Bear Hands

There's an argument to be made with McKee but Hooker is easily ahead of Willis, Ridder & Corral for me. People will ding his age and system played in but his size (6'4 220), athleticism, deep ball placement, surprisingly sound mechanics, and footwork are far better than that crew. If Hooker was 22/23 & TEN used a bit more pro-level concepts, he'd be way more hyped.

These would be my tiers, no particular Oder within each T1: Young, Stroud T2: AR, Levis, Pickett T3: Hooker, McKee T4: Willis, Ridder, Corral, Hall, Haener, Howell, Tune T5: Purdy & the rest

If we want a vet to backup and/or take on the dreaded "bridge" label, I prefer Taylor Heinicke. He may be interested in coming back as well. Reich will have a preference, could be Brissett. I hope we don't have to see these guys play anyways and we land Stroud, Young or AR.

There's no need to go out of our way to keep him. At this point in his career, he pretty evenly blends with the rest of the FA crop. Compared to the rest of the FA (minus Jones & Geno), Reich may want someone else. I don't quite care either way, our future isn't in the batch of: Sam Darnold Jacoby Brissett Mike White Gardner Minshew Taylor Heinicke Jimmy G Jarrett Stidham Andy Dalton

I thought he played well when Armstead was in next to him. Like I mentioned though he definitely had downs. It was worst when the line got banged up he really fell apart. Given they have a new OL coach coming in and an offseason to condition, he could still be good. Mixed bag with him so far.

McKee will go Day-2 along with Hooker. McKee doesn't excite me and even though Davis Mills is an easy comparison, it is a bit true. He can move better than you think, but he doesn't have the arm you'd want with his size. It's good but it should be a lot better. And he just doesn't push downfield well. Not a creator. Re: Hooker -- I don't think he is getting the credit he deserves; he could be a good QB. His Bama game was off the charts and he's got the skills. Age and offense be damned. That being said, those are big factors to consider. His ability to adapt to NFL offenses will be huge. Haener & Hall are the only other two worth a damn IMO. Haener would've been a much higher pick if he wasn't a twig. I love his game and leadership. He's a baller. Could have a Taylor Heinicke type trajectory. I was originally high on Tune, Duggan, and some others, but I just don't see Sunday level play from them. You can scratch Bagent, Cunningham, & Bonner, they are UDFA.

A lot of their ages are a knock. Hall, Hooker, & Levis all super seniors.

I am so ready for a competent offense again. It is amazing, this day & age, our yearly QB output has been around ~3200 yards, 15tds, and 15ints since Cam's exit. Really shows how awful and out of his league Rhule was. Kyle Allen slinging Kevin Kolb-level-ball for 15 games was the best we've got in years.

I don't think we as fans have truly realized just how bad our offensive coaching has been since Henning, given the handicap they received with Smitty and then later w/Cam. We had 2 guys that had the rare ability to take over a football game no matter the talent around them. Henning, Davidson, Chud, Shula a bunch of lucky bastards.

Zierlein made one just for clickbait, probably one of the weirdest things ever. Highlights: We draft EDGE Keion White (Has been a 2nd-3rd projection) at 9 Hyatt is WR1 3 TEs in RD1, the first being Musgrave Drew Sanders LB1 at 8 to ATL lol https://www.nfl.com/news/lance-zierlein-2023-nfl-mock-draft-1-0-buccaneers-select-tom-brady-s-successor What the freak?

That Denver situation is just laughable. Wilson's contract doesn't have an out until 2026 & the guaranteed money is obscene. If Payton doesn't like him, they may just have to roll with him until they start some scrub or mid round rookie. This may turn into the NFL equivalent of a Mozgov contract. Good for them.

I'm trying to question myself on where I got with my QB preferences this week. Take a sober look back at the season and ignoring all the hype circles and mocks: -I'm still really trying to like Levis but still having a very difficult time. I want to like him and get hyped but just can't. -I bought into McKee's story and potential a bit too much wanting someone to rise from that second tier ranks. At the end of the day, he simply should have produced more. He just doesn't give me the feel of a guy who can score at will. Closer to Davis Mills 2.0 than a 1st Rounder. -I've been a bit hard on Jaren Hall and Hendon Hooker--Looking back, they have some great qualities and had some really nice stretches. They're rising again for me in the non-top tier. If you can get past their age (similar to Levis), I think there's great reasons to take them. -I still am a bit weary with Duggan even if he looked like one of the better guys at the Senior Bowl. Just doesn't do enough as a passer to warrant anything more than a 4th. -Jake Haener is the only one after the top-4 that I've remained high on outside of Young & Stroud. I was following him last year, was so bummed he had to miss some weeks, but I just see him playing on Sundays. If a guy like Bailey Zappe does, Haener sure as hell does and more. He could be a 3rd rounder come draft time. Seems to have beefed up a tad as well which was needed (really his biggest knock, he's got so much to like outside of being a pencil). -Still really wish four guys declared: Jayden Daniels, Cameron Ward, Michael Penix, & Michael Pratt. They could've made money and climbed up this QB board easily. Penix specifically. He could get lost in the shuffle next year. -Bagent, T-R, O'Connell & Cuninngham are all kind of off my radar/UDFAs

