2012 NFL Draft - Thurs. April 26th

[NinerSickness]

So did anyone already mention that Mike Adams failed a combine drug test?

Brilliant.

 

[deep9er]

Don't believe this 'source'. Baalke has shown he's one of the more secretive GM's in the league.

yep, it makes sense for ALL GM's to remain secretive. to me, they're all equal with none more so.

the only case where it can't help but come out, is when the #1 is negotiating before the draft. speaking of which, the Colts don't have to now because of the new rules for rookies?

 

[Ltrain]

Breaking news...Luck informed he will be taken #1 by Colts. Shocking, thought they would go with a kicker there.

2012 NFL draft -- Indianapolis Colts tell Andrew Luck he's No. 1 pick, source says - ESPN

 

[Ray_Dogg]

According to Pro Football Weekly, Baylor WR Kendall Wright is "parked in the third round" on a number of teams' draft boards after an unimpressive offseason.
There were rumors of an offseason weight gain for Wright, and his forty time at the Combine was slower than anticipated. "Randall Cobb was a lot better," one NFL evaluator said. "Wright is nowhere near as good with the ball in his hands and (Cobb) lasted 'til the back of the second (round). People are getting snookered (by Wright)." Wright managed only four bench-press reps, and Pro Football Weekly reports his body fat was 16 percent. Per PFW, it's "one of the highest percentages for a receiver in the past decade."

 

[deep9er]

Breaking news...Luck informed he will be taken #1 by Colts. Shocking, thought they would go with a kicker there.

2012 NFL draft -- Indianapolis Colts tell Andrew Luck he's No. 1 pick, source says - ESPN

so they can get started on negotiating a contract..........or is the rookie limits low enough, they're not worried?

 

[NinerSickness]

According to Pro Football Weekly, Baylor WR Kendall Wright is "parked in the third round" on a number of teams' draft boards after an unimpressive offseason."

Ok that's surprising. He might be one of my new favourites if he lasts 'til the 3rd. Not that I think he'll be amazing, but he definitely seems like he could easily be a Mario Manningham or maybe even better. He's quicker than fast.

I think he'll be a better WR than Kyle Williams & probably comparable to Crabtree (if not better). But then again he did have a great college QB throwing to him, and he didn't exactly face the toughest defenses all the time. So I could be wrong...

 

[deep9er]

Ok that's surprising. He might be one of my new favourites if he lasts 'til the 3rd. Not that I think he'll be amazing, but he definitely seems like he could easily be a Mario Manningham or maybe even better. He's quicker than fast.

I think he'll be a better WR than Kyle Williams & probably comparable to Crabtree (if not better). But then again he did have a great college QB throwing to him, and he didn't exactly face the toughest defenses all the time. So I could be wrong...

is it because he's mainly straight line quick/fast? just asking......

better than KW and probably comparable to Crabtree, isn't Round 1 value?

 

[Ray_Dogg]

so they can get started on negotiating a contract..........or is the rookie limits low enough, they're not worried?

Contract won't get hammered out until after the draft when the rookie pool numbers are released.

 

[NinerSickness]

is it because he's mainly straight line quick/fast? just asking......

better than KW and probably comparable to Crabtree, isn't Round 1 value?

I actually think he's pretty close to 1st round value. NFL teams apparently disagree, and I'm sure they've seen him play more than I have; Wright isn't one of those players about whom I have an extremely strong opinion, and when I don't it's reasonable to defer to the NFL GMs. However, my impression of him is that he's close to a 1st round prospect...

I just think Wright runs crisp routes & is pretty quick. Those are pretty much Wes Welker's only 2 attributes (well except for having Tom Brady throwing him the ball). Welker actually doesn't run a lot of standard routes all the time. He's better at working zones than running timing routes. However, Welker gets there very quickly and makes sharp cuts, which is crucial in running routes.

I see a little of the same thing in Wright. He's great at come back routes because I think DBs respect his agility & speed. He's also surprisingly tough for his size, and I see him beat his guy deep a lot with a stutter move.

