Be gentle...or don't be. This is just the draft because I don't even want to start speculating on Peyton Manning or LaRon Landry yet haha. My take? Go BPA at each pick, so maybe you think we need to address certain positions earlier. I never feel that way. With that said, I feel like this addresses our needs pretty damn well anyway. 1) Riley Reiff OT Iowa - This guy's got a ton of experience, and who doesn't like a great Iowa lineman prospect?? He could fill the hole at RT for years to come. 2) Dwight Jones WR UNC - Another person had this guy in the 4th, but if you want him, I think you're going to have to get him in the 2nd. I wanted to draft a WR later, but decided Jones would be the BPA if he made it here. He's got the potential to be a great #1 WR with a great skillset combination. I'm too intrigued to pass here. 3) Shea McLellin DE in college, projects as 3-4 OLB, Boise St - High motor, strong player. Relentless, hard worker. That's what we need out there. 4) Brandon Taylor S LSU - Seems to step up in bigger games. Has an injury history. Would consider say Trumaine Johnson here, but his level of competition and attitude scare me away a bit. 5) Brandon Weeden QB OK St - 28 or 29 years old, is he the next Weinke or Henson? I hope not. As I've stated a million times, I don't think Sanchez is the answer. Consequently, I also don't think anyone other than Luck or RG3 in this draft necessarily is either. Weeden's a big armed QB with a great pocket presence, played at a high level all season, and is more cerebral than I think he gets credit for. He moves way down the draft because of his age, but you can only sign a guy for a few years anyway, so I think he's worth the gamble. 6) Jake Stoneburner TE OSU - I'm not sold on Keller, never really have been. With that said, I'm not drafting Stoneburner to replace Keller, but I think he'd be a good complement in the passing game, and he has good blocking skills. 7) Matt Merletti S UNC - Another safety prospect, huge injury issues. But the guy can play. Tore his ACL and MCL this past season. Still think he's worth the gamble in the 6th round. Lord knows our secondary needs help.
Weeden's making me look like a genius already in this game...0 for 1 with a pick! Keep that draft stock down, Weeden.
Stoneburner is a Jr, not sure why some sites have him listed as a Sr. As for the draft, to be totally honest I don't love it, mostly because I just am not a fan of the players. Reiff is solid, not a huge fan of his, and both Dwight Jones and Shea Mclellin seem like solid role guys in the future, but neither strikes me as a major factor type guy. Taylor and Weeden are both interesting guys though, and have a certain type of upside (Weeden's being a very different one than other players). Not really knocking you or anything, just this early in the process there are certain guys I like more than others. That said, you should have just mocked M Floyd to the Jets in Rd 1. After being negative on him in the past/last year, he's impressed me a ton this year. I think he has Andre Johnson-level upside.
Be more assertive and tell me it sucks haha. I certainly value your opinion over mine when it comes to prospects, but I'll be ready to say I told you so! Just kidding. Anyway, I don't want Floyd anywhere near this team. I'm a diehard ND fan, and I'm not convinced Floyd's game is going to translate well at all. He dominates for sure, but there's something awkward about his play for me when I watch him. He doesn't need to be fast, but I just don't see enough speed or great route running for him to get great separation in the NFL. Could be wrong, but something definitely turns me off about him. I'm much more intrigued by Jones honestly.
I think Floyd's gonna be awesome on the pro level, he was hanging with Julio Jones and AJ Green through their 1st 3 years of college. He doesn't have burner speed that is true but he is a tough guy to drag down(Guys will need to aim low at him) and his adjustment in mid air to balls is amazing. He has a great knack at jugging the ball towards his body and for the most part when he doesn't lose his focus he makes all the catches. He isn't the type of guy who will get a 70+ yard TD that being said but as a 15-20 yard completion type of WR, he is a monster. Add his length and adjustment come the red zone and he is going to be awesome. Golden Tate could do what Floyd could but he didn't have Floyd's height which is what has hurt Tate on the pro level(Though Tate is slowly figuring things out this year in SEA). Floyd is what Tate was plus size. What's been awesome with Floyd is he improved his speed/ability to make better route running this senior year. It was so good teams needed to double on him which allowed for the emergence of Tyler Eifert.
As a UNC season ticket holder, I think Dwight Jones can be a great #2 receiver, or a very good #1. He has really good hands. He dropped a couple of balls in the bowl game, but no UNC player was focused or prepared for that game. He has the speed to stretch the field and the size to be a great redzone target. Our OC used him horribly, which is to say that he very rarely called plays that took Dwight on routes past 15 yards. He was usually running 3-5 yard drag routes, which for a player of his talents is ridiculous. To the original poster's mock, if Matt Merletti gets drafted, some team made a gigantic mistake. He's a great kid, with a lot of heart, but if you think our current safeties are bad and unathletic, Merletti will dazzle you with his lack of speed and size. He's slow and often times gets caught peeking in the backfield and gets roasted.
ROUND 1 OG Decastro / Upshaw OLB (they will be gone) Whitney Mercilus DE is the next best that fills a need ROUND 2 Kelechi Osemele OG ROUND 3 Marvin Mcnutt WR / Lavonte Davis OLB/SS (IF possible i say we draft up and get both these guys) That gives us top talent ON (DL OL WR SS)
Reiff is so overrated it ridiculous. He's not a top 10 player not even close. Not even a top 3 lineman in this draft. He's a solid player or a late 1st round pick but not top 20. He's surprisingly weak, lacks a true "mean streak", and gets beatin off the rush A LOT. I think hes a project not an immediate starter.
Lavonte David will be a 4-3 LB . He shouldnt play safety in the NFL at all IMO. He's a great cover linebacker. His best chance to be successful is to stay in that role in the NFL. Since hes great at zone coverage, covering the TE, and tackling. A more all around LB than a freak. Safety wouldnt make him look good.
