OVCChairman

Aren't Dan and Bruce tight from when he played here? Wasn't Smith one of the guys Dan coveted, wined and dined? Bruce is a 'local' guy, grew up in Norfolk and went to Va Tech. I believe i saw that he lives in Va Beach now too. I would like to believe there would be the level of professionalism that Bruce would know Rivera is the head coach and his direct report. Now I don't know what an NFL front office dynamic generally is, but I can't see either Bruce or Dan wanting to accept a level of a barrier between them. I love the idea of Bruce being a tutor to our D-Line, but not sure I want him in any real management role. Maybe a consultant where he's directing, but isn't necessarily a coach. I have the same feeling about Alex Smith.... the idea is grand, but he was awfully chummy with Snyder, but Smith will be much more recently removed form player status so he might not have the same issue with not reporting to Dan.

AND they spent a high first the year before on an RB who will be up for a payday in 2 seasons.

It crossed my mind. Same reason why Detroit is claiming they are getting calls about no. 3. If someone moves to 2 to take Tua, Young falls into their laps and they get the best player in the draft at no. 3 overall.

"A mess everywhere else" Not sure i agree. WR is pretty young and talented, RB is pretty deep, Secondary has room for upgrade, but i would not call it a 'mess' Sorry, picking nits.

Still dont want him there. I dont care who is running the defense... Simmons is as physically gifted as anyone in the NFL. A bad mechanic with good tools still completes some jobs. A bad mechanic with inferior tools is even more limited.

Thats all true... but id still really prefer that be determined on a team not in our division, unless its us

I am dreading the Giants taking Simmons. I really hope Gettleman overvalues Becton. If they take Simmons or Thomas im gonna be a bit upset.

Yeah there is little to no reason for him to do this. He's a consensus top 2 pick, and the combine will not elevate him to no. 1. If a team were to be dumb enough to move on from him simply because he didn't participate... that's their loss, not his.

Yeah I responded a couple posts later that talent wasn't the biggest issue we had back there. I like Moreland, Stroman, and Moreau... but I don't know that I want any one of them matched up against the upper tier of WR in the NFL.... at least I haven't seen enough to be comfortable with it. All of them have shown talent, and the secondary got markedly better with Norman on the bench and Moreland / Moreau getting more snaps... but still room for improvement.

Couldnt agree more. I feel we were playing with 3 levels of defense. D-line / LB / Secondary. They were not working as 1 unit. Going forward, I think we have some good young talent back there. I want to see Stroman continue to develop, I think he's got the speed, and the want to. He's never going to be a thumper, or a shut down guy, but I think he's got the nose for the ball, and some serious ball skills. Moreland was a fan favorite, and Fabian did look A LOT better when he moved outside... I like the idea of getting Bradberry, as well as Boston.

I still think you have to upgrade the secondary... not to say you're suggesting we go into the season with Fabian, Stroman and Moreland or anything. I think we also need to look at the type of FS / CB we have, and go after. I want ball hawks, because if the plan is put in place, there are going to be chances. Norman made his money in Carolina as a Zone CB with a plus pass rush in front of him. Shurman did the same in Seattle, and continued some of that success this year in SF.

AND.... Because we have to kill 6 more weeks before whatever is going to happen, ultimately does. Not much to talk about if we write it off that it's Burrow @1 and Young @2. Gotta have some fun in conversation, right?

Its not about us taking tua, its about the bears not wanting miami to jump them and take him. If detroit gets the notion that miami is in play, we can leverage that. Were not gonna get multiple picks or anything.. but anything they give up is gravy if we move back to 3...assuming they take Tua

I don't remember him specifically throwing McLaurin under the bus... and the rest of it is pretty immature, but none of that comes CLOSE to what Jameis did. He had LITERALLY multiple CRIMINAL INVESTIGATIONS while he was still in college, then 5 years later gets suspended for the same thing. Haskins didn't work hard? He also wasn't getting ANY team reps, so how can we truly judge his work ethic, if he's not studying the same playbook that the rest of the team is? He was running scout team. AP supposedly, even though he came out and basically said "if you dont hear it from my mouth, dont put any stock in it", called him out and he got progressively better. He's also a 22 years old and learning exactly how hard you do have to work to make it in the NFL. That's something MOST QBs coming into the league go through. The narrative about Haskins and his ability to grasp the playbook changed mightily once he was given first team reps. BTW, Guice retweets praise on twitter too.. i'd imagine there is a very large contingent of professional athletes that enjoy retweeting praise.... Just because Haskins is a QB, it means he's immature, but Guice isn't?

