Thoughts

[SteelerDayTrader]

- Iheanachor Dunker

I like both picks right off the bat they have the measurables you want along with some outlier traits. When you are team like the Steelers who has always devalued coaching and scheme you HAVE TO grab measurables and outliers. If you don’t you can expect middling performance as the norm. The Steelers current starters on OL mostly suck. I like the idea of doubling up in a need area

- Bernard Wetjen

Bernard is a solid WR with legit multi-role/dynamic scheme ability. Love the pick. The Steelers will most likely pound him into a joyless drone running obviously telegraphed jet sweeps and relentlessly setting him up for a brutal Sunday pounding throwing underneath. Could be a star on a normal team. Sorry kid you’re a Steeler now. Wetjen is a try hard pipsqueak who had better learn where to buy ice cream cones in Pittsburgh. He will either be injured or coming up achingly short when it really matters repeatedly on the field. The Steelers scouting department are a bunch of deeply closeted old men who yearn for the days of showering together with their high school football teammates after losing a mud fest game 11-5. The Steelers couldve gotten much better fast at WR but instead remain a middling at absolute best team at WR. Fuck this team

- Allar

The Steelers and most of their fanbase might be the dumbest people in NFL history when it comes to the QB position. The slaw firm of Allar Rudolph and Howard does zero to allay that. Easily the worst QB unit in the NFL. Allar is big and has a big arm. He makes bad decisions has subpar accuracy and melts like a Ryan Switzer ice cream cone under pressure. The Steelers drafted him with Payton and Green on board


- Everette Spears-Johnson

Physical CB with some tools. Lacks coverage chops. Do the Steelers have good coaching and scheme to put him in winning situations when it matters against Lombardi competitive teams ?? Lmao. Hell fucking no they do not. Spears-Johnson has some outliers and can play either S spot in a pinch. Played all over the field in college. Great pick late. I suspect the Steelers will bench rot him in favor of vet with low upside

- Nowakowski

Potentially a Kyle Juszczyk type player. I suspect the Steelers will make him a Connor Heyward type player in short order

- Rubio

Solid pick late. 6’5 320 run stuffer with some movement skills. Needs leg build work.

- Heidenreich

Questionable decision maker as evidenced by his alignment with the US military. Gadget player in college. Probably doesn’t have enough speed to do much damage in the NFL. Will be a try hard guy fans love. Between him and Wetjen hopefully the rest of the team loves ice cream. All that said. If you are a sappy sentimental team that isn’t fully committed to winning a Lombardi the 7th round is THE spot to draft hometown try hard types



Overall



- Iheanachor Dunker Bernard Spears-Johnson are probably stars on a good team.

- Rubio Nowakowski Everette seem like they could be very solid development types on a team serious about winning.

- Allar Heidenreich Wetjen won’t win you big games that matter in the NFL

[tbsteel]

The Steelers scouting department are a bunch of deeply closeted old men who yearn for the days of showering together with their high school football teammates after losing a mud fest game 11-5.

This is the quote of the offseason. No notes.

[Jobu]

The Steelers scouting department are a bunch of deeply closeted old men who yearn for the days of showering together with their high school football teammates after losing a mud fest game 11-5.

This is the quote of the offseason. No notes.

Yep…wife asked what I was laughing at.

[Jobu]

Allar Heidenreich Wetjen won’t win you big games that matter in the NFL

Well, Heidenreich and Wetjen weren’t drafted for the sole purpose of winning big games. They are here to (possibly) fill certain roles and contribute when called upon.
As for Allar…you all will be eating crow when this kid leads the Black and Gold to 4 Lombardi’s in 6 seasons!

[SteelerDayTrader]

Allar Heidenreich Wetjen won’t win you big games that matter in the NFL

Well, Heidenreich and Wetjen weren’t drafted for the sole purpose of winning big games. They are here to (possibly) fill certain roles and contribute when called upon.
As for Allar…you all will be eating crow when this kid leads the Black and Gold to 4 Lombardi’s in 6 seasons!

I hope you are correct

My only real problem with those three is I don’t think they have what it takes to make any winning impact against solid teams in the NFL…..AND…..there were many better choices imo

[swissvale72]

Lifetime for me, of viewing the Pittsburgh through an optimistic a lens as possible, I'll be as objective as I can with this one.

