I've said a few times leading up to the draft that Mayfield was a red herring for us and it seems like that's exactly what played out. see Cleveland had mayfield as their top QB and Barkley as their top player The giants had barkley as their top player and darnold or a trade down for darnold The jets wanted darnold, but played it close to chest, We didn't even bring him in until right before the draft. The browns were going to take barkley 1st and mayfield 4th, meaning the giants would have taken darnold or traded down for a team wanting darnold. What the jets did, was sell the idea we wanted mayfield at 3, forcing the browns to take him 1st overall, letting barkley fall to the giants at 2, and darnold fall to the jets at 3. It was a perfectly played smoke screen To make things even better for us, The bills took allen over rosen, The cards jumped miami and took rosen away from the AFC, and the ravens traded up for jackson meaning NE can't steal him in the 2nd round. SO only 2 of the top 5 QBs made it to the AFC east, the jets with Darnold and the bills with Allen. The only way it could have been better is if the browns took allen and the bills took mayfield. This draft really couldn't have worked out any better for us then it did.
I would say that I grade our move to trade up a solid B+. We got the best value for the move by getting Darnold, who I would argue has one of the lowest floors as well. Another thing, which worked out, is the two players most of us were dreaming of at 6 (Chubb and Barkley) did not make it there. We also have to consider that a lot of the 2nd round guys we were eyeballing are gone as well, so that makes losing those hurt a little less. Billy Price, Sony Michelle gone etc. All in all, it was a pretty good move and we got good value.
To me, Allen has more bust potential than Mayfield so I'm thrilled that he's in our division. I'm just shocked that the Browns actually took Mayfield at 1 when it was was expected to be either Darnold or Allen.
even if you feel that way, you'd still have to agree that allen has a much high ceiling if he doens't bust. He can be on big ben's level
Do you think Macc was behind the "Jets love Mayfield" leaks the whole time?? Idk if he is that smart or not but it would be genius on a couple levels. Cleveland, if they want Mayfield, thinks they have to take him number 1 as he wont be there at 4 AND teams would be less inclined to make a trade push with the Giants as they figure Darnold & Rosen could both be available at 4 or 5....thoughts? oh, nevermind I see some of that was in the OP
Say what you will about Mac but he just about played this draft season about as brilliantly as you could and came away with the best QB prospect in the draft, one that is up there with the best of the last decade. For now at least all past mistakes are forgiven and I hope he is the GM going forward.
Macc has lowcaught three true blue chip players now in the first round, but this one I think this his masterpiece, however it turns out. You have to wonder how much he knew about the Browns' affinity for Mayfield, and how sold Gettleman was on staying the course with Eli. The Jets leaks about Mayfield at 3 probably forced the Browns to take him at 1. Yes, Macc has some big ones. He knew exactly what he was doing. I'm digging it.
If both Mayfield AND Sam were off the board at #3, Macc would have traded back, recouped our 2nds (and maybe more) and taken one of the remaining 3 QBs later on. I have to believe Macc had Mayfield/Sam graded A, worthy of the trade up, and the remaining QBs graded B, worthy of a trade back down and wait if need be. Macc took the original gamble of trading up to 3 with only 2 QBs graded A b/c of Barkley was very likely to go #1 or #2. He was right, so we'll never know for sure what he would have done if both May and Sam were gone. Other than stab himself in the eye, of course.
I think this is pretty fair. The move up gave him the opportunity to take advantage of some extremely fortuitous mistakes made in front of us. What's the phrase "luck is the residue of design"? There is no way he could have predicted what would happen but his move up made it possible.
He had control over putting the team in position to get lucky, and he did just that. Former GMs would have done nothing and watched the league pass them by while drafting someone who would go on to have an unremarkable career.
No chance. Mac explicitly said last night that they had three guys they really liked at the top of the draft and would have been happy getting any one of them when they made the trade. Their board was either: 1) Mayfield, 2) Darnold, 3) Rosen OR 1) Darnold, 2) Mayfield, 3) Rosen OR 1) Darnold, 2) Rosen, 3) Mayfield. (I tend to think it was probably one of the first two).
Pretty slick if it was a designed leak.... and hearing Bowles response when asked if Darnold was #1 on their board, it's very possible. Now if he also get Jennifer Garner as his "assistant" he's truly the man, and should change his name to Dick Hammer 2.0
Why didn't Bowles just tell the reporter Darnold was #1 on their board? That he equivocated tells me Mayfield was atop their board, but Bowles didn't want to say it. Or am I missing something?
he had control over getting to 3, he also had control over leaking rumors they were going to use the 3 pick on who Cleveland wanted at 4 forcing their hand.
My best guess from what Mac said last night is that Mayfield might have been number 1 on their board, but I'm not sure one way or the other.
Because he doesn't have to. I'm glad they don't give anything internal and clues to their thinking to the media. I think they had Darnold and Mayfield 1,2 and the draft played out in their favor. I also think the trade was a savvy move for that reason and he had a good feel for how it would go. That he had conviction for Darnold was a good thing and as the dust settles I'm glad.
