatu Latu, Colts

Tyler Guyton, Cowboys

Bo Nix, Broncos 

Jordan Morgan, Packers

Amarius Mims, Bengals 

 

Edited April 26 by Football_Bachelor08

[vike daddy]

1 hour ago, CWood21 said:

Just thinking outside the box here, if Kirk Cousins bounces back, what's his trade value?  The Falcons would save $2.5M by trading him after the season and the team acquiring him would get him for cap hits of $27.5M, $45M, and $45M with only $37.5M guaranteed.  I'm not saying they're going to get a haul for him, but I could see a team missing a QB giving up a Day 2 pick and some change.

does Kirko have a no trade clause? i don't know.

[KhanYouDigIt]

1 hour ago, diamondbull424 said:

Best Pick- Jags, Brian Thomas Jr
Best pick that stood out to me was the Jags trading down and grabbing a player they likely wanted at 17 in Brian Thomas Jr. IMO he’s the second best WR in this draft class behind MHJ. I love the fit and that’s a great dart IMO.

Worst Pick- Indy Colts, Laiatu Latu
I look at the medical situation and age and compare it to the fact that a superior prospect in Dallas Turner was available, who can do it all, and I feel like if Latu injury busts, it will have been easy to see coming. I could get it if Turner was off the board, but not with him on the board.

Kiss me

[DirtyDez]

Why sign Cousins in FA if they were in love with Penix? Did it happen that late in the process?  Also, was Arthur Blank not in the war room when it was going down?  It sure looked like the GM blindsided him.  I wish neither network hinted at it so it would’ve been even more of a shocker. 

[Dr A W Niloc]

3 hours ago, stl4life07 said:

If I had to narrow it down Penix Jr. at 8 when the Falcons just paid a ton to Cousins really don’t make sense.

     Agreed.  The only way the turd-in-a-punch-bowl Penix pick makes any sense whatsoever is if Atlanta has grave concerns about Cousins playing not only in subsequent years (as he ages out) but this year, recovering from his Achilles tendon surgery.

Quote

The Bills handing the Chiefs a speed threat to help Mahomes. Meanwhile the Bills still is looking for a receiver.

     Kansas City was going to have palatable choices of WRs at #32 anyway.  As it is, I'm not sure they made the best pick after trading up.  In any event, Buffalo may as well profit from it rather than let another team do so.  Also, this will help Buffalo's dire cap problem a little (30th, $3.6M).

Quote

I didn’t see Bowers falling to the Raiders at 13.

     The early drafters had bigger problems elsewhere.  Some expected Bowers to fall to Indianapolis.  This is some of the fallout from Atlanta taking Penix.  Denied a franchise QB, the Raiders deftly switched to Best Player Available mode, scoring a perfect match for the gator-armed Minshew whom they might have to start.  (FWIW, I suspect they'll pick up an intriguing prospect on Saturday.)

[HerbertGOAT]

Penix was terrible, but Bo Nix is there too. Lost in the shuffle is the Panthers trading up to give Bryce Young another Johnathan Mingo.

[Jeezla]

Winner - The team that gets Newton tomorrow

[Soko]

I actually don’t hate the Penix pick. Now, I don’t really like it neither, mostly because chances are that Penix doesn’t see the field until, at minimum, Y3 (he’ll be 26). I think it was a little bit of a reach but I also recognize that there was a clear QB premium that teams were going to pay this year, so walking away with one of these prospects meant taking them high. Not a great outcome/strategy, but one you understand. 

Do I think Atlanta could’ve drafted Rattler/Pratt later and been fine? Sure. Could they have signed Brissett or Darnold and then drafted Penix? Sure. But FA and the draft are hard to predict, so it is what it is. They’ll field a strong team for a few years and then hand it over to a guy that’s had plenty of time to refine his game. We all love the slow-grow strategy, but everyone always hates when the team takes the QB. It is what it is.

I don’t like the Chop or Latham picks, but that’s more because I don’t like the prospects all that much.

[thebestever6]

I think people are reacting too hard in a negative way to the picks of Penix and Nix. One I believe front offices may of been higher on them than the media, 2) People say of you could of traded down and got him.

The latter I definitely don't believe there were only a handful of trades done with the highest asset being a 2025 third changing hands and the other 4 trades weren't close to that. So if the value isn't there for a trade down staying there and getting your guy makes sense 

[notthatbluestuff]

4 hours ago, bomont said:

Agreed on both. wtf were the Colts thinking.......hey you can have the best defensive player in the country.....forget Turner, forget Verse, forget two stud CBs (a big need area for them), let's pick an injury-prone edge player. Good call! 

 

Ah yes, an "injury-prone" player who hasn't been injured in two years!

[MikeT14]

6 hours ago, ramssuperbowl99 said:

I'll be the guy you can all quote and say is an idiot.

The Falcons obviously made a mistake by spending $100MM and a top 10 pick on QBs. But the mistake was signing Cousins to a massive contract, not taking Penix. If you want to win anything that matters, Kirk Cousins isn't enough at QB. The sooner they move on, the better.

I'm not saying they are brilliant or anything, the overall offseason was dumb as hell. All I am saying is $60MM in future dead money should not keep a team from getting a franchise QB.

I think most people more or less agree. It wasn’t Penix that was the mistake. I think him going top 10 would have been a surprise, but a team like the raiders or Vikings or broncos taking maybe the most pro ready QB made sense. It’s all about the optics of Kirk. That’s why everyone gives this an F. I actually doubt you would have seen them otherwise. 

[MWil23]

6 hours ago, ramssuperbowl99 said:

They're not sitting him 2 years. Cousins is getting cut after this season and the Falcons are going to eat $60MM in dead cap money to do it. It's bad roster building and a $100MM free agent mistake.

It's not necessarily a bad draft pick.

Like everyone else in America, I just checked Spotrac. It’s $90M this year, $65M the next, then $25M. Kirk has a full no trade clause, but after last night I’d bet he’d be willing to waive it. If I’m a team like the Raiders, Kirk sounds a lot better than AOC.