Martin

We need a big run stopping LB on first and second down, so it makes a lot of sense. Good stuff assuming he is relatively cheap.

Looks like quite a few good guards and centers left, only two guards signed. Not seeing the need to panic on day one.

The biggest surprise was the comments on Strong. He’s known for making all protection calls himself and changing plays etc. due to his excellent grasp of the playbook in a NFL like offense. This essentially says the complete opposite. So a bit weird to say the least.

This could be great news for us!

Quick Willis question for this crowd. His completion % went from 61% last year to 64% this year. So that sounds good. But a lot of people are concerned about his accuracy. I have not seen him play. Does the 64% not really reflect his accuracy? Stats alone is always a bit of an incomplete story.

The good news is that if Cross is there, I would think they take him, especially with those measurements. Cross at LT and Christensen at LG sounds pretty great to me.

From CBS Sports
 

Offensive line measurements

Offensive line winners

Evan Neal, Alabama. One of the favorites to be the No. 1 pick in the draft is certainly a massive human at 6-foot-7 and 337 pounds, but by the looks of it, he has exactly zero excess weight. He's ready to be a solid Day 1 starter for whichever team selects him in the top five.

Daniel Faalele, Minnesota. Faalele weighed in at a whopping 384 pounds, a number the combine scales haven't seen since Wisconsin's Aaron Gibson weighed in at 386 pounds in 1999. Many draft pundits are pegging him as a Day 2 selection.

Bernhard Raimann, Central Michigan. The reason the Austrian native lands here is because of his 32 7/8" arms, which are just below the generally acceptable 33 inches for offensive tackles in the NFL. Usually players with 33-inch arms or shorter play guard at the next level, but the tight end-turned tackle has impressed scouts throughout the draft process. CBS Sports has Raimann as the No. 6 tackle prospect and the 29th-best prospect overall.

37 minutes ago, LinvilleGorge said:

They both have GREAT arms with good mobility and a great ability to throw on the move. They're both significantly above average athletes for NFL QBs 

Yes this one made me laugh. Let’s use two QBs with rocket arms and great mobility as an example

I would think that a QB from a top five conference in general is closer to done from a fundamentals perspective, while a QB from a FBS school where he was asked to play hero ball has much more upside to improve with NFL coaching. Allen did, doesn’t mean Willis can, but to outright dismiss it as impossible…

With Rhule we know that no QB stands a chance to improve, but with McAdoo we actually have a proper OC/QB coach.

I want an LT, but if we take a QB, I would no doubt gamble on Willis.

Anyone seen the official measurements of the top OTs yet?

12 minutes ago, ForJimmy said:

I’m using Allen because he is an athletic QB playing for a small school surrounded by lesser talent. Willis had Liberty playing better than Allen did Wyoming and you could argue Willis had better stats. Allen definitely has a rocket, but have you not seen Willis launching the ball downfield as well? 

Here are Allen’s stats:

Here is part of his draft profile:

So very similar to Willis. Allen is clearly taller and heavier, and with a much lower completion %. But again, very similar negatives.

14 minutes ago, Mr. Scot said:

I'm not taking using a top ten pick on someone I think has only a 20% chance of being what I want.

Mahomes and Allen are both solid passers who also have physical ability. And while that's great, it's also not that common (neither was it enough for either one this year).

But again, the idea that you can just take any guy that's got great athletic ability and teach him to be an NFL level quarterback is fool's gold.

Give me the guys who have got the quarterback skills over the athletic freaks that people think can be taught them ten times out of ten.

I think you are the only one here saying “…the idea that you can just take any guy that's got great athletic ability and teach him to be an NFL level quarterback…”.

Apparently he’s been very impressive in interviews, so that shows that he is more than just an athletic ability guy. He’s not a Kyle Boller with a rocket arm and dumb as a rock. Again, he might bomb but you seem to go to great lengths to downplay his skill set, even downplaying his physical skills vs. all other draft folks.

16 minutes ago, Mr. Scot said:

If they don't have accuracy or the ability to read and process a defense, all the physical tools in the world won't make a difference.

I'd add though that Willis's physical tools aren't as good as some folks think. If you watch him against higher level competition, he's nothing special.

You need both, if you struggle to throw when it’s raining outside it doesn’t matter how well you read a defense. 

One you might be able to improve with great coaching, the other one is what it is at this point.

Again I haven’t seen Willis play, but some of the comments seem to indicate he maxed out playing at Liberty for two years for a coach fired from Florida, and that doesn’t make sense to me. But sure, he might completely bomb. But if we go QB (I really prefer a LT), I’d rather gamble on someone with upside, than someone with high floor/low ceiling.

5 minutes ago, Mr. Scot said:

But it wasn't, and it didn't.

And on an annual basis, it's still the guys who can read a defense and throw an accurate pass who win.

Yes, but as a high pick you really want to see the tools as well. I would still not take Mac Jones due to his limitations. But that’s me.

