My Only Complaint About This Draft

[Alexander]

First of all, I am extremely pleased we took all dozen players. We needed the infusion of talent, if for nothing else to provide strong competition in camp.

Will all of them stick? Probably not. But we have some diamonds in the rough (a lot actually) to play around with and groom. Some, like Mickens and Butler, I believe will eventually be better than we thought. Some, like Williams and Brewster, might end up disappointing. Overall, mission accomplished though.

My only complaint is the approach we took to this draft. We did overdo with the special teams approach and did not address either line to a great deal. I am sure that despite what comes out of our braintrust's mouthes, there were some players (like Unger for example) that we would much rather have had than what we ended up with, particularly in the third round.

It is most certainly a keep your fingers crossed type of group and hopefully we get some surprises out of them.

 

[CATCH17]

I agree.

Out of the 12 picks i'd say 5 would be lucky to make the team.

If McGee pans out though than you gotta consider it a great draft regardless of what the other players do.

 

[Ren]

Overall i like what we got out of this, it wasn't really an exiting draft but you got a lot of potential depth what i really wish we would have done though was to try and get a NT

 

[CIWhitefish]

I tend to agree with you here. I wish a few players had fallen to us as I am sure the Boys were too. I subscribe to the let the draft come to you theory unless you are totally in love with a player. Eveidently we were not that in love with many in this draft.

 

[Woods]

I agree.

Out of the 12 picks i'd say 5 would be lucky to make the team.

If McGee pans out though than you gotta consider it a great draft regardless of what the other players do.

Catch, I think way more than 5 will make this team.

I'd bet that

Jason Williams
R Brewster
S McGee
Victor Butler
B Williams
D Smith
M Hamlin
D Buehler

all make the team.

I'd also think S Hodge replaces K Davis on STs, plus Hodge plays some nickel LB, and I think J Phillips likely takes the 3rd TE spot.

Mickens could easily make the team, depending on his knee. According to the Cowboys, he should be ready to play, however. Maybe if he's not ready he goes on IR?

M Johnson does have a tough battle on his hands. Worst case a year on PS I'd guess.

 

[Hypnotoad]

Media scouts agree that during the 3rd round, talent started to taper off.

The picks we made were unpopular by fans and by ESPN/NFLN scouts. We drafted a grade 37 player when everyone around us was drafting 80s in the 3rd round. We were reaching at certain points, drafted some projects, and had a focus on special teams rather than starting.

The negativity by media has gotten to me, but I do understand that because of the poor player quality and our lack of round 1/2 picks, we were looking at a quantity vs quality draft.

 

[Alexander]

I tend to agree with you here. I wish a few players had fallen to us as I am sure the Boys were too. I subscribe to the let the draft come to you theory unless you are totally in love with a player. Eveidently we were not that in love with many in this draft.

I cannot fault them for sticking to the draft board. It appears that is exactly what was done.

I just wish we had been a little more aggressive with the offensive line, especially at center where I am annoyed that Proctor is going to be uncontested for the backup position. The nose tackle situation is also a bit worrisome. Phillips had better be right about Siavii.

 

[Woods]

Overall i like what we got out of this, it wasn't really an exiting draft but you got a lot of potential depth what i really wish we would have done though was to try and get a NT

yhea, I wish we'd gotten a de/nt rotation guy too.

 

[big dog cowboy]

By far the biggest miss was not getting Unger. When a player you target goes off the board two spots before you pick that hurts.

I like the new talent also and the competition it will bring this summer. But I think we got more than just special teams players. These guys can play their regular positions well also.

 

[hendog]

I cannot fault them for sticking to the draft board. It appears that is exactly what was done.

I just wish we had been a little more aggressive with the offensive line, especially at center where I am annoyed that Proctor is going to be uncontested for the backup position. The nose tackle situation is also a bit worrisome. Phillips had better be right about Siavii.

Procter def needs to go. Maybe Holland could start and KK be OG/C backup. I can dream can't I?

 

[ComicBookGuy]

I'm not a huge fan of this draft simply because there doesn't appear to be many individuals that can help us this year. Obviously somebody can surprise, but I just don't know where that impact will come from.

 

[Doomsday101]

I'm not a huge fan of this draft simply because there doesn't appear to be many individuals that can help us this year. Obviously somebody can surprise, but I just don't know where that impact will come from.

How many starting jobs are open?

 

[AbeBeta]

I just wish we had been a little more aggressive with the offensive line, especially at center where I am annoyed that Proctor is going to be uncontested for the backup position. The nose tackle situation is also a bit worrisome. Phillips had better be right about Siavii.

That's my main issue -- we had a TON of picks -- that gives you the chance to jump up a little and we could have done so for the center we wanted in round 2.

