Going Commando

Allegretti and Stromberg would have to beat out Wylie in camp for that to happen. Allegretti is not a starter, he's a back up IOL. He's going to be 28 next season and has only played significant snaps one year in his career--2020. He was brought in for depth, and we're in trouble if he comes out of camp as the clear starter at LG. We don't currently have a starter at LG with history of playing a full season. If you move Cosmi to RT, then Wylie is almost certainly going to have to start at RG, so I wouldn't see much of a reason to flip them. Cosmi only makes sense to move if we had brought in a really high quality RG prospect, or signed a legit starter in FA. Right now the left side of our line is a big question mark. Our best options for starting at LG and LT are a mixture of prospects that we don't know are good. Braeden Daniels and Brandon Coleman will both be in the mix in camp at LT and LG, but neither have played before. Same for Stromberg, who only played a third of a game's worth of snaps, and they were at Center. Paul will be in the mix at LG, but he was terrible last season and only played 400 snaps to boot. Our line should be better with an extra year of chemistry on the right side, and nailing center was consequential. That was likely the best long term FA move we made, and we can start building a much more sustainable line if Biadasz works out. But the left side of the line is probably going to be terrible and a consistent point of failure next season. We have to hope that Coleman can play LT and that someone from Daniels/Stromberg/Paul works out.

Maybe. But I think Terry is who he is at this point in his career: a bankable 1,000 yard receiver who brings superior intangibles to the table and can fit in almost in position and scheme. That's a big piece to have, but I would be surprised if he busts out into 90 something grade territory next year, just due to having better coaching and QB play. Ideally, guys like Terry are your second best weapon, not your only good one. The book isn't written on Jahan yet... but it almost is. If we're being realistic, it's not likely that he has the kind of breakout third year that Nico Collins had. Third year breakouts are pretty rare for receivers. And if Jahan doesn't significantly improve this year and give us a ton more production, then we probably need to move on. Barring a surprise trade for someone like Deebo or Aiyuk, he's going to get the chance to break out though. We don't really have anyone else to keep him on the bench or steal targets from him.

Cosmi was a better prospect than Coleman, and a better athlete. Coleman has a better vertical, but Cosmi's broad jump was better and his 40 and agility drill times are about as elite as it gets. In 2021, Cosmi had the second best OT RAS since 1987. It's pretty crazy that we were able to get him in the second round. Jordan Morgan, Tyler Guyton, and Troy Fautanu were all much lesser prospects than Cosmi was, and they went in the first. We got lucky with Cosmi.

He gets to the outside hip. That's how you stop forward momentum when you hit someone from an angle.

QB is different, it doesn't get considered on a BPA rubric. You only ever need one QB, unless your QB is an aging legend and you need a succession plan. The reason the Falcons are getting roasted for the Penix Jr pick is because people thought they already had a plan out QB figured out, and then they cast that plan in total doubt by drafting a top ten QB. Hedging so hard on their bet on Kirk begs the question of why make the bet on Kirk in the first place? Picking all of those stud DLs was not the problem with our drafts 2017-2020. Those guys were most of the only good players we got from those classes, and they actually make a strong case for drafting BPA. We got Pro-bowlers from all of those picks. Chase was the only first round pick Ron Rivera didn't reach on, and he was the only one of the four who had any kind of impact in his time here. You want to know what the problem with those draft classes was? Look at the Day 2 and early Day 3 picks. That's what you get from reaching.

They traded down for Sainristil though. If they'd seriously been considering him at 36 and felt nervous about losing him, they would have picked him at 40. I think we played it perfectly and couldn't believe my eyes when I saw the trade was announced on the TV. Admittedly, I don't love that the Eagles got DeJean from it, but a trade back from 40 into the 50s after getting a high upside faller at 36 is the exact scenario we had been hoping for in the draft thread for months. We just didn't know who the faller would be. The surprising thing for me was the compensation. I didn't expect to get a second pick in the 50s. I thought the compensation would be an extra third rounder, and hadn't considered that we could use the Sam Howell third to get up into the 50s a second time. I think Philly was the only team where that could have been an option. So let's say the compensation had instead been something like 51 and 84 (from Pittsburgh), or 50 and 83 (from Philly without the repositioning), we would have missed out on Sinnott. Those wouldn't have been terrible trades, we still could have drafted something like Sainristil + Christian Haynes/Blake Corum + Roman Wilson/Zak Zinter. Just go all out on Michigan players. But Sainristil + Sinnott feels pretty good. Most places have us committing a pretty big reach on Sinnott, but I don't agree with that. He was 58 on my board. I think Sinnott was heavily underrated by draftniks this year, and I've actually done pretty well with my TE rankings and spotting gems over the years. He was pretty firmly TE2 for me, and there was a 20 spot drop to TE3 in JaTavion Sanders, which honestly could have been way bigger since he didn't get picked until the beginning of the fourth round. IMO Tip Reiman was the big reach. So if you accept that Sinnott and Sainristil were taken at a proper range (which I do), our second round played out pretty close to ideal for us.