I'll do my best to be excited if Levis is our guy & trust the decision made by the new regime. My biggest overall issue--he needs to hit the ground running yet correct more than a few things quickly. That's simply an unsavory combination. You can only stress/teach poise, field vision, and smart decision-making so much. Given Levis' tendencies already, he will be a turnover machine if he doesn't correct his pocket awareness and feel as a passer. It would be one thing if had high-end accuracy & great deep placement to compliment the release & arm--That would make some of his risky throws worth it, but he just seems reckless just for the sake of being aggressive at times. Those same traits even come through on his running style with taking too many hits. Now, I like a QB that's aggressive, but you have to make the most of it. Because, the next flag is he doesn't necessarily have touch on his long throws when he could feasibly show off the tools he has. One minute he's skittish, then a long bomb attempt without the best placement, the next he's cool as a cucumber and makes a nice intermediate throw. It is just ALL coaching dependent with him. I can see Daboll, our own Reich, or even Arthur Smith wanting to work with him. Looking past the tendencies he's developed and want to work with him. But if he goes to Indy (Coach TBD), HOU, or a spot without a hands-on, QB coachable environment, that could be a disaster. He has tendencies he needs to be coached out of and other things he needs to have become second-nature. He's kind of like Tannehill meets Darnold for me. In the right environment, could be a totally viable dude, but he needs some big things coached out of him and other things coached up.

I liked Tune a lot at first but his deeper balls and throwing motion are big knocks. He's close with most else. Size - check, Enough speed - check, led comebacks/good poise - check, good awareness/pressure sensitive - check, he's tough as nails too. Issues: He throws like a baseball, he has almost a wind up. Also loses accuracy beyond 20-yarders. Would love him R4-6. Originally thought he was a riser and was liking him, but he's got some limitations. Just doesn't quite have the arm talent and accuracy on deeper routes.

Good for the man. Wish him well minus when we're on the opposing sideline.

He's a riser. Could end up in the top 5 WRs taken, R2 range. Maybe R3.

All depends on how we go about draft & FA. That will be telling the type of base package we're aiming for. Quite exciting.

Burns was standing strong most of the time in 3-3-5 and 4-2-5s the past 3 years for Snow which is already pretty close. Played some variations in sub-packages for Rivera. Shouldn't be a big curve for him.

I'll be honest, I forgot about a few guys we have on the squad haha. Brandon Smith could fit in nicely & McCall could definitely be a NT (at the least a viable backup) LB Damien Wilson is still here on contract, unsure if he's viewed as a guy they want to stick around but he's on the books. He was a mixed bag.

He's the one I'm having a hard time placing. Evero by all accounts is a more blitz-friendly Fangio. The Denver players said his defense was very close in language and calls. But those shell concepts w/split safeties don't have a Chinn-type role. He'd almost HAVE to play ILB right? The Fangio schemes don't have the buffalo nickel types unless I'm mistaken. Problem is, if he gets pigeon-holed to hybrid looks where it is incorporated, does his snap count go down? Does where he's playing become a tell for opposing offenses? Lots of questions with Chinn. Could Chinn & Luvu realistically be the ILBs? Or is that too unconventional given their strengths/weaknesses? I would LOVE to hear Evero's vision for Chinn because I'm just having a hard time placing him. I won't act like I really know THAT much & how it will roll out, but looking at Denver and then historically, makes me really interested in how he fits more than anything else. My guess at the base: Woods New Deep S Horn Jackson Chinn? Luvu Haynes Burns Brown NT 3-4DE

That's my only differing opinion with Kaye in the first page. I was thinking Luvu is more ILB than EDGE. Is he more off-ball LB or a pass rusher? I'd have to think the former right?

That's the way I see it. We don't have any proven core pieces that would have a hard time fitting with the potential scheme changes. YGM may be an odd man out right now but it's not like he producing a ton. Maybe he becomes part of a Bears or Cardinals trade package to jump up from 9. Chinn would be the closest other outlier (but I'm not going to assume we go full Fangio/two-high). A guy like Evero can figure out how to fit him in a smarty and quality way. Maybe someone can help educate me on how Chinn fits well in this. I think there's 4 distinct gets given Evero's background & what he's previously brought: A pure NT -- biggest hole, plain and simple A 3-4 DE mold A bigger/athletic ILB next to Luvu (Thinking of the Patrick Willis/Bowman combo) A safety to pair w/Woods (Unless they think this is Chinn) Burns, Haynes, Barno all seem to set into the OLB/EDGE role but we shouldn't shy if there's a good talent there for us in the FA or draft. Brown, Burns, Luvu, Horn, Jackson, & Woods can all fit right in schematically.