AZ54

Figure I'd start a new thread just to capture some combine players who stood out to me. I haven't watched everything from day 1 yet and most of these guys I'll have to go find some film on. DT Dante Stills. Smooth athlete, maybe a bit of a tweener but could be a good depth option on day 3. DT. Calijah Kancey ran a 4.67 forty. I wish he'd done the drills to see how fluid he was but just watching him run you can tell he's a good athlete. Stay tuned for his pro day. DT. Bresee. ran well, big dude. Looked a bit stiff running the hoops but looked more fluid in the other bag drills. Edge: Nolan Smith running a 4.39 forty and a 41in vertical at 240lbs is just insane. He's hyper active around the LOS but might be a better fit in 3-4. Edge: Yaya Diaby just stood out in all drills as a very long fast fluid athlete. He played in 3-man front so we have to translate how he'll do as a DE in our scheme but he certainly seems to have the tools to be a really good edge rusher. He's just 6'3" and 263lbs but with nearly 34" arms has the length needed to go along with his 1.56 10yd split and 4.51 forty. Profile says he needs development in the pass rush moves. Edge: Will McDonald looked good, skills match the film. Edge: Adetomiwa Adebawore. At 280lbs this rocked up man can run, bend, jump, and spin. Impressive athlete just 6'2" but with 34" arms. He played at Northwestern and others have mentioned him. Gotta watch some film on him and he carries the infamous tweener label. Edge: Van Ness looked like the power rusher he is. He struggled at times in the bag and other drills. With so much edge talent in this draft players are going to fall into Rd 3 or even 4.

The fact he isn't signed indicates they want to look around a bit before deciding The running aspect is the easiest part to replace my main concern is pass pro Herbert is really bad there and there aren't many rookies you can trust with that

Based on today’s press conferences Swift is thinking the Panthers are all in to make a deal. Anytime I’ve contemplated that big of a drop it was a double trade down scenario. The old trade value chart suggests they give us 9, 39, and 61. There would likely be a QB premium on top of that so maybe Poles gets next years first or second. We’d end up with 9, 39, 53, 61, and 64 and then 102 to start day 3. That’s ten picks in the draft without any additional trades.

https://www.profootballrumors.com/2023/03/broncos-seeking-o-line-upgrades-dl-dremont-jones-plans-to-test-market

"Police asked a Georgia athletics official to have Carter return to the scene; he returned at around 4:15am and denied speeding or racing. Police did not find Carter had been drinking." The fact they asked him to "return" indicates they knew he was there when they first arrived so the "left the scene" might be a reporter embellishing the story. The arrest charges are only for misdemeanors which is odd since they are publicly saying he was committing felony speeding or reckless driving. It's also interesting timing for the prosecutor to do this on the day the combine starts when they already had him available for 6 weeks. He was obviously cooperating with the police investigators after the accident and returned immediately when this news broke. There is much we don't know so I will give it time but it definitely will take him down boards. Details will determine how far but from a personal side this is a very difficult life lesson for him. I hope he learns from this and also has some good support to help him. https://www.profootballrumors.com/2023/03/arrest-warrant-out-for-dt-jalen-carter-in-connection-with-fatal-crash

Hadn't seen that but in the NFL world this is old news so I wonder how teams dropped him? https://www.profootballrumors.com/2023/03/arrest-warrant-out-for-dt-jalen-carter-in-connection-with-fatal-crash

Just like selling a house, he has to already know he has enough buyers to demand they give him best and final offers early. People will have to waive things like inspections or appraisal value.

Yesterday Poles said he's open to trading the first pick before FA begins as that could help them plan. He also said they'll be evaluating the QBs at the combine and Flus said they have interviews scheduled with Young and Stroud. So we're doing enough to keep 'em guessing but I think it's clear the pick is definitely for sale if the price is right. With that I'd say Poles intends to use the combine week to do some heavy negotiations, maybe generate something of a feeding frenzy before teams get too deep into the QB evals. Is he trying to get something done early with HOU or IND so he stays in the top 4? From there if he likes the talent trade back again on draft day to 7/8/9? Or is he willing to drop back to 9 with Carolina straight up? Trades further back will definitely involve players and picks.

