stitches

Sure let's do it...

I mean they had 7 wins last season without Caleb Williams and without Keenan Allen... I think that projection is reasonable.

New kick return rules... might increase the value of kick returners a bit:

Seems like owners voted to approve new kickoff rule. The value of kick returners might have jumped a bit after this rule... It will look something like this:

Want another wild stat... So he's like... contested catch receiver who doesn't catch the ball?

Not 100% certain about this, but from what I remember he was another of the PFF GAS stars. Even though he didn't test like a top speed athlete, he was clocked the fastest on the gauntlet drill and he looked really good on that. Maybe there is more to him than meets the eye, but overall I wasn't super impressed with his ability to create separation and get open. A lot of his best work is in contested catch situations.

I posted above... whatever the reason it's not really impeding him in catching the ball. He has the lowest drop rate of this class - only 1.8%... BTW just to give context about just how good that is... here are the drop rates of other top receivers in the draft: Keon Coleman: 7.2% Marvin Harrison Jr: 6.9% Ladd McConkey: 6.3% Xavier Worthy: 5.4% Malik Nabers: 4.9% Xavier Legette: 4.8% Rome Odunze: 4.8% Ja’Lynn Polk: 4.8% Brian Thomas Jr: 3.8%

BTW Mitchell has only 1.8% drop rate. That's the lowest out of any of the receivers projected to go high in the draft.

I think I like Mitchell as a potential X receiver more. And I like Thomas as a downfield threat more... I think Mitchell has higher upside honestly. I saw some body catches too and was worried initially.. but then the more I watched the more impressive catches outside of his frame and on jump balls I saw. I don't think I worry about his ball skills at all.

I think I'm team "trade down and pick AD Mitchell". For me Mitchell and Brian Thomas are very close and if you can have Mitchell at 25-28 or thereabout and add another 2nd rounder or a couple of thirds... I'd be very tempted to do something like this. Then use the extra pick to address the holes in our defense... McKinstry or Tampa with one of the seconds... Edgerrin Cooper with another day 2 pick... Kneeland 3d day 2 pick...

Ballard SMH. Didn't reinforce special teams and we lose 2 games because of it.

I loved most of McConkey's film I watched... until I put the Alabama tape on. Both Arnold and McKinstry kinda of... manhandled him. I guess this is the biggest worry with him - his physicality and surviving first contact on press-coverage. Here's a hot take... I think I like Ricky Pearsall better than McConkey and I still do like McConkey too...

RAS is based on their testing at the combine and pro days. GAS is supposed to be PFFs attempt to quantify in-game functional athleticism. Right now it's proprietary and a black box so we don't know exactly how they get to their numbers, but despite Nacua having low RAS, PFF's GAS score put him among the top of receivers. And this was before he became a sensation in the league. They might have something there... I guess we will see in the future how this thing goes.

Don't quote me on that but from what I remember I think there were some studies that showed that the thing that suffers most after recovery from Achilles tear is explosiveness.

Yeah, I added the RAS with the agility scores above. 9.30...

Also, keep in mind that in general rehab and recovery for younger players on average has better outcomes.

Yah, I thought it was reasonable at this stage. Might change my tune by start of the season and when I see how AR is progressing...

@Superman I found Latu's 3cone and shuttle from his pro day: It seems like he weighed 8 pounds heavier than at the combine. The 3cone is actually pretty good. RAS with the agility scores:

AFC South Lines: Colts 8.5 Texans 9.5 Jaguars 8.5 Titans 5.5 Thoughts?

Agreed. Wish we had more of those numbers. A grand total of FIVE pass-rushers did the 3cone 6 did the shuttle... BTW... look at those numbers for Marshawn Kneeland: - 3 cone = 7.02 - shuttle = 4.18 He did that at 6'3" 267lbs... 34+ inch arms too... He's projected as a 2nd-3d rounder... I wouldn't be shocked if he was a Ballard guy.

I think Verse is the one that probably fits best what Ballard likes. He has length and explosiveness... if there is two traits that Ballard loves in his linemen it's those two and apart from Turner, who as you say might not be scheme fit, he probably is the best of all of them at those things.

If you had to pick one pass rusher from this draft for the Colts who would it be? Chop Robinson?

Yah... I agree he doesn't look explosive or super fast on tape... but he doesn't look slow either. He kind of looks like... he's playing at his own pace and it doesn't look like it's hindering his pass-rush. I know we don't have access to PFF's GAS numbers and their methodology about it, but what do you make of those scores? It seems like it's their proprietary in-game athleticism score, that is not public but is available for the teams that subscribe to their services(all of them). (From what I've heard in their podcasts - those gas numbers are for every player they have numbers for(including players that never make the NFL) and that most of the players that make the NFL have scores above 80. I think they said in one of their podcasts that a lot of the elite players in the league had GAS in the high 90s. )

My thought of the day: I think I want Laiatu Latu if we are going to be going for DE in the 1st. He will be my EDGE1 in this draft. Just.. .the more I watch of him and the other EDGEs ... the more I just cannot ignore how skilled he is. I am not sure I've seen this refined of a pass-rusher recently. It's almost like he's playing completely different game than any of the other EDGEs in this draft. And then he went on and tested above 9 RAS... like WHAT? Today I heard another metric in PFF's podcast... there's this in-game athleticism score(GAS) they have. And they have him measured at 97.1 out 100 in 2022 and 99.7 in 2023!!! They have him as an elite functional athlete, even though he doesn't look like it at first sight. And then the final nail - even production-wise he's the best pass-rusher in the draft... has 27 sacks last 2 years... 62 pressures this year, 65 last year... 21.5 FTLs this year, 12.5 last year... those are insane numbers. Those are better numbers than many of the EDGEs that have been drafted in the top 5(like the Bosas, like ... even Myles Garrett) don't hit... If our doctors clear him medically... I think I'd be ecstatic to get him at 15.