4 minutes ago, Martin said:

In 2020 Liberty had their best record ever at 10-1, beating Coastal in their bowl game. How is that not elevating the team?

It was a shame Mahomes couldn’t elevate Texas Tech going 4-8, 7-6 and 5-7 during his three years as a starter 

1 hour ago, mrcompletely11 said:

Willis is fools gold.  If he couldnt elevate Liberty and he is pretty bad against better comp then whats the point?  Quincy Avery says he has worked with a private qb coach since 9th grade and he still has these incredible bad habits I just dont see NFL coaches raising his level of play.  The throwing off the back foot, trying to muscle throws, simply taking off needlessly in the pocket are just bad habits that will be astronomically hard to coach out of him.  Then you get to his size, where like it or not could be an issue.

 

If, If we decide to go qb at 6 (and I pray to buddha we dont) then it has to be Pickett since he can start from day one. 

In 2020 Liberty had their best record ever at 10-1, beating Coastal in their bowl game. How is that not elevating the team?

Great write-up, really appreciate your perspective!

6 minutes ago, amcoolio said:

I'm sorry but you can't take a small QB that can't read defenses and is a one read and throw player. Everyone compares him to Jalen Hurts and the Eagles are going to have to move on from Hurts soon because he has the same issue. Its way too easy to game plan for and it would be impossible to try to win in the playoffs with that type of QB.

Cam was an athletic unicorn that only comes around once in a blue moon, Willis isn't that. To me Willis is like a Geno Smith level player.

Since I don’t know much about him, how do you know he can’t read defenses, and is a one read and throw player? Sounds like teams are blown away with his knowledge and understanding of the game. I remember all the concerns folks had about Herbert, feels similar. But that was all about his coaching in college.

Just now, mrcompletely11 said:

The dude in podcast lays most of the blame on Libertys coaches.  Definitely weird but thought the 9th grade comment was head scratching as his mechanics are the worst of any of the top prospects

Yeah, that’s the hard part. What can get fixed with great coaching and what can’t? Should be a fun next two months leading up to the dradt.

33 minutes ago, mrcompletely11 said:

This scares the poo out me.  Quincy Avery owner of QB Takeover says here Malik has been working with private qb coaches since the 9th grade.   If thats true and his mechanics and judgement are still this bad then holy poo this kid aint making it in the nfl

 

https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5zaW1wbGVjYXN0LmNvbS9GMTd1WjhWbw/episode/ZGQyNjQ2OGYtMjI3YS00ZTdiLTg1OGQtYTAyNWIzOTZjMmNj?hl=en&ved=2ahUKEwin24_7xaz2AhVRT98KHedDC8EQieUEegQIHxAF&ep=6

This might be true but sounds really weird. So Willis is super talented, super smart and humble, works hard but hasn’t been able to improve his mechanics despite a private coach since 9th grade? I haven’t watched him play so I don’t know, but it sounds like miss information season to me.

2 hours ago, BrianS said:

You don't have to buy it, you can go look it up yourself.  We've backed ourselves into an awful corner with some questionable moves.  There isn't a lot of flexibility there this year because of moves we made in the past.  Last couple years we've been talking about "dead cap" for players not on the roster.  Well, most of that is gone now, but we're paying Reddick and Paradis a combined 12 million next year to not be on our team with voidable years crap.

The two biggest cap hits next year?  Darnold and Moton.  Darnold is 100% non-fixable.  His salary is guaranteed.  Moton is the one guy who might be worth what we're paying - and that number is $19 million in case you're wondering.

Shaq is the one person who we might be able to cut.  But, can you get his replacement plus anything worthwhile out of 12 million?  That's the key, right?  I dunno man.  Shaq is the only NFL LB on our roster who is actually under contract next year.  THE ONLY ONE.

The problem is not JUST that our cap is crap.  The problem is that our roster is actually paper thin.  Our top 22 players (by cap number) ends with Chuba Hubbard.  Below him are just the dregs.  We can barely even field a team.

We have probably 31 spots on our 53 man roster just completely up for grabs.  We have 17 million in cap, 5 draft picks and the UDFA market to fill those spots.  We really, really need to just take our lumps next year and regroup in 2023.  I'm terrified of the damage we could do to our future.

 

I hear you, but every other team in the league can make it work. So we should be able to.

Would love to see Norwell at LG and Corbett at RG. I don’t buy in to the “we only have $17M” thing. You can easily manage your cap to make that work.

33 minutes ago, Harbingers said:

I don’t want Rhule to switch QB’s again. He made this bed, he better lay in it. Get Cam, use him as a trade to a contender mid season, than bring Darnold in and show us you can improve players. 

100% this!

Ideally we get two starting level guards or g/c combo. It is an unusually strong FA for O-linemen. 

Then we take a LT with our first pick.

1 hour ago, ImaginaryKev said:

Connor Williams in FA, and Kenyon Green in the draft

Didn’t Connor Williams have the most false starts in the league? If so it’s a hard pass on him. He’s always felt like the week link when I’ve watched the cowboys.