Khyber53

I see no reason to do anything that favors the Patriots or Bill Belichick. Screw 'em. Let 'em pick 15th or trade back their own danged selves.

The Saints, always finding some way to mortgage tomorrow for today.

Look, most of the knocks against him deal with his athleticism. Personally, I don't think it's what they are making of it. He can throw, he can process the game, he wins. Hell, I'd be happy with Len Dawson smoking a cigarette and drinking a Fresca at the half-time of the Super Bowl kind of guy. Just as long as he wins. And I think he can.

I said early on that we'd take Mac Jones but a lot, and I mean a lot, has changed since then. Something, though, tells me that things are going to work out in just such a way that Jones is still available at #8. And I think we take him. Darnold can compete for the spot. If he wants it bad enough, he just has to beat out a rookie QB to be the starter. And I don't think we take the option on Darnold's fifth year, but instead see how this plays out. If Darnold plays great then we negotiate out a longer deal at competitive rates and Jones sits on the bench and learns the game, gets more athletic and plays the traditional role of rookie QB2. If Darnold falters, then Jones comes in and we negotiate with Darnold as if he is a back-up QB, which we still actually need (Grier will never see the field in regular season again with us). If Jones isn't there, I think we grab Slater and solidify our line. And we double down in the second, picking up Creed Humphrey for guard/center and take Quinn Meinerz in the fourth for guard. Third rounder will be Jevon Holland as a safety. The guy is a good deep center fielder. Less Eric Reed more Ed Reed .. smart, strategic player who relies more on film study and anticipation than speed and hitting power. After that it's just guess work.

Glad we did it, it bodes well for our future plans. He's a dynamite player and the rare non-diva starting WR -- that's priceless in this league.

Cam's body of work stands for itself. In his prime, there was no one, and has been no one, like him.

You make some good points but you eventually lose support in that last paragraph. The truth is there aren't 32 franchise QBs out there. Right now we're at a strong point in the QB game with maybe 1/3 of the league having what you could call "franchise" QBs. Rodgers, Mahomes, Brady, Ryan, Roethlisberger, Mayfield, Allen, Watson, Wilson, Stafford, Jackson. A few that could count as good and the rest holding place, developing or sliding out the last of their career. The success rate is low, in general, for top end QBs coming right out of the draft, but we're also in a time when these guys have been given more coaching for a longer part of their lives than ever before. Some won't be able to transition into the big game and others will finally be failed by coaching after spending their lives growing from it. It's tough, but I think we'll see more than one of these top 5 make it. Two, maybe even three. But a few of them will be going to teams that have huge underlying problems and no QB could sort those things out, much less some kid straight out of college.

Otto Graham, just killed opposing defenses, through the air or on the ground. Fran Tarkenton, if they measured how far he ran in total rather than just yardage gained, he'd have about 120,000 yards rushing. Had a heck of an arm, too. Steve Young, that guy just won. Great arm and moved better than you'd think and better than most defenders thought before they faced him. Randal Cunningham was like a ghost out there, gliding through defenses. Good, good arm and a student of the game. Had he had the protections QBs have today he'd have had 10 more years of career. Cam was great, Vick was great, Mahomes is great, but there's some trailblazers that paved the way for them.

Good for us, good for Teddy. Hope the best for him and we move onward.

I'm betting it's going to be at least 5 picks offense, heavy on the line. We may see a safety in the fourth.

No one does. Lawrence will, however, be going to the Jags (barring some crazy idea getting into their new coach) and history says he's set up to fail there. Not his fault, but bad organization fault. Lawrence is by all accounts a great player, but he's going to suffer what most #1 draft picks suffer through. Jones, on the other hand, will be picked later, either going to a team with a bit more organizational strength or to a team like the 49ers that is pretty much a good QB short of a championship. If he goes there, his play style and pro readiness put him on a better and somewhat easier track to success in the NFL.

As much as we need help with our DBs, we've got to spend our first two, maybe three, picks on OL.

What a great story. Thanks for sharing.

Are we talking about the same guy? The guy had massive numbers last year, showed poise and control in all of his games, including the National Championship one. Yes, he had great receivers but it wasn't like those receivers were constantly having to make massive adjustments to make the catches. He made throws to all parts of the field, showed touch on short, medium and long throws and didn't put his receivers inn danger to make the catches (really important when one of your best receivers has the size of a high school sophomore). Really, I've defended the guy again and again, feel free to look it up on the forum here. He's good, really good, and the most polished of the QB prospects out there. A team like the 49ers can snag him, give him the play book and send him out to start on opening day. He'll do just fine and will win right out of the gate. Playoffs first year. Put him on a team like the Jags or Jets and he gets killed and ends up with no career. Just like every QB drafted by those guys for the last 15 years. And I pity the QBs those two will draft, they are walking into their dooms.

When you are Belichick, though, you have the idea that you can turn anyone into a multi-ringed Super Bowl champ. History is beginning to show that it might not have been Bill that was ringing the bell, though. Still, if he sees something or someone he wants, there's no GM in his way to stop him from making that trade. At least no GM in his office that'd do it, there are some GMs out there that'd do anything they could to stymie him.

I have every reason to believe that the Patriots will be trying to move up and take one of the top 5 QBs out there. There's no way they are looking at Cam for a long-term answer (love ya Cam but let's realize there's more good football behind ya than in front of ya). And there are too many QB hungry teams out there to not be aggressive in their pursuit -- it's likely that all of the top five will be gone before 15.

Based on... ?

Get him on a pro team weight and nutrition program for a season and you can build your own monster. If he made it to the fourth or fifth round, I'd have to take a chance on him. Sheesh put him on special teams and make the other team's punter wet himself at each fourth down snap.

If you have a win it now team with everything in place (which San Francisco does) he's the surest bet. He might end up not being the greatest of the batch down the road, but he's going to be the best one of them under center on opening day this season. People call him Matt Ryan, as if it was a slur. As much as I don't like the Falcons, even I have to admit that Ryan has been excellent there and he's eaten our lunch more times that I want to admit. If you can get a guy and he performs at Matt Ryan level for that many years, you've had a successful draft pick.

Rush. Red Barchetta. (Or Yes and Starship Trooper. So hard to choose.)

Those are some good reads from the Riot. While I still prefer Slater, he's also among the smallest tackles in the bunch. That gives me a bit of pause when I think there are some 6'6" or 6'7" maulers in that list. Still a smaller (it's all relative) guy who has the skills and strength is better than a bigger guy that's just a goon.

The team has sent out so many mixed smoke signals that we really can't trust any of this stuff. If we did it would mean that they were either ready to trade everything for a shot at a QB, trade down to get 47 picks and a crate of footballs, or sh!t the bed by picking a WR at #8. I sure hope Rhule and Co. have a better idea of what to do than it's looking like from the outside.

He's been an intriguing prospect. If we could snag him in say third round it'd be a steal. Early second round might be a bit too early, though. From what I've seen he's going to be a great passing QB, but he is going to need a sturdy o-line in front of him. If we draft LT in the first, and OL in the second, it might be worth trying to trade back into the second to snag him before the Bucs or Saints do. He fits the mold for both of those teams.

Just another day in Iggle-land.

<shudder>