DawgTalkers.net Forums The Archives 2022 NFL Season 2022 NFL Draft Draft 2.0

I agree, and I also would think that we would like to find (full time) a bookend DE across from MG.

That ship in all likelihood sailed with our first round pick.

The pending Watson suspension should have significant influence on how the FO plays this draft. 2022 is a lost year. Brisset isn't going to carry this team through 4-6-8 games...he's just not. The same should be said about the remaining FA. We've signed a whopping (2) players in FA who weren't Browns last year - a backup DT and a punt-kick returner. I think both Clowney and Landry will come back...and if they do, that just keeps us in neutral...it doesn't improve the 53 over last year.

We might as well move around in this draft and try and get as many guys as possible in the 2nd-4th Rds. With 2022 lost anyway, that gives these guys the year they need to develop...as picks in Rds 2-4 tend to need. We have a 2nd, (2) 3rds and a 4th. The remaining 6th and 7th Rd picks should go at K and/or P. Five guys in Rds 2-4 who should all be either DLine or WR...maybe a TE. Moving down a little in Rds 2-3 to get another 2nd or 3rd could be doable. Trading draft assets to move up is only an option if we sign even-more than Landry and Clowney pre-draft. Here's the latest list of "top" available free agents...kind of depressing: https://nfltraderumors.co/top-2022-nfl-free-agents-list/

We don't have any easily-available, valuable trade pieces other than possibly Baker...and that looks like a stretch right now. With the "talk" of wanting Felton more involved in the running game, I suppose they could move Hunt for some level of decent picks...I would not like that.

I just don't see the sensible path for us to be aggressive in this draft knowing/not-knowing about Watson's pending suspension.

I hope you are correct. I think Brissett is awful. I'd rather have Keenum...so would Buffalo. Let's hope the 1st half of the season has the weakest opponents on the docket...somehow...I expect the exact opposite from the league.

If we go DL with our first two picks, Erik Ezukanma, WR Texas Tech, might be a name to watch.

Brissett's numbers last year (in 5 games) look alot like Baker's normal line. I think we will be fine as long as everyone is healthy, we still have an elite running game that can shorten the game and minimize the impact of Brissett needing to carry. Hopefully we know in well enough advance of any suspension so KS can game plan, because we know its going to be drastically different when watson gets back. I think you look for another WR or DT in the draft early and some OL/S depth later

I really hope Bucky Brooks most recent mock draft is wrong. No QBs in round 1, and several of the players we've discussed for at 44 do go early.

j/c...

There is a good possibility that Kingsley Enagbare is there @44.

imo ... the DL takes priority over WR at this time.

https://www.pff.com/news/draft-ranking-strongest-position-groups-2022-nfl-draft

Strength of position groups in this draft.

1. EDGE
2. LB
3. WR
4. OT
5. CB
6. OL (interior)
7. S
8. DT

(and so on)

It probably will be. I agree that maybe not as many end up going in the 1st round as is speculated. That could bode well for a Baker trade.

I keep saying we don't have much leverage, and today we probably don't have leverage. As the draft gets closer and teams start to realize that Matt Corral might not be their future, that leverage increases.

Here is our new draft Picks Available ... I Traded Pick (#44) and Pick (#78) Along With Pick (#223) and Traded Them to the Lions for Pick (#32) to get back into Round #1 to Get that 5th Year Option on the Player We Take in This Case I Couldn't Pass on Jameson Williams WR Alabama, Then I Added Under Rated TE Jeremy Ruckert out of Ohio State, Also I Added DL Help With DT Tyler Davis From Clemson and Nolan Smith DE/OLB From Georgia, and last I added OT/OG Andrew Stueber Out of Michigan, I think a 2nd 3rd and 7th is Not to High a Price for a WR of Williams Caliber ...

Round 1 Pick 32 (DET): Jameson Williams, WR, Alabama (A)
Round 3 Pick 35 (COMP): Jeremy Ruckert, TE, Ohio State (A+)
Round 4 Pick 13: Tyler Davis, DT, Clemson (A+)
Round 6 Pick 23: Nolan Smith, DE/OLB, Georgia (A+)
Round 7 Pick 25: Andrew Stueber, OT/OG, Michigan (A+)

I generally agree on the Travis Jones and Clowney take.