Whereas I spent over a decade proclaiming Mike Tomlin as a gameday dumbfuck...actually since the 3rd & fuckin 6 debacle in his maiden playoff appearance, the Steelers on Thursday night revealed themselves as draft day dumbfucks, clearly desiring mykai lemon, as nutso as he might appear, but not taking the necessary steps to secure the position to grab him. Hopefully, the choice they made turns out to be a wise one, but they were made to look foolish in the process. Funny thing is that they had no prob using their bevy of draft picks to move up and secure desired players in later rounds, but failed to do so in round 1.

Aller...I hope the fuck this wasn't the Douchebag Art II's call, but has his fingerprints all over it. If it was McCarthy's call then I'm ok with it. Speaking of, made me ill to see continued shots of Art II seated prominently in the Steeler war room. I have no memory of this, but was this the case during the Tomlin era??

Rest of the draft, being admittedly weak on draftnik stuff, I'm okay with.

[Jobu]

Speaking of, made me ill to see continued shots of Art II seated prominently in the Steeler war room. I have no memory of this, but was this the case during the Tomlin era??

Yes

[bradshaw2ben]

Allar Heidenreich Wetjen won’t win you big games that matter in the NFL

Well, Heidenreich and Wetjen weren’t drafted for the sole purpose of winning big games. They are here to (possibly) fill certain roles and contribute when called upon.
As for Allar…you all will be eating crow when this kid leads the Black and Gold to 4 Lombardi’s in 6 seasons!

hahaha. I'll have what she's having

[bradshaw2ben]

Allar Heidenreich Wetjen won’t win you big games that matter in the NFL

Well, Heidenreich and Wetjen weren’t drafted for the sole purpose of winning big games. They are here to (possibly) fill certain roles and contribute when called upon.
As for Allar…you all will be eating crow when this kid leads the Black and Gold to 4 Lombardi’s in 6 seasons!

I hope you are correct

My only real problem with those three is I don’t think they have what it takes to make any winning impact against solid teams in the NFL…..AND…..there were many better choices imo

Heidenreich quite possibly the most underrated prospect in the class. Good size, snazzy testing, was, I think 2nd in all of CFB at YPT vs man and 3rd overall vs zone. Great blocker/teammate, 4 unit special teams guy, stud with the ball in his hands. He might be the best pick in this draft haul. Whether they give him the opportunity is the only remaining question. If they give him the same opportunity they give other young players, he will one of your favorites in no time. However, I do get the impression that they think it's a token appreiation since he's a local guy and they had run out of other guys to pick. That opportunity to shine might come on some other team.

[bradshaw2ben]

Iheanachor = B now, A+ if he comes close to his potential
Bernard = perfect fit for this offense and likely to be successful. A
Allar = 5-10% chance to start 5 games in his career. If he isn't Kenny Pickett bad, it would be amazing. If he outperforms that expectation and is serviceable or better, chapeau to the scouting and coaching staff because I can't even imagine that universe. C- in Round 6, F in top 75.
Daylen Everette = D. He's not good. Great athlete, so maybe a move to NCB where his focus and responibilities would be narrowed might help him, but you don't ever want to see him taking meaningful snaps on the outside or at S.
Gennings Dunker = has a wrestling background like Frazier, temperment like McCormick... slow out of his stance and his punch/feet get behind. right now B- or C. With adequate coaching, B+
Wetjen is a tremendous return guy who offers pretty much nothing on offense. In 1995, he'd be an awesome pick but nowadays the impact of returners is perhaps at an all time low: punting is tremendously improved and the KO has totally changed. C
Riley Nowakowski was perhaps the best FB candidate in the class and Mike McCarthy's offense has always featured one. That's why I predicited the pick: B+
Gabe Rivera Rubio was a 5-star recruit ( which probably had a lot to do with him being drafted) and he does look like a good DT when healthy. He's the Corey Price of DTs though, so we shall see. As a UDFA? A. As a 6th round pick? D+
Spears Jennings is a lot like the 6 other SSs they have on the roster. If they didn't have Brisker, Elliott, Ramsey, Savage et al on the roster, B. As it is, C-
Eli Heidenreich could actually be viewed as the nest player in this class someday. That's how good he is. Whether he gets a real opportunity or not remains to be seen. A+

[jebrick]

Heidenreich

Questionable decision maker as evidenced by his alignment with the US military. Gadget player in college. Probably doesn’t have enough speed to do much damage in the NFL. Will be a try hard guy fans love. Between him and Wetjen hopefully the rest of the team loves ice cream. All that said. If you are a sappy sentimental team that isn’t fully committed to winning a Lombardi the 7th round is THE spot to draft hometown try hard types

He compares to Christian McCaffrey. I think he will be a steal when the big knock on him is he played for Navy.

