Thoughts on other AFC North teams' drafts

[wackywabbit]

What do you see the rest of the teams in the division doing?

Steelers - Their defense was completely wrecked by the loss of Shazier (*nudge nudge* all those not eager to lock up Molsey). They need to plug that hole. Seems like one of the easiest team to position matches to predict.

Bengals - Like the Steelers, they have one area that seems obvious to address early. Their offensive line was the predictable downfall. Good move by them to get Cordy Glenn, but they still need to add more starter-level players. I think with a decent offensive line they can be back to playoff contender status immediately. 

Browns - The most interesting question is if they finally get it right this time with their premium picks. I hope they take Darnold. He's good and I get why he's a top prospect, but I don't see him being a superstar. I'd be concerned if they end up with Josh Allen and Barkley. Allen can be a carry-the-team superstar if developed correctly. He's got more bust potential than Darnold though, so we'll see if Cleveland is bold enough.. Barkley will be a huge pain to deal with as an opposing defense. I'd prefer it if they traded back with someone like the Bills and continued to stockpile assets aka delay being good.

[berlin calling]

i just hope the Bengals keep ignoring the OLine, Steelers keep missing on high picks and the Browns will look for another franchise QB in 2-3 years.

[diamondbull424]

Browns

I hope the Browns select Josh Allen, he’s looked savant status in shorts and in all star games where you barely get touched. He has horrible pocket poise and I’d love to go up against that 2x a year for 10 years. I don’t want them to take Barkley because he’s a beast, but I’m starting to find that pick preferable. I’d much prefer Barkley as an elite player for the next 5-7 years than for them to pick an elite defensive player like Bradley Chubb, who I see as a more athletic version of Terrell Suggs, a technician rusher. Or a potentially dominant deep threat safety such as Fitzpatrick. So yeah, Barkley is what I prefer as the lesser of two evils.

I do think they will draft, Josh Allen, but I could see them trading down from #1 to a team like the Bills, who have the look of a franchise desparate for a game changer. I think the Bills are targeting Sam Darnold and go up to #1 to get him. The Browns will probably start pumping smoke soon about Darnold even though Allen is “their guy”, the Bills get scared and dump their deal with the Giants and pass it to the Browns. The Giants go to their backup plan and make a deal with the Broncos. The top 4 goes: Darnold to Bills, Rosen to Broncos, Mayfield to Jets, Allen (1st) to Browns.

Browns have some front 7 talent and likely build on their strength by going DT with Haloti Ngata clone Vita Vea (1st).  This is a deep corner class and I’d be surprised  if they don’t stack up on talent, they probably go for someone splashy, I could see Josh Jackson (1st) fitting the bill. Then at the top of the second round I think the offense, particularly the OL goes back to being the priority area to address. Thus I think they go with bookend tackles back to back picks in Kolton Miller (2nd) and Orlando Brown (2nd).

Pittsburgh

I expect them to go after LVE or Evans. They’re really good with a middle defender. That said, even with taking Burns and signing Haden, they've been looking for secondary help for some time and this is the deepest such class in some time, a lot to like. I think they go to Alabama for safety Ronnie Harrison (1st) and then go after a guy like Darius Leonard (2nd) later in the draft.

Bengals

Marvin Lewis is under a lot of pressure to right the ship. I expect John Ross to be a factor as a weapon next year, so that will help their offense. They could use a more consistent TE and they love athletes, I could see them target Mike Gesicki (2nd) in the 2nd round. The first round I’m not too sure about. But they tend to like taking OL players I like and again they like athletes, so Connor Williams (1st) might end up falling and being their selection. It also wouldn’t surprise me to see Roquan Smith fall for medical concerns and size and see them snap him up, especially with Burfict always have issues on the field and now with the PED business, off the field.

[Danand]

Browns should go Darnold/Mayfield and then Barkley/Chubb.  If I was the Browns, I would go Mayfield, Chubb and then trade into the 1. round to select whoever, maybe Guice to get that 5 year option.

Bengals no matter what should select oline and almost only oline unless they go with Roquan Smith or Edmunds og Evans. Still, the should rather try to help Dalton instead of improving their defense. If they don't go oline, they just don't care about helping their QB.

Steelers should take a long hard look at Justin Reid who is a cerebral safety who could tie together that secondary. I also think a Sam Hubbard would make sense for them

[Mancunian Raven]

I don't really care who the Browns draft at QB. The odds are good that they'll get it wrong, either in the selection or in the coaching and development of the player. All I really care about is that they miss out on Barkley, because I think he's the one offensive player at the top of the draft who could turn them into a very effective offensive team. The downside is, this means they'd probably take Chubb at #4. Or they might trade down and get even more picks.

The Bengals need O-line, and they seem to recognise the depressed value in this draft, by trading down, They can still probably get one of the top three O-line prospects at #21. But I think they're also going to need to address their D-line soon, and a falling talent like Da'Ron Payne or Maurice Hurst might be too tempting to pass up.

The Steelers are interesting. They have good players at most positions, but great players at few. They could look for a RB to reduce their need to pay Bell, or a Safety to replace Mike Mitchell (who they wisely cut), or a pass rusher.