Drew is a much more explosive athlete than Campbell as well. Doesn’t have the sane instincts though.
Not yet, but in his first year playing off the ball he got better every game. I like both, Campbell has a high floor and is ready to play now, Sanders has the potential to be a star though.
Keep drafting unicorns (TE Washington, DE Harrison, Murphy)
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I’ve always liked Drew and thinks he has Julian Peterson upside.
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I agree at right price also Zack Allan may work also but i really like if we can’t get carter taking Tyree Wilson I know listed at edge but his size an speed an length make him able to move inside as well as edge
You get him one edge an Hutch the other with say Cominsky an McNeill Thats a lot of size an length an speed
You could spend cap on a CB maybe a OG
Hutch 6’ 07" 264 C Harris 6’ 03" 250
Cominsky 6’ 05" 285 Paschal 6’ 03" 274
McNeill 6’ 02" 325 Buggs 6’ 03" 295
Wilson 6’6" 275 R Okwara 6’ 05" 255 Speed Rush Houston 6’ 01" 241
J Okwara 6’ 04" 239
Thats 10 DL with size an speed an can move all over the DL Now they could cut Harris or one or both brothers. But this DL with speed an size depending what you need or want each snap.
An it would cost the resigning of couple players who want to be with Lions an use one draft pick an Wilson will get even bigger an this doesn’t count Levi if he returns
You could add one of your FA an drop Harris or one of the brothers .
but you draft Carter i doubt we get him but then Wilson an do the resign you have a young solid DL.
I would also draft in rd two late or 3 any DL player they really like.
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Perfectly said. And I will take it a step further and say that production can’t be viewed in a vacuum, like some people do. People want to pass on a guy like Saquan Barkley because “we can get similar production out of a guy like Dalvin Cook.” That’s true. But Barkley does it while being the focal point of the defensive gameplan, which opens up other players in the offense. Cook does it while a guy like Justin Jefferson is the focal point of the defensive gameplan. There used to be a time when many teams said WRs weren’t worth spending high picks on because they “only” touched the ball X number of times per game. Things changed when teams started factoring in the overall impact a top flight WR has on the defense.
Here’s one for you. If a team fears the other teams running game, they run less stunts and exotic blitzes. That helps the offensive line pass block and helps the QB know what his protection is going to look like. It also deters teams from running exotic coverages because you don’t want your DBs to get too out of whack with where their run fits should be. How important are run fits when defending an elite back? I will take you back to the 2013 season. The very first play for the Vikings, Adrian Peterson took the handoff and raced 78 yards for a TD. What made the play was Fairley crashing a little too hard at an angle…and a bad run fit by a rookie Darius Slay.
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Yes, his ability to diagnose plays puts him where he needs to be. I think a 40 time isn’t an “end all”, and is only one aspect of “elite athleticism”.
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To me it can’t be a premium position because RBs just get injured too often. You wouldn’t spend a bunch of money on a fancy car if you knew it was gonna be broken down a third of the time. Sure, while it was running you’d be the envy of everyone, but while it wasn’t you’d still be able to get from point a to point b just fine.
For sure an elite running back forces the defense to account for him. But so does an elite running game. The Eagles have cobbled together the best running offense in the NFL with an assortment of Miles Sanderses and Boston Scotts and Kenneth Gainwells and Jordan Howards. The year the Niners went to the Super Bowl they led the league with Raheem Mostert, Tevin Coleman, Jeff Wilson and Matt Breida. This year the Falcons finished 3rd behind two teams led by running QBs (Chicago and Baltimore) with a backfield of Tyler Allgeier, Cordarelle Patterson, Caleb Huntley and Avery Williams. The Panthers ranked 1st over the last half of the season with D’Onta Foreman and Chuba Hubbard.
I agree that an elite RB forces a defense to be accountable. But he will get hurt, and you can also force defenses to be accountable to the run through other means.
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I swear to Dog I go back and forth on this on a daily basis. The thing is, if we get one of the top OG/OL in this draft I think a lot of players could rip off some serious yardage. And while people will provide plenty of examples of great OL being taken from the 3rd and beyond, I would prefer to not guess if we are indeed not taking Bijan, I want a guy who can make that OL the strength of the O.
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Every position gets injured.
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Not as often as RB
Man, we need Jalen Carter. Its that simple. I feel like we’d be willing to move up and part with a day two pick maybe, but we’d have to wait for the QB dust to settle. If were lucky, we see some trade ups for three QBs and then we can deal with a small move up for Carter.
If I had to guess, I would say the Cardinals really want Will Anderson. As DJ said in his first mock, they really want edge talent. If 3 QBs are taken and the Cards take Anderson, that leaves Seattle who I think would take Carter with their pick. So perhaps the best scenario we could get is the Bears trading with the Colts at 4, then wanting an OT to protect Fields? They know they can probably get one by moving down.
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I think the only way we can get Carter is either with a trade-up, which I definitely wouldn’t rule out, or if Richardson blows up the pre-draft process and 4 QBs go ahead of us. That one seem less likely but also possible.
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I keep doing this iterations of mocks and at the end of the day, Jalen Carter would really round out our DLine. I think we definitely need to make sure we get him if we can not give the house away.
The other consolation prize would be to push the chips in on the secondary and solve the problem once and for all.
Imagine Hutch next to this monster.
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Show me your data set that you are using. Let’s take a quick peak at just one of this weekend’s games in Giants vs Eagles.
Saquan Barkley played 16 games this year, missing 1 game (they sat him to rest for the playoffs). The WR core was a mash unit. One of their starting WR missed 14 games. Their 2022 1st round pick at DE missed 3 games. The other 2022 1st round pick at OT missed 4 games. Starting LB missed 4 games. Starting DT missed 5 games. Starting CB missed 7 games.