[jebrick]

Lifetime for me, of viewing the Pittsburgh through an optimistic a lens as possible, I'll be as objective as I can with this one.

Whereas I spent over a decade proclaiming Mike Tomlin as a gameday dumbfuck...actually since the 3rd & fuckin 6 debacle in his maiden playoff appearance, the Steelers on Thursday night revealed themselves as draft day dumbfucks, clearly desiring mykai lemon, as nutso as he might appear, but not taking the necessary steps to secure the position to grab him. Hopefully, the choice they made turns out to be a wise one, but they were made to look foolish in the process. Funny thing is that they had no prob using their bevy of draft picks to move up and secure desired players in later rounds, but failed to do so in round 1.

Aller...I hope the fuck this wasn't the Douchebag Art II's call, but has his fingerprints all over it. If it was McCarthy's call then I'm ok with it. Speaking of, made me ill to see continued shots of Art II seated prominently in the Steeler war room. I have no memory of this, but was this the case during the Tomlin era??

Rest of the draft, being admittedly weak on draftnik stuff, I'm okay with.

I think this was a 100% McCarthy draft.

[JackLambert58]

Questionable decision maker as evidenced by his alignment with the US military.

You ever get tired of being a complete oxygen thief, STD?

[Stosh-67]

Would have liked to add a NT with one of our top 100 picks.
We did not improve our run D if we are running it back with Benton at NT.
Will Patrick Graham be the upgrade?

Dominique Orange was there at 76.
Aller would have still been there at 85 and 99 most likely..

Not alot of love on the board for Daylen Everette at 85....
Sticking with CBs.... and two guys taken later...
Would Julian Neal or Jalen Huskey have been better picks?
Or a chance on McCoy at 4th round #101.
Devin Moore at 114?

[Steeldrama]

Would have liked to add a NT with one of our top 100 picks.
We did not improve our run D if we are running it back with Benton at NT.
Will Patrick Graham be the upgrade?

Dominique Orange was there at 76.
Aller would have still been there at 85 and 99 most likely..

Not alot of love on the board for Daylen Everette at 85....
Sticking with CBs.... and two guys taken later...
Would Julian Neal or Jalen Huskey have been better picks?
Or a chance on McCoy at 4th round #101.
Devin Moore at 114?

* Stosh, you've hit on some of my thoughts as well.

Going into the draft, my HOPE was McCarthy would undo some of the square peg/round holes from the Tomlin regime.

Keeanu Benton is NOT a freakin NT.

Big Citrus was "RIPE" for the taking.

To your point Stosh, you have to think crappy ass Allar would've been there later in round 3 (if not Rd 4 or 5).

* I think my exact quote was "fuuuuck me" when Daylen Everette was picked in Rd 3. No bigger UGA homer than me, but Daylen was a bad reach with several corners I liked better on the board.

Jermod McCoy was one of them, but my guess is the Steelers red flagged his knee and were unwilling to gamble after the failed Corey Trice experiment etc.

Yep, As much as I LOVED the Steelers top 2 picks, they took the wind out of my sails big time on Friday night.

* Again with Tomlin gone, I was hoping for some noticeable changes but day 3 of the draft appears to still be a bit of an afterthought.

I kinda liked the Wetjen pick, but no arguing it was way too early (hell the kid himself was out golfing never thinking he'd be drafted so soon).

* The pick that felt very Tomlin to me was the Gabe Rubio pick in Rd 6. "Hey DL coach! Wake the fuck up! it's your turn to make a pick!"

Instead of throwing a bone to a nappy DL coach, how about putting your analytics team to work and rolling the dice on a rare athletic specimen like GT's Jordan Van Den Berg or Uar Bernard, both hailing from the continent of Africa???

