Track Guy's Mid March Offseason Mock

[Track Guy]

My idea is to try to balance both current success vs building for the future, and come up with something that gives us an improved immediate team but sets us up to get even better subsequently. I’m taking the idea to heart that the rebuilding on the defensive side will have to continue in 2018 and cannot be fully completed this year. Where as offense, I think we can essentially get the right guys on our roster this off season so that we might not need to do anything notable except retain guys for a few years. I think finishing the offense up and getting personnel set to run an offense that can both pass and (especially) run the football effectively will help our franchise QB’s efficiency and durability. I think a strong running game will help the defense. On defense, I’m prioritizing front 7 a little over secondary, but I believe glaring needs in the secondary - especially at cornerback which is a deep group in this draft class - warrant picks. 

 

Cuts:

 

• Arthur Jones
• David Parry

 

 

Free Agent Signings:

 

• Jonathan Hankins, DT (Giants)
• Gerald Hodges, ILB (49ers)

 

 

Draft:

 

R1 - Forrest Lamp, G, Western Kentucky - A day 1 starter at guard and pro bowl potential. He’s a lot like Zach Martin, but perhaps a tad less dominant at run blocking. I think he represents fine value at pick 15. He would upgrade us RG, allow our offense to have a legitimate swing tackle (Haeg), and help us run the offense that we should be running in order to both win games and keep Luck healthy. Building in the trenches is of the utmost importance, and there is a big drop off after Lamp at guard which there isn't at some other positions.

 

R2 - Tyus Bowser, Edge, Houston - An explosive athlete and a good fit as a 3-4 OLB. Body time and athleticism is highly reminiscent of Khalil Mack. I don’t think he’s far enough along as a player to have quite the immediate impact that Mack had for the Raiders, but he should be able to contribute some immediately and grow into an effective player.  He projects well both rushing the passer and being able to drop into coverage when needed. He could wind up being excellent, and seems like a fairly realistic guy who could be on the board here as he's a guy who seems like a noticeably more natural fit in a 3-4 base defense than a 4-3. 

 

R3 - Sidney Jones, CB, Washington - Previously regarded as one of the top corner’s in the class, but will probably drop due to a torn achilles and a deep class at the position. He could be a key piece in the future, and this can be a chance to land him in the third round. I had him rated as a late 1st rounder before the injury. 

 

R4 - Rasul Douglas, CB, West Virginia - I’ve got us coming back to corner for some immediate help too. A big, physical man corner. Has pretty ordinary athleticism at the NFL level, but good ball skills. Will likely drop to the 4th round in this cornerback class, as his drills at the combine were reportedly a bit awkward looking. Had an awesome senior year on the field at WVU though. 

 

R4 - George Kittle, TE, Iowa - A good blocking tight end who was a criminally underrated athlete coming into the combine. Has legitimate receiving potential at the next level, in addition to his blocking chops. 

 

R4 - Aaron Jones, RB, UTEP - The second most explosive running back at the combine. He’s a super productive college player who is pretty good in the passing game as well as very good taking the ball out of the backfield. Running behind our stronger offensive line with a now elite interior (after the addition of Lamp) he should be able to produce immediately adding an element of explosiveness to a running game that we don't quite have. 

 

R5 - D.J. Jones, DT, Ole Miss - A very athletic interior D-lineman who has the body type that suggests 3-4 nose tackle. Great explosiveness. He would represent competition and depth at the nose tackle position for us. 

 

 

Projected 2017 Lineup:

 

Offense

QB - A. Luck, S. Tolzien

RB - F. Gore, A. Jones, R. Turbin

WR - T. Hilton, D. Moncrief, P. Dorsett, C. Rogers

TE - J. Doyle, E. Swoope, G. Kittle

OL - A. Castonzo, J. Mewhort, R. Kelly, F. Lamp, L. Clark, J. Haeg, D. Good, B. Scwenke, A. Blythe

 

Defense

DL - H. Anderson, J. Hankins, K. Langford, H. Ridgeway, T. McGill, A. Woods, 

M. Hunt, D. Jones

Edge - J. Sheard, J. Simon, T. Bowser, A. Ayers, B. Mingo, C. Maggitt 

ILB - E. Jackson, G. Hodges, S. Spence, A. Morrison

S - C. Geathers, D. Butler, T. Green, M. Farely

CB - V. Davis, R. Douglas, D. Morris, R. Melvin, C. Milton, (S. Jones)

 

Speacial Teams

K - A. Vinatieri

P - J. Locke

LS - M. Overton

 

 

Analysis:

 

I see a team that can seriously compete at a high level in 2017, and become even better in 2018. I really think that getting the offense right is really key (and often underestimated on this forum). We're almost there, but not quite. We need a few more pieces to be able to punch teams in the mouth running the football. And we obviously need to prioritize putting pressure on opposing quarterbacks - because this is the biggest weakness our team had in 2016. I believe Ballard has taken some good steps to doing this already, but it's certainly not time to take the foot off the gas pedal in this regard either. More pressure on opposing QBs will also instantly help our secondary. I think the roster I see listed above would be totally capable of making a deep playoff run, and is poised to absorb some of the inevitable injuries you'll get over the course of a season. And with one more good offseason, things could be looking very sweet. 

