Archer

I was where you are, but I see great value in assembling a premium secondary. The N FL is all about great passing games, and our division has two great QBs. I think Quinyon and Arnold are going to be great ones…

Honestly, if I’m CB I’m weighing Quinyon, Arnold, Brian Thomas, Adonai, and maybe Worthy. Two or three of those guys will be available and both positions make sense. The other consideration is that if you pass on WRs, there’s so much depth that you can address it later. I mean, I’m fine with going WR in the 1st and getting Melton in the 2nd, since I still think he’s very underrated…but, I don’t have a lot of CBs later on that I like.

Today’s CB workouts reinforced what I already thought: I want either Quinyon in the 1st or Melton in the 2nd (possibly after a trade down).

For The Now, I’ve got my eyes on the DT and CB groups. Ballard likes these guys to be very athletic, and if some of these 1st round CB prospects prove the athleticism we saw on tape and/or at the SB (Mitchell, Arnold, DeJean), he won’t be able to resist in the 1st. 15 looks like a CB sweet spot. DT depth is a huge immediate need, IMO. I know Adebawore was always a project, but he hardly showed much of anything last year. Taven Bryan was rated poorly by pff, and Eric Johnson’s pff was one of the worst I’ve ever seen (though Adebawore’s was even lower!). I’m gonna be looking at guys like Ruke Orhorhoro, Kris Jenkins, and DeWayne Carter. If any of these guys end up with 9.5 RAS scores or something, then Ballard will think about it in Round 2 IMHO. Ruke has a scouting report that sounds a lot like Adebawore’s coming out of college. For the future, I’m thinking OL and LB. OL depth would actually serve us well also in The Now. There seem to be some previously late-round guys who are rising on the OL - Dominick Puni, Mason McCormick, Javion Cohen, Delmar Glaze. And some names that were always in the conversation - Zach Frazier, Christian Haynes, Zack Zinter, Sedrick Van Pran - looking forward to how they all wash out at the combine and pro days. LB - I’m locked into a few draft crushes right now - James Williams, Junior Colson, and Tyrice Knight. But, if someone comes out of the combine with long arms and runs and jumps well, I would have to go straight to his tape. I’d love to add a LB, since Speed and Franklin are FAs after next year, and we should have a cheap draftee ready to step in for one of them…

I think Brents could, but I don’t really see us being sorry that we got “too many” good CBs. Not in our division. I do really like Terrion Arnold, but I think he’ll be gone earlier. DeJean is also CB’s kind of athlete, and many think he could play safety immediately, if need be. But, like I said, I don’t think we have any huge needs, so I think CB can just take BPA at a position that makes some sense. Lots of ways we can go with this pick. BTW, my favorite potentual value pick in this draft for us would be Max Melton. He could be available in the 3rd, and he reminds me a bit of Kenny Moore. I like that guy a lot…

I guess that I don’t see safety as a need in this scenario. Cross slides into a starting spot next to Blackmon, with Thomas and DeShon Elliott as depth. Seems great to me. The CB need is simply this: we have Stroud and Lawrence slinging it in our division. We need to be special at CB to win the division, and we’re a #1 CB away from special.

I’m not really sure about Kelly’s looming departure - he’s said he has no retirement plans. But, I kinda feel like Fries will be the top backup option at center this next year. Draftee or Sills could come in at OG and Fries could slide over if anything happens to Kelly. Or French, who was only terrible at guard - he’s always been decent at center.

Okay, I finally looked into the salary cap and tried to calculate what we can do. We can afford to do more than I had thought. So, here’s my annotated mock off season, as I see it now: Re-Sign: Pittman, Stewart, Blackmon, Moore, Tyquan, Ronnie Harrison, and Sanchez. Release: Alie-Cox and Ogletree (hate to see it, but I’m assuming his career is over. If it blows over, I’d keep him, but it probably won’t work itself out by draft time.) Let Walk in FA: Minshew, Moss, Bryan, Pinter, McKenzie Sign: Darnell Mooney, WR, Bears Tyrod Taylor, QB, Giants DeShon Elliott, S, Dolphins Draft: *Keep 1st round pick, but trade the 2nd rounder down and pick up a late 3rd rounder for it. 1-15 Quinyon Mitchell, CB, Toledo. 2-60ish Ruke Orhorhoro, 3T, Clemson 3-82 Dominick Puni, IOL, Kansas 3-92ish James Williams, LB, Miami 4-124 Theo Johnson, TE, Penn St. 5-157 Khristian Boyd, NT, N. Iowa 6-210 Kimani Vidal, RB, Troy 7-257 Anthony Gould, WR, Oregon St. Draft Thoughts: The DT/NT depth was garbage last year, so I got two. I opted to add a FA WR, so he’d be productive from Day 1; still came and got a Tank Dell clone (without the college production) in the 7th. The 3rd and 4th look to be sweet spots for IOL values: Beebe, Zinter, Cohen, Glaze, McCormick, Haynes are other names to watch. It’s amazing that we got to the point that TE is a need, but Granson didn’t step up last year, we’re losing two, and Woods’ injury could affect his trajectory.

