AZ54

Drafting 101: Would you rather have Tavon Austin in 1st Rd http://stlouis.cbslocal.com/2013/04/25/ram...on-austin-at-8/ http://www.nfl.com/draft/2013/profiles/tav...stin?id=2539336 .... or Daniel Braverman in Rd 7? http://www.nfl.com/draft/2016/profiles/dan...rman?id=2556144 Austin is a little quicker and faster but neither of these guys will ever be a #1 or #2 WR.

I realize this draft wasn't loaded with WR talent but Detroit did not address the WR position at all in the draft. That's shocking to me and I think this will show up on game day. Packers overall I think did well in the first few rounds. There's a group of players in Day 3 I never really scouted. Their 4th Rd ILB Martinez from Stanford sounds slow and not decent in pass coverage but will lay the wood in the box. In today's game I much prefer Kwiatkoski who can cover very well and is still a good tackler in the box. The 4th Rd DE Lowry out of Northwestern was rated as 7th Rd pick or priority FA. He has 31" arms and he's 6'6" tall...how is that possible? 5th Rd Trevor Davis WR out of Cal...listed as mostly just a returner despite his 6'1" frame. Runs poor routes but he's fast with a 4.42 forty. I like their 7th Rd pick OT Kyle Murphy out of Stanford. I'd say the Vikings had a good draft especially on day 3. 4th Rd Willie Beavers could develop into a solid starting OT. 5th Rd Kentrell Brother LB, he's ok in the box but offers little versatility. They landed Boehringer in the 6th Rd and even though he won't be ready to play for a year or two I like the guy and I'm glad he's got a shot in the NFL with his favorite team. 7th Rd Stephen Weatherly seems like a good DE prospect. Last they took Jayron Kearse in the 7th who I liked as a prospect.

2min of highlights from last season. Where are the line drive throws on the 20 yard out patterns? That's why I was wondering how many of his games you have watched. I saw him when he arrived in Arizona and there's just no comparison in arm strength between him and Cutler. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tepWXInsQ04

http://www.cbssports.com/nfl/writer/pete-p...-but-only-one-a http://www.walterfootball.com/offseason2016chi.php

RB: Carey could be cut if Rodgers is healthy unless they really want to keep 4. TE: Braunecker gives us some options on how to shape the roster but most likely Housler stays as the blocking TE and Lee/Braunecker compete for a spot. WR: I agree with you on WR. I've given up on Wilson and would really like to see us pickup a solid vet FA. OL: Love the fact we have too much interior talent to know who makes the team. At OT I liked Tayo coming out of college and judging by his last video he's slimmed down. Last year they kept him on the roster all season long instead of the practice squad. They must have seen something in him. At a minimum I think he'll be ok at RT. All the OTs we've signed in UDFA indicates they want some competition here. DT: I think Will Sutton's career with the Bears is done. Bullard offers far more as an interior pass rusher. Since Ego beat him out last year for a starting job I expect he'll win the battle for a roster spot along with Unrein. Cornelius Washington will be the most interesting to watch because he started out doing some good things in camp last year. Now with a full year under his belt at this new position and weight I'm very curious to see what he can do. OLB: We're going to keep at least 4 on the roster. Right now we have McPhee, Houston, Floyd, Young, and Acho. If you cut Houston who takes his place? Floyd is not going to handle the running game so I think Houston stays with the Bears. That leaves Houston and McPhee as starters on the edge. Willie Young is definitely the odd man here but he was still productive in our 4-man fronts and he's cheap so I see no reason to get rid of him. If we get a good trade offer then ok. Acho is likely odd man out and if the UDFA Robertson-Harris is doing well I can definitely see Young being cut but I don't expect that. In the end Floyd replaces Acho. ILB: Trevathan and Freeman locked in as starters. Kwiatkoski makes the team. 4th spot likely goes to Timu IMO who out played Anderson at the end of the season. CB: I think we are set and neither of the UDFAs impressed me that much on games I watched to make me think they'll challenge for a roster spot. S: Does Antrel Rolle stay? For now yes. By the end of training camp? These young guys can play. I think DHC will stand out sooner as he seemed to have better instincts in the games I watched. One thing with all 3 of the DBs (Hall, Bush, and DHC) I think our special teams are going to be much better. Bush in particular said he played on all 4 special teams in college and he likes doing it, and he likes to hit people.

