I decided that rather than continue to tweet about this and possible roster combinations, that I would throw it all into a blog post.
I would have done anything to be following George McPhee for the past week and the upcoming week. What the Vegas Golden Knights are going through is unprecedented. Normally when the NHL has expanded, there have been two teams, so you’ve been picking against another team. And when they have expanded, nothing but trash has been available. This time around, there are quite a few good players available for Vegas to take. To make it even more interesting, They are allowed to make trades with teams to not take a certain player that has been left available. For instance, it is believed that the Anaheim Ducks have made an offer to Vegas to keep them from selecting Sami Vatanen or Josh Manson. Columbus has a deal in place to keep Vegas from taking Jack Johnson, or Joonas Korpisalo and apparently has offered Ryan Murray or Matt Calvert, a 1st round pick, a prospect and David Clarkson’s contract.
This blog post has been pushed back multiple times. Normally I do a Signing Day Recap and a Spring Football post but clearly those two have fallen by the wayside with real life happening. So this post is now going to be a Spring Football Review/Signing Day Recap/Fall Camp Preview/etc.
Naturally, as I do fewer and fewer blog posts and have less time to pay attention to recruiting, Michigan keeps signing more and more recruits. A 30-person class is absolutely massive and at the time, it put them at 87 scholarships. But over the last 2-3 months, things have transpired that has allowed them to get down to 85. Drake Johnson did not get a 6th year, Wyatt Shallman left, Dave Dawson left, Asiasi transferred to be closer to home, etc. At any rate, rather than talk about every single prospect in-depth, let’s focus more on the Spring Game, Fall position competitions and which freshmen will play right away. It’ll probably be June by the time I publish this anyway.
In a year with as much depth as this, there are far more “winners” than there are “losers.” I put that in quotes because obviously it’s going to be 2-3 years before we actually know which teams ended up with a good draft or not. At any rate, in a draft this loaded, I’m going to try to keep the number of teams here limited, because it’s tough to pick out any truly bad ones.
As always, I have to throw out the disclaimer that some of these drafts could end up panning out, but the rapid reaction for these teams is no bueno. Fortunately for NFL teams, this was a very deep draft so there were a lot of teams that did a really good job. And the ones that did not do a good job, still did a good enough job to not be considered a flop.
Chicago Bears
Man, do I feel for Chicago Bears fans right now. I’m not even remotely sold on Mitch Trubisky as a stud NFL quarterback and the fact they were negotiating with themselves to pay a King’s ransom to move up one spot is highly questionable. You would think that maybe they would draft some big time players with their other picks…but they went with Adam Shaheen, Eddie Jackson, Tarik Cohen and Jordan Morgan. It’s almost like they did not have the budge to scout any big name schools other than Alabama. Shaheen is an intriguing tight end but he’s not a good blocker despite his frame. He could start this year, but there were better options to fill holes in that slot. Eddie Jackson has potential to start but it will not be right away. Then they drafted Tarik Cohen to be a change of pace back for Jeremy Langford…but that was a bit early for my taste. The bottom line is they traded up for a guy that will not start Day One with Mike Glennon there and then they did not get any starters with their remaining five picks. A very frustrating day for Bears fans. Continue reading →
Going into the 2017 NFL Draft it was known that this is one of the deepest drafts in recent history, if not ever. Fortunately for the Lions, the weakest positions were quarterback and offensive line and both of those starting units/positions are all set. There had been quite a bit of draft buzz leading up to Thursday that the Lions would be looking at tight end early and that David Njoku was the apple of their eye. For me, he was a no-go since I did not see a need to draft a second Eric Ebron. Thankfully, it appears that Bob Quinn and I are on the same page. I had hoped that they would also trade back in one of the rounds and add at least one more pick and they did exactly that. All in all, I was pretty pleased with the Lions draft. I’m at the point where Bob Quinn has my full trust and he should have yours too.
Looking back at last year’s draft it’s pretty easy to see that Detroit Lions GM Bob Quinn did an exceptional job in his first NFL Draft. With the exception of Jimmy Landes, the long-snapper who went on IR, and Jake Rudock, every Draft pick that the Lions made in 2016 played for the Lions. If the Lions can have a draft with similar impact this year, the roster can be improved dramatically in Quinn’s first two years at the helm.