Now to keep it in perspective I don't think Crabby is a great WR by any stretch of the imagination, and Wright is a completely different kind of receiver IMO. But Wright seems smart, tough, agile / good burst, and I think he'd be a great value in the 3rd.

I'm starting to REALLY like some of the later round picks like Wright, Josh Chapman, Lamar Miller, Randle (2nd???), Allen (2nd), Curry, Hosley, Osemele, Ta'amu, Crick, a few others. Pretty much Poe, Perry & Konz (MAAAAAAybe Hill) are the only players I'd want in the 1st over trading down.

...And I'm very conflicted about J. Jenkins and Brandon Thompson (B.T. only because of scheme questions).

Some late late guys I like: Trevor Guyton DE Cal, possibly that WR from Stanford, that TE from MissU (both names escape me), and Marcus Forston.

 

[deep9er]

Contract won't get hammered out until after the draft when the rookie pool numbers are released.

and thats fine but isn't the #1 pick allowed to negotiate a contract now? maybe it got removed in the new CBA?

they used to do it cause the contracts were extremely high, but maybe with limitations to rookie contracts, no longer a huge concern?

 

[deep9er]

I actually think he's pretty close to 1st round value. NFL teams apparently disagree, and I'm sure they've seen him play more than I have; Wright isn't one of those players about whom I have an extremely strong opinion, and when I don't it's reasonable to defer to the NFL GMs. However, my impression of him is that he's close to a 1st round prospect...

I just think Wright runs crisp routes & is pretty quick. Those are pretty much Wes Welker's only 2 attributes (well except for having Tom Brady throwing him the ball). Welker actually doesn't run a lot of standard routes all the time. He's better at working zones than running timing routes. However, Welker gets there very quickly and makes sharp cuts, which is crucial in running routes.

I see a little of the same thing in Wright. He's great at come back routes because I think DBs respect his agility & speed. He's also surprisingly tough for his size, and I see him beat his guy deep a lot with a stutter move.

Now to keep it in perspective I don't think Crabby is a great WR by any stretch of the imagination, and Wright is a completely different kind of receiver IMO. But Wright seems smart, tough, agile / good burst, and I think he'd be a great value in the 3rd.

I'm starting to REALLY like some of the later round picks like Wright, Josh Chapman, Lamar Miller, Randle (2nd???), Allen (2nd), Curry, Hosley, Osemele, Ta'amu, Crick, a few others. Pretty much Poe, Perry & Konz (MAAAAAAybe Hill) are the only players I'd want in the 1st over trading down.

...And I'm very conflicted about J. Jenkins and Brandon Thompson (B.T. only because of scheme questions).

Some late late guys I like: Trevor Guyton DE Cal, possibly that WR from Stanford, that TE from MissU (both names escape me), and Marcus Forston.

ok, i can only go by what i read on Wright. just seems quite a fall from Round 1 to Round 3?

if we do draft WR in Round 1, i'd expect a good outside WR. someone who can run all the routes as a split end, not just "straight line" speed. if after Round 1, i'd want someone REALLY good in short range, quick, good lateral movement, good hands, someone like Welker.

guess its possible a good outside type (Randle?) falls to our Round 2 pick? read more than a few times this class is deep at WR.

 

[NinerSickness]

I like Randle a lot, and he'd be good value in round 2. I like him more than Sanu. Hill is the only WR I'd consider in the 1st (assuming Floyd is gone), and I'm not even 100% sold on him. Hill's the only one I think could end up being a consistent 1000 - 1200 yard WR in a couple of years if he works out. The Niners have gotten a lot out of the raw-but-high-potential players lately (except Mays), so maybe they should keep going that route.

 

[ChrisPozz]

Division II lineman could be ready to play on Sundays - JSOnline

Scouts also make a more recent comparison to Idaho's Mike Iupati (6-5, 325, 5.27), the 17th pick by San Francisco in 2010 who has started every game for two years at left guard. Two scouts said Silatolu was better than Iupati, and a third said he was as good.

Unlike Iupati, who undoubtedly moved up in the draft by playing in the Senior Bowl, Silatolu wasn't able to accept an invitation to Mobile because of a pulled hamstring.