Without a 1st round pick for the next few years premium positions (QB, LT, DE, CB) will not be easily upgraded so getting Clowney back becomes a bit more pressing.

Positions that are more commonly quality on day two (Interior O-line, RB, TE, WR, DT, LB, S) can still be consistently addressed in the draft.
Our interior O-line is fairly well committed as is the RB position and TE overall. That ultimately leaves just WR on offense and either DT or possibly Safety on defense.
Running a heavy 3-safety system while losing Harrison and MJ Stewart could make safety an option, but I'm still leaning either DT or WR.
Then again, if they post-June 1st cut John Johnson next year to create space for Ward's contract maybe safety would work too
We'll worry about that next year.

j/c:

Speaking only on some Edge and Interior defensive linemen who might be available.

Travis Jones from UConn is a huge man. He also can get after the passer a little bit.

Boye Mafe from Minnesota was excellent at the Senior Bowl and is explosive. He'll probably be gone, though.

Nik Bonitto from Oklahoma is strictly as situational pass rusher, but he is explosive and we all know that guys on the DL shuffle in and out.

Kingsley Enagbare from S. Carolina isn't the best athlete, but he is effective and play hard. He should be available.

Arnold Ebiketie from Penn State did very well in the Big 10 and that conference has some good OTs.

I really can't see giving up draft assets and/or players to move up into the 1st rnd to draft a guy whose greatest attribute is that he's a good run stuffer when the game has become a Passing league. You can get run stuffers later in the draft and not give up the assets to acquire them. People were upset when we drafted Shelton in the 1st round because you don't draft DTs in the 1st unless they are Aaron Donald/JJ Watt types who can also get after the QB.

But when the guy still requires 2 blockers in the passing game, somebody isn't going to get double teamed. If he doesn't get double teamed he is still going to be able to push his guy back towards the QB which takes away the QB stepping up in the pocket, ruining any angle Garrett has created.

Stepping up a few steps gets a OT back in to a blocking position he just lost to Garrett.

I don't think we should trade up either. Especially not for Davis.

I do not agree or disagree here.

Davis has the athletic capabilities of Garrett and Clowney. His numbers in college say no. Looking at the talent around him in Georgia and you ask yourself is he a product or contributor to Georgia's defense success.

Here we go again with the lessor position too. The unwritten rule DT is not valued enough over DE. But, if he becomes the next Ted Washington or Aaron Donald, we should have taken the guy!

Some NFL teams drafting in the middle to late first round will land some very good talent. I bet several players drafted in the second round will outdo first-round players. This is going to be a crazy draft class.

Yeah, I'm not arguing or anything. Just giving my opinion and freely admit I haven't done much studying about this draft class, so my opinion probably doesn't amount to much.

This is where character evaluations really come into play.

If Davis says, dang, I'm a pro now, I am going to really put the effort in, to my diet, to my training esp stamina... then he could become an all time great. But if he says, I'm drafted now, I made my millions, I'm going to skate by doing what I've been doing, then he will become at best a 2 down DT equivalent to a guy you could have gotten in round 4, at worst, out of the league in 3 years.

I think this part of player evaluations is by far the most difficult.
Either that or teams tend to overlook and dismiss the red flags.

The thing is Davis has given no indication of being an Aaron Donald type. He had 7 sacks total in 4 years. Donald had two seasons with 11 sacks each at Pitt. Davis had 5TFLs his senior season, Donald had 28.5.

Davis plays like a more linearly athletic, but less technically refined Andrew Billings, but without the upper body strength. (As far as I can tell, Davis didn't bench press at the combine or a pro day, why?) Billings actually had over twice as many sacks as Davis ever did in a season when he came out after his JR year at Baylor, 5.5 vs 2.5. Billings had almost triple the TFLs, 14 vs 5. And Davis had extra games due to the playoffs and conference championship. (14 for Davis, 11 for Billings)

As bad as Billings was for us, I'd have a hard time using a 1st round pick on someone who was less productive coming out of college.

