Carolina Panthers select Verone McKinley III, S, Oregon Underrated safety. He's a sound tackler in the run game but always lays the wood when a receiver comes across the middle. Finds himself in position to make big plays fairly often. I think he can thrive in STs immediately and has potential to make an impact rotating in on passing downs. Carolina has a strong DB room and just hired Steve Wilks as DB coach. It would be a great situation for McKinley.
Ravens select Markquese Bell, SS, Florida A&M. big thumper who can also play special teams. Perhaps the Ravens don’t resign Chuck Clark, who is now the weak link in their secondary since I drafted McDuffie. Ravens are a team who plans ahead with their late round picks for sure.
Cool Ravens select Cordell Volson, T, North Dakota State FCS school guy but, NDSU guys in particular get drafted early day 3 all the time and sometimes late day 2. They are a dominant team at that level, and Volson is easily the best tackle outta there since I started scouting (I like him way more than Joe Haeg and Dillon Radunz). He had a lot to do with Trey Lance’s success. He has allowed 0 sacks and only 15 pressures in 974 pass blocking snaps, and by PFF’s account he only lost two practice reps out of 49 at the Senior Bowl. My criteria for a Division II or FCS draft prospect is usually 1) did they absolutely obliterate their competition, to the point it wasn’t close and it’s believable they could make the leap, 2) did they get invited to an all star game (Senior Bowl & East West Shrine) and show up as one of the standouts. Volson checks both boxes. Ronnie Stanley has gotten hurt a lot, and while Morgan Moses was a very solid FA pickup he’s already 31. Time to start planning ahead here too. Worst case scenario, Volson is about the best backup tackle they were gonna find with a comp pick in the event of another Stanley injury.
I’m prepared to have my drafts graded: Traded for Curtis Samuel Trevor Penning Kyler Gordon Darrian Beavers Romeo Doubs Bucs Zion Johnson Perrin Winfrey Cam Taylor-Britt Ty Chandler Raiders Ed Ingram Travis Booker
Great draft for Pats. BB will clean up Penning’s game. Beavers is perfect for the Patriots. Him and Duggar gives that defense a lot of versatility.
Cowboys: Jermaine Johnson III Jaquan Brisker Isaiah Likely Zamir White Colts: David Bell Arnold Ebiketie Carson Strong Browns: Skyy Moore DeMarvin Leal Kingsley Enagbare Cole Strange Matt Waletzko
Pats draft feels like a very Pats draft. I personally don’t love any of those guys but they all feel like good Billy B fits I especially like the idea of Johnson and Taylor-Britt to TB it’s probably impossible to get the Raiders above a C or so
Jacksonville Jaguars 1 (1) Evan Neal, RT, Alabama *(Pick 33 traded to New Orleans)* 2 (49) Chad Muma, MLB, Wyoming *(via NO)* 3 (65) Logan Hall, 3-4DE, Houston 3 (70) Jamaree Salyer, G, Georgia (via CAR) 3 (98) Greg Dulcich, TE, UCLA *(via NO)* 3 (101) Matthew Butler, 3-4DE, Tennessee *(via NO)* 4 (106) Nick Cross, SS, Maryland pick 144 traded to CAR 5 (157) Dohnovan West, C, Arizona State New Orleans Saints 1 (18) Charles Cross, LT, Mississippi State 2 (33) Sam Howell, QB, North Carolina *(via JAX)* *pick 49 traded to JAX* pick 80 traded to HOU *pick 98 traded to JAX* (COMP) *pick 101 traded to JAX* (COMP) 4 (120) Neil Farrell, 4-3NT, LSU Baltimore Ravens 1 (14) Trent McDuffie, CB, Washington 2 (45) Leo Chenal, MLB, Wisconsin 3 (76) Cam Thomas, EDGE, SDSU 3 (100) John Ridgeway, 3-4DE, Arkansas (COMP) 4 (110) Myjai Sanders, EDGE, Cincinnati (via NYG) 4 (119) Matt Araiza, P, SDSU 4 (128) Luke Fortner, C, Kentucky (via ARI) 4 (139) Markquese Bell, SS, Texas A&M (COMP) 4 (141) Cordell Volson, T, NDSU (COMP)
New York Jets Travon Walker - DE - Georgia Sauce Gardner - CB - Cincinnati Jahan Dotson - WR - Penn State Daxton Hill - DB - Michigan Breece Hall - RB - Iowa State Jojo Domann - LB - Nebraska Cade Otton - TE - Washington Green Bay Packers Chris Olave - WR - Ohio State George Pickens - WR - Georgia Tyler Smith - OL - Tulsa Quay Walker - LB - Georgia Zyon McCollum - CB - Sam Houston State Jeremy Ruckert - TE - Ohio State Eric Johnson - DL - Missouri State
Jags updated roster is actually decent even if not “good” yet. I made sure the team had drastically upgraded trenches / physicality, and turned parts of the roster that are currently too thin into positions of decent depth. I know the WR room is ugly, but we would honestly be a running team that throws to their TEs a lot too - which is exactly what Doug Pederson’s Eagles were lol. Gotta start small when you’ve had the worst record twice in a row. Considering how hard the new regime has committed to a full rebuild (minus QB), honestly I think I accomplished a lot. Goal #1 was protect Trevor Lawrence & rebuild the offensive line, goal #2 was to fill out our defense enough to stop giving up 30 point games. Adding a rotational pass-rushing IDL and a starting TE with NOLA’s comp picks was a nice boost on top of my primary goals. These things should stabilize games enough to start seeing (for real) what we have in Trevor, and to build confidence beating other subpar teams: Next year’s priorities, to upgrade from okay roster to good roster, would absolutely be: -upgrade weapons -upgrade pass rushers -start replacing any underperforming young players or bust FAs -backup quarterback the value at WR & EDGE this mock was just not ideal… so I stuck to drafting more “glue” pieces / meat and potatoes players in the trenches. I’d be okay with this scenario; solidifying our foundation first and seeing what we already have in our skill positions so we know who to plan to keep and how much more talent to add. I’m curious how much we can improve our current ones with Doug Pederson & Mike Caldwell coaching.