Khyber53

Thanks for the perspective. You make good points.

In the end, winners win games. Winners win big games. Winners win the biggest games. Winners wear the rings and eventually the jackets. The guy who can see the field, understand the field, keep one move ahead of the opposition and deliver the ball survives and becomes one of the greats. Arm strength is a definite assist. Mobility can help some. But in the end, it's what is inside the helmet that counts more than anything.

Just out of curiosity, did they somehow factor in how many times that first look was just to look off a defender? It's an interesting statistical glance, but considering the crop of players they were working with, both Lawrence and Jones had receivers so above their competition that second reads weren't as necessary possibly. In the end, stats give evidence, but they can't give any proof when it comes to this. So many moving pieces in the college game, and it only becomes so much more complex at the pro level. The worst thing for all of these top picks is that most of them are going to really bad teams, with really, really bad coaching staffs and they will be facing the toughest competition in their lives. There will be a couple of really good QBs that will be destroyed by bad coaching and bad protection before this is done who could have been super stars had they ended up on a better team. There's actually a chance we could be one of those terrible destinations right now.

This... 100%. Lots of good bits, but they are just scattered Legos on the floor. Really need to see something being built by this point.

Yep, but he's got to find that something extra to break through into greatness territory. Right now he's a factor in games, but he isn't something an entire offensive plan has to be built around.

No, I understand pressures are so very important to the overall game and he is getting that. Sacks, however, are the exclamation mark at the end of the sentence and can change the whole tenor of the contest. Sometimes it's just a fraction of a second that makes the difference, the great ones find that fraction of a second or they make the o-lineman give that fraction up themselves. Good coaching can make that difference, refining technique. I think he can do it, I just wish we were seeing more right away. And I do think there's a level with Johnson and Rucker that is still something he needs to work toward. Could he be the fourth face on our sack kings Mt. Rushmore with all-time greats Reggie White, Kevin Green and Julius Peppers? That's a mighty high bar, but Spider-Man climbs with the best of them, right?

I know my pick for who I want for QB, but that may well not be something we can be presented with at #8 if things pan out like the prognosticators predict. If that's the case, I do hope we grab an LT or Parsons in the first. Picking up either of these guys later on, maybe second round, hopefully third, could be something good. Both of them look like they have potential to be more than benchwarmers. Mills could end up being the steal of the draft if he can keep his cool in the face of pro defenses. There's something about what he offers and the fact that Stanford puts out some smart, ambitious football players. Mond, honestly, I just don't know enough about him. Maybe...

Would like to see him make it home with the sacks more, to be honest. Let's put him in the "good" rating, but he hasn't earned the "great" label yet. He's never going to be Julius Peppers, but he still can work himself up to the Charles Johnson level. Not meaning to downplay his potential, but he's still got a big ceiling above him and we need him to start reaching it. (He was still the best guy out there by far, but that defense last season was soft, weak and timid in most games.)

If this thread doesn't bring SCP out of hiding, then nothing will. I miss his posts/rants.

Jones will be there at 8 most likely, take him. If not (49ers could be actually taking him), then it is a toss up between Sewell and Parsons. We can use a career OT or a replacement at MLB for Luke.

Not sure he sucked, but he was well, mediocre I guess. Of course, on that line, that looked better than it was just by comparison. We've got to stop buying guards and just build 'em ourselves. Then cut them loose when they get good and overly expensive. FA veteran guards are too expensive and even the moderately priced ones have enough problems to be offset by rookie price tags and trainability.

It's going to start a lot of folks yelling, but it was probably when we just said, "No" to keeping Cam. Big shake-up for the franchise and fan base, may have had a big impact on the locker room.

We were looking for a guy when we found Reed. We aren't any better or worse for the move as far as I can tell, except we'll probably save a few bucks. Good luck to him, though. Corn Elder, hmmm, I always hoped he would hit his potential here. Maybe he did and that's why no re-signing yet. Good luck to him, too, wherever he lands. It wasn't like there was a lot standing in front of him when it came to winning a starting spot.

Watson will finally get to meet Burns then.

Sewell --> Parsons --> Pitts

A literal handful of them beyond that one, too. You want a guy who can control the game, dictate the pace of it and make use of every weapon on the field while exploiting any defensive weaknesses. That's game management. That's not a pejorative. It is a big time skill set and requires a massive capability to process, an accurate arm, the guts to hang in there, pocket awareness and a fair amount of guts to make the throw or take the sack as necessary. The good ones are rare. They often have a ring or two or three.

Benching Rodney Peete at halftime in a losing season opener and sending in Jake "Who the Heck" Delhomme and then riding his work to our first Super Bowl appearance. Nothing matches that. Cam was supposed to be that guy and eventually was. Jake was supposed to still be delivering for UPS before the end of the season and he just refused to not take his shot at his dream.

Mark my words, Jones will be the first of those QBs listed to find lasting success in the NFL, except for maybe whoever the 49ers take at #3, which may well be him. Lawrence and Wilson will probably be headed to Jacksonville and the Jets right away. They are in for a difficult transition, no matter their skillsets simply because you can only untangle a trainwreck so quickly. Lousy organizations with loser mentalities and players who'd rather be somewhere else. Expect nothing from either of them than talk of how good they are going to be when their teams come around in three to four years (barring more coaching changes). Fields, for all his accomplishments just seems to be someone they want to compare to someone else and he keeps sliding down draft boards. Not sure why, but that's just how it's shaking out. Lance looks like a wunderkind, but he's not just young and athletic but he's had fewer starts that heck Will Grier and faced lesser competition in the FCS division. He could well be great, but he's got a major learning curve ahead of him. Jones, for all his knocks, is now getting derisively compared to Matt Ryan. The unathletic, whitebread guy with a braided belt, as someone said. Ryan, hate to admit it, has pretty much eaten our lunch over the years -- 9-2 since the 12/27/15 loss that ended our undefeated season en route to the Super Bowl.

At this point, if even Houston still wants Watson, perhaps he should feel pretty good about that.

Enough kids like that and we might be able to fix this old broken world.

There's more truth in this than folks want to admit, but it is the case here and beyond.

Why not wait until after the draft when the trade prices will plummet for the three? Or maybe the draft plays out differently than the spin doctors are predicting and we get a good QB? Right now, everything is at a premium, it's a rotten time to shop. Everyone wants to act like those draft picks are burning a hole in our pocket and we need to throw them away willy nilly.

Just by sitting calmly and letting the nervous and desperate shake things out ahead of us, we will come out with the best of the bunch. It's #8, not #29. CMC came to us at #8 (and y'all laughed when I said that would be our pick) and Luke came to us at #9 (and people went, why? who?). Jordan Gross was our #8 pick, as was Biakabutuka (well, he could have been great). And we grabbed Derrick Brown last year at #7. It's a good place to be in the draft, act like it.

I think he'll definitely take a swing at a QB in the draft, but you are right that there is no good sense in trading multiple picks away just to move up.

He will be playing MLB as well during games, except for the 3rd quarter where he will only be a RB/WR/HB/TE/KR. That is if he doesn't have to be third string QB as well. After the game he will be driving team bus #2 and/or flying the chartered team plane. After autopilot is engaged he will serve drinks and sing to entertain his teammates. The dude does it all.