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chad72

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Everything posted by chad72

  1. The 49ers' draft picks now go like this: Round 1, Pick 31 Overall Round 2, Pick 63 Overall Round 3, Pick 94 Overall Round 3, pick 36, selection 99 overall (traded to Washington for Chase Young) Round 4, Pick 123 Overall (via Cowboys) Round 4, Pick 130 Overall Round 4, Pick 132 Overall (Compensatory) Round 5, Pick 175 Overall (Compensatory) Round 6, Pick 211 Overall (Compensatory) Round 6, Pick 215 Overall (Compensatory) Round 7, Pick 232 Overall (via Broncos) Round 7, Pick 251 Overall The rich get richer.
  2. Appreciate the effort. An absolute no to Jerry Jeudy, it has been hashed ad nauseum on this board, too many question marks. AR marked the era of no more band aids on the QB front, similarly a WR through the draft in the first 2 rounds will continue the no more band aids effort on Ballard's end. Great signing of Justin Simmons, definitely will be a huge boost for this D that depends on safety play like that to go against the best QBs in the AFC. The OL with a new coach was coming along really well, I doubt we get a 4th rounder for Ryan Kelly given the fact the other team has to take on his contract. Kenny Moore is a slot CB, the CB position for this team, there are few with the arm length that Ballard and folks have typically coveted in the draft, so it is not something Ballard and folks will make a move like that easily, the odds are the slot CB is drafted on Day 2 or 3 and developed behind Moore for a year or two. If you need to talk about slot CBs, you should see this video, one of the best I have seen specifically for slot CBs:
  3. Remember, that guy from Alabama is also good, when he was talking about Bryce Young at QB?? Wasn't that Irsay that said it? I wouldn't put too much stock into his words. Like a good owner, he stays out of the GM's way and lets his football guys do their thing. I am sure that will continue.
  4. Do you think with AR as QB, we underutilize AP much? Brian Thomas has run a more varied route tree than AP coming out of college against the best competition. The reason he is the 4th WR is that he has been locked down by press CBs like the 2 first round CBs Arnold and Kool-Aid more often than not. Heck, even Randy Moss and Reggie Wayne were locked up by Darelle Revis but they were worthy enough of being played by the best to begin with. TDs in spades, that is what Brian Thomas Jr. and Adonai Mitchell bring to the table. Mitchell played 2 years at Georgia and 1 year at Texas, he is more seasoned than Brian Thomas Jr. if you were to ask my honest opinion, so I wouldn't complain about him. There is however 1 WR that has given fits to every 1st round CB he has gone against, that is Ladd McConkey with his route running. So, if Ballard were to move back and get one of Brian Thomas Jr., Adonai Mitchell or Ladd McConkey, I am not complaining, each one brings a lot of strengths to the table and the rest is up to Reggie Wayne to coach up.
  5. He may have signed Buckner as a FA too, if he had the chance, that was my point. The biggest difference between your understanding and mine is that Ballard doesn't feel the free safety position is worth investing too much into in free agency since they have invested in it plenty in the draft. But then so many good free safeties in the FA market don't come around too often, nor does a WR draft class come around like the current one too often. So one's viewpoint might be prone to change to take advantage. We will see.
  6. It depends on where you get them while betting on upsides and projects. Getting Ben Banogu and Kemoko Turay in Rounds 2 versus Round 4 is all the difference in missing out on other good football players with production. Robert Mathis, Polian got him in Round 4, when he bet on his upside and that upside ended up being HOF upside. Ballard has adapted. The same high RAS, upside bet on DT Adetomiwa Adebawore, in 2023, he made it in Round 4, just like he SHOULD have with Ben Banogu and Kemoko Turay. He got the luxury to adapt on the job, some GMs don't get it, he should be thanking his lucky stars with Irsay being a patient owner after having 1 playoff win in 7 years with no division titles. Texans, Titans and Jaguars have all won a division title while Ballard was GM. You are what your record says you are, to quote Bill Parcells.
  7. It depends on what he deems as value though. Since he felt a guy like Buckner was pivotal to the D, he gave a 1st rounder AND signed him to a 4 year $84 million dollar contract. He signed Justin Houston to a 2 year $30 mil. contract. He has spent before. It is not black and white that he won't spend. If he feels that free safety position is vital to this team, I feel he will spend. If the goal is just to be in purgatory and middle of the road and being on the list of "also ran a good race" for feel good purposes, he will not be Colts GM in 3 years, that is a certainty, IMO.
  8. Might make a 2 year $30 million commitment more doable for Ballard than a 4 year $60 million then?? Didn't he do that for Justin Houston (though it is a different position)?
  9. Simmons having played in a division with Mahomes and Herbert, and being more consistent than McKinney (McKinney PFF shot up from 57 to 80s during the contract year, gives me a little pause), makes me lean towards Simmons a bit.
  10. Beyond Rounds 4, you typically get what you pay for with RBs. Pacheco works, not because he is a 7th rounder but he has a certain set of skills that works with the Chiefs offense and Mahomes demands 2 safeties deep often enough that Pacheco gets enough breathing room to run. However, they haven't had a RB with mad skills in the passing game since they had Kareem Hunt that was drafted in Round 3, I think. It has only been serviceable since then. Being able to pass catch on passing downs is one thing, also being able to blitz pickup on passing downs when you are not the target is another set of skills that elevates your value. Our Goodson ain't picking up blitzes. Both Shipley and Lloyd have 10 lbs on him.
  11. That is the 1 position I want Ballard to change his ways and spend, to get a marquee free safety for this D. Then draft and develop the young corners.