[Eharv1]

It's a pretty good mock I don't like the bowser pick or the Douglas pick

[akcolt]

I don't think we can afford to take Jones with a 3rd. We didn't even know if he could play Sunday ball before the Achilles. We need help this year.  An OL from WKU at 15 not this draft. I know he's looked good. I think we go Reddick Edge Or CB unless someone falls to 15. 

 

Hankins wants too much money and no one wants to sign him Those are not good signs. Pass 

I love Hodges have wanted to sign him since FA began 

[Tmoney]

Wayyy too high for Bowser. Don't Think Douglas falls that far even tho he didn't have a great combine. Everything else I really like as far as the draft. I hope we go after Hankins, he's eventually going to drop his price and we should take advantage we almost gave Poe 12mil/yr why not give Hankins 8.5-9mil per. Gearld Hodges is decent, seeing as tho we already signed Sean Speance who is also an undersized LB I dont think he's who we go after tho. Zach Brown can play the Mike

[Tmoney]

2 hours ago, akcolt said:

I don't think we can afford to take Jones with a 3rd. We didn't even know if he could play Sunday ball before the Achilles. We need help this year.  An OL from WKU at 15 not this draft. I know he's looked good. I think we go Reddick Edge Or CB unless someone falls to 15. 

 

Hankins wants too much money and no one wants to sign him Those are not good signs. Pass 

I love Hodges have wanted to sign him since FA began 

What does that even mean?? He was a projected top 20 pick before the injury. Any team in the league can afford to take a top 20 talent in the 3rd round, but I'm sure he doesn't make it out of the 2nd.

[rock8591]

Bowser = slightly upgraded Johnathan Newsome. This forum overrates him way too much.

[akcolt]

4 hours ago, Tmoney said:

What does that even mean?? He was a projected top 20 pick before the injury. Any team in the league can afford to take a top 20 talent in the 3rd round, but I'm sure he doesn't make it out of the 2nd.

It means he has never played.a down in the NFL. There are a lot of guys that have not lived up to projections, I''m not saying he was going to be a bust but it's not like he's a proven NFL CB. Then add the Achilles injury to the mix. No one knows how he returns from that injury. He's too much of a risk for us. We don't have that luxury with our roster. We need players that will help this year especially the first 2 days. 

[UKColt13]

9 hours ago, akcolt said:

I don't think we can afford to take Jones with a 3rd. We didn't even know if he could play Sunday ball before the Achilles. We need help this year.  An OL from WKU at 15 not this draft. I know he's looked good. I think we go Reddick Edge Or CB unless someone falls to 15. 

 

Hankins wants too much money and no one wants to sign him Those are not good signs. Pass 

I love Hodges have wanted to sign him since FA began 

 

You don't pass on a high grade, 1st round CB in the mid-3rd just because he'll need to redshirt a year. We've all but admitted we're using this as a rebuilding year so if you're going to make this sort of pick, this is probably the year to do it.

 

If worst comes to worst and we can't grab anyone else at CB, we have Melvin who can cover at CB#2 for a year whilst Wilson recovers, if we get that desperate. As long as the medical reports are encouraging pre-draft then in long term and medium term it's still a great pick if he comes back even close to how he was.

 

With the holes we have right now, I wouldn't take a risk in the 1st and 2nd. I'd make that pick in the 3rd any day of the week and twice on Sundays.

[krunk]

11 hours ago, akcolt said:

I don't think we can afford to take Jones with a 3rd. We didn't even know if he could play Sunday ball before the Achilles. We need help this year.  An OL from WKU at 15 not this draft. I know he's looked good. I think we go Reddick Edge Or CB unless someone falls to 15. 

 

Hankins wants too much money and no one wants to sign him Those are not good signs. Pass 

I love Hodges have wanted to sign him since FA began 

I don't feel all that comfortable with taking Sidney with the torn ACL either.  I'd probably be okay if we had already moved down in the draft and picked up an extra pick or two and he's still there then fine.  If not then I'm not that comfortable with it either.

[krunk]

7 hours ago, rock8591 said:

Bowser = slightly upgraded Johnathan Newsome. This forum overrates him way too much.

I think 2nd round is too high for him but he's better than Newsome.  The Newsome comparison is really more of a back handed compliment.  Bowser is a pretty good ball player.

