What will he do? Who do you take?

[TheSpecialJuan]

27 minutes ago, Lasus83. said:

I am willing to eat effing crow on this...

1. A QB, or 2, will go before pick 8. Not necessarily to teams currently holding that pick.

2. Ross is fool's gold in the 2017 draft class.

3. We will pass on a guy that will bring this forum into uproar: Adams, Thomas, Hooker, Allen or Howard... or maybe more than one of those.

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I have a feeling we are going to pass on Leonard Fournette and take a DE. The media will kill us for this. I can see it all now.

[LinvilleGorge]

36 minutes ago, uscgamecocks said:

Yeah I was not thrilled with that pick.  Partially because I really wanted the Florida OT (Humphries) and he went one pick ahead of us.

But I remember saying that night that the Shaq pick only made sense if he could play SS.  It seemed obvious at the time that we weren't going to radically alter our defensive packages - this is a passing league, and teams are using 3 WR sets more each year.\

I still hope we can find a way to get him more PT (without losing TD, of course).  He's really fun to watch.

 

I wanted Landon Collins. Then I wanted Jaelen Strong with the Funchess pick. Hey, at least he was a bust too. LOL!

[Lasus83.]

I have a feeling we are going to pass on Leonard Fournette and take a DE. The media will kill us for this. I can see it all now.

Barnett is a solid pick. [emoji6]

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[Jay Roosevelt]

Some thoughts on our options after spending the last couple of weeks watching every bit of game film I was able to find on some of the most likely players we'll be looking at, and the conclusions I have come to:

DEREK BARNETT > SOLOMON THOMAS; JONATHAN ALLEN IS NOT A GREAT FIT AT DE
The more I watch of him, the more I like Derek Barnett for our pick. I like Solomon Thomas better overall, but he's extremely unlikely to be there at #8 and even if he is, he's more of a tweener than Barnett, who is a better fit for a base 4-3 defense. Jonathan Allen does not appear to be a fit for us as a DE. He strikes me as a J.J. Watt type pass rushing 3-4 DE who would be largely wasted in our scheme unless we plan on moving him full-time to DT, which despite Kawann Short's contract situation, is still arguably our strongest position. I'm not saying he'd be horrible if he dropped some weight and played LDE for us, but he wouldn't be the pass rushing force off the edge that we need.

Back to Barnett, though. There's a lot of talk about his "lack of athleticism" compared to other top pass rush prospects, but he's just so productive against good (SEC) competition on such a consistent basis that I feel like he'd be a pretty safe pick. His bend off the edge is insane, and his motor is always on. Plays the run very well, too. And for all I've read is a high-character/strong work ethic guy as well. I can't help but feel like he is the anti-Kony Ealy in many ways.

He reminds me of a young Jared Allen; not the physical freak that Julius Peppers or Jadaveon Clowney were as prospects, but just flat out knows how to get to the QB. I'm not sure he makes the immediate impact as a rookie that Thomas does in the NFL, but I think he could be the better player over the long haul, especially if he goes to a team like the Panthers where he has plenty of veterans surrounding him and can ease in as part of the rotation.

JAMAL ADAMS IS OVERRATED; MALIK HOOKER IS THE BETTER PROSPECT:
I've also been watching quite a bit on both Jamal Adams and Malik Hooker, and I have come to prefer Hooker by a wide margin. I like Adams better against the run, but Hooker's ball skills are Ed Reed-esque and if it weren't for his injury he'd be head and shoulders above Adams, IMO. Speaking of Adams, I have seen a lot more lapses in coverage than I expected based on the scouting reports I have read. I see a lot of completed passes, then Adams comes in and makes a big hit or tackle to stop the receiver just short of the 1st down. That's great in college, but I'm not sure he can get away with that in the NFL. I don't see a lot of wins for him on contested balls either. In the NFL, safeties that have trouble in deep coverage are exposed early and often. Unfortunately, that's what I see in Adams' future, and frankly, I'd just assume wait and take Josh Jones from N.C. State or Obi Melifonwu from Washington later in the draft than risk an early pick on Adams.

