That is true to an extent, but it’s also subject to the vagaries of the cap. For instance those very same Chiefs created a weakness by trading away Tyreek Hill last year as well. It’s always a balancing act, the league is set up so good teams can’t stay strong everywhere.
(I would also add that two of the key figures in that OL overhaul were Creed Humphrey and Trey Smith, both draft picks who absolutely hit the ground running.)
I personally would have CB higher, but I would agree with those top 4, assuming we re-sign our key guys.
I don’t want to get stuck with Jamaal as the featured back once Swift goes down again. I love Jamaal, and he fills his role perfectly, but he is a role player. I also saw how bad this interior O-Line struggled this year and want to add a rookie to the mix on day 2.
Yeah, that would be more of a Brad move to me. Or Sheldon Rankins. More of a mid-tier guy.
Or honestly, as much as everyone here would hate it, I wouldn’t be totally shocked if we traded up for Carter. Brad’s already shown he’ll be aggressive going after guys he likes. If he deems Carter as one of those guys, I could see it.
So he’s a cut then?
Thanks, and yes it took a while, but it was a slow morning and I was bored 
. Thats my biggest concern, 3T. Jalen Carter is the only guy in the draft I would trust to step in day 1 and make the impact we need. I really think we are limited to FA. There maybe only 3-4 options this off-seasons to add a difference maker there. If we don’t, and Levi doesn’t make a miraculous turnaround, I think these guys will regret it later.
Now that you mention it…if we can’t get my DT… at that point, CB becomes #1 concern. I just know how much impact a pocket-smashing DT has on CB responsibilities (specially with Hutch, Houston, & the boys out there too)
Correct
Before Buggs emerged I thought Onyematta could be a guy they had interest in. I think Dre’Mont Jones is redundent with Josh Pascal here. They have very similar body types and would likely fill the same role (big edge, kick inside on passing downs). We need a true 3T. Someone that can play inside on any down and won’t get washed in the run game. Hargrave was an elite run defender in Pittsburgh playing in a 3-4 early in his career. He went to Philly to a 4-3 as a 3T and showed elite ability as a pass rusher. He can anchor against the run and dominant in the pass game. These types of guys are rare, IMO.
As a side note, I know you dive pretty deep into the incoming draft prospects. Was just wondering if you had your eyes on any tackles or WR’s that could be a viable late round sleeper. Matt Nelson has not developed as we had hoped and we need to add a young guy to the mix. As I mentioned above, I’d also like to add a WR late that can step in for Reynolds in 2024. Any guys to keep our eyes on?
WR - Jameson Williams - Quintez Cephus
WR - DJ Chark RS - Josh Reynolds
SR - Amon-Ra St. Brown - Kalief Raymond
LT - Taylor Decker - Dan Skipper
LG - Jonah Jackson - Logan Stenberg
C - Frank Ragnow - Ross Pierschbacher
RG - Andrew Vorhees 3rd - Tommy Kreamer
RT - Penni Sewell - Matt Nelson
TE - Brock Wright - Shane Zylstra
TE - James Mitchell
QB - Jared Goff - Nate Sudfield
RB - Bijan Robinson 1st - D’Andre Swift
RB - Craig Reynolds - Justin Jackson RS
FB - Jason Cabinda
DE - John Cominsky RS - Josh Pashcal
NT - Siaki Ika 2nd - Isiah Buggs RS
DT - Dre’Mont Jones FA - Alim McNeil
Edge - Aidan Hutchinson - Romeo Okwara
Rush - James Houston - Julian Okwara
ILB - Alex Anzalone RS - Derrick Barnes
WLB - Malcom Rodriguez - Dee Winters 6th
LCB - Jerry Jacobs - Billy Price
RCB - Jeff Okaduh - Max Melton 2b
NCB - Brain Branch 1st - Chase Lucas
FS - Kerby Joseph - Tracy Walker - CJ Moore
SS - Von Bell FA - Ifeatu Melifonwu
IR - Levi Onwuzurike
I build these depth charts , this is what I’ve been playing with. Not totally sold on it.
Aaron Donald fits the description
We definitely need to add a tackle. If Decker or Sewell go down for any extended length of time, we’re screwed. I’ve even experimented with drafting them on day 2 - while the draft’s not great at the top, there’s a lot of intriguing athletic project tackles who just need a little seasoning - though it would be nice to add another pick via trade down if we go that route.
That’s one of the reasons I really like Cody Mauch. He’ll immediately plug in at RG for us and if something happens to Decker or Sewell, he can shift out to tackle. He’s probably my most frequent pick at 2a right now.
As for later round guys, I don’t hate Carter Warren. He reminds me a little of Tyrell Crosby which obviously isn’t great, a little better in pass pro a little worse in the run game. Definitely doesn’t play with a mean streak but neither does Darrisaw and he’s still awesome.
