Icege

Currently, I have Carson Strong mocked to us in the second if we can trade down and still nab Linderbaum :3

1. Tyler Linderbaum, C, Iowa It's that time of year again where fans divide themselves into two camps: LT or QB? I'd like to propose a 3rd camp: Center. LT is commonly screamed for as the 2nd most important position on a team due to protecting the QB's blindside, but the league's best pass rushers aren't coming from just the blindside. They're coming from all angles! I recall reading an article years and years ago that did a deep dive into which position was statistically the most devastating to a team and QB was shockingly #2. Losing a center was the biggest impact to a team's playoff chances, according to the data. Am I proposing that the center is the most important position on the field? Absolutely not. Am I proposing that drafting the best offensive lineman is more beneficial to the Panthers than drafting the 2nd best tackle after the Jets inevitably scoop Evan Neal to replace Morgan Moses after his 1-yr deal expires? Yes, I most certainly am. Tyler Linderbaum is THE #1 OL prospect this year, and he's got the type of background you want in an interior lineman: a former heavyweight wrestler (so he's great with hand fighting and leverage), former defensive lineman (so he's got that built in nastiness), Academic All-Big Ten (so he's a hard study), and more. He's also a leader, being one of seven sophomores named to the 2020 Iowa Leadership Group and also majoring in enterprise leadership. This dude is a beast, and having him and Chrisensen on rookie deals together will help with offsetting Taylor Moton's escalating cost. 4. Chad Muma, LB, Wyoming I'm just going to let the good folks that handler Wyoming's website do the talking for me on this one regarding his 2020 season that followed up his break out 2019 year: "Chad Muma ranked No. 2 in the Mountain West and No. 6 in the nation in tackles averaging 11.8 tackles per game. Muma also ranked No. 8 in the MW and No. 41 in the nation in tackles for loss, averaging 1.3 TFLs per game, with 8.0 total tackles for loss on the season. He also averaged 5.5 solo tackles per game to rank No. 4 in the Mountain West and No. 20 in the country. The junior led Wyoming in tackles (72), tackles for loss (8.0), sacks (3.0) and solo tackles (39). Other statistical categories he ranked among Mountain West leaders this season are: No. 8 in fumbles recovered (1) and No. 14 in sacks (0.50 per game / 3.0 total sacks). Muma recorded five double-figure tackles games in the six games he played during the season, including: a career best 17 at Colorado State, 14 at Nevada, 13 vs. Boise State, 10 at UNLV and 10 at New Mexico. At Nevada, Muma had 14 tackles, including 10 solo tackles, 1.0 TFL and 1 forced fumble. Versus Hawai'i, he was credited with 7 tackles, 1 fumble recovery and 1 pass breakup. At Colorado State, he recorded a career high 17 tackles, including 1.5 TFLs. At UNLV, Muma had career highs of 3.5 TFLs for 26 yards and 3.0 sacks for 25 yards to go with 10 total tackles. Against New Mexico, the junior made 10 tackles, including 2.0 TFLs, and he concluded the season with 13 tackles vs. Boise State." 5. Obinna Eze, OT, TCU An absolute mammoth of a human being, Obinna Eze stands in at 6'8" while weighing in at 315 lbs. He transferred to TCU to replace the Panthers' own Brady Christensen a LT after being a multi-year starter at Memphis. Eze is a little bit inexperienced with the game of football, having only had two years of HS (1yr of varsity) football due to Tennessee eligibility rules regarding international transfers (his family is from Nigeria). He's got the meme-able measurables that Matt Rhule has barked about, though his height and experience do show with his pad level from time to time. He's physical in the run game and those long arms allow him to reach out and grab rushers before they can get momentum to bull rush him. 5. Matt Araiza, P, San Diego State THE PUNT GOD. GO ON TWITTER AND LOOK THIS MAN UP RIGHT NOW. 6. Chase Lucas, CB, Arizona State A versatile corner that can play inside or outside that is also an efficient tackler, Lucas would be solid depth for an already talented position group. He was a US Army All-American High School RB before converting to CB in college. Those RB ball skills show up once he secures the ball and he becomes a threat to score, so there might be some potential as a returner as well. He's got great instincts and also shows good route recognition, so he'll be able to contribute early on in zone coverage. I expected him to take a bigger step forward as a player this season since he was returning as a graduate student, but there wasn't much of a difference production wise. 7. Reed Blankenship, S, Middle Tennessee Reed Blankenship is an incredible athlete. He runs the 40 in the 4.50s, posted a 38" vertical, and a 10' broad jump. When he was in high school, he showed incredible versatility by rushing for over 3k yds, passing for over 1k yds, and receiving for over 1k yds. There was significant time missed in 2019 due to a broken leg, but he showed no signs of slowing down following the recovery. He's shown the ability to cover over the top as well as line up at the nickel to cover or blitz. The kid is also a two year captain and is a core special teamer for MTSU. He could realistically compete for a roster or practice squad spot, work his way on to special teams, and potentially even be able to rotate in on the defense as early as his second year. Going to probably pushing out a bunch of different mocks until the draft, so I'll just update this thread as I finalize them. :3