Malik Hooker, on the other hand, has All-Pro written all over him. The guy is a turnover waiting to happen, and especially with the coverage ability our linebackers have, he would be deadly playing center field. He's the type of safety that QB's avoid throwing to his side of the field just out of fear of his ball skills and knack for making big plays. In the (admittedly unlikely) scenario that both are on the board at #8 and it comes down to picking one of them, I'd much prefer Hooker.

CHRISTIAN McCAFFREY IS REALLY, REALLY GOOD... BUT IS A POOR FIT:
I've always viewed Christian McCaffrey as more of a scat back in the mold of a Reggie Bush or Darren Sproles, but after doing more research I've come to view him as a much, much more complete football player than either of those two. The only semi-recent player I can think of to compare him to is Brian Westbrook, only McCaffrey may be better. However, I can't help but to feel like he would be wasted in our scheme, unless the changes we're making are a lot more extensive than we've been lead to believe. I have little confidence in Mike Shula to be able to craft an offense that would take full advantage of McCaffrey's full skillset.

Also, purely as a runner, he seems like a poor fit for what we look for in a RB. Would he be a huge upgrade over Fozzy Whittaker? Absolutely. But how many touches does Fozzy get in the average game? And even if we made the effort to get him more involved, I don't view McCaffrey as the type of workhorse back we ideally need. If we ran New England's offense, he'd be an All-Pro (seriously, we should all hope the Pats don't end up with this guy) but if it, somehow, comes down to McCaffrey vs. another position like O.J. Howard or Derek Barnett, the scheme fit would make me lean toward going elsewhere. Now, if by some miracle he's available in the 2nd round? Too good to pass up.

O.J. HOWARD IS THE PERFECT FIT, WOULD BENEFIT BIG-TIME FROM PLAYING WITH GREG OLSEN:
Going into the offseason, I had seen Alabama play more than any other team as far as top draft prospects go, so I already was more familiar with O.J. Howard than with the other players I looked into. That said, I came away from studying him even more impressed, and thinking that playing alongside and being mentored by Greg Olsen is the absolute best case scenario for Howard and his career long-term. I had heard comparisons to various TE's; Jordan Reed's name came up a lot, Julius Thomas as well, and even a few Vernon Davis comps, which I don't see at all.

But watching him play, I legitimately think the most accurate NFL comparison for O.J. Howard is Greg Olsen. Similar builds, almost identical height/weight, and when you watch Howard play, he excels in many of the same situations that Olsen does, particularly as a vertical threat down the field. Also, like Olsen, Howard seems to have a knack for finding soft spots in even well designed and executed coverages. As a blocker, like Olsen, he is nothing special, but few elite receiving TE's are. Further research revealed there appears to be questions regarding his love of the game and the fact that he doesn't appear to be the most aggressive competitor at times. This is primarily why I think playing alongside a pro's pro like Greg Olsen would be hugely beneficial for Howard.

IF WE MISS OUT ON FOURNETTE, SAMAJE PERINE IS A DAMN GOOD SECOND OPTION:
It seems like everyone has a favorite 2nd/3rd round RB option for the Panthers, and there are plenty to choose from. Alvin Kamara, Wayne Gallman, Joe Mixon, Samaje Perine, or even Dalvin Cook if he falls into the 2nd round. After watching what I could find on each of the players mentioned above, with the exception of Joe Mixon, since there is about a 0% chance we draft him with his off-field concerns, I came away by far the most impressed with Mixon's teammate, Samaje Perine. Now, do I think Perine is a generational talent like Fournette? No. But nobody else in this draft is either. What I like about Perine is his size and power, his ability to finish runs, break tackles, and excel in short-yardage, which will be important for us since we're looking for Cam to carry the ball less and also are now without Mike Tolbert to fill that role.

Perine isn't flashy, but you know what you're getting. He reminds me of LaGarrette Blount (without the weed), Eddie Lacy (without the weight issues), or a young Brandon Jacobs. My only real concern with Perine is his pass protection, but that's going to be a concern for most college RB's coming into the NFL. He also has a tendency to run too upright, but that can be fixed with good coaching, which I believe he will get here.