Thus, teams have been digging into Silatolu through interviews and workouts. Other than a bar fight and numerous on-field scrapes with teammates and opponents (scouts relish his temperament), the main concern seems to center on Silatolu's mental capabilities.

"His interview with us was as bad as I've ever seen," one personnel man said. "He had no communication skills. We watched a little tape with him and he couldn't tell you one thing that they did."

Other teams described Silatolu as extremely aggressive on the field and extremely laid-back off it.

"We thought he was just going to be a complete and utter disaster, but he was actually OK," another scout said. "He's had some issues, but I like his personality and how he handles himself."

 

[NinerSickness]

Division II lineman could be ready to play on Sundays - JSOnline

Scouts also make a more recent comparison to Idaho's Mike Iupati (6-5, 325, 5.27), the 17th pick by San Francisco in 2010 who has started every game for two years at left guard. Two scouts said Silatolu was better than Iupati, and a third said he was as good.

Unlike Iupati, who undoubtedly moved up in the draft by playing in the Senior Bowl, Silatolu wasn't able to accept an invitation to Mobile because of a pulled hamstring.

Thus, teams have been digging into Silatolu through interviews and workouts. Other than a bar fight and numerous on-field scrapes with teammates and opponents (scouts relish his temperament), the main concern seems to center on Silatolu's mental capabilities.

"His interview with us was as bad as I've ever seen," one personnel man said. "He had no communication skills. We watched a little tape with him and he couldn't tell you one thing that they did."

Other teams described Silatolu as extremely aggressive on the field and extremely laid-back off it.

"We thought he was just going to be a complete and utter disaster, but he was actually OK," another scout said. "He's had some issues, but I like his personality and how he handles himself."

WOOOOOAH! That's a red flag if I ever saw one. If it's not just a smoke screen (which it very well may be) then that would surely knock him down a few pegs.

 

[BINGO]

According to Pro Football Weekly, Baylor WR Kendall Wright is "parked in the third round" on a number of teams' draft boards after an unimpressive offseason.
There were rumors of an offseason weight gain for Wright, and his forty time at the Combine was slower than anticipated. "Randall Cobb was a lot better," one NFL evaluator said. "Wright is nowhere near as good with the ball in his hands and (Cobb) lasted 'til the back of the second (round). People are getting snookered (by Wright)." Wright managed only four bench-press reps, and Pro Football Weekly reports his body fat was 16 percent. Per PFW, it's "one of the highest percentages for a receiver in the past decade."

Last week I said that Wright would be available in the 2nd round. But 3rd round is a little surprising to me. The Rams would do well landing him in the 3rd round. And with their 2 second round picks, they would address more talented prospects. The Rams would be wise to target a receiver early in next year's draft. I just don't want them to land Claiborne, Kalil, Jenkins, or Poe.

The Rams Draft would scare the sh8 out of me - causing me to cry out "uncle" if it turned out this way:
1st RD - Pick # 6 : Matt Kalil
2nd RD - Pick # 33 : Stephen Hill
2nd RD - Pick # 39 : Janoris Jenkins
3rd RD - Pick # 65 : Isaiah Pead
4th RD - Pick # 96 : The best Safety or TE available (Lad. Green? Orson Charles? George Iloka)

 

[BINGO]

NFL - Andrew Luck, David DeCastro, Jonathan Martin, and Coby Fleener could make draft day historic for Stanford - ESPN The Magazine - ESPN

 

[BINGO]

NFL - Robert Griffin III is more than just a name to Baylor's Heisman winner - ESPN The Magazine - ESPN

 

[BINGO]

Top 10 NFL draft dilemmas
Vikings, Jags and Bills among most pivotal Day 1 draft decisions
Updated: April 20, 2012, 12:15 PM ET
By Chris Sprow | ESPN Insider

Talk to someone on the scouting side of the NFL and the conversation always turns to a great player they saw with great traits, but everybody else passed on and they snapped up late in the draft. Like a fly fisherman showing off a prize trout, they'll be able to point to the exact spot in the creek where they saw him. But you could go back, same spot and catch nothing -- a lot. In the end, we all know the first round is still the best fishing hole, and it's not even close.