"Nah, we're good burning a pick on a fragile golden domer because his daddy was a Steeler'"

* I hate wearing a tin foil hat, but the Mt Lebo kid felt kinda staged to me. Not just because he was there in full uniform in front of the hometown yinzers, but more because he lasted until the end of Rd 7 in the first place. It was almost like Rog gave the code red to save him for the Steelers to put a bow on the draft in Pittsburgh. Good pick though (assuming McCarthy can figure out how to best utilize his talents).

* In the end, I had higher hopes going into the draft with 12 picks. The teacher in me would grade their haul a B- based mostly on their top 2 picks (and dodging the Lemon bullet).

None of this really matters much. Without a viable option at QB the Steelers are just spinning their wheels until Bradshaw 2 Ben 2...?...gets figured out.

[Jobu]

* I hate wearing a tin foil hat, but the Mt Lebo kid felt kinda staged to me.

Absolutely staged!

[Ice]

So, with a few days to sit with this, I'll echo Drama, I was enthused about the first and second rounds. Lemon seems like the love child of Desean Jackson and AB, so I wasn't overly sore we missed out on him. Ihenachor looks like ascending talent, and Bernard seems like a very useful player with a great attitude who's going to produce at a spot where we've lacked for a few seasons. If you say "he's another slot and we've got a lot of them," sure, but we don't have many (any?) who can play. This was commentary on the state of that position, as much as Ihenachor was commentary on Broderick Jones. We're going to be jettisoning some Tomlin-era dead weight, methinks.

Allar? What can be said that hasn't been said already? Between him and Franklin, the PSU game was a guaranteed Buckeye win the last three seasons. If Allar didn't manage to Allar, Franklin would Franklin, or the opposite, or usually both. We'll miss him in Columbus. Hell, both of them. Understand the impulse to throw darts at QB, but as everyone has already said, the opportunity cost (particularly if they carry the experiment on longer than this season, which they definitely will) was way too high, and he's a little too much like what they already had, at least physically, in Howard. Kinda like they're throwing the same dart twice. Everette pick seemed Tomlin-y, purely physical talent. We'll see on Dunker, but the positional fit for the Steelers is there, and the fiery mullet made for funny television.

Day three? Hole plugging, need filling without a nod whatsoever to BPA or upside (outside of Heidenreich?). Personally, I thought Wetjen to the Steelers was maybe the biggest draft lock since Heath Miller back in the glory days. Purely need reach, but if he's as advertised there, he'll make the team marginally better. Maybe he develops into a WR4-5 type, too, but man, there were some guys still on the board there. Nowakowski I also should have seen coming. No FB, need FB, check. He looks like he'll be a pretty good one. If Rubio was their sole nod to their weakness down the middle of the D, they must either know something I don't know, or have access to something I'm sure not smoking. Left shaking my head there. Spears-Jennings was at least hole-plugging with some upside athletically. Hopefully this DB coach is decent. Heidenreich made everybody happy, and I hadn't even thought about his selection being pre-ordained by Roger the Clown. All upside as a RB, receiver, STs player and human being.

Summing it all up, I think the Steelers got a little more likeable in this draft (an area where they have been sorely lacking for a while, and maybe not negligible), and they certainly filled some holes, and allowed themselves the luxury of getting rid of some of the residents of Coach T's Home For Wayward Children, which is also a very good thing. What they didn't do was add any potentially transcendent talents or true superstars to the roster or accumulate any valuable future resources, either of which, with 12 picks, should have been a real part of the thought process. Were they spooked by what happened with Lemon and the Iggles in R1 and that was why all the reaches for the rest of the draft? Don't know, but sure seemed like it. That, and don't ever let them tell you they take the best player available to acquire talent, pretty much covers it. Sorry for the long winded post, and as another person who spends a lot of time assigning grades, I'll go C+.

[langer]

I hate wearing a tin foil hat, but the Mt Lebo kid felt kinda staged to me.

Was it how they had a stage set up a half mile away from the main stage and had security ready to escort him all the way out there where the camera was ready to follow his every step?

[jebrick]

Would have liked to add a NT with one of our top 100 picks.
We did not improve our run D if we are running it back with Benton at NT.
Will Patrick Graham be the upgrade?

Dominique Orange was there at 76.
Aller would have still been there at 85 and 99 most likely..

