Mr. Scot

Actually I think most of the needy teams traded for somebody this year, or last. A lot of them, us included, also drafted someone this year. They just waited till the later rounds to do it.

I'd put that one under the "anything can happen" category. (or under the "monkeys might fly out of my butt" category, whichever you prefer) Yeah it's possible, but I don't think it's likely.

I posted a general discussion on it in another thread. The reasons will be mostly individual, but it is still a collective event. And I'd add one that surprised a fair number of people. (me included)

Just for the record, I wasn't a huge fan of OL Coach John Matsko myself, but I know some were (Ellis is one).

I feel like when this year's draft is discussed in the future, one of the big topics is going to be how the quarterbacks outside of Pickett fell so far. One of the questions of course will be did they really "fall" or was this where they were supposed to be and we just didn't know it? Here are some perspectives regarding individual quarterbacks, although the discussion could apply to a few of them. One of the fallers fell to us, of course. Obviously, there are a number of factors that contribute to something like this. I'm wondering though what people think of either the slide in general or what happened to their particular favorite.

Thing is, Willis isn't the only one who dropped.

Think that was Ricky.

Just to be clear, I don't have a problem with this. It's just kinda odd to see. The NIL era is definitely different.

It's been suggested in the past that he might be better as a 3-4 OLB than a 4-3 DE

Word is they're still looking to trade him, and honestly it sounds like it wouldn't take a huge offer.

Also reuniting with Rivera, of course...

I definitely wouldn't beat Fitterer in a staring contest.

Well to be fair, I don't think anybody foresaw the massive drops all the quarterbacks made in this draft. Kudos to Verge for correctly predicting Strong might go undrafted though...

Same. You can tell having to sit and wait without second and third round picks didn't sit well with Fitterer.

Yeah, that comparison occurred to me.

It's also true that what frequently happens in the NFL is everybody starts doing one thing and then a team that decides to do something different becomes a powerhouse and starts things trending in the other direction.

Ellis offers his take...

Pretty much...

That's kinda what struck me. I'm not all that used to us being patient. (or smart)

Mayfield could conceivably still be an option in Seattle too

It hasn't exactly been what I'd call a strength either.

Hence the line "from the same Albert Breer article linked in the 'Good Insight' thread..." I'm calling out a sub point in the article that I think is worthy of its own discussion.

Overrated as far as media perception vs how teams saw him? Yeah. Overrated as an NFL player? That judgment is going to take a few years.

The team has a deal in place for a second round pick at a time when every QB but Pickett was available but ended up backing out of it. From the same Albert Breer article linked in the "Good Insight" thread... Which was what guided them midway through the night, when they had a deal worked out to acquire a late-second-round pick, with every quarterback but Kenny Pickett still on the board. Inside the war room, Fitterer leaned over to Rhule, sitting to the GM’s left. “I had the card in my hand, and he looks at me and says, What do you want to do?” Fitterer said. “And we both just kind of took a moment, and we looked at the board, and we decided the right thing to do was to be patient. Let’s not overpay. Let’s be smart about this. Let’s not dig ourselves in a hole for next year. Let’s inch back on trading with these quarterbacks.” At that point, he, Rhule and the group resolved to wait a little longer and, since they had enough conviction on a couple of the guys left, take another look when another quarterback came off the board.