2016 NFL Draft Preview
I wish I had time to do a full on NFL mock draft, but I don’t. Despite garbage oil prices, I find myself pretty busy the last few weeks. But I do have time to talk about it, so I damn well will!
This is like Christmas for diehard football fans. The NFL draft is right up there with the NHL draft as my favourite drafts (although there are only 4, 5 if you include Vietnam). For the 2nd year in a row, this draft isn’t great. But for the 2nd year in a row, you do have 2 pretty good QB’s at the top of the draft, and I believe these 2 QB’s are much safer than Winston and Mariota were last season. Neither have off field issues, neither play a style which has rarely ever succeeded in the NFL.
Jarred Goff is going 1st and I love what the Rams did moving up. Loved that trade for both the Rams and Titans. The Titans got a boat load of picks that they really needed to help surround Marcus Mariota with elite talent. But the Rams are one of the few teams who it made sense for them to do a deal like that. They’ve loaded up during the Jeff Fisher era, they just needed a QB. And they didn’t need a potential hall of famer, they just needed a guy who can make some throws for them at key times. Jarred Goff isn’t a Tom Brady, Peyton Manning, Aaron Rodgers, Cam Newton, etc. Goff is more of a Matt Ryan type where he will elevate his team, just don’t expect him to get you playoff wins or a Super Bowl if he doesn’t have much around him. In L.A. he will have a ton around him. People are saying this was more of a PR move by the Rams, I really don’t see it that way. I believe they saw this as their best chance to get a franchise QB to complete their roster and they capitalized.
Then you have the move for the 2nd overall pick and I wasn’t really liking it for either team.
HATE it for the Browns. I realize you get a lot of picks to only move back 6 spots, but you finally had your franchise QB. After all the Tim Couch, Kelly Holcomb, Spurgeon Wynn, Jeff Garcia, Charlie Frye, Derek Anderson, Brady Quinn, Colt McCoy, Seneca Wallace, Brandon Weeden, Johnny Manziel, Brian Hoyer, Josh McCowan’s (there are like 24 of them and I pulled all of those off the top of my head, not bad) of the world you finally had a guy who looks like the real deal, and you trade back. And trading back has worked for teams who can pick, but the Browns can’t pick! They did this in 2014, 2011, and 2009 and it didn’t work any of those times so why will it now. New front office, but it’s a new front office every year for the Browns. As for the Eagles, I like it better for them because they understand what a franchise QB is worth, and that you can’t win in the NFL without one. But I felt like they could have waited until next year. Essentially call it a rebuilding year and if you go 5-11, you’re picking higher next season and you can get your QB then. And they aren’t desperate for that QB in Philly like Browns fans have been. They should have been the team cool with picking 8th.
As for the rest of the draft, it feels much more this season compared to others like a total crapshoot from the 3rd pick on.
Chargers seem to be going with LT out of Notre Dame Ronnie Stanley, but most seem to believe they can go any direction. The Cowboys pick 4th, and the latest seems to be that they love Ohio State RB Ezekiel Elliott. If they are going to do that, trade back. This seems stupid to me if they simply stay at 4 and pick a RB when they have an offensive line that can make an average RB look great. Then again, when you hear rumours in the final month leading up to the draft it is almost always complete horse shit. I’d go with Joey Bosa the DE out of Ohio State, or Jalen Ramsey the DB out of Florida State.
Back to the Browns for a minute, it is possible that they simply fell in love with Memphis QB Paxton Lynch and knew they could get him later on. I don’t want to go as far as to credit the Browns, but I will say that Lynch has the most arm talent out of all the QB’s in this draft and the one thing you need to play in Cleveland come November and December is a massive arm. Lynch could sit behind RGIII for a few seasons and they now have a great offensive mind running the show in Hugh Jackson. Could be a great situation for the kid, but the Browns doing the right thing would shock me.
The biggest wildcard in this draft is UCLA OLB Myles Jack. Torn meniscus ended his season, and the talk is that he may need another surgery after this season or his 2nd season, and the question seems to be how long will this kids career be? But if we are just talking about talent, he might be the best player in this draft. I think a good team will end up getting him, because they’ll be able to take that home run swing on him.
Mike Mayock said last night during his mock draft show on NFL Network that this draft is the best ever for DT’s. He was told by some football people that as many as 20 interior D-linemen will be available as free agents following this draft who normally would go in the 6th or 7th round. Why do you care about this? You likely don’t, most fans don’t care about O-linemen or interior D-linemen. For me, I’m going to keep my eye on it. Do teams hold off on taking them because they’re all over the place in this draft? Why take Sheldon Rankins or Robert Nkemdiche high when you can get a guy who’ll start for you in the 2nd or 3rd round?
NFL draft tonight, tomorrow and Saturday, then NHL draft lottery Saturday night, draft season is officially here and for a draft geek like me it’s GLORIOUS! Hopefully you share this feeling and if you don’t well then you’re a complete loser. Get a life loser, I’m sitting on my couch watching kids walk across a stage tonight!
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