Not alot of love on the board for Daylen Everette at 85....
Sticking with CBs.... and two guys taken later...
Would Julian Neal or Jalen Huskey have been better picks?
Or a chance on McCoy at 4th round #101.
Devin Moore at 114?

What do you mean? They drafted Rubio didn't they?

[Dan Smith--BYU]

"Questionable decision maker as evidenced by his alignment with the US military."

So better judgment is to play college at a school with average SATs of 950?

STD's spirochete keeps burrowing deeper and deeper into the frontal lobe.

[steelheadtrout]

Hey Dan, which spirochete? Borrelia burgdorferi or Treponema pallidum?

p.s. I knew when Mac said 4 QBs, they'd take someone, anyone. And indeed they did.

[R_S]

Good humor coupled in with some elite rage bait. A classic STD post!

[Mick]

1.21 Iheanachor - C
B2B thinks i obsess about player age. Relative to most draftniks, probably yes. Relative to NFL teams? I barely care at all compared to them.

The top 6 OTs with 2004 or 2005 date of birth were drafted:
9, 10, 12, 17, 19, and 28th overall

The top 6 OTs with 2003 or earlier date of birth (not counting Iheanachor) were drafted:
86, 93, 96, 97, 111, 112

Iheanachor (a 2003 guy) is legitimately a better prospect than those other 2003 guys, and I think NFL teams are crazy for penalizing December 2003 guys by 50 picks relative to January 2004s, but that’s the reality. He probably could have been had a bit lower, but if he ends up being near average, that’s a pretty valuable win. Definitely not a ‘bad’ pick.

2.47 Germie - D
I’ve been a hater. I guess from a quick glance, Germie’s 862 receiving yards stands in perfectly well with 875 for Tate or 919 for Concepcion, but that ignores the fact that the Tide played more games and called more passes than almost anyone else to help Germie get there. Of the 46 WRs i have numbers for in this class, Germie is 34th in yards per pass play; he was on the field for about 50% more pass plays than the average WR in the group, and ends up finishing a bit behind CJ Daniels and Barion Brown but just ahead of Josh Cameron and Caullin Lacy. SEC coaches apparently didn’t see anything I didn’t see, leaving Bernard off 1st/2nd/3rd all-sec. Possibly he would have made a hypothetical 4th team/~9th best SEC WR last year?

In his favor, while i’ve called him old and slow, he’s actually slightly younger than average in this class, and while his 40 was 23rd of 34ish at the combine, RAS doesn’t hate it.

Chris Bell, Antonio Williams, and Ja’Kobi Lane were all better players who were younger and still on the board. And we traded up.

3.76 Allar - F
Others have watched Allar more than me (and they aren’t enthusiastic to say the least). He’s young, which is good, and he’s a decent player, which is nice. But…he wasn’t great, and NFL QBs were great QBs in college probably more than 90% of the time. Also, he wasn’t getting better; kind of outplayed by Grunkemeyer last season. Real question, what are we doing here?

3.85 Everette - C
I like the player actually, just painful with McCoy on the board (Muhammad also better). Bonus points for spending a midround pick on a position where the board was strong + happened to be useful.

3.96 Dunker - B
Good player, good measurables (weight/length/shuttle/3cone/reps). I had him as a 2nd round guy, nice get here. But always a risk drafting a guy and immediately putting him at a new position.

4.121 Wetjen - F
Had a little over 100 receiving yards in six or seven years of college; he’s a return specialist, not a WR; in the past we’ve been annoyed when the FO spends a 7th on ST guys. But I’m sure we’ll try to run some gimmicks with him to justify the pick for the first year or so.

5.169 Nowakowski - F
If he’s a FB, this is sad. There’s about 10 FBs on NFL rosters today, which means the 11th best fullback on planet earth is sitting by his phone at home waiting for the steelers to call. What do we think the odds are he’s on Ricard/Jusczyk tier? Let’s just leave it at ‘no’. So likely outcome, we spent a 5th round pick so that we have a small chance of having the NFL’s ~7thish best FB instead of the 11thish best (who is available without a draftpick for vet minimum).

As TEs go, he’s a really bad TE prospect. The end.