Lots of ways we can go in this draft. I’ve come around to CB in this draft, because of the following argument: Lawrence and Stroud are in the division, and it’ll be hard to beat those teams without a top notch CB corps. And we still don’t have a clear #1 CB. However, I could easily see us going other directions. WR, under the theory that you have to give our young franchise QB enough to work with in order to avoid Mac Jones syndrome. EDGE, under the theory that pressure is the most important element of stopping our division’s elite QBs. Etc…

I agree. I think we definitely need a back-up NT for Grover. When he was out on his suspension, we suddenly couldn’t stop the run to save our lives. I also thought that all the DT depth kinda stunk - I think we could draft a back-up 3T also. Don’t want to give up on Adetomewa this quick, but aside from a few sacks he didn’t have a good rookie season. I’ve got my eyes on Mason Smith of LSU (former 5-star recruit) or EWS game star Khristian Boyd of Northern Iowa for the back-up NT spot…

Yeah, I just checked the roster, and those two are about the exact same size. I thought Dayo was a bit smaller than that. I was thinking of Robinson as a back-up 3T. It turns out that we only have one DT over 300 lbs, so Robinson fits pretty well into our DT template. Our DT depth was bad this year and our starters are getting up there in age, which is why I think an early-round DT is a good idea.

Read that Darius Robinson is “getting first round consideration” after his strong Senior Bowl week. Probably means his pre-combine stock is early 2nd round now. I still think he’s one of the draft’s best fit for the Colts…

Trade down to about 25 or 26, picking up a late 2nd. Then: 1) Adonai Mitchell, WR, Texas 2) Max Melton, CB, Rutgers 2) Darius Robinson, DL, Missouri 3) James Williams, LB, Miami 4) Mason McCormick, IOL, S. Dak. St. 5) Khristian Boyd, NT, Northern Iowa 6) Brevyn Spann-Ford, TE, Minnesota 7) Davius Richard, QB, NC Central

If you want a nepo baby at WR, why don’t we wait a few rounds and take Luke McCaffrey?

I agree - I’ve had him in my mock in the 3rd for some time. I’d consider late 2nd if we do some trading back..,

Funny - I’ve figured it made more sense to bring back Blackmon than Kenny Moore. Sounds like he didn’t really address Kenny’s FA status…

I’m currently at this: Trade down to the mid twenties, picking up a late 2nd. Then, 1) Edgerrin Cooper, LB, Texas A&M. 2) Kris Abrams-Draine, CB, Missouri 2) Masson Smith, DT, LSU 3) Jackson Powers-Johnson, IOL, Oregon 4) Jalen McMillan, WR, Washington 5) Dylan Laube, RB, New Hampshire 6) Dwight McGlothern, S/CB, Arkansas 7) Jordan Toles, LB/S, Morgan St.

I got my eye on Edgerrin Cooper, LB, Texas A&M. Long armed play maker. Speed and Franklin are signed for one more year. I’m also thinking about a low-key WR addition in the draft. I’m not convinced that Pierce can’t be a great piece if AR is dropping dimes to him from way out. So, I’m watching Jalen McMillan in the 4th. Or maybe Roman Wilson or Ainias Smith.

I agree that Raimann got hosed, but Q didn’t deserve it. Tunsil and Dawkins got in with pff grades of 74.1 and 73.7 (nonsense. Raimann’s 83.9). NFL.com’s snub article indicated that Kolton Miller (80.2) was a consideration to be a top 10 snub, but didn’t mention Raimann.

There once was a team from Indianapolis, whose 2022 season left them crapulous. their week 18 game payoff is a trip to the playoffs, though I don’t know how the crap it is.

I’m at the same place with LB being at the top of my list this year. Ballard likes the long ones, though, so I have Edgerrin Cooper at my #1 target. Seems like we can trade down and still pick him up, which is also something Ballard loves. I get it, trades require a trade partner, so many people don’t like to assume they can be pulled off. I like some of your other priorities - DT, IOL, and one more piece at WR…

I agree on the trade, and I’ll try to predict it. He trades down to the very end of the 1st, and then: 1) LB 2) CB 3) IOL 3) NT 4) WR 5) LB 6) TE 7) DB

I was surprised at that as well. I didn’t watch the game - maybe the Huskies game-planned to take Franklin away…

I’m really starting to like the notion of trading the 1st round pick down to the very end of the 1st (or very early 2nd) and targeting either Troy Franklin or Edgerrin Cooper. I know Alec Pierce is supposed to fit better once Richardson returns with the long ball, but he’s been too nonproductive and I want to make sure AR has what he needs. And I think Cooper could be a great playmaker in our D. Zaire and EJ are only signed for one more year, and it would be good to have the next star LB in place before their contracts come up…