Being able to trade back and still acquire one of the top OL prospects + gamble on a QB in the 2nd would be incredible. Or grab the #1 QB but still grab OL in the 2nd. Either way would be awesome, but I'm concerned about nobody wanting to trade up plus these assclowns picking another CB

Ty for the heads up Do you think he'll be let go mid-season next year if the current trend continues?

Really not excited about losing out so that we can have ONE pick effectively benefit from it

Came across an article about Jimmy Johnson commenting on his buddy Urban Meyer's situation after finishing one where Rex Ryan absolutely dragged him, and came across the interesting bit: If you're interested in the full article, you can check it out here. Rhule has his people, yet the only page that they all seem to be on is that anybody not part of their Mean Girls clique gets thrown under any and every bus that rolls by. -_-

Linderbaum isn't just the #1 center. According to renown OL coach Duke Mayweather, Tyler Linderbaum is OL #1.

Forgot to mention that by proxy this would have meant that Cam never lands on his shoulder chasing down an INT caused by KB. B I G B R A I N

Yuuup. Get ready for last year to happen again. It's increasingly becoming obvious that at this point the best case scenario for the team is getting an NFL level coaching staff in place to keep the wheels on while guiding and developing the team through it all. I don't want to see a HOU situation where the team is basically thrown away for a year, but this isn't like CHI either where they have talent on both sides of the ball. The offense is in the same place the defense was last season, but the defense is still underperforming as well.

Tyler Linderbaum Evan Neal Ikem Ekwonu Charles Cross Malik Willis Kenny Pickett Kyle Hamilton Kenyon Green The team is picking in the top 10. Trade back to try and acquire additional picks, or go take the best OL/QB available. I'm usually BPA or bust, but there are just too many holes on this roster that need to be filled than to inefficiently spend a top 10 pick on a position that is already adequately stocked.

Does absolving them of injuries include their mental health as well? Because I'd have loved to see KB13 develop without losing his mind after his mother's passing and knee injury.

I've already accepted that Rhule might get one more season out of Tepper, and that regardless of who is coaching next season it is going to be a struggle as it just doesn't seem likely to fix all of the team's issue in an offseason they've already committed resources towards.

In situations where we needed to see hope that a turn around was possible, Rhule instead doubled down and now we are seeing regression across the board. That's unforgivable for a coaching staff.

Knowing that we were so, so close to having an OL of Slater-Christensen-Linderbaum-Smith-Moton makes me incredibly sad.

Tyler Linderbaum just donated $30k to Iowa's children's hospital. Draft the kid, send him along with Moton & Christensen to OL Masterminds Summit, and then put a traffic cone in place of Cameron Erving.

Many of the reasons for this season's suck are directly related to decisions made this offseason that made the team trend down rather than up. Hell, specific to the offense: -QB: The Sam Darnold gamble came up snake eyes. A top 50 selection, a 4th close to the top 100, a 6th, and $19M in cap space, gone. -OL: Elflein and Erving were the major FA acquisitions, Daley & Miller keep getting trotted out to start, and Pat Meyer is a poo coach. Bad coaching + bad talent evaluation on the OL is a fuging death knell for any phase of the game. Combine this with the inability to scout themselves, there's little to no result this season that has shown that this staff is able to evolve. The college CEO/CMO approach does not work in the NFL. We need coaches that absolutely love the game, are excellent teachers, and are constantly looking to improve internally. I can suffer through nearly anything, but seeing Rhule throw Cam under the bus every week while protecting Sam is all I need to see that this regime needs to be removed.

It takes a dedication to or an innate natural ability to suck in order to put together an offense that makes Mike Shula appear competent.

can we talk about how this staff moved on from Charlton for Edwards? Charlton wasn't exactly killing it, but Edwards has sucked. @beois it can it be Matt Araiza time now?

The heavy amount of zone reads and keeping in an extra blocker on passing plays shows that at least Nixon is adjusting playcalls to take into consideration how bad the OL is... I guess. Idk, lemme find hope in something. ANYTHING.

I've been down + tough on YGM, but he's another player that doesn't seem to be regressing like the team around him. Oh look, another TD

At least it wasn't Tom Brady's dildo again

Oh damn, might have concussed himself on that play before the scramble

Wtf was Bravvion doing

Carter shaken up a little bit on that tackle. Wondering if he knocked the wind out of himself or maybe came down on his shoulder funky