I would love Branch at 18.
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I’d also love to get Battle at 81 if we haven’t drafted a safety yet
Battle allowed just 136 yards in coverage on 525 snaps this past season. He allowed just 598 yards in coverage in 1,860 coverage snaps during his career at Alabama. His 7 total interceptions and 2 combined touchdowns allowed over the last two seasons is impressive. He could be a sneaky good pick in the middle rounds
He has an RAS of 8.99. His biggest weakness is missing more tackles than you’d like, but that could be coached up
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Yeah I agree with this totally, I highly doubt he’ll leave himself at a spot where he absolutely has to draft one.
The thing is there’s still a ton of viable safety options out there. It’s one of the easiest positions to fill in FA. Besides CGJ there’s Johnson, Amos, Edmunds, Neal, Rapp (former Ram), Watts, Nick Scott (another former Ram), on and on. Any of those guys could hold down the fort for a year on a contract like Elliott’s if that’s the route we decided to go.
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I would lose my shit “in a good way.”
First off… I don’t think Branch is athletic enough to be a first rounder at his size. Secondly I’m not solely calling CGJ a nickel as he’s played SS, and a little WLB in 2 backer sets…
Let’s pretend the lions give 10M to an injury prone WR who has nabbed over 750 yards or 6 tds once in 5 years??? Then draft a NB who is 190 with a 5.9 RAS.
Or
They sign CGJ with 2-3 position flexibility, and take Addison, JSN, or Q Johnston at #18….
I’m taking option B
CGJ
K Joseph/Iffy
Walker/W Harris
Okudah/Moseley
Sutton/Jacobs
I’m sorry that secondary is IMPACTFUL
I want Calais Campbell on a 1-year deal. He’s somehow still playing at a high level at 36. Would be a solid vet presence on the defense and would improve our DT depth/rotation.
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CJGJ, Moseley and Sutton would be unbelievable.
I can’t imagine that we can afford Gardner Johnson though.
Btw,didn’t know CJ was Ochocinco’s cousin
Better? Not sure about that. Gardner-Johnson is quite a bit faster. Branch is a better tackler. CJ is more skilled in coverage IMO. I think Branch is going to be targeted by OCs with speed. We’ll see how he holds up.
I’d dig that for sure. One of the league’s absolute best leaders and he can still crush pockets when on a snap count.
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I remember wanting to draft Calais when they called Jordan efffin Dizons name. Then arguing with Nost on Mlive about it
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Man I didnt even realize we picked Dizon over him. Calais has been one of my fav players in the league over his career.
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Yep! And I wanted DRC in the first instead of Cherilous. I followed Arizona for a while because they had the draft I wanted in the early rounds
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Same, I was also a big DRC fan.
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More skilled in coverage? I’m not so sure about that.
The past two years Gardner-Johnson has given up 75 completions on 111 attempts.
Thats a 68% completion percentage. Thats right on par with the likes of Nevin Lawson and the great Will Harris.
Gardner is a good tackler, he’s a good blitzer, but I think Branch is even better.
Gardner-Johnson ran a 4.48 40. Branch ran a 4.58 40.
I think Branch’s speed is perfectly fine for a slot/safety. I wouldn’t want him outside but we are perfectly covered there.
I find it interesting that the Eagles made it more of a priority to sign the much older Slay and Bradberry over the 25 year old Gardner-johnson.
Branch and his 4.58 40? No thank you
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More skilled in coverage? I’m not so sure about that.
The past two years Gardner-Johnson has given up 75 completions on 111 attempts.
Thats a 68% completion percentage. Thats right on par with the likes of Nevin Lawson and the great Will Harris.
Gardner is a good tackler, he’s a good blitzer, but I think Branch is even better.
Gardner-Johnson ran a 4.48 40. Branch ran a 4.58 40.
I think Branch’s speed is perfectly fine for a slot/safety. I wouldn’t want him outside but we are perfectly covered there.
I find it interesting that the Eagles made it more of a priority to sign the much older Slay and Bradberry over the 25 year old Gardner-johnson.
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I think teams value outside CBs mush more than a slot safety or nickle. It is often CBs that don’t have the complete skill set that get moved inside.
Wait… when did a 4.58 40 become slow for a slot/safety?
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Thats true, and may be why the Eagles prioritized signing Slay and Bradberry.
But I would also assume some teams would prioritize signing an up and coming 25 year old over a couple of 30 plus year old cbs.
I think theres something more to it. I also found it strange the Saints would trade him for so little.
They gave him up for a 5th and 6th round pick. Now, one year later, the Eagles are fine with letting him go.
I like Branch a lot but I think his position value will push him down to a borderline 1st round pick. Running a 4.58 did not help his case but I don’t think people expected him to run fast. His game is all about instincts and making plays. I wanted him more before we signed the CBs and brought Harris back. I would not be upset if we took him at 18.
Stats like the one people are throwing out need context. He moved around quite a bit. How was he aligned? Was he in off man? What was the down and distance. I’d imagine with the Eagles defense there were auite a few 3rd and longs.were you happily give up the underneath reception.
I’ll just go with what my eyes tell me, and my eyes tell thst yes CJ is a more talented coverage player. You have every right to disagree.
As I’ve been telling @thats2 since October (prior to Tennessee lighting them up) my best friend is a diehard Tide fan and he just won’t shut up about ho he thought Branch’s long speed would be an issue at the next level. Basically thought that NFL OC’s would use speed in the slot and expose him. 
I do like Branch. I just posted yesterday how he’s on my short list at 18. I just happen to think his upside is limited somewhat and even in the most ambitious scenarios he falls short of what CJGJ is as a player.
I think Branch has a lot of value even with those cb signings.
He can be on the field in our 3 safety sets. He can be our starting nickel.
On the outide we will have great depth with Sutton, Moseley, Okudah, and Jacobs.
Our secondary would be complete.
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