nfl 2020-2021

[Bartimaeus]

Well, let's see, teams ahead of the Cowboys possibly looking for QBs...

1. Bengals for sure (almost certainly Burrow).

2. Maybe Redskins, but they might want to give Haskins another year...or they might Cardinals it in favor of getting a new guy.

3. Probably not the Lions, but there was some talk of them moving Stafford this past off-season, you never know.

4. Dolphins are certainly a strong possibility, especially since Josh Rosen seemingly appeared DoA every since he was drafted, and apparently the current plan is for Fitzmagic to keep starting.

5. Chargers absolutely need a QB, strong possibility of them taking one.

6. Panthers just signed Teddy Bridgewater for a year (or was it two?), probably won't draft one high but you never know.

7. Browns, whatshisface had a pretty big sophmore slump, but I'd expect them to give him at least one more year.

8. Sam Darnold on the Jets also probably gets one more year.

Bengals (#1), Dolphins (#5), and Chargers (#6) seem like the most likely QB-takers in front of you, with small chances from a number of other teams. Hard to leapfrog them without selling the farm, too. Yeah, doesn't look great. There's also a a possibility of another team like the Patriots leapfrogging you, especially with their three third round picks. No, I think you're stuck with Dak, especially knowing Jerry Jones who loves "his guys" and has no interest in drafting his replacement already.

As for the Packers, it's back to drafting projects we hope turn out in the 30s/upper 20s for us...

Edited April 21, 2020 by Bartimaeus

[Gfted1]

Patriots to trade Rob Gronkowski to Buccaneers.

[Mannock]

16 hours ago, Bartimaeus said:

Well, let's see, teams ahead of the Cowboys possibly looking for QBs...

1. Bengals for sure (almost certainly Burrow).

2. Maybe Redskins, but they might want to give Haskins another year...or they might Cardinals it in favor of getting a new guy.

3. Probably not the Lions, but there was some talk of them moving Stafford this past off-season, you never know.

4. Dolphins are certainly a strong possibility, especially since Josh Rosen seemingly appeared DoA every since he was drafted, and apparently the current plan is for Fitzmagic to keep starting.

5. Chargers absolutely need a QB, strong possibility of them taking one.

6. Panthers just signed Teddy Bridgewater for a year (or was it two?), probably won't draft one high but you never know.

7. Browns, whatshisface had a pretty big sophmore slump, but I'd expect them to give him at least one more year.

8. Sam Darnold on the Jets also probably gets one more year.

Bengals (#1), Dolphins (#5), and Chargers (#6) seem like the most likely QB-takers in front of you, with small chances from a number of other teams. Hard to leapfrog them without selling the farm, too. Yeah, doesn't look great. There's also a a possibility of another team like the Patriots leapfrogging you, especially with their three third round picks. No, I think you're stuck with Dak, especially knowing Jerry Jones who loves "his guys" and has no interest in drafting his replacement already.

As for the Packers, it's back to drafting projects we hope turn out in the 30s/upper 20s for us...

Good summary!

There's a lot of QB needy teams really, and even more if you go beyond the Cowboy's pick of course.

[rjshae]

For Detroit fans:

[the_dog_days]

I miss sports so much I complained loudly in my parking lot about how disappointing the airliner flying overhead was and went back indoors in disgust just to feel like I'm watching the Jets.

[Keyrock]

It's times like these that I'm really glad I got into watching eSports (mainly DotA 2). Sure, all the LANs got cancelled, but they got replaced by online tourneys, so that avenue of entertainment has continued. In fact, sports minus the e prefix are turning to sports plus the e prefix during the end of days.

Edited April 22, 2020 by Keyrock

[Mannock]

Today is D-day! 

Personally I'm hoping for a big guy, either a tackle or a dude to the d-line. But my guess is that the Packers trade out of the first round.

[the_dog_days]

Jets drafted tackle Mekhi Becoton. Sigh. They over spent for a mediocre offensive line in free agency and then made a Rex Ryan-like "which guy looks boom or bust to me" pick. Plus, I'm hearing that some are projecting him to be a guard due to his size.