Miles Sanders played in all 17 games this year. Their QB missed 2 games. Their 1st round pick at DT missed 4 games. The starting TE missed 5 games. The starting CB missed 8 games. The starting S missed 5 games. The punter missed 4 games!
Damn, it almost seems like every position group was represented well in that list. Weird. It must be a fluke.
I posted a chart a couple of months ago that shows it, I’ll try and dig it up. But it shows that RBs got hurt at a much higher rate than any other position. You have offered a 2 game sample that validates your point, but that is a very small sample size.
Here’s the chart:
This was compiled using IR numbers from 2007-2009 so it’s a little dated, but IMO if anything it’s gotten worse since then.
Here’s another one from the 2015 season:
The analyst went on to add: “As expected, running backs are at the highest risk of injury, and their injuries average significantly longer in length than any other position.” Even that lower percentage of snaps missed is telling, because NFL teams already know RBs get injured, which is why they started to employ running-back-by-committee.
Here’s another showing average career length by position:
Obviously more goes into that than injury-proneness, but it’s still by far the biggest factor. And it’s yet another reason to devalue the RB position.
I will admit that there was a time RBs didn’t get injured as often back in the 90s and early 2000s (Barry, Tomlinson, Faulk, etc…), and there are some studies out there that confirm this. Getting to the bottom of what changed is a whole other argument, but I will say that even then RBs were right at the top of the most-injured lists with LBs and DBs. They just weren’t overwhelmingly ahead as they are today. RB has always been a dangerous position to play in the NFL.
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The real question (the one that matters) is where does Brad land on the conversation? Is he as positional-value thinking as we tend to think he is?
You can’t use an over arching IR data as a reliable source to tell a true story. It doesn’t give enough context. You have to dig down deeper. Noone gives a shit about Zach Zenner getting injured and going on IR. And he will go on IR for something that another RB in the same situation would not go on IR from. Teams in lost seasons for instance start IR’ing guys. And guys playing for teams in lost seasons also have enough of the bullshit and checkout, going on IR. RBs definitely have a short shelf life. There is no debate there. So part of the trick with them is knowing when to hold’em and knowing when to fold’em. My case for a Todd Gurley level guy is that our window would match up with the typical lifecycle of a RB.
Focus on the lead backs that teams have something invested in and compare those guys to the team around them. Particularly on teams that have been playing for something. Its also important to compare starters. I will do another one to illustrate the point using the Bills vs Bengals matchup this weekend.
Joe Mixon missed 2 games this season. Starting WR missed 4 games. Starting TE missed 3 games. The Punter missed 7 games. Starting DT missed 6 games. Starting CB missed 9 games. The starting LT, RT and OG will all be out this weekend against the Bills.
Devin Singletary didn’t miss a game this season. Starting MLB missed 3 games. Starting Center missed 3 games. Starting DT missed 3 games. Starting Safety missed 4 games (not Hamlin). Starting DE missed 3 games. Starting OLB missed 5 games. Starting CB missed 10 games. The original starting Safety missed 14 games.
Going back to Todd Gurley for a second. He had a bad condition in his knee that was always going to end his career early. But he had a glorious run in the meantime. But even with the messed up knee, he made nearly every start. His games missed were 3-0-1-2-1-1. Those are the exact kind of missed game stats that you should expect about every player on the team over that span. There are some rare birds who make every start every year. But overall a typical starter misses 1-4 games per year. That’s just life in the NFL.
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Well said. That’s exactly the right way to put it too lol.
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It’s quite obvious to me we’re simply diametrically opposed on this. RBs being the most injured position shouldn’t come as too much of a surprise even before providing any data to back it up.
We all know Saquon and McCaffrey have missed two whole years each. So have Raheem Mostert and D’Onta Foreman. Rashaad Penny has missed more than that.
Cam Akers, Dobbins, Etienne have missed entire seasons already, while Breece Hall, Javonte Williams, James Conner, Gus Edwards, Fournette, have had their seasons ended early with injuries.
Nick Chubb, Jonathan Taylor, Dalvin Cook, Mixon, Aaron Jones, Kamara, Elijah Mitchell, Ken Walker, Swift, Ekeler, Miles Sanders, Montgomery, Damien Harris, Dameon Pierce Rhamondre Stevenson have all missed multiple games, most across multiple seasons. Highly-drafted Kerryon Johnson and Derrius Guice had their careers ended before they ever got going.
Even Derrick Henry, the paragon of a tank who never gets hurt, finally went down last year.
The list of RBs who haven’t missed multiple games injured is much easier to compile. Najee Harris, who’s only in his 2nd year in the league (and played through a foot injury for the early part of this year). Devin Singetary, who sucks (and doesn’t run the ball all that often). AJ Dillon who averages less than 10 carries per game. Tony Pollard has only missed one game but has averaged even fewer touches than Dillon over the course of his career. Josh Jacobs and Zeke have missed very few games, but both guys played through injuries that limited their effectiveness.
I understand if you want to contend RB is still a valuable position despite all the injuries. I disagree, but that’s your opinion and you’re entitled to it. But the injuries are there, and they’re problematic. And it’s not like I’m promoting some radical theory, the discussion on RB value has been going on for over a decade and injury risk is one of the main reasons their value has plummeted. It’s not hard to find those discussions.
And if there’s any question how the NFL values RB, just take a look at their salaries. RB comes in lower than kicker and above only punter and long snapper.
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I tend to completely agree but I still see Bijon as an outlier. He isn’t only shifty and powerful. (I think he led the league in broken tackles?) but is an advanced route runner who ran the entire route tree and is an upper level pass blocker
That’s a lot of talent for BJ and Goff
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