Jman 2024 mock 1.0

[Jman]

This is under the premise that JJ McCarthy goes back to U of M for his senior year. I hope so, selfishly but also think he could go top 10 in 2025. Not sure where he’s rated now he’s all over the map.

Ages are for 2024 season

1. TYLER NUBIN S Minny (CGJ free agent. Tracey Walker 29 last year of contract)
   Get that elite S to go with Kerby and Branch. Brad also drafted Iffy who has been a solid backup. Holmes drafted a Safety every year as our gm round 3, round 3, round 2…

alt pick Newton DT Illinois or OL Troy Fautanu Wash

2. T’Vondre Sweat DT Texas (Buggs 28 last year of contract, Benito 27 RFA, Alim UFA 2025)
   Maybe the best defender in college football. A true stud next to my breakout player of the year Alim McNeil…who will be on the last year of his rookie deal 2024. Take the big NT from Texas end of round 2 like we did Shaun Rogers big baby.

alt pick DT Kris Jenkins U of M

3a - Jack Sawyer Edge Ohio State (Charles Harris, Romeo, Julian UFA)
Get some edge juice across from Hutch and hoepfully Houston coming back strong. Rated late 2 - 3 on most sites. Not sure if he makes it this far but wishful.

alt pick WR Tory Horton Colorado State

3b- Ruke Orhorhoro DL Clemson (Levi & Cominsky29 last year of contracts, Paschal )
Local kid went to River Rouge for Bball, super athletic from DT U. Puts Paschal on blast. Let’s us move on from Levi. Takes over for Comisnky in 2025?

alt pick Mo Kamara DL Colorado State

5- Mikey Sainristil DB U of M (Bye Will Harris, Bye).
Rated as a 5th rounder…can see him jumping up to round 3 like Jourdan Lewis NB from U of M few years ago. He’s my Darius Rush Day 3 DB man crush this year. Converted WR, Playmaker, Raw, Athletic. Leader. Everytime you watch you see him flying around making plays.

alt pick Kris Abrams-Draine CB Mizzou

6- IOL Zak Zinter injured U of M NOT Zach Zenner RB

alt pick Nugent, Donovan Jackson, Cooper Beebe PFF has all these guys Day 3. Last year a lot of the guys we talked about went from round 3 to undrafted. So who knows but grab another IOL. Also, Andrew Vorhees Guard USC tore his ACL and didn’t get drafted until round 7

7- Fentrell Cypress II FSU Coach Prime was a CB from FSU so we should get one too

alt pick Brevyn Spann-Ford TE Minny

[Mr.Peabody]

What did we have to give up to trade from 32 to 27? I hope its not alot.

[LionFrog]

@Mr.Peabody

What did we have to give up to trade from 32 to 27?

Any given Sunday, my dude.

[wolfcub36]

Far too early for in-depth mocks for me–I don’t as a rule put one out until March of every Offseason–when I have more of my chit together to make a worthwhile Mock Draft , and I won’t try until then.

[TCLion]

Getting a bit “defensive” are we?

[CuriousHusker]

Just say no to safety in round 1. Otherwise seems fine by me.

Sawyer is interesting bc if we really want to play with this overhanging SAM JACK type alignment then Sawyer and Houston would be a truly awesome platoon. Jack is good at pretty much everything (given his size) except being a flamethrower. Houston is a flamethrower and then ???

Seems like a good marriage. But I have no idea what our true defensive designs are. Which I think is the problem. I’m not even sure that the team knows. Need to figure out our defensive identity and then hang our hat on that for better of for worse. You can still be multiple etc. but when sh!t hits the fan you have to be able to look at yourself and be like, “we’ll be okay we’re a really good ____ team.” What is that ______?

[Jman]

@Mr.Peabody

What did we have to give up to trade from 32 to 27? I hope its not alot.

The 3rd round comp pick we got from Aaron Glenn going to coach the Commanders

[Jman]

@CuriousHusker

Sawyer is interesting bc if we really want to play with this overhanging SAM JACK type alignment then Sawyer and Houston would be a truly awesome platoon. Jack is good at pretty much everything (given his size) except being a flamethrower. Houston is a flamethrower and then ???

Seems like a good marriage.

Ya know, when I mocked him there I had a feeling you would like that pick a lot. I don’t know why but when I picked it I just envisioned you being on board with it.

[CuriousHusker]

I mean I don’t love Jack Sawyer. Jack Sawyer’s kind of f’cking boring. But I do think he’s solid and if we plan on playing this way than having a more talented Devon Kinnard type and pairing him with Da Problem just makes sense to me.

[Jman]

@CuriousHusker

I mean I don’t love Jack Sawyer. Jack Sawyer’s kind of f’cking boring. But I do think he’s solid

Is he any less boring than Sam Hubbard was coming out of Ohio State a few years back?

[CuriousHusker]

I’d like to get @HSVLion’s input as I don’t watch OSU the way that he does but my impressions of Sawyer were always not really that creative or twitchy in pass rush situation but more comfortable in space and going backwards then you’d expect at his size. Just a well rounded functional player. Boring but he will help your team win games.

[Tucker]

@Jman

3b- Ruke Orhorhoro DL Clemson

I say he goes in middle 2nd.

[HSVLion]

@CuriousHusker

my impressions of Sawyer were always not really that creative or twist h in pass rush situation but more comfortable in space and going backwards then you’d expect at his size. Just a well rounded functional player. Boring but he will help your team win games.

He was definitely getting more creative and less “boring” the last 4 or so games of the year. It’s a shame he won’t get to play in the playoff because if he did his draft stock was going to skyrocket when everyone saw him perform like he was performing over the last third of the season. For a long time Sawyer had obvious talent but played like a JAG. Then the switch flipped for him a month or so ago and he’s a much better player now.

One thing that really impacted his development is that last year (2022) he didn’t play defensive end. He played what Jim Knowles calls the “Jack” linebacker, which is essentially a Micah Parsons DE/LB hybrid that allows Knowles to move to a 3 man front should he choose to. Sawyer was obviously playing out of position, but we didn’t really have anyone else who could play that position better so Sawyer had to do it. He moved back to DE full time this year, and he started to show an ability to just overpower the tackle who was blocking him. He generated more pressure and was getting key stops in the run game. Again, just like Tuimoloau, he doesn’t have the greatest pass rush bag of all time, but he’s a great athlete that was improving a lot at the end of the year, and he’s an excellent run stopper.

And no, IMO he’s less boring than Sam Hubbard was. At least there are some plays on film where Sawyer’s talent just overpowers his matchup. Hubbard never had plays like that.

[Phunnypharm]

5th round seems a bit low for Sainristil.

[Bols]

I read yesterday that he is climbing the draft boards at a very rapid pace. According to John Harbaugh, he could end up in the first round.

He seems to get better every time he steps on the field.

[CuriousHusker]

Day 2 for sure