[Keyrock]

Muh Boys took WR Ceedee Lamb. I figured we'd wind up taking an edge rusher. I mean Lamb was the best available guy on the board and arguably the best wide out in the draft (I think he's better than Ruggs and Jeudy, both of whom were taken ahead of him), so there's that, I just don't think that was our #1 need.

[the_dog_days]

1 hour ago, Keyrock said:

Muh Boys took WR Ceedee Lamb. I figured we'd wind up taking an edge rusher. I mean Lamb was the best available guy on the board and arguably the best wide out in the draft (I think he's better than Ruggs and Jeudy, both of whom were taken ahead of him), so there's that, I just don't think that was our #1 need.

Whereas WE need a #1 wideout. 

[Bartimaeus]

 

[Mannock]

Just rewatched the entire draft this morning/day (cause I live in Sweden so I didn't want to stay up all night to watch I live).

All I can say is; punt my ass all the way to the moon. I could go off on a rant here about how bad that pick was. But I just can't at the moment. They better have a good day 2 of the draft or I'll be furious about this until september.

[Keyrock]

I've come around on the Lamb pick. I don't think muh Boys went into the draft with the intention of taking a wide out in the 1st round, but when Lamb was surprisingly still there at 17, I think Jerry just couldn't pass on a guy with that much talent. If we took positional need out of the equation and went on raw talent, then Lamb is arguably a top 10 guy. 

The idea of Amari Cooper on one side, Ceedee Lamb on the other, Gallup in the slot (?), Dak under center, and Zeke in the backfield... I better stop thinking about it because I'm getting a half chub.

Edited April 25, 2020 by Keyrock

[Keyrock]

Muh Boys took CB Trevon Diggs in the 2nd and DT Neville Gallimore in the 3rd. Diggs could be a great NFL corner. He played WR before going CB and has good instincts. He's the brother of Buffalo's Stefon Diggs. I don't know much about Gallimore.

[Bartimaeus]

Packers will conclude their laughably terrible draft that makes no sense whatsoever today. Our first three picks have all been drafted to become backups, so I'm excited to see these later round picks be so bad that they're expected to all miss making the team at all the first year.

[rjshae]

[Keyrock]

I'm still trying to wrap my head around the packers trading up and taking QB Jordan Love. With how many interceptions the guy threw, I guess they're trying to bring back the Brett Favre era. 

[Keyrock]

Muh Boys finally addressed their need for an edge rusher in the 5th round with DE Bradlee Anae. I know little about the guy, but I'm not expecting a lot from a 5th rounder. You never know, though.

[Bartimaeus]

We drafted *literally* only backups, with the possibility of one ILB drafted in the 5th round who might start because we're so bad and have been so bad for years at ILB. This is a team that, although obviously flawed, went 13-3 with a brand new head coach and made it the NFCCG last year. I must admit I do not understand the strategy here - or maybe I do, because it awfully looks like we're pre-emptively slamming the door on the Aaron Rodgers era for no good reason and simply planning for 3 years down the line. Aaron Rodgers was not fantastic last year, but he was pretty good, especially once you realize how many TDs our RBs leached from him after he drove to the red zone because our receiving corps was trash and couldn't separate or catch in the red zone.

[Keyrock]

I'm not against drafting a QB and having him sit behind State Farm's favorite NFL pitch man, but Jordan Love? Your team's front office obviously sees something in the guy I don't.

I wish there was a live cam of Rodgers when that pick came in. I bet he was thrilled.

[Bartimaeus]

From all that he's said, Rodgers appears to have the wisdom to know where he realistically is at in his career and know that the best possible thing he can do for himself is continue to be the leader (...and player) the team needs...especially after seeing his predecessor do the exact opposite and the results thereof. I was consequently not surprised to see that Jordan Love said Rodgers immediately called him to congratulate and welcome him to the team.

(e):

Edited April 26, 2020 by Bartimaeus

[rjshae]

As usual the C+Hawks can't quite figure out who to draft in the first round, so they reach for an ILB in a position already filled by two All Pro linebackers in K. J. Wright and Bobby Wagner. Err... okay. A first round LB who is mediocre at pass coverage playing backup. Makes total sense. At least they went for a road-grader of a guard (Damien Lewis) for the running game.