I don't see Hoyer as being anywhere close to Cutler in terms of talent. I'm not sure which or how many of his games you have watched but there are a lot of NFL throws Hoyer cannot make. I'll be surprised if Mariani makes this team. Deonte Thompson and Braverman offer more in terms of speed/quickness and have comparable hands. Unless Cam Meredith has made some big strides this offseason I expect or hope we'll be signing a vet FA WR to fill out the depth at WR (at the expense of Wilson).

Watched Calhoun against LSU and Alabama. He has a chance to develop in a year or two but he needs to get stronger and learn some better technique.

I hope not because that should be Floyd but I can see him becoming a good starter for us in a couple years. Right now he is better than anyone who started for us last year. I think we've seen the last of Anderson and Timu makes the team.

Getting Braunecker as a UDFA is very good. He has a shot at making the roster. Nobody would have been upset had we taken him in the 5th or 6th Rd.

That's BPA and impressive just from talent perspective in the late rounds. I felt for sure we'd take a TE in the 7th Rd.

As backups go, I feel good about Hoyer. He can do enough and his experience is far better than having a rookie back there.

and against Mich State... http://draftbreakdown.com/video/daniel-bra...gan-state-2015/ I agree, he's Mariani's replacement as both returner and slot WR.

QBs remaining: Brandon Doughty and Jake Coker but I'd prefer to just go with Hoyer as our backup this season. TE: Still have Beau Sandland and Ben Braunecker. Devon Cajuste is still on the board and I like him as a guy to convert to TE.

Very happy with this draft. Kwiatkowski will become a fan favorite and I think the Bears have a him lose a bit of weight so he can play with speed at ILB. These Safeties are all players I like, especially as late as we we were able to draft them. Bush has explosive burst and likes to hit, I've missed that among our safeties for a long time. DHC looks like a student of the game type as he often diagnoses plays. Regardless, we have a lot of competition and I think Antrel Rolle will be headed out of town once the coaches see what they have on the field. CB Hall...called for him in the Dry Heat Mock. He has outstanding read and react to the ball, and hustle, even when it is away from him. Plus he has the size to match up well against bigger WRs. RB Howard... I'm not as big a fan as some are because he's not that quick laterally but he will bring a power element to our running game that is a good mix with Langford. Putting him behind this strong interior Oline we just built and he's going to wear down defenses.

I'm looking at what our division rivals have done in the draft and let's open the floor for comments. I'll start with the team I hate the most. Packers: 1st: Kenny Clark DT. I felt they had better options available the way the DTs fell in the draft. This was a head-scratcher for me but that's ok. He won't be a bad player for them I just felt there were others with more upside available. 2nd: Jason Spriggs OT. Good pick for them 3rd: Kyler Fackrell OLB. It will be tough for me to watch the hometown kid wearing a Packer's jersey twice a season. He's not elite at anything but is a good jack-of-all-trades type. I really thought they'd push more for ILB help in order to get blondie back to OLB. If I have to choose between Mathews or Fackrell off the edge I know who I prefer. Vikings: 1st: Laquon Treadwell. He's a good WR but is he really going to worry anyone on deep routes? I doubt in any of the previous 3 drafts he would have been a 1st Rd WR. I'm glad they did not get Doctson. That kids hands are unbelievable. 2nd: Mackensie Alexander. I like the moxie this kid plays with and felt he would have been a good addition to our CB group. That same attitude leads to some holes in his game. Can the Vikings fix them? 3rd: No pick Lions: 1st: Taylor Decker OT. Good player 2nd: A'Shawn Robinson DT. Pure run stopper and I preferred his teammate Reed over him simply because Reed hustles on plays away from him, Robinson does not. So either way he won't move. 3rd: Graham Glasgow OG. After reading analysis I'm not sure why they made this pick. It is not a need for them and he's not that athletic. With players like Westerman still on the board it seems they had better options.