  12. Difficult to tell but based on PFF grades, he has been on the wrong end of the Broncos' W-L record lately: https://www.pff.com/nfl/players/justin-simmons/10732?season=2019 He started off 2019 with 90.9 and has been in the 70s consistently except in 2023. That also had to do with the initial few games when they played a D that was very porous in scheme and then straightened things up later.
  13. To me, both Will Shipley of Clemson and Marshawn Lloyd of USC have great experience in the passing game with blitz pickup and catching balls out of the backfield on screens and swing passes. If I were Ballard, I would target one of them. You don't need them to be blazing track stars but fast and elusive enough with good reliable hands with enough bulk for blitz pickup, both of those guys are that, IMO. They will make Zack Moss expendable, eventually.
  14. We NEED to get him, he is the guy who has picked Mahomes off 5 times in his career, the most of any safety, just like Bethea picked off Tom Brady in 2006, 2007, and 2009 (2008, Brady was out for the season in game 1, we played Matt Cassel):
  15. I would prefer using current year's picks. However, if you do want to use future year picks, no more than 2025 to be included. Future year picks typically end up 4-5 spots higher than this year's picks in value used for trades.
  16. In a few days, it is about to get very very busy, the free agency period.
  17. Mike Evans signed for 2 years with The Bucs with a base value of $41 million https://www.nbcsports.com/nfl/profootballtalk/rumor-mill/news/the-new-mike-evans-contract-has-a-base-value-of-41-million-over-two-years Dalton Schultz signed for 3 years $36 mil. with The Texans Zach Ertz signed a 1 year deal with Commanders Buffalo Bills - Signed G David Edwards to a two-year extension and P Matt Haack to a one-year contract. Released Ss Jordan Poyer and Siran Neal, C Mitch Morse, RB Nyheim Hines and WR Deonte Harty. Restructuring the contract of CB Rasul Douglas. Designated CB Tre'Davious White as a post June 1 release.
  18. I love the fact that there is as much supply as there is demand with the FA safety class. This could mean that a FA like Xavier McKinney or Justin Simmons could be had for $12 mil. a year as opposed to $15 mil. like Jesse Bates got. But the cap going up complicates things too. If you want a Seahawks type D having to go against the best QBs in the NFL with most of them in the AFC, you need that safety patrol and you get what you pay for, IMO. Skill positions ROI is better from the draft - so draft for offense, and pay for a couple elite guys on D in FA and we will be contending for the division, IMO.
  19. Yep, his name was the first thing that popped on my head. A vet presence signing like Matt Gay paid off for our ST last year. The only issue is Tommy Townsend agent is Drew Rosenhaus that he hired, which prompted the Chiefs to let him go and sign Matt Araiza given the free agents they had and had to re-sign.
  20. I wouldn't give up our No.15 for Sneed, no way. I would however ask them straight up if they would take our 3rd rounder since we are the ones giving them the cap room and signing Sneed to that big contract, at worst our No.46. He was originally a 4th rounder whose knee issues propped up only since the 2022 season SB vs Eagles and then again during minicamp. However, he has played through the season without missing games, so it was probably precautionary that he rested to recover. Everyone should read this: https://heavy.com/sports/kansas-city-chiefs/ljarius-sneed-knee-injury-red-flags/#:~:text=Sneed's knee injury first appeared,minicamp due to knee swelling. It has to be incentive laden too, IMO.
  21. Ballard moves up to Top 12 in the draft in Round 1.
  22. Another mock bites the dust: A bunch of wheeling and dealing, here it is: 15. Brock Bowers, TE, Georgia 58. T.J. Tampa, CB, Iowa State 73. Ricky Pearsall, WR, Florida 102. Maason Smith, DT, LSU 118. Jaylan Ford, LB, Texas 119. Kitan Oladapo, S, Oregon State 143. Zak Zinter, OG, Michigan
  23. True but in all cases, having the QB and offensive versatility (OL/skill positions) to play all styles is the key, shootout or not. No D, however good, can be on the field for too long. That example of ATL is a clear one where the Patriots had ran a LOT of plays but without points to show for it and it caught up in the 4th qtr. when the ATL D was gassed.
  24. Hey, Brady beat Mahomes by spreading it around with Edelman and Gronk and his RBs with clock control, and Burrow did the same with Chase and Higgins and company too. So, if you want to beat the best, give AR enough weapons to spread it around to beat them to play "keep away" if necessary against the best QBs. We have seen that story played out vs Peyton Manning before, the "keep away" game. That is why it is important to give AR plenty of quality outlets and for that reason, a Brian Thomas Jr. would be more valuable than a top corner. Again, Ballard drafts for what that player can become and there is a ceiling with Brian Thomas Jr. in this passing league that would equate him to the best corner that would be available at No.15, IMO, and when you consider our defensive system that isn't dependent on a lockdown man CB most of the time, to me Brian Thomas Jr. is the guy if Bowers is not available.
  25. If it is not a pass rusher, Bowers or Brian Thomas Jr. is how I think it is going to play out. For a D that doesn't rely on man CBs to lock down their players most of the time, Ballard has waited till Round 2 consistently to get his CB, from Rock Ya Sin to JuJu Brents (if we ignore Quincy Wilson for Pagano's system in Round 2 in 2017). That is why I have it narrowed down to - Bowers, Pass Rusher or Brian Thomas Jr. based on the system of our D, Ballard's history and recent emphasis on getting a boost in the explosiveness category, for pick 15. Last year was the first time Ballard got a QB in Round 1, this year will be the first time he probably gets a skill position player in Round 1, IMO.
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