[Bartimaeus]

31 minutes ago, rjshae said:

As usual the C+Hawks can't quite figure out who to draft in the first round, so they reach for an ILB in a position already filled by two All Pro linebackers in K. J. Wright and Bobby Wagner. Err... okay. A first round LB who is mediocre at pass coverage playing backup. Makes total sense. At least they went for a road-grader of a guard (Damien Lewis) for the running game.

Word was the Packers had a plan in place to trade up with the Seahawks to 27 (same as the last two years, which gave the Packers Darnell Savage and Jaire Alexander while the Seahawks took Rashad Penny and L.J. Collier - no offense, but I much preferred our picks, ), but found out that someone else was going to trade up to Miami's 26 and decided they *absolutely needed* to make sure they got Jordan Love, and so at the last second traded with the Dolphins instead, leaving the Seahawks with no time to work out something else somewhere. And so that's how Seattle's 8 year streak of trading their first round pick comes to an end - the Packers seemingly unnecessarily reaching for a QB leading to the Seahawks seemingly unnecessarily reaching for a LB. I preferred it when we got good players from trading with you guys instead, .

[Mannock]

Okay, here's my rant.

First of all, lets get to the "this is exactly the same situation we had 15 years ago when we took Aaron Rodgers while Favre was at the helm". No. A big hard no. In that draft, there were two QBs who were graded, or had the assumption on them, to be the number one pick overall in the draft. It was Alex Smith and Aaron Rodgers. As we all know, Rodgers wasn't picked number one overall and fell into the lap of Ted Thompson, who of course could have passed too, but took a shot which turned out to be very smart.

You cannot compare that situation to the one we had a few days ago. No one, and I mean no one, had the opinion that Jordan Love was good enough to be the number one overall pick. He was projected much lower down the board, and by some even into the second or later rounds. So to trade up to grab Love in the first round is not equivalent to when they picked Rodgers. If Tua had fallen into the Packers lap, that would have been an equivalent situation, but that didn't happen.

I was so shocked and then pissed over the weekend but having calmed a bit, I've tried to look at why this happened and the more I think about it, the more obvious it is. 

Rodgers QBR has gone down four years in a row. Last year, the Packers were about to draft Drew Lock in the second round, but the Broncos "stole" him right before their eyes. So it's obvious that the Packers are assuming Rodgers will continue to decline in a way that they don't see him as a good enough starter in 2-3 years (by that time they also have an easier way to get out of his contract). Gutekunst and LaFleur is saying all the right words right now but what they really are saying is that they are gonna punt Rodgers out of the organization in about 2 years.

The only thing that can hinder this is if all this debacle turns a fire under Rodgers ass and he goes into God mode for the next two years. In that case they'll of course have to trade Love, much like the Patriots did with Jimmy G. Is see this as an unlikely scenario though, as Rodgers doesn't have a Robert Kraft type of person to defend his spot in the organization.

Jordan Love could, in theory, be a very good QB. But in my mind, the Packers did a "bears move" and got their very own Mitch Trubisky.

[Bartimaeus]

Our first round QB is a project that will sit for two years unless Rodgers gets maimed earlier than that. Whatever, I guess. Our second round RB will be a backup behind Aaron Jones and likely Jamaal Williams for at least the first year, and is known for just being a one-dimensional powerback that can't catch - great. Our third round TE is...going to be converted into a fullback according to our head coach. Gave away the 4th round pick to draft the QB. 5th round ILB that may or may not help this year - we've been drafting 4th-6th round ILBs every year for what feels like a decade now, and only one of them has ever worked out to any degree, which is Blake Martinez who just walked in free agency. A few OL depth guys after that (which is fine, especially given our track record of developing late round OL guys), and that's pretty much it.

Then LaFleur comes out and says "Rodgers will be a great mentor to Jordan Love", and it's like, yep, unless Rodgers has a top 3 year this year and the next, this is probably it.