Over the last 10 years, first-round picks have produced 222 Pro Bowl appearances. Drop one round, and you have 64. You're almost four times as likely to find a great player with your first pick as you are with your second. Late steals happen because the league (and draft) demands it; close to 20 percent of the average Sunday roster is made up of players not even drafted, so you're bound to have some hits late (or after) the draft. But the big impact is at the top.

So let's take a look at some of the toughest decisions of Round 1 (and one in the early second) as the board lines up with the draft just days away.


Minnesota Vikings at No. 3
Dilemma: How to best to get a young QB going?
Unless the Vikings deal the No. 3 pick, they have their choice of the top offensive tackle (Matt Kalil), top wide receiver (Justin Blackmon) or top cornerback (Morris Claiborne). All three spots are huge needs. But the priority has to be finding out if Christian Ponder is really a franchise quarterback. If the Vikings draft Kalil, they have the one tackle in the draft evaluators believe can be an immediate starter on the left side and, as colleague Matt Williamson notes, complete the transformation of an O-line that allowed a sack on nearly 9 percent of pass plays into a legit strength in one offseason. Good for Ponder, really good for Adrian Peterson. But, as Leslie Frazier admitted to us at the NFL combine, Vikings coaches are "always conscious with Percy Harvin of overusing him." After Harvin, the passing game is bereft of legit threats.
Our vote: Go with Kalil. Even if Ponder doesn't pan out, the line will be able to protect the next guy, and Peterson benefits all along.



Jacksonville Jaguars at No. 7
Dilemma: Pass rush, or biggest need?
The Jags added Laurent Robinson at wide receiver, but the league's least-efficient passing offense (by a mile) still needs a help. The pass rush is cited as a problem, but the Jags had the league's 6th-best adjusted sack rate. Melvin Ingram is currently considered the best 4-3 defensive end in the draft, but his stock is also up just based on scarcity -- it's a really weak class for 4-3 pass rushers.
Our vote: Blackmon is probably off the board, but the Jags should look hard at Michael Floyd of Notre Dame, who could become the No. 1 threat Robinson isn't. Predicting what general manager Gene Smith might do is a dilemma in and of itself.



Buffalo Bills at No. 10
Dilemma: Offensive help, or defensive assurance?
No team has done more to shore up its defense this offseason than the Bills. The addition of Mario Williams, and the shift from a hybrid to a true 4-3 scheme should elevate the current personnel. But the Bills haven't protected a QB well in years, and haven't drafted an offensive tackle in the first three rounds since Mike Williams ... in 2002. Riley Reiff (Iowa) could be a huge help to Ryan Fitzpatrick, but linebacker Luke Kuechly (Boston College) could shore up the front seven and help the Bills double down, with a great pass rush and a solid run defense.
Our vote: Go with Kuechly, assuming Chan Gailey can remain creative in scoring points.



Arizona Cardinals at No. 13
Dilemma: What's the biggest offensive need?
Arizona needs a legit No. 2 receiver opposite Larry Fitzgerald, but they also desperately need a left tackle and more on the offensive line. Cardinals QBs were sacked once every 11 times they dropped back in 2011, and didn't make up for it running, as they were stuffed 20 percent of the time.
Our vote: You're wasting Larry and ruining Kevin Kolb's chance to succeed if you can't block. Go O-line if Reiff is there. And think hard about elite guard David DeCastro (Stanford). Anything up front is an improvement at this point.



Dallas Cowboys at No. 14
Dilemma: Make offense a juggernaut or defense safe?
The Cowboys could add DeCastro and take a ton of pressure off Tony Romo. The presence of an elite guard could make the Dallas rushing attack formidable in 2012. But the Cowboys need a safety in a bad way, not only because they don't have a good one (sorry Brodney Pool), but because the addition of Robert Griffin III to the division means six games a year against teams that will really stretch the field. Mark Barron should be available, and is the top safety in the draft.
Our vote: This offense can still score points, and a guard can be found in Round 2. Take Barron and feel good about a significantly upgraded secondary.