Other guys I like later: Jordan Morgan, TJ Bass (more of a guard convert), Curtis McClendon, though he needs to improve his footwork pretty drastically. And honestly I still have a lot of work to do with the tackle class since I didn’t think it was one of the positions we’d be drafting all that highly.
At WR I like Tank Dell quite a bit. Small guy but he’s got lighting in his legs. I also like Andrei Iosivas, but after the Senior Bowl I expect him to have a Christian Watson-esque rise. Maybe not to the cusp of the 1st round but easily into day 2.
Others: Xavier Hutchinson, Puka Nacua (nice call on him), Dontay Demus, Smoke Harris. Still a lot of work to do on them as well though because of the sheer numbers. I also like @CuriousHusker 's boy Trey Palmer a lot but I think he’s going a lot higher than where the simulators have him going.
Thanks for the response. I think it is key to look a year or two ahead and churn the bottom of the roster. Josh Reynolds has been as asset, but our WR room is much better now. Let him walk in 2024 with a ready made replacement at a 1/4 of the cost. That is key to building a consistent winner, IMO. I think we will have officially built a real roster by the end of this off-seaosn. What I mean by that is Campbell and Holmes has had to band aid a lot of areas over these first two years with players they were forced into. They may have been there guys, but they didn’t have the resources to do better so they had limited options. Three years is enough to completely churn a roster.
After this season the focus is going to be on keeping the core intact. They will have to identify guys like Josh Reynolds that they know won’t be here long term and get ready made replacements for them. Guys who can fill their roles at a fraction of the cost through the mid to late rounds of the draft. Thats why I think young depth with potential at WR, OT, and QB will be key to add in the late rounds this year.
I agree with this wholeheartedly and would even use premium picks to accomplish it, provided the position was valuable enough (hence my mention of the day 2 tackles). I always say the FOs of the best teams are forward-looking which makes them seem like they’re drafting BPA, but what they’re really doing is filling needs before they become needs. Our needs on the day of the draft is just such a small sample size.
That’s why I prefer drafts/off-season, etc… that aren’t just pure need-filling exercises. Because that’s not how offseasons generally go.
I would love the lions to pick Mauch. You are right on with his versatility and starting him at Guard.
In several mocks I have done Mauch has always been there with our 2B pick
Somebody online just posted a mock top-10 that had the Lions taking Witherspoon at #6.
I agree with this position to a certain extent. I am a big proponent of not going strictly BPA in the first two rounds. There is a BPA at a position of need method I prefer. Now sometimes that doesn’t work if there is a guy who may not be a need, but is clearly way above everyone else.
For example we desperately need a CB, and DT, but we also have needs at RB, LB’er, S, TE, and G. If we are sitting there and there is a RB (Robinson) on the board who is just too good a value to pass up you forego other positions of greater need. Now lets say it is a WR who drops. Unless this WR blows the rest of the board away, we should pass. We just invested a 1st into Jamo and St. Brown has proven to be elite and will need extended. In my scenario we have also re-signed Chark. Taking another WR just doesn’t make sense because we have all three under contract for multiple seasons.
When it comes to round 3 or later, there an be a much bigger talent gap in who is left on your board. Is this case you draft strictly BPA, IMO as that is how you keep your talent level up and churn the bottom of your roster.
Pretty significant cuts, I doubt any would agree to it and I wouldn’t blame them. It’s a slippery slope to explain to a player that they are overpaid, while at the same time telling them we want to keep them. Straight cuts of base salary don’t happen very often.
I think you need to get rid of about half your signings and you might be on to something. If you cut Vaitai, Romeo and Charles . . . . that might work, but there are new holes.
Fans (including me) almost always have a way more aggressive offseason than the GM actually does.
I don’t think there’s such a thing as pure BPA, it’s always under the awning of the needs of the team. But some of those “needs” aren’t as obvious outside the organization as they are inside of it, and what looks like BPA is actually forward-looking.
Now I agree that sometimes the cavity between players is enough that a team will just take the better player and let their coaches figure it out. The Cowboys do this a lot, no one mocked them CeeDee Lamb (they had Cooper and Gallup) or Parsons. Both of those worked out. I am a fan of this approach, especially at the very tip top of the draft.
To me there’s a clear top 3 in this draft and if any of them were available at our pick, I’d take them, needs be damned. Yes, including Young. But once those three are off the board, unless someone really surprises me through the draft process, I’m shifting my focus to needs both now and in the near future.
Yeah he usually is, but I think after the Senior Bowl he’s really gonna rise. PFF already has him as a late 1st/early 2nd and I think that’s about where he’ll go. Honestly we’ll be lucky if he falls to our 2a.