----------------------------------------

I didn't get a chance to look at the WR's in depth yet, but based on who I did get to, my preferences in order are:

1. Leonard Fournette
2. Malik Hooker
3. Solomon Thomas
4. O.J. Howard
5. Derek Barnett
6. Jamal Adams
7. Christian McCaffrey
8. Jonathan Allen

And my rankings of the RB's that I scouted:

1. Leonard Fournette
2. Christian McCaffrey
3. Samaje Perine
4/5. Alvin Kamara/Dalvin Cook
6. Wayne Gallman

[Jay Roosevelt]

For the record, I rate Solomon Thomas as the better overall prospect, but I think Barnett is a better fit for us scheme-wise.

[LinvilleGorge]

23 minutes ago, TheSpecialJuan said:

I have a feeling we are going to pass on Leonard Fournette and take a DE. The media will kill us for this. I can see it all now.

If Fournette is there, I think we're taking him. We want to run the ball and Stew is 30 and injury prone. It's time to find the next one.

But, if he's gone, I don't see why the media would kill us for taking a DE. CJ and Peppers are stopgap players at this point and Addison is knocking on the door of 30 himself and has been a career situational player up until last season. While our DE rotation looks pretty good for this coming year, we have virtually nothing at the position to build around for the future. We're taking a DE before the end of the 3rd. I'd bet a lot of money on it. It's probably the one thing that I'm most certain about going into this draft. A DE WILL be taken pretty early.

[TheSpecialJuan]

28 minutes ago, LinvilleGorge said:

If Fournette is there, I think we're taking him. We want to run the ball and Stew is 30 and injury prone. It's time to find the next one.

But, if he's gone, I don't see why the media would kill us for taking a DE. CJ and Peppers are stopgap players at this point and Addison is knocking on the door of 30 himself and has been a career situational player up until last season. While our DE rotation looks pretty good for this coming year, we have virtually nothing at the position to build around for the future. We're taking a DE before the end of the 3rd. I'd bet a lot of money on it. It's probably the one thing that I'm most certain about going into this draft. A DE WILL be taken pretty early.

If he is still there and we pass on him we will get killed by the media, is my point. All the mocks have us taking him.

[shaqattaq]

16 hours ago, uscgamecocks said:

If you stick, I think Lattimore is who the pick should be based on talent.  Bradberry/Lattimore would give us two elite man corners and Worley would be great depth.

BPA, IMO would definitely be Lattimore. 

[Lout]

I am an OU alum, and have watched Perine and Mixon their whole careers.  Perine is like a slower version of Stewart.  Shows great balance, size, and runs through tackles.. always moving forward.  Not much upside with Perine, but you know what you're getting.  Also has battled through foot/ankle injuries much like Stewart, but shows great toughness, and plays through pain.

Mixon is arguably the best overall talent in this draft at RB when taking in his pass catching and pass blocking into account.  On talent alone, he reminds me of a faster Leveon Bell.  Both standing at 6'1" 225lbs.. Mixon can catch better than all RBs besides McCaffery in this draft.  He's a homerun waiting to happen with great vision, and breakaway speed, especially for his size.

Someone is getting a HELL of a steal with Mixon.  I hope it's us.. and I would take him with our high 2nd round pick.  He's that great of a bargain pick.  Without his off field altercation when he was a freshman, he's a Top 10 pick.

He is still only 20 years old.. 2 years younger than Leonard Fournette.  He sat out his Freshman season at OU, and split time with Perine, so there is plenty of tread left on the tires!

 

[CWORS]

We haven't thought about the craziest scenario if the draft plays out like that and DG goes wild and trade the pick for Todd Gurley!! Ok I'm blowing serious smoke!!! 

I think DG would probably go with Corey Davis or Barnett.

[Panthero]

i'd say corner if we stay at 8. i'd prefer to trade back and get an extra pick. 

We need help at all of the following positions:

1. OT
2. WR
3. CB
4. DE
5. G
6. RB
7. C
8. TE
9. LB
10. SS

 

Rounds 1-2

The most critical is OT IMO, we need a guy to groom----NOW! A guy that can play RT now and slide over later. Next we need a WR that can separate and has great hands. Those are the most in need, CB is next and then DE (though DE fits in the third category) 

Rounds 2-4

DT and G have both starters going up for contracts. Need some insurance.

Rounds 3-5

RB, C, DE, and TE all need guys that can slowly replace the guys we'll lose to free agency or retirement

Rounds 5-7

LB and SS need solid backups TODAY. the depth there is terrible 

Roster needs a lot of work.