Jerell Adams is still out there (maybe his grade is a 5.4?) and I'd say Higbee's 5.5 grade should have dropped after he threw that punch outside a bar.

I understand more about why we traded up to get Floyd. Go back and look at Kevin White last year, these kids are from good families, good character, and team first. Floyd has a lot to learn but I think he has the right mindset to get it done. http://www.chicagobears.com/multimedia/vid...f0-b9caa8a2f715

PFF is a bit different in how they do their assessments. Gil Brandt who has been doing this draft stuff since forever and ranked Cody Whitehair #47 and Bullard #26 overall. At least one ranking on NFL.com shows Whitehair #43 overall and Bullard #47. Rankings this draft are all over the place and I know I can find one that has Whitehair as a 1st Rd pick. It's fair to say we got good to great value with two early 2nd Rd talents at the end of the 2nd Rd, and in the 3rd Rd.

I don't think Jason Taylor had as much first step quickness as Floyd. He did have the lean and long frame and still managed to be successful.

Or a safety.

With so many DTs and DEs still sitting there I see some teams willing to trade up to get one. I think we'll trade back and try to gain back the 4th Rd pick pick we lost, or at least a 5th Rd pick. In my mind we should be taking one of the DTs that fell out of the 1st Rd: Reed, Robinson, or Jones.

Floyd wasn't my first choice because I have concerns about his run stopping ability. However, what you point out as our strength is exactly what will help him succeed early in his career as a pass rusher. He wasn't drafted to stop the run, just to hunt QBs. We have other big bodies in McPhee, Houston that will handle the heavy lifting on the early downs. On the flip side when we play a team with a good move TE Floyd with his 4.6 speed can cover him when no other OLB on our roster can do so. To look at it another way, Floyd is faster and quicker than the WR the Vikings just drafted (Treadwell). Add in that Fox, Fangio, Clint Hurtt, and all the scouts are very high on this kid. Whatever you might feel about Pace, I think we can absolutely trust Vic Fangio to not only identify the talent but also to get him coached up properly to rush off the edge. I have no idea why Georgia's coaches moved him all over the field (ILB, OLB, DE, sometimes he played NB). That clearly hindered his stats and led to the mystery of what position does Floyd play. If we can add someone like Jaran Reed, A'Shawn Robinson, or my favorite Chris Jones in Rd 2 we will have taken our Dline from a weakness 12 months ago to a real strength. Any of those guys, along with Goldman or Hicks, are strong enough to drive an OG wide into the OT and that leaves a gap for Floyd to stunt into. Behind that front we now have two very good ILB who are fast and know how to find the ball. With Floyd on the field they don't necessarily have to be the player who drops into coverage.

Regarding Leonard Floyd: http://www.chicagobears.com/news/article-1...6d-c2e8759bd0b2 "We were concerned he would go a couple of picks ahead of us," Pace said. "This is a guy we identified, a guy we wanted, so we didn't sit on our hands. The luxury of having extra picks gives us the ammunition to do those things. "There was a consensus on this player; all the scouts, all the coaches all had this guy graded very similar. For me, that kind of makes it an easier decision. In addition to that, it fills a major need on our defense. We were excited about it and wanted to be aggressive and ensure we get the guy that we wanted." add a couple more quotes: Bears defensive coordinator Vic Fangio and outside linebackers coach Clint Hurtt are both eager to begin working with Floyd, who led Georgia in sacks each of the last three seasons with 6.5. 6.0 and 4.5. "Vic likes this guy a lot; Clint Hurtt does, too," Pace said. "Both those guys are excellent coaches. It just gives me a lot of confidence when you bring someone like this in the building for them to further develop the player. In addition, this player has the right attitude and mindset for that. He's hungry. He's high energy. He plays with a lot of enthusiasm and passion. I think that all comes together."

If those were their two main targets the Giants really got screwed in this draft with teams trading ahead of them for Conklin and Floyd.

Very surprised we traded up for Floyd. This kid has springs for legs and his first step is very quick but he needs a lot of work.