I'm not that interested in Hargrave either. I prefer to find a cheaper younger DT who won't have as much cap hit. He might not offer the same performance but he won't hamstring on our roster flexibility either. Despite all the excitement with $100mil to spend this is a 2yr rebuild.

Bummer but it puts them in a tough spot for a QB. It'll be interesting to see how they resolve that problem.

I understand what you are doing and why but I don't like this format because it makes it hard to define the value proposition on where to trade down. Leaving the QBs aside is one thing but I guess we could call it the wish list instead of the board. I expect Skoronski will drop after the combine as it becomes more apparent he's a better fit at OG, likely 10-15 range. Same with WRs Johnson and JXN who is a slot WR, I'd guess both are 15-25 range. Regardless of JXN production in college I'm not taking a slot WR in the top 10. We have a gaping hole at CB why exclude Witherspoon? Daniel Jeremiah has already dropped Myles Murphy down to 18. FWIW he has Mayer all the way down at 26. With your list I'd say it will end up more like: 1 Carter 2 Anderson 3 Tyree Wilson 4 Witherspoon 5 Johnson Jr RT 6 Skoronski 7 Addison (better versatility for slot/x/y over Johnson) 8 Bresee 9 Keion White - his position versatility DE/3tech and he's a complete Flus type player 10. Murphy

Hopefully the plan is for him to compete to take over as the backup C/OG. I'd certainly like to see him win that job over Mustipher or Patrick because IMO he's got more upside. Can another offseason close the gap for him?

He's ok. Fills the niche of a slot WR based on what I see on his Indy highlights. Flus will know quite a bit about defending him from the practices. He seems fast but not 4.31 fast or to put it another way.. VJJ seems faster as he pulls away from more defenders quicker. I don't think I'd be calling him first but I'd let his agent know he can keep in touch.

Pitt started him outside then tried to make him into a big slot WR. He wasn’t comfortable there and I don’t think that fits his skillset the best. Get him back outside where he can threaten the deep perimeter. Draft a good slot WR. We will sometimes use VJJ out of the slot too.

The entire offseason goes thru Chicago. It’s going to be a wild ride.

Because it is the most difficult position to play in professional sports. If you don’t have one and believe that player is on the board then you draft him. Demeco is smart enough to remember what happens in a Superbowl when you have the wrong QB.

We need more What-If scenarios like this in the media to help our trade down cause. AZ is a great target for the 2nd cluster of QB-needy teams. I don't even care what they are proposing just keep the rumors alive because it puts the pressure on the Colts that they might end up getting the 3rd best QB. https://bleacherreport.com/videos/369833-raiders-trade-packages-for-no-3

Agreed on both accounts.

Surprise here to see Fields ranked among the top 15. Also shocking is seeing him ranked ahead of Rodgers (14) and Stafford (22). This author also has Brock Purdy listed as 15th best QB in the NFL which is just ridiculous IMO...and I'm a fan of Purdy's. https://www.nfl.com/news/nfl-qb-index-ranking-all-68-starting-quarterbacks-from-the-2022-nfl-season https://www.si.com/nfl/bears/news/justin-fields-gains-high-spot-in-qb-rankings

I'll guess Vildor. They know they have to fix that starting CB, or NB position if they move Gordon outside, this offseason and the young guys showed enough last year IMO to compete for depth along with a draft pick. We might as well save the $2.7mil now.

Last year Poles main criteria was finding players who would sign a one year deal. As far as Flus i don’t think AQM hurt the locker room culture, just the win loss record.

Good. Not standing pat with mediocre players.

Micah Parsons is an off-ball LB most of the time but he lines up at edge on obvious passing downs. Other than that he blitzes. I confess to hating the Cowboys enough that I don't watch them very often so that's just what I see in a limited sample. The situation here is that we might not mind having the pass rushing demon paired up with a big edge on the opposite side. DE is a heavily rotated position anyways so having the elite rusher in the arsenal for those moments is nice. My question is can I get a similar player in Rd 2/3 like Will McDonald?

Digging around OTC's site. Here's a nice link to Rookie Pool and associated Cap hits which are lower (signing bonuses). Trades will affect this of course but right now we're at $14mil with $8mil cap hit. Houston is at $20mil with $11mil cap hit. Just gives us a reference point for where we might land with a trade back deal. https://overthecap.com/draft