Watching full games, I'm coming to the conclusion he might be the 3rd best DT on his college team. (behind Soph Jalen Carter [#88] to go along with Devonte Wyatt) Davis looks the most physically imposing, but they look like more skilled football players.

For all his athleticism, how wasn't Davis more disruptively productive? No TFLs or sacks in games against UAB and/or Charleston Southern, and I'm supposed to believe he's suddenly going to do it against the pros?

He could, but I'm not betting on it.

Pittsburgh was the 2nd most pass happy team in the league behind only Tampa Bay last season. Baltimore is run heavy but many of those are Lamar which I don't think Davis would help with. Cinci runs a fair bit, but I'd rather not give them a reason to throw more.

Did Jordan Davis really impact the players around him that much, or was it as much, if not more, about those players being studs on their own?

I know they love to show the with him on the field vs the with him off the field disparity, but when a guy doesn't play on obvious passing downs what do people expect? Plays are generally more explosive when a team is passing.

The whole stop the run on early downs and it's hard for them to throw for longer distances doesn't really hold up when the more successful teams are throwing on 1st down almost 2/3 the time now. Cinci and Pit threw on first down ~63-64% of the time, and even the Ravens were over 50%. link

I don't know that his style of play necessarily translates to the modern NFL. He's a straight ahead player. He doesn't generally get horizontal movement to free up players on stunts. Fortunately for Georgia, the rest of their D swarmed ferociously enough that teams didn't have an opportunity to take advantage of the lanes he frequently left in his wake. It's all too easy for me to see Lamar exploiting those.

If we were to draft him, I'd almost want to line him up outside and have him crash down horizontally with a looper coming around outside him. He just doesn't have the wiggle or finish to really make plays on his own. When his team leaves nowhere else to go for opponents, he can steam roll. I'm not sure that'll happen as frequently (as his stats show it didn't happen that frequently in college, 1 sack every seven games) with the different hashes in the NFL and players more able to make defenders cover every blade of grass. Mashing on linemen he can do. He could likely collapse holes and free up others if his straight line is horizontal.

I'm just not sure he's the best fit for us. I haven't seen us use a lineman in a way I feel he'd be effective. Throw in the how many consecutive effective snaps can he play concern, and I just don't know if he's the choice I would make.

Though I will say the horizontal masher experiment is intriguing. Closing running lanes while keeping Myles clean for pass rush with Clowney setting the opposite edge could be lethal.

I certainly wouldn't trade up for a 1-tech, so Davis is out. I'm good with Travis Jones at 44, though. There's a good bit more to it than stopping the run.
The human element of trust can compound and create situations where players end up out of position trying to cheat and cover up a weak defensive interior. Suddenly linebackers are caught peaking into the backfield too much, biting on play action, and safeties press in too far. It's a cascading effect that we have seen here before.
Even interior pass rushers generally play better when they have their weaknesses covered up by a big bad next to them (Ogunjobi certainly did ).
Though very little of this will ever show up in any production matrix.

Ebiketie is currently #2 for me at the #44 pick. My hope would be that his teammate Johan Dotson would fall. But I doubt Dotson lasts to #44. Should he fall out of the 1st round I would look to trade up for him like we did with JOK - if the price is right. Presuming that doesn't happen then Ebiketie is my next choice (of guys who could reasonably be available).

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I know are we are going to draft a TE, I figure somewhere between Round 3-4 ...

I like him, but not until the 3rd round.

Treylon Burks could be.

Man, I hope we bring Landry back. If not, I hope Skye Moore falls to us.

I'm almost assuredly in the minority, but I think fit is a thing in the NFL. I keep reading about guys who are X receivers. We already have those guys in Cooper, DPJ, and Schwartz. We lost Landry. He is a Z receiver. We currently do not have an effective Z receiver on the roster. Z receivers are not as physically gifted as X receivers, thus they don't get the notoriety. However, you need at least one and probably two effective Z receivers. These are the guys that typically go in motion and help the QB read the defense pre-snap. They are also invaluable at exploiting the middle of the field because the secondary often cannot jam them at the LOS like they do w/X and Y receivers.

I think it might be important for some of you to consider fit and need when discussing WRs. I can go into much deeper detail if anyone is interested in learning the intricacies of the positions.