JBell
That's still my Quarterback
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No smokescreens going on in Dallas. They don't keep it a secret who they're interested in. Which makes it pretty fun for us fans to try and predict who they'll draft. I didn't try to get too cute here, this is just me taking Stephen Jones' words at face value and looking at pre-draft visits.
1. My money's on an Edge Rusher at 28. Stephen said they love the depth at defensive line and cornerback this year. The pre-draft visits reflect that, as they invited 17 CB's and 12 DL for workouts. Of the 17 CB's they visited with, only 7 are in play at #28 (Conley, King, White, Awuzie, Humphrey, Jackson, Wilson). The talent distribution is really spread out at CB (early, mid, and late round grade prospects). But what I find interesting is that 8 out of the 12 DL's they visited with have a chance of being selected at #28 (Barnett, McDowell, Charlton, Takk, Harris, Watt, Bowser, Basham). Very top heavy. That leads me to believe they have their minds set on taking a pass rusher with their first pick.
#28 - DE TJ Watt, Wisconsin. I know the BPA crowd is scared of us reaching for an edge rusher here, but I don't think the late first is reaching for Watt at all. I'm assuming Barnett and McDowell are gone in this scenario.
Which brings us to Round 2, Best available CB.
CB Pre-Draft visits from 2015. Do you notice a trend? If you look at the height of this year's pre-draft visit CB's, you'll see more of the same. Now you might say, "But JBell, Anthony Brown is 5'11" ", but he was a 6th round pick. Beggars can't be choosers at that point. In round 2 you can be more selective. Adoree Jackson is the one outlier out of this year's pre-draft visit CB's standing at 5'10", but I'm sure an exception was made because of his ball skills and elite return ability.
#60 - CB Fabian Moreau, UCLA. Checks all the boxes: 6'0", SPARQ Freak, Team Captain, Ball Skills. Suffered a pec injury that allows him to fall to 60, where we carry on the tradition of drafting an injured player.
#92 - S Marcus Williams, Utah. Stephen Jones threw shade at Carr, Claiborne, Church, and Wilcox earlier this off-season saying, "We can't get better if we keep paying the same guys...we've got to make plays on the ball." We haven't had a playmaking safety since Roy Biscuit. Enter this dude. He has the best ball skills out of any safety not named Malik Hooker. Might turn people off with this pick since it may seem unrealistic, but starting to see mocks where Williams goes into the 3rd. Chad Reuters had Williams dropping to the 4th. Obviously great value here. I don't think he's a great fit next to Byron because having two starting safeties that lack physicality as your last line of defense is scary. But luckily we play three safeties quite a bit, so I'd expect him to be that third safety right away next to Jones and Heath.
#133 - CB Shaquill Griffin, UCF. Double dipping at CB. 6'1", 4.3, pre-draft visit. Suddenly no one cares about losing Claiborne and Carr anymore.
#211 - TE Eric Saubert, Drake. Throwing darts with these last few picks. Team Captain. We were at his pro day.
#228 - WR Chad Williams, Grambling. With the heavy interest in JuJu, I'd expect to come away with one WR in the draft.
#246 - RB Jahad Thomas, Temple. Another pre-draft visit. Gadget player. We know this team has a hard-on for Dunbar and Whitehead, and he can do both of their jobs.
1. My money's on an Edge Rusher at 28. Stephen said they love the depth at defensive line and cornerback this year. The pre-draft visits reflect that, as they invited 17 CB's and 12 DL for workouts. Of the 17 CB's they visited with, only 7 are in play at #28 (Conley, King, White, Awuzie, Humphrey, Jackson, Wilson). The talent distribution is really spread out at CB (early, mid, and late round grade prospects). But what I find interesting is that 8 out of the 12 DL's they visited with have a chance of being selected at #28 (Barnett, McDowell, Charlton, Takk, Harris, Watt, Bowser, Basham). Very top heavy. That leads me to believe they have their minds set on taking a pass rusher with their first pick.
#28 - DE TJ Watt, Wisconsin. I know the BPA crowd is scared of us reaching for an edge rusher here, but I don't think the late first is reaching for Watt at all. I'm assuming Barnett and McDowell are gone in this scenario.
Which brings us to Round 2, Best available CB.
CB Pre-Draft visits from 2015. Do you notice a trend? If you look at the height of this year's pre-draft visit CB's, you'll see more of the same. Now you might say, "But JBell, Anthony Brown is 5'11" ", but he was a 6th round pick. Beggars can't be choosers at that point. In round 2 you can be more selective. Adoree Jackson is the one outlier out of this year's pre-draft visit CB's standing at 5'10", but I'm sure an exception was made because of his ball skills and elite return ability.
#60 - CB Fabian Moreau, UCLA. Checks all the boxes: 6'0", SPARQ Freak, Team Captain, Ball Skills. Suffered a pec injury that allows him to fall to 60, where we carry on the tradition of drafting an injured player.
#92 - S Marcus Williams, Utah. Stephen Jones threw shade at Carr, Claiborne, Church, and Wilcox earlier this off-season saying, "We can't get better if we keep paying the same guys...we've got to make plays on the ball." We haven't had a playmaking safety since Roy Biscuit. Enter this dude. He has the best ball skills out of any safety not named Malik Hooker. Might turn people off with this pick since it may seem unrealistic, but starting to see mocks where Williams goes into the 3rd. Chad Reuters had Williams dropping to the 4th. Obviously great value here. I don't think he's a great fit next to Byron because having two starting safeties that lack physicality as your last line of defense is scary. But luckily we play three safeties quite a bit, so I'd expect him to be that third safety right away next to Jones and Heath.
#133 - CB Shaquill Griffin, UCF. Double dipping at CB. 6'1", 4.3, pre-draft visit. Suddenly no one cares about losing Claiborne and Carr anymore.
#211 - TE Eric Saubert, Drake. Throwing darts with these last few picks. Team Captain. We were at his pro day.
#228 - WR Chad Williams, Grambling. With the heavy interest in JuJu, I'd expect to come away with one WR in the draft.
#246 - RB Jahad Thomas, Temple. Another pre-draft visit. Gadget player. We know this team has a hard-on for Dunbar and Whitehead, and he can do both of their jobs.