There are some very high-end safeties and cornerbacks in this draft and I think we will end up seeing two safeties go in the Top 15 with Malik Hooker and Jamal Adams. They are both absolute studs and they have the athleticism to back it up. Marshon Lattimore is a stud cornerback but he has some injury issues that could cause him to fall further than he should go. If he was able to stay healthy, he would be a lock for a Top 10 pick.
Jamal Adams, S, LSU: I’m not sure who will come off the board first between Adams and Hooker, but I do know that they are both studs. Adams weighed in at 5’11” 214 lbs, posted a 4.56 40, 18 reps on the bench, a 31.5″ vertical and a 10′ broad jump. He actually looked smoother during drills than I thought he would and I have high expectations for him.
Budda Baker, S, Washington: Budda Baker is closer to Tyrann Mathieu than Jabrill Peppers is. The guy just seems to make plays when he’s on the field. He’s only 5’9″ 195 lbs, but he posted a 4.45 40, 15 reps on the bench, a 32.5″ vertical and a 9’7″ broad jump. He’s not exactly an explosive athlete at his size, but he makes plays.
Gareon Conley, CB, Ohio State: Conley weighed in at 6′ 195 lbs, posted a 4.44 40, 11 reps on the bench, a 37″ vertical and a 10’9″ broad jump. I think he looked fantastic in drills and quite frankly, he’s one of my favorite cornerback in the draft. He has some major potential at the next level.
Lano Hill, S, Michigan: Delano Hill, now going by Lano, is quickly rising up draft boards. He’s done very well in the post-season bowl games and testing. He weighed in at 6’1″ 216 lbs, posted a 4.47 40, 17 reps on the bench, a 33.5″ vertical and a 9’7″ broad jump. He’s proven to be a much better athlete than many anticipated and he looked very fluid during the movement drills. Keep an eye on him.
Marlon Humphrey, CB, Alabama: Humphrey is CB1 for a lot of Draftniks and he looked pretty good at the combine. He weighed in at 6′ 197 lbs, with a 4.41 40, and a 10’5″ broad jump. He’s a better athlete than most DBs and I expect him to go in the Top 20 picks.
Adoree Jackson, CB, USC: One of my favorite players since Michigan started recruiting him. The kid just flat-out makes plays and while there is some developmental work to be done at cornerback, he’s going to do some special things at the NFL level. He weighed in at 5’10” 186 lbs, posted a 4.42 40 with a 36″ vertical and a 10’2″ broad jump. He showed good athleticism during drills and he’s going to have at least one touchdown as a rookie. Book it.
Marshon Lattimore, CB, Ohio State: Lattimore is the other CB in contention to be the first cornerback off the board and strictly based off of film and athleticism, he probably should be. The only issue is that he cannot seem to stay healthy. He ended up tweaking something during his second 40 and did not go through any of the drills. Before that though, he did weigh in at 6′ 193 lbs, ran a 4.36 40, posted a 38.5″ vertical and an 11′ broad jump. The talent is there, but is the durability?
Obi Melifonwu, S, UConn: Apparently all the DB freakshows come out of UConn. Obi Melinfonwu has been climbing draft boards since the Senior Bowl, but no one was expecting this. He weighed in at 6’3″ 224 lbs and posted a 4.4 40, 17 reps on the bench, a 44″ vertical and an 11’9″ broad jump. Truly some asinine numbers. He’s going to get a look in the late first round simply because you cannot teach this type of athleticism.
Jaylen Myrick, CB, Minnesota: Myrick is a guy that turned heads with his 40 time, posting a 4.28 40 at 5’10” 200 lbs. I wasn’t really enamored with him in any other regard, but some teams are going to give his tape another look because of that time and that’s huge for him.
Teez Tabor, CB, Florida: Once upon a time Jalen “Teez” Tabor was thought to be the best cornerback at Florida. Better than Vernon Hargreaves III. But as it turns out Quincy Wilson is better than them both (Wilson is in this draft and had a decent day at the Combine). Teez posted a 4.62 40 and that’s just not what he needed. He looked far less athletic than I thought he would be and he’s going to lose a lot of money come draft day. That being said, a team is going to end up with a great pick in the 3rd round.
Ahkello Witherspoon, CB, Colorado: Witherspoon is an intriguing player and a guy I hope the Lions take a look at. He weighed in at a 6’2″ 198 lbs, posted a 4.45 40, a 40.5″ vertical and a 10’7″ broad jump. He did look pretty raw during some drills, but you cannot teach that prototype size and athleticism.
