Eh, who would have thought that āCalifornia Coolā Goff would have had that competitive fire in him that he showed last season. I remember all the talk about how soft he is, not a Dan Campbell guy etc. and it turned out, so far, to be proven wrong.
Long story short, I prefer the player with the highest upside not the player who seemingly is a better culture fit. I trust this coaching staff to get the most out of their players so give me the high upside guy. Personally, I think Tyree Wilson has the highest upside of all the guys realistically available at 6 and Iād be inclined to say Bijan as well so I wouldnāt take a corner just because it fills a bigger need. Give me BPA. Itās such a deep corner class that I think theyād be better served to take BPA at 6 and BCA at 18.
If we do draft Gonzo, that would mean AG has a corner drafted 3rd and 6th overall. No excuses at that point. You got 2 very early 1st round picks, the secondary should be lock down at that point, unless you have no idea what youāre doing.
But, I do think John Fox is going to help a shit ton! Dude has lead several outstanding defenses and spent a decade coaching DBās before he was ever a DC and HC
Iām setting the over/under at 4. Whoās taking the over and whoās taking the under? This includes defensive backs like Branch as well, not just strictly a corner. I think I might even take the over which would be crazy on paper - but this draft is stacked in the secondary.
I still want both Gonzo and Spoon. Iām CB greedy. Iām inclined to take Gonzo though with Spoon opting out of the 40. Does anyone buy the hamstring pull? He just didnāt want to put up Teez Tabor number. Love the guy on the field but I have PTSD from drafting slower DBs
What corners remind you of Jerry Jacobs in the game tape? Who has shown that aggression and dawg? That physicality? Spoon, porter Jr and Banks. Those are the corners to be zeroing in on. Those are the kinda guys they want opposite side of the field to jacobs. Gonzo doesnāt fit their scheme bc of what they want from their corners. Dan said it himself, they watch the tape. Nothing they do in pajamas changes that. Gonzo is a great corner and Iād love to have him, just doubt it happens.
Not sure you can go to that extreme. Boxing yourself in a corner like that.
There is a scenario where Gonzalez isnāt what a team is looking for at corner. He is Deion Sanders who you take no matter what bc he is a generational talent you canāt pass on.
Its a corner I am completely comfortable with. Sometimes the football gods who make millions to make football decisions overthink things and smell their own butt toots too much. If you canāt use gonzo, your scheme is trash.
And let me make this clear. Gonzo will be good in man AND zone as well as come up and tackle. So if you know of a personnel guy that disagrees with that, I am not interested in his opinion.
He probably isnāt too interested in any of our opinions either. YOU are comfortable with him. Itās your opinion. You are basically saying if someone dares to think different then me A FAN that PROFESSIONAL can fuuuuuuck off.
I am sorry. The pro evaluators are perfect and donāt make mistakes. Let me bow down to them and declare them the alpha and the omega. I am only hoping that maybe, by pure luck, a pro talent evaluator might misjudge a prospect 1 time in their entire evaluating lives. Letās roll the dice.
All jokes aside we can talk about the value and the price you need to pay for Gonzo. I make the same case against Richardson, while also understanding the same stance from people who donāt want Bijan in the 1st. Thatās a real discussion. But if any coach or talent evaluator tells you that Gonzo doesnāt fit the schemeā¦look at that guy sideways. Either the scheme is trash or his eye for talent is suspect AF.
There was an NFL scout and uber Lions fan who used to post in Reddit who targeted Gonzo as a very good fit for the Lions. I think I posted his analysis here a while back
Weāll start off with this, the Lions run a lot more man coverage than Oregon did. Thatās not to say Oregon didnāt run it, but the Lions ran it every other snap, whereas Oregon was more like every fourth. However, Gonzalez showed a very high capacity in man coverage, which is important.
As far as our mold is concerned, Gonzalez fits very, very well. Heās excellent in man coverage, and highly athletic. As mentioned a vast majority of the cornerbacks Brad Holmes have targeted have come in at an 8.8 RAS score or higher. I definitely believe that Gonzalez is going to be in that range. Heās a freaky athlete.
As far as his fit in the Lions scheme goes, heās an outside cornerback for sure. Now, as mentioned, itād be a scheme change for him, so I think the Lions bringing him along a little slower is worthwhile, as itās also important to point out that Gonzalez has only been playing cornerback for three seasons. His instincts still arenāt terribly natural there, but heās grown a ton in that area.
With the mold, heās a very good fit, as heās big, fast, and can play in coverage. I donāt think heās built to handle the slot terribly well, but heās shown he can follow receivers into the slot and still win reps there, so itās something you can consider. Realistically though, Gonzalezās addition likely pushes Jerry Jacobs into the slot if acquired.
Branch is almost built in a lab to be a Detroit Lion. Even his physical limitations just add to the chip on his shoulder and make him an even better fit for what Dan is looking for. I am so convinced that Brian Branch is what we need and who we are that I am willing to plot our entire draft strategy around landing him. Heās not a world beater. But he adds to a winning equation.