[Defjamz26]

11 hours ago, akcolt said:

I don't think we can afford to take Jones with a 3rd. We didn't even know if he could play Sunday ball before the Achilles. We need help this year.  An OL from WKU at 15 not this draft. I know he's looked good. I think we go Reddick Edge Or CB unless someone falls to 15. 

 

Hankins wants too much money and no one wants to sign him Those are not good signs. Pass 

I love Hodges have wanted to sign him since FA began 

That OL could be much needed though. You take him and Luck is better protected and you can start anyone at RB and have them go off. Some team might fall in love with Reddick. But there's Raekwon McMillan round 2 who's an underrated athlete. And possibly Jarrad Davis. You can't completely rule at OL at 15.

[krunk]

4 hours ago, akcolt said:

It means he has never played.a down in the NFL. There are a lot of guys that have not lived up to projections, I''m not saying he was going to be a bust but it's not like he's a proven NFL CB. Then add the Achilles injury to the mix. No one knows how he returns from that injury. He's too much of a risk for us. We don't have that luxury with our roster. We need players that will help this year especially the first 2 days. 

I don't think we'll end up signing Hankins either.  Think we'll probably stay with Al Woods and David Parry.  Probably picking up a big man in the draft.  I like Caleb Brantley quite a bit.   Or whoever else they think is worthy.     I think the OP mentioned DJ Jones.  I caught eye of him at the combine but I've never really watched his tape.

[Shive]

7 hours ago, akcolt said:

It means he has never played.a down in the NFL. There are a lot of guys that have not lived up to projections, I''m not saying he was going to be a bust but it's not like he's a proven NFL CB. Then add the Achilles injury to the mix. No one knows how he returns from that injury. He's too much of a risk for us. We don't have that luxury with our roster. We need players that will help this year especially the first 2 days. 

Neither has any other player in this draft......The draft is a crap-shoot for this reason. None of these players are proven NFL players and even some of the "sure things" end up busts (Aaron Curry for example). We're most likely another offseason away from seriously contending and grabbing a CB with 1st round talent in the 3rd round would be fantastic. An Achilles tear isn't typically an injury to be too concerned with like an ACL tear is. I wasn't necessarily a fan of him at 15, but a year of rehabbing under an NFL staff with a redshirt year just to learn would be huge for him going into year 2.

[akcolt]

9 hours ago, Defjamz26 said:

That OL could be much needed though. You take him and Luck is better protected and you can start anyone at RB and have them go off. Some team might fall in love with Reddick. But there's Raekwon McMillan round 2 who's an underrated athlete. And possibly Jarrad Davis. You can't completely rule at OL at 15.

OL is fine I'm just not doing it at 15 We need a playmaker on D. 

[akcolt]

14 hours ago, krunk said:

I don't feel all that comfortable with taking Sidney with the torn ACL either.  I'd probably be okay if we had already moved down in the draft and picked up an extra pick or two and he's still there then fine.  If not then I'm not that comfortable with it either.

I think it's his Achilles he ruptured Krunk I'd feel better about a torn ACL.  I still would not draft him the first 2 days not with the CB's that will be there. It sucks Jones was a top CB and one of my favorites in this draft. I liked him at 15. You don't know what you are getting with Jones. 

 

Dr. Mark Schwartz provided some bad news calling a ruptured Achilles tendon a career-threatening injury.  “Of those who did return back, the average length of recovery was almost 11 months Schwartz said. “[Of] those who did get back, there was a decrease . . . in their ability to perform on the field. So this is a significant injury to a player in the NFL.  

 

There have been guys to come back but a 1/3 don't and no RB had made it back. 

 

[krunk]

1 minute ago, akcolt said:

I think it's his Achilles he ruptured Krunk I'd feel better about a torn ACL.  I still would not draft him the first 2 days not with the CB's that will be there. It sucks Jones was a top CB and one of my favorites in this draft. I liked him at 15. You don't know what you are getting with Jones. 

 

Dr. Mark Schwartz provided some bad news calling a ruptured Achilles tendon a career-threatening injury.  “Of those who did return back, the average length of recovery was almost 11 months Schwartz said. “[Of] those who did get back, there was a decrease . . . in their ability to perform on the field. So this is a significant injury to a player in the NFL.  

 

There have been guys to come back but a 1/3 don't and no RB had made it back. 

 

Usually the RBs get hit the hardest with that one.   Stinks

[rock8591]

On 3/20/2017 at 9:26 AM, krunk said:

I think 2nd round is too high for him but he's better than Newsome.  The Newsome comparison is really more of a back handed compliment.  Bowser is a pretty good ball player.

 

If we pick Bowser, I wouldn't mind if we sign Mario Williams and bring Jonathan Luigs out of retirement.