6.210 Rubio - F
Not viewed as a notable potential UDFA, much less one of the better available DTs at this point. My Magic 8 Ball is telling me that, similar to the Loudermilk Reach, or when you crap yourself in public and everyone knows it but you refuse to go to the bathroom because that would be admitting it and you just sit there in your mess for a long time, the FO will ensure this mistake lingers on our the fringe of our roster for a few seasons. His run defense might be fine eventually. Which is a step below what you could say about 10-20 DTs that will be available on practice squads this season.

7.224 Spears-Jennings - D
There were lots of better options, even at S at this point, but Spears-Jennings is a legitimate NFL depth chart prospect.

7.230 Heidenreich - A
Compared to All-American Skyler Bell, is comparable 40/3-cone, 10 pounds heavier, 1 year younger, and Eli had significantly more receiving yards per pass play. The latter of which isn’t a slight to Skyler; if Heidenreich was counted as WR on my ranking of YPPP above, he would have ranked 0th by a good margin, as in better than any WR this year. Two problems for Heidenreich that I see: (1) He doesn’t know how to play WR, and we don’t have a playbook that would use him well and (2) If the coaching staff tries to do anything interesting to take advantage of our draftees, I’m guessing those snaps will go to trying to make Wetjen look like he wasn’t a wasted pick.

[955876]

Well that was depressing to read. Trying to be positive bout this class which has been difficult to do.

Not disagreeing with anything you posted.

[Mick]

Well that was depressing to read. Trying to be positive bout this class which has been difficult to do.

Not disagreeing with anything you posted.

trying to be positive, if you rearrange some picks (e.g., if instead we got Dunker at 2.53 Bernard at 3.96) i could see giving pretty much C grades down the board, which would be ‘fine’, and probably overall a ‘good’ class given the capital we got to use.

And others are much, much higher on Bernard than I am, which would pretty fundamentally shift the overall perspective. Just felt really frustrating after feeling like we’ve been building towards this draft for years, and the main weapon we came away with is a WR whose weakness is that he’s bad at gaining receiving yards on pass plays.

[W&M_Steeler]

Well that was depressing to read. Trying to be positive bout this class which has been difficult to do.

Not disagreeing with anything you posted.

trying to be positive, if you rearrange some picks (e.g., if instead we got Dunker at 2.53 Bernard at 3.96) i could see giving pretty much C grades down the board, which would be ‘fine’, and probably overall a ‘good’ class given the capital we got to use.

And others are much, much higher on Bernard than I am, which would pretty fundamentally shift the overall perspective. Just felt really frustrating after feeling like we’ve been building towards this draft for years, and the main weapon we came away with is a WR whose weakness is that he’s bad at gaining receiving yards on pass plays.

Maybe Wetjet and Heidenreich will knock Skowronek off the roster.

[anpsteel]

I hate wearing a tin foil hat, but the Mt Lebo kid felt kinda staged to me.

Was it how they had a stage set up a half mile away from the main stage and had security ready to escort him all the way out there where the camera was ready to follow his every step?

Or the 7th round pick actually attending the draft, AND in his dress uni

100% staged

[langer]

Rog and his guardians of the shield will do anything to ingratiate themselves and the League with the Merican People.

They care about the men and women serving and protecting the freedom we hold dear.

Stuff like that.

[Charles Demarr]

1.21 Iheanachor - C
B2B thinks i obsess about player age. Relative to most draftniks, probably yes. Relative to NFL teams? I barely care at all compared to them.

The top 6 OTs with 2004 or 2005 date of birth were drafted:
9, 10, 12, 17, 19, and 28th overall

The top 6 OTs with 2003 or earlier date of birth (not counting Iheanachor) were drafted:
86, 93, 96, 97, 111, 112

Iheanachor (a 2003 guy) is legitimately a better prospect than those other 2003 guys, and I think NFL teams are crazy for penalizing December 2003 guys by 50 picks relative to January 2004s, but that’s the reality. He probably could have been had a bit lower, but if he ends up being near average, that’s a pretty valuable win. Definitely not a ‘bad’ pick.