The Texans actually already had a big time receiver in-house in Nico Collins, we just had no idea he was that good until he took a mega leap last season. Nico Collins was the third highest graded receiver in the NFL for PFF, with a 91.4, which is a sliver behind Brandon Aiyuk at 91.5. He also had 11 AV, which is good for a middling offense. I think we can safely say he was a top 10-15 WR last year, and being only 24, could easily keep ascending. Diggs might not be the #1 receiver for them at this point in his career. Also then Tank Dell was the second best rookie receiver until he got hurt in week 13. Houston has a real panoply of weapons for Stroud. We've really only got Terry and Robinson and a bunch of aging former stars who we brought in to show us how to play, and none of these guys are going to blow up and get 90 something grades on PFF. So unless Jahan makes a massive leap like Nico Collins did, we need better weapons. The sooner the better too. We want Jayden to hit the ground running, because that helps secure everyone's job. If he struggles and has a Bryce Young-type season, that puts everyone on the hot seat in year two.

That was his best throw of the year. It stood out. I think the biggest reason why this time has a chance to be different is that the whole organization is united on Jayden. Everyone is on board and they've cleared the deck so there won't be any hedging. Everyone is married to the success of Jayden. But we're definitely going to have to give him more support than we can right now. Our weapons aren't good enough yet, and our line is definitely not good enough. We have to change gears and be more aggressive in our team building approach now. This is the time where we have to be the most aggressive at adding offensive talent than at any other point in Jayden's career here. We need to hunt down a star receiver or running back that can carry the offense, and pay what it takes to get them.

The Kansas QB could be this year's Michael Penix Jr. Their offense was surprisingly electric. Their coach must be pretty good. I think Will Howard playing in a loaded offense coached by Ryan Day is a recipe for going in the first round. You saw glimmers of that kind of upside the past couple years. He would be my bet to be this year's Jayden Daniels. Looks like there are going to be some first round RBs and LBers this year. Stutsman was very impressive last year, and Perkins and Carter have flashed that kind of upside in the past. On the whole, the 2025 class is a reverse from 2024 in that the best prospects are defensive players. Malachi Starks is the best safety prospect in years, better than Kyle Hamilton was, and Hamilton should have been a top five pick. He's a once in a blue moon player that seemed to get overshadowed by the Caleb Downs hype last season, but he's the real beast. Benjamin Morrison would have easily been CB1 in this year's class. Probably the first defender off the board too. Hopefully we're not picking high enough to get either Morrison or Starks, but they would certainly turbocharge our secondary.

I'm nervous about his size too, but it'll come down to scheme whether or not that becomes a big issue. If we leave him in man coverage on big receivers like Del Rio would, then yeah it could be a problem. But I expect this staff to be smarter about designing coverages, and to use him in off coverages and zones. Size didn't limit him in run support. He is a great tackler and an extremely physical player. He's in the mold of Tyrann Mathieu and Asante Samuel Jr, and these kinds of DBs can be gems. He also has leadership potential to be the kind of air traffic controller in the middle that is one of our biggest needs. Our secondary has a ton of good young players that are waiting to break out. Sainristil might be the best one of all of them. It would not shock me if he is a really good player as a rookie, and quickly takes over the leadership of the defense. I get a very strong Terry McLaurin vibe from him.

I think Newton is definitely a better rusher than Murphy. But I think Murphy is a better run defender at the PoA. Murphy has legit 1 technique potential and played there many snaps and drew the doubles for Texas even though they had Sweat. Newton is not a great 1 technique option, he'll get pushed back if we try and have him play there on run downs. But he is a very good pursuit player in the run game, and he's a much more skilled and varied pass rusher.

I only found one game of cut ups for Jordan Magee, and I didn't think his reps were that good. I definitely didn't see "most instinctive LBer in the class" or anything even remotely close to that. I saw a lot of false steps and late keys in coverage, and I didn't see much of an ability to sift through and avoid trash, or get off/around blocks quick. I want to give him the benefit of the doubt because of how athletic he is, and how good SF was at picking LBers, but I'm not sure this guy is good.

What a gem from good old Nolan Nawrocki, who dinged Cam Newton for his smile.

Very similar builds and testing: Laporta ran a better 40, but Sinnott's jumps were better. Feels like the main difference between them is Laporta's hands are bigger, but Sinnott is a little bigger overall. I think they're really similar players, both F / H-Back TEs in the Chris Cooley vein, both soft-handed pluckers with exceptional contested catch skills. Unlike Cooley and Laporta, Sinnott is a true dog as a blocker. It's water under the bridge now, but when I was watching Sinnott, it occurred to me that Will Howard is the guy that Drake Maye's critics thought he was. I feel like that kind of summed up the lack of perspective that they had. But now that Howard is going to get tutored by a guru in Ryan Day and play with all of that blue chip talent, I can see him becoming a high quality NFL prospect next year. He would be my early pick for QB1.