 

[ComicBookGuy]

How many starting jobs are open?

You don't have to start to have an impact on a team.

 

[Smith22]

I'm not a huge fan of this draft simply because there doesn't appear to be many individuals that can help us this year. Obviously somebody can surprise, but I just don't know where that impact will come from.

Many of the guys sound like they could easily crack the line up by starting on special teams. Williams should challenge for playing time at backer. Between the 2 corners from Cincy, I'm hoping one of them moves A. Ball down or off the roster.

 

[Hostile]

My only concern is with the players we already have if we hit Special Teams this hard. Was their attitude so bad that this much attention to Special Teams was really needed? If so, that concerns me.

I really like Jason Williams and the DB picks all were needed from what we lost. Mickens will be our Scandrick this year. A guy taken late who contributes a lot. I considered every one of these DBs in my Mocks this year and I think I took each of them at one time or another. We shored up the DBs and that is a good thing.

I get the thing about the kickoffs, but I'm not convinced Buehler will reach the endzone just like Folk who hit the endzone a ton here at Arizona. In fact, Folk hit the endzone more than Buehler did. Still if we push Offenses back 10 yards I get the advantage of it. I said all last year that our cover teams on kickoffs were designed to stop someone at the 25. I hate that more than I hate kickers.

I am glad we finally drafted a QB to groom. Big time positive for me.

I'm intrigued by Hodge. I wonder what position he is going to play? I think he may be pure Special Teams, but if he can replace Killa, so be it. I always have appreciated someone like Bates, Gant, or Schwantz on Special Teams. I am hoping he has that kind of potential. It can fire a team up.

Brandon Williams also intrigues me. He led the Big 12 in sacks, but we all know 3-4 DE is not a sack position. He'll need to put on some weight or switch to OLB, which I think is possible he will do.

We needed a 3rd TE, we have one now. Nothing wrong with that pick.

Overall, I am not at all unhappy. I'm also not as amped as last year, but that's unfair because we had two first rounders last year and a 2nd no one liked until he produced. I'm most happy about shoring up the DBs. I'll take that.

 

[Chocolate Lab]

I'm surprised you were reasonably pleased with the draft, Alex. I agree about the linemen on both sides of the ball... Wish we'd come away with more of them. But I think Lombardi was right on NFLN that sometimes things just don't break right for you. People want to believe that there's no luck at all in these things and that it's all you're an idiot if things don't go right or you're a genius if they do, but I don't believe that. There's some good fortune involved in 20 teams in a row passing on Jason Witten, for instance.

Anyway, you seem to like Butler. Why? He looks like the one who might disappoint to me, but then I don't know that much about him.

And you said Williams might disappoint... Which one? I actually thought Wade sounded more excited about Brandon than about Butler.

 

[speedkilz88]

Butler looks like a bigger hitter than BWilliams, BWilliams is the one with the better size. It will be interesting to see how they do.

 

[InmanRoshi]

Brandon Williams will have to play OLB. He's small waisted and doesn't have the bone structure to add 40 lbs.

I like Brandon Williams much better than Bulter. Brandon Williams has gone up against the best left tackles in the nation and played well ... 2 sacks against Baylor. He gave Oher fits against Ole Miss. A sack against Eugene Monroe in last years Gator Bowl. I think he also he had a sack against UT, where Adam Ulatoski will probably be a 1st rounder next year. I just dont know if he can develop into an OLB. He probably would have been better off going to a Tampa 2 team and playing weakside end with his hand on the ground. As Goose said, Dallas got a couple of DEs who are under 6'3" and run slower than 4.8, so you really don't know how well they can transition to the 3-4.

 

[Shinywalrus]

First of all, I am extremely pleased we took all dozen players. We needed the infusion of talent, if for nothing else to provide strong competition in camp.

Will all of them stick? Probably not. But we have some diamonds in the rough (a lot actually) to play around with and groom. Some, like Mickens and Butler, I believe will eventually be better than we thought. Some, like Williams and Brewster, might end up disappointing. Overall, mission accomplished though.

My only complaint is the approach we took to this draft. We did overdo with the special teams approach and did not address either line to a great deal. I am sure that despite what comes out of our braintrust's mouthes, there were some players (like Unger for example) that we would much rather have had than what we ended up with, particularly in the third round.

It is most certainly a keep your fingers crossed type of group and hopefully we get some surprises out of them.

I think that's pretty fair. I didn't like the value we got for the 2nd round trade-down, and I think we were outmaneuvered for a number of players - we still ended up getting guys with decent value, but I wonder whether how many guys we "just" missed out on that we viewed substantially higher than the guys we got.

I guess I just get the feeling that Jerry's trading instincts, which are actually typically pretty decent, were not firing on all cylinders this weekend.