Chicago Bears at No. 19
Dilemma: Help Jay Cutler, or help the defense?
The Bears keep saying they think the current O-line can make strides, but even with Cutler's ability to dodge defenders, this unit was terrible -- on every possible level. Cutler was sacked more than once every 11 times he dropped back. The Bears really need a pass-rusher opposite Julius Peppers, who now enters his age-32 season, but they also know Rod Marinelli is as resourceful as they come in maximizing a defensive line.
Our vote: Look for the best O-lineman available, be it DeCastro, the versatile Cordy Glenn, who can play inside or out, or even consider a slight reach on a rising talent like Bobby Massie. The Bears got to see what the offense looks like minus Cutler -- it's a mess. They should do whatever they can to keep him upright.



Cleveland Browns at No. 22
Dilemma: Play the board, or stick to your guns?
If Brandon Weeden was five years younger, he'd be ahead of Ryan Tannehill on most draft boards, and pushing RG3 on some. Really. Mike Holmgren has made it clear he has little faith in Colt McCoy as a long-term solution. The Browns can pass on Weeden here, knowing that not one team between this spot and the No. 37 pick the Browns hold is in serious need of a quarterback. (Think of Cincinnati's patience in waiting for Andy Dalton into the second round last year.) But the Browns also know they can get a good player at that No. 37 spot if they reach on Weeden here. Should they pull the trigger on the guy most see as the final rookie QB after Luck and RG3 who can start games and win in 2012?
Our vote: Take another top need here, and if they feel Weeden won't fall to 37, use one of their draft-high 13 picks to move up and take him sooner.



Detroit Lions at No. 23
Dilemma: Stay in the gun, or defend the NFC North?
No team looked more like a spread college offense in 2011 than Detroit. Of 1,094 snaps last season, the Lions ran a designed run just 31 percent of the time, lowest in the league. Mostly because, behind a leaky O-line, Matthew Stafford was usually in a shotgun. Balance shmalance -- and it worked; the Lions managed 6.1 yards per play behind a leaky offensive line and a gutted backfield. Detroit needs O-line help, but they can score points. What they really need is a corner, and Stephon Gilmore, Dre Kirkpatrick, or even the gifted but troubled Janoris Jenkins could be a huge upgrade in a weak secondary that sees Cutler and Aaron Rodgers four times a year.
Our vote: If Kirpatrick and Gilmore are gone, take the best offensive tackle available in your value range at this spot.



San Francisco 49ers at No. 30
Dilemma: Air it out, or assure what defines you?
San Francisco added Randy Moss and Mario Manningham to help cure the disease at wide receiver. But they also know Alex Smith is simply limited in his ability to exploit teams down the field. They have a huge need at right guard, and could take Kevin Zeitler (Wisconsin) and help assure the offense can create a lot of 2nd and 5 situations via the run. At wide receiver, burners Stephen Hill or Kendall Wright could make the wide receiver corps a legit strength. But there's a wildcard. Top tight end Coby Fleener (who Jim Harbaugh coached at Stanford) could provide even more versatility to the offense, as teams scramble to deal with two dangerous tight ends when paired in formations with Vernon Davis (see: New England). It would actually work even more to Smith's strengths (easy passes; limiting turnovers) than another deep option.
Our vote: Skip the wide receivers, and take Fleener or Zeitler if available.



Indianapolis Colts at No. 34
Dilemma: Help Andrew Luck, or save the defense?
So you have Andrew Luck. You've also handed him the worst offensive supporting cast in the NFL. But this defense is still built to play with the lead (a good pass rush, but weak against the run), something you may not see enough of. If Fleener is around, it's a home run given the built-in chemistry, but a wide receiver (Hill, Wright, Brian Quick) or O-line help would also do Luck a great service.
Our vote: The needs are so many (cornerback is also a big need), Indy must take the best player available, a guy they consider a first-round pick, still sitting there at No. 34.

 

[BINGO]

2012 NFL draft -- Minnesota Vikings will pick Matt Kalil, Morris Claiborne or Justin Blackmon with No. 3 pick, according to report - ESPN

 

[BINGO]

2012 NFL draft -- Cleveland Browns say they've targeted player for No. 4 pick - ESPN