2.47 Germie - D
I’ve been a hater. I guess from a quick glance, Germie’s 862 receiving yards stands in perfectly well with 875 for Tate or 919 for Concepcion, but that ignores the fact that the Tide played more games and called more passes than almost anyone else to help Germie get there. Of the 46 WRs i have numbers for in this class, Germie is 34th in yards per pass play; he was on the field for about 50% more pass plays than the average WR in the group, and ends up finishing a bit behind CJ Daniels and Barion Brown but just ahead of Josh Cameron and Caullin Lacy. SEC coaches apparently didn’t see anything I didn’t see, leaving Bernard off 1st/2nd/3rd all-sec. Possibly he would have made a hypothetical 4th team/~9th best SEC WR last year?

In his favor, while i’ve called him old and slow, he’s actually slightly younger than average in this class, and while his 40 was 23rd of 34ish at the combine, RAS doesn’t hate it.

Chris Bell, Antonio Williams, and Ja’Kobi Lane were all better players who were younger and still on the board. And we traded up.

3.76 Allar - F
Others have watched Allar more than me (and they aren’t enthusiastic to say the least). He’s young, which is good, and he’s a decent player, which is nice. But…he wasn’t great, and NFL QBs were great QBs in college probably more than 90% of the time. Also, he wasn’t getting better; kind of outplayed by Grunkemeyer last season. Real question, what are we doing here?

3.85 Everette - C
I like the player actually, just painful with McCoy on the board (Muhammad also better). Bonus points for spending a midround pick on a position where the board was strong + happened to be useful.

3.96 Dunker - B
Good player, good measurables (weight/length/shuttle/3cone/reps). I had him as a 2nd round guy, nice get here. But always a risk drafting a guy and immediately putting him at a new position.

4.121 Wetjen - F
Had a little over 100 receiving yards in six or seven years of college; he’s a return specialist, not a WR; in the past we’ve been annoyed when the FO spends a 7th on ST guys. But I’m sure we’ll try to run some gimmicks with him to justify the pick for the first year or so.

5.169 Nowakowski - F
If he’s a FB, this is sad. There’s about 10 FBs on NFL rosters today, which means the 11th best fullback on planet earth is sitting by his phone at home waiting for the steelers to call. What do we think the odds are he’s on Ricard/Jusczyk tier? Let’s just leave it at ‘no’. So likely outcome, we spent a 5th round pick so that we have a small chance of having the NFL’s ~7thish best FB instead of the 11thish best (who is available without a draftpick for vet minimum).

As TEs go, he’s a really bad TE prospect. The end.

6.210 Rubio - F
Not viewed as a notable potential UDFA, much less one of the better available DTs at this point. My Magic 8 Ball is telling me that, similar to the Loudermilk Reach, or when you crap yourself in public and everyone knows it but you refuse to go to the bathroom because that would be admitting it and you just sit there in your mess for a long time, the FO will ensure this mistake lingers on our the fringe of our roster for a few seasons. His run defense might be fine eventually. Which is a step below what you could say about 10-20 DTs that will be available on practice squads this season.

7.224 Spears-Jennings - D
There were lots of better options, even at S at this point, but Spears-Jennings is a legitimate NFL depth chart prospect.

7.230 Heidenreich - A
Compared to All-American Skyler Bell, is comparable 40/3-cone, 10 pounds heavier, 1 year younger, and Eli had significantly more receiving yards per pass play. The latter of which isn’t a slight to Skyler; if Heidenreich was counted as WR on my ranking of YPPP above, he would have ranked 0th by a good margin, as in better than any WR this year. Two problems for Heidenreich that I see: (1) He doesn’t know how to play WR, and we don’t have a playbook that would use him well and (2) If the coaching staff tries to do anything interesting to take advantage of our draftees, I’m guessing those snaps will go to trying to make Wetjen look like he wasn’t a wasted pick.

Mick replacing Silky as the Hater of the Year.

[bradshaw2ben]

1.21 Iheanachor - C
B2B thinks i obsess about player age. Relative to most draftniks, probably yes. Relative to NFL teams? I barely care at all compared to them.

The top 6 OTs with 2004 or 2005 date of birth were drafted:
9, 10, 12, 17, 19, and 28th overall

The top 6 OTs with 2003 or earlier date of birth (not counting Iheanachor) were drafted:
86, 93, 96, 97, 111, 112

Iheanachor (a 2003 guy) is legitimately a better prospect than those other 2003 guys, and I think NFL teams are crazy for penalizing December 2003 guys by 50 picks relative to January 2004s, but that’s the reality. He probably could have been had a bit lower, but if he ends up being near average, that’s a pretty valuable win. Definitely not a ‘bad’ pick.

2.47 Germie - D
I’ve been a hater. I guess from a quick glance, Germie’s 862 receiving yards stands in perfectly well with 875 for Tate or 919 for Concepcion, but that ignores the fact that the Tide played more games and called more passes than almost anyone else to help Germie get there. Of the 46 WRs i have numbers for in this class, Germie is 34th in yards per pass play; he was on the field for about 50% more pass plays than the average WR in the group, and ends up finishing a bit behind CJ Daniels and Barion Brown but just ahead of Josh Cameron and Caullin Lacy. SEC coaches apparently didn’t see anything I didn’t see, leaving Bernard off 1st/2nd/3rd all-sec. Possibly he would have made a hypothetical 4th team/~9th best SEC WR last year?

In his favor, while i’ve called him old and slow, he’s actually slightly younger than average in this class, and while his 40 was 23rd of 34ish at the combine, RAS doesn’t hate it.

Chris Bell, Antonio Williams, and Ja’Kobi Lane were all better players who were younger and still on the board. And we traded up.

3.76 Allar - F
Others have watched Allar more than me (and they aren’t enthusiastic to say the least). He’s young, which is good, and he’s a decent player, which is nice. But…he wasn’t great, and NFL QBs were great QBs in college probably more than 90% of the time. Also, he wasn’t getting better; kind of outplayed by Grunkemeyer last season. Real question, what are we doing here?

3.85 Everette - C
I like the player actually, just painful with McCoy on the board (Muhammad also better). Bonus points for spending a midround pick on a position where the board was strong + happened to be useful.

3.96 Dunker - B
Good player, good measurables (weight/length/shuttle/3cone/reps). I had him as a 2nd round guy, nice get here. But always a risk drafting a guy and immediately putting him at a new position.

4.121 Wetjen - F
Had a little over 100 receiving yards in six or seven years of college; he’s a return specialist, not a WR; in the past we’ve been annoyed when the FO spends a 7th on ST guys. But I’m sure we’ll try to run some gimmicks with him to justify the pick for the first year or so.

5.169 Nowakowski - F
If he’s a FB, this is sad. There’s about 10 FBs on NFL rosters today, which means the 11th best fullback on planet earth is sitting by his phone at home waiting for the steelers to call. What do we think the odds are he’s on Ricard/Jusczyk tier? Let’s just leave it at ‘no’. So likely outcome, we spent a 5th round pick so that we have a small chance of having the NFL’s ~7thish best FB instead of the 11thish best (who is available without a draftpick for vet minimum).

As TEs go, he’s a really bad TE prospect. The end.

6.210 Rubio - F
Not viewed as a notable potential UDFA, much less one of the better available DTs at this point. My Magic 8 Ball is telling me that, similar to the Loudermilk Reach, or when you crap yourself in public and everyone knows it but you refuse to go to the bathroom because that would be admitting it and you just sit there in your mess for a long time, the FO will ensure this mistake lingers on our the fringe of our roster for a few seasons. His run defense might be fine eventually. Which is a step below what you could say about 10-20 DTs that will be available on practice squads this season.

7.224 Spears-Jennings - D
There were lots of better options, even at S at this point, but Spears-Jennings is a legitimate NFL depth chart prospect.

7.230 Heidenreich - A
Compared to All-American Skyler Bell, is comparable 40/3-cone, 10 pounds heavier, 1 year younger, and Eli had significantly more receiving yards per pass play. The latter of which isn’t a slight to Skyler; if Heidenreich was counted as WR on my ranking of YPPP above, he would have ranked 0th by a good margin, as in better than any WR this year. Two problems for Heidenreich that I see: (1) He doesn’t know how to play WR, and we don’t have a playbook that would use him well and (2) If the coaching staff tries to do anything interesting to take advantage of our draftees, I’m guessing those snaps will go to trying to make Wetjen look like he wasn’t a wasted pick.

As I’ve mentioned to you previously, Inheanachor was probably the youngest guy in that class—born Oct 2003. He’s still 22.

And Eli is. RB who can run routes like a WR. He’s not a WR—Christian McCaffrey/Ty Montgomery type player.