ForJimmy

Ladd is going to be primarily slot. He struggles with press because of his size. Modest play strength could create issues in beating press. Limited production in 2023 due to back and ankle injuries. Alarming number of deep ball-tracking drops in 2022. Average acceleration driving through route stems. He might not be sudden enough to beat press and will need to prove he has enough play strength to finish contested catches against tight man They all have strengths and weaknesses. We need X or outside WRs though. AT is slot at this stage in his career, Mingo is best at slot, adding a 3rd slot while needing outside WRs wasn’t a route we were wanting to do. AD, XL, and Coleman were the WRs that we could have picked where we drafted. I personally preferred AD but XL has a lot to like.

Mingo is a big slot. At least that is where he was projected. I’m not saying we don’t need other separators, but we need WR that have different skill sets. Ideally you would want your X or bigger, physical guy like XL to also get separation. Ladd is probably a slot in the NFL and we needed an outside guy. He isn’t going to do well against physical CBs who press him at the LOS.

Yeah some of these sites gave Detroit bad grades last year for “reaching” on players they drafted. The fact is they got the players they wanted and had a good vision for them.

I like Sanders. I think he gets negativity because of who his dad is, but Sanders is solid and tough IMO.

You need different style WRs for different plays and routes. Having the same type is doable but limits the offense. Who is our red zone target with Ladd and DJ? Who is stretching the defense on deep routes and keeping them honest? Who is winning the 50/50 jump balls? DC wants XL to be our smaller version of Evans or Metcalf from the offenses he was part of.

I think we had an average to above average solid draft with 3 potential starters. If Wallace can fill in for Shaq at a high level next year it was a great draft (assuming XL, Brooks, and Sanders are all starting).

Who was your RB1 this draft?

I’m curious to see Riley Leonard at ND. They should give him a decent OL and weapons.

Clowney and Wonnum should be better overall than Burns and whoever was starting on his other side? YGM? Run defense is important too.

Yeah that’s why I am curious to see these offensive players in a new system. Tremble, Mingo, Bryce, hell even Miles could look a good bit better naturally. Tremble in the H-Back blocking role with Sanders (TE) in a double TE set could be interesting for some plays.

Oh yeah. Keeping his legs fresh at his age is huge. Plus Mingo can slide to outside for depth or to relieve other WRs it’s just not his bread and butter IMO. He has the size for it though. I hope that Mingo can turn into a Godwin type primary slot WR.

of course they would pick us over their division rivals, but the Pats wanted one of the two that went 32 and 33.

100%. I remember Reich calling the screen to AT when he was on the bench and had to use a time out lol.

AT is old. He will need breathers.

He should become a starter by season end as he is the only TE that can catch. Brooks should eventually beat out Chuba and XL should start pretty soon. That’s 3 pretty high percentage starters from this draft. If Wallace can successfully replace Shaq next year it would be a very successful draft. Considering we had no first and walked away with a pick in each round plus a future 2nd that’s a solid job so far.

Some more food for thought. Did Fitt ever come out of a draft with a high future pick like Dan just did with his 2nd in 25? That paired with drafted players like XL, Wallace, and Brooks (with his energy) might take a moment to peak but offer higher ceilings makes me think Dan knows this is a process that takes several years to address. There is no quick fix like Fitt tried with trading away picks to try to win now vs later. These things make it appear Dan has told Tepper they are going to do things the right way like he did in Buffalo and it will take a few years to see the returns fully. It worked out well for Dan and Beane in Buffalo.

Mingo is a big slot and XL is a X WR. Not really the same style player. Athletically they have similar measurements but they play the game pretty differently. I think XL and DJ complement each other well and should be our outside WRs. Mingo will rotate with AT in the slot and hopefully take over full time next year. OG to C doesn’t seem to be as crazy of a move as people think. We have Corbett, BC, and then Mays there. Not the best but the first 2 are solid OGs when healthy and pretty smart players. I would have liked to draft one but we couldn’t fix everything on one offseason. CB and Edge could have used some real depth, but I think we sign Gilly now to fix one of those temporarily. Oh a bright note, both XL and Sanders had some of the best catch ratings in 10 plus yards down the field.

Bills probably liked but didn’t love several players. We loved XL. So we moved up at a minimal loss and got the guy we wanted at a contract we wanted. Bills probably saved some cap this year with 33 and got one of the guys they liked plus a little better ammo in the late rounds to use if needed. They are in win now though. Contracts 4-5 years for them don’t mean as much as they do to a team rebuilding like us.

Yeah if only we kept that 5th instead of 6th we would be a freaking playoff team….

And gave us a 6th back… Damn how will we ever recover??

So are the scouts or Tepper making these decisions? I’m trying to keep track over here..

Yeah he was last at FSU. The transfer portal helps widen that net now. You will have players from several different schools.

Who did we draft in 23? You counting Jammie?

But they didn’t take the players I wanted?!???!?