I wish Standig would specify what the concerns were. It's too vague to judge whether or not we were justified in passing over him based on them without knowing the nature of the concerns. I heard a rumor that he was homesick at Oregon and that's why things didn't work out there, but if that's the concern, that would not have kept me from picking him.

Didn't realize Sinnott was so low on the consensus boards. I had him at 58 on my board, so for me we got him at about his natural slot. I don't understand why he was outside the top 100 for so many sources. What am I missing? I didn't see any weaknesses and he popped on film like LaPorta did last year.

Michael Davis feels like a starter in our scheme. He should be out best press coverage guy. I think corner is going to feel like much less of a need after next season, because I think our coaches are going to get Forbes, Juice, and Davis playing well. Our slot DBs are some of the best athletes and highest upside players on the defense. The guy I'm most excited to see this year is Jamin. He has an opportunity to become an impact player in this scheme. Luvu and Wagner should get most of the snaps in the stack, and Jamin can play the Micah Parsons role. We didn't target any rush linebackers in the draft, and that was probably because of the way the board fell. But it could have also been a quiet endorsement of Jamin for that role. IMO the last big needs we have on D are getting that lead edge rusher who can dictate protection schemes, and getting that safety/slot/overhang player that can lead our coverages and direct our traffic. These are the roles thay I am hoping Sainristil and Jamin grow into.

Those high school stats are Derick Brown-esque. Who were he and Jayden playing high school football against? These guys?

I like Zierlein's Javon Hargrave comp. Explains why Peterson liked him. I don't know if he'll be as good as Hargrave, whose pass rush production was insane in college, but he's in the same vein of player. Being the B1G DPOY is no joke. The conference had the best defenses in it by far this year.

Me neither. I had to make choices about who to not watch and leave off my rankings because I ran out of time, and LBer came down to either watching Magee or watching Nathaniel Watson and I went with Watson. But I'm actually excited to go back and watch Magee. Picking him gives me a reason to, whereas I probably never would have watched him otherwise.

Damn, Arizona has loaded up in this draft. They really beefed up their secondary, and if they can continue building their lines, they can get good. Really tough division, but they could be a worst to first candidate. The Rams are having a home run draft though, they're getting a lot better too.

I had Sinnott and Sainristil at 58 and 59 on my own board. Just going off that board, we pretty much got them at slot, or after a tiny reach that isn't meaningful this late in the class. The problem for me is Kingsley Suamataia was still on the board at both picks, and I had him way higher on my personal board, and he fit a really big roster need too. I like both Sinnott and Sainristil, but I would have sacrificed one of those two in order to get Kingsley. The caveat is maybe there were character concerns with Kingsley we didn't know about. It would take something more than homesickness for me to move off him, but maybe there were work ethic concerns. If so, then I am fine with both Sinnott and Sainristil over him. But if that's not the case and he pans out big in KC, then passing over him will haunt us unless both Sainristil and Sinnott are big time hits too.

Looks like he's either left handed or fairly ambidextrous. Should make it easy for him to flip with the strength of the formation. Guys are harder to pass block when they are equally comfortable attacking either side of you. Especially when they have a big first step like Newton does. Judging from our new personnel on the DL, I would guess we'll run a stunt heavy 4-3 with an emphasis on generating A and B gap pressure. Not going to be much two gapping I think. We've been good for a while at generating pressure, especially from the interior. But now our coverages should be way better about matching our pressure schemes. With Forbes, Davis, Sainristil, Forrest, and Quan in the secondary, we should be able to generate a lot of turnovers now. I would expect the plan to be to use Davis and Juice for press coverage, and keep the other guys in zones. I'd be shocked if our defense doesn't massively improve next year. It should go from one of the worst back into the top ten, just off adding Luvu and Wagner and finding way better coaches. But there are a few notable holes in it still. We need Martin or Forest to step up as a traffic director for the secondary. Some of that can come from Wagner, but he shouldn't be playing a ton of coverage at this point in his career. Second, and perhaps even bigger, we need to find a stud edge player. Almost every great defense is led by one. We need that Alpha dog edge that dictates the protections and punishes opponents when they mess up and neglect to slide protections at him. Trey Hendrickson requested a trade...

He should retire a Commander. That'll be a marker of an actual culture change.

And with Pearsall going in the first, that means Jayden played with at least four first round receivers in college. The discrepancy in surrounding talent was massive and obvious to anyone being intellectually honest. It also doesn't feel great that we're an NFL team and Jayden is going to be throwing to players here who are substantially worse than his college teammates. Dotson needs to blow up. It's time for him to earn his draft status. Actually that's never going to happen. We need to be very aggressive in hunting veteran receiver talent. We need to pull someone big, of the caliber of a Tyreek Hill, Stephon Gilmore, DeAndre Hopkins, AJ Brown, DJ Moore. Wish we had been able to get Mike Evans.