Jameis Winston level maturity issues? Do you remember what Winston did... before he even got to the NFL? The two are not comparable. He was accused of sexual assault, got caught stealing crab legs, then stood on a table in the middle of the FSU quad and screamed an obscenity that would get me a timeout from this board if i were to type it out. He then got accused of touching a woman inappropriately, and suspended 3 games for it in 2018. Haskins missed the final snap of his first win because he was taking a selfie with some fans... Where do they compare? Did i miss something?

That's true, i'm taking an article and speculating myself. I guess i'm reading that and believing where there is smoke, there is some level of fire, even if small. It's all speculative, so who knows. I should have included the word "IF." This is all speculation on my part... I'm just connecting dots and seeing that Stafford not being on the Lions when camp breaks in 2021 makes a lot of sense, and this single article could be a piece of a puzzle that ends up getting a lot clearer in about a year. Many MANY front office people report that claims are false, only to have those claims end up being true, to some degree... so i take all that with a grain of salt.

I know, that was kind of a jab, more than a total endorsement. Like I said, i didn't expect them to find a trade partner, because I don't think it's possible to trade him, but the notion that they're looking at life after Stafford could be telling. If they want to move on from him after this coming season, when it would make sense financially, then this draft could be the time to do so.

Same here.... Didnt expect them to find a trade partner, but had every feeling they were going to be preparing to move on. Now the 2 teams we need to dance with, have taken their first step. Detroit appears to want to move on, and Miami now knows it. If the chase for Tua is going to take off, we sit in the catbird seat and control the pieces. @mistertim Still think it's not possible?

OK, that all makes a ton of sense.... fun hypothetical here then... since this is a Chase Young thread. What if they fall in love with Young... could they overpay us to get him, knowing that we're pretty much locked in on taking him?

I get that, but desperate people make brash decisions, especially regarding QBs. Arizona just punted Rosen to Miami for no. 62, and a 5th round pick... a year after they took him 10th. The Trubisky trade was mentioned. I mentioned 'selling the farm' and that was not a good phrase to use, because they're not going to... I will change the term to "trade assets." Miami would be the team to 'sell the farm' to get up to get Tua. If Detroit ended up wanting Tua, and was able to offer us a 2nd this year, and a few more picks, why wouldn't we take it? They save a ton of money with Stafford coming off the books, while adding a QB. All of this is only works if Miami gets hot and bothered about Tua, but it's not necessarily a stretch. I just don't think it's far fetched.

I would not discount Detroit taking a QB so much. I've mentioned it before that Tua to Detroit makes a ton of sense. Stafford is on the books for $30 mil this year, there's no getting out of it, so he's going to be playing there, or traded (not that anyone would take that contract). That allows Tua to have a whole year in the system, while fully recovering. Staffords contract over the final 3 years of the deal (21, 22, 23) is up over $55 million (2023 is only about $1.5 mil). IF they were to move on from Stafford AFTER 2020, that number goes from $55 mil to $13.5 mil. That's an insane amount of savings for a team that, in all likelihood, doesn't really stand a chance for at least 2 seasons. Green Bay just played in the NFC Championship game, Minnesota still has Kirk for 1 year, and as talented as that team is, you imagine they'll win 9-11 games, and Chicago isn't exactly a power, but they're not the Bengals either. Patricia is very likely on the hot seat, and so is Quinn. Quinn could very well trade some assets to try and get a QB he 'can build around' with the idea that he buys himself a couple more seasons.

2 firsts this year, and their top 1st next year, with their 2nd is a better deal. Their 3rd first round pick this year is no. 26. They're not going to make the playoffs next year, so the pick next season will be higher. I'm still getting 3 first round picks, just higher value

I think you're underselling how much the no. 2 pick will be worth. It is very VERY likely we end up taking Young, but I would not rule out an RG3 type trade from Miami, that would force us to take a long hard look. #5, #18, #39, and their top first round pick next year (they have 2).... They still keep a first round pick THIS year AND NEXT year.

Actually we need herbert and love to bomb their pro days and the combine and paint tua as a major premium. If there is seemingly a big gap between tua and the rest of the qbs, the bidding goes up.. assuming burrow goes no. 1 of course.

Don't know why it's been called crazy since some of us floated it weeks ago in the Draft thread.... It's only going to get more intense over the next 2 and a half months leading up to the draft.