Doubt Donny E lasts until pick 48, but it'd be awesome if he did.

This mock addresses depth at multiple positions and also aligns with Top 30 visits.

44 minutes ago, Diehardfan said:

Someone is putting that in the mom thread

Ernie Calloway.

1 hour ago, Cliftoma said:

For some reason, I just can't get into this years draft like I have in the past. Maybe it is because we are coming off a Superbowl or that we are pickiang at the bottom. Or, that I have complete faith in Howie with the input of Fangio and Stoutland at the most important positions on the team.

Tough to know who to focus on a couple of players with how Howie moves around the draft. There doesn't seem to be a lot of players who really distinguish themselves.

I know what you mean. Of course, it's a small price to pay for winning the SB.

Look at it this way though: we've observed SB winning teams scoop up good talent that fell where the rich get richer, and that's the position we're in. And look at the draft after the last SB win. I've had a theory on that for years now as Howie has been progressing in figuring out the draft. They had some bad drafts and changing from Chip to Howie, to Joe Douglas influence, to just Howie and all that transition. It took a while for them to get the formula and collaboration with the scouts and coaches down. Coming off that SB win, we know Howie was trying to run it back. So there wasn't an urgency in the draft. He traded out of the 1st and took Goedert in the 2nd. He didn't have a 3rd (too lazy to look up whatever trade that was involved in and who we got). He had two 4th round picks that became Josh Sweat and Avonte Maddox. Then the gamble on Mailata. Then the next 2 drafts were mostly busts. My theory was with no pressure, Howie didn't feel the need to make some big splash or reach. Everyone was drafted as backups to develop. When the Reagor for Jefferson draft happened (and using 4 draft picks on the WR position that year including a trade), Howie was reaching. I argued that sticking to the board and taking the best players and not reaching like in 2018, Howie could draft better.

He's been on a roll in recent years. This year is different because he's not trying to run it back with the aging veterans, letting them go (Slay, CJGJ, BG retiring, letting other guys walk in free agency). They know they need to get younger, and get players that fit Fangio's system (I assume most picks will be defense).

I don't know enough about the draft class itself as I don't follow college really, and haven't paid as much attention this year. But as far as picking at #32, plus having four picks in the 5th round and all the ammo from next year, Howie is well positioned to take advantage of talent falling due to other teams making a run on certain positions, trading back as other teams want to trade up for their guy, or stay put and just take the BPA.

The rich can get richer on an already star-filled roster. My wish list: top prospects at Edge and Safety. Also depth at DT, O line, corner, LB.

53 minutes ago, Saltpeter said:

Fangio has put a lot of my concerns to bed about this kinda stuff, for reasons you outlined. Wouldn’t see picking Oladejo as a Marcus Smith situation at all.

On the offensive side? Other than OL, much more comfortable close to "consensus.”

I think it’s tough to say for the offensive skill positions in either direction.

At QB, Hurts has developed well, and McKee looks to have as well. At WR, Brown was a finished product, Smith was very advanced, and we really haven’t invested much in the way of high draft picks outside of those two. At RB, we’ve had reasonable development with Gainwell and Sanders was decent. At TE, Goedert has been very good though injured, while Calcaterra has developed nicely.

But we’ve had a lot of turnover on the offensive coaching staff and really haven’t invested much in recent years at skill positions (and probably still won’t). I think we just haven’t had the opportunity to see much development.

Love the Cam Jurgens deal. Had to pay him after he played the NFCCG when he could barely walk.

1 hour ago, Waiting4Someday said:

Normally, raw prospects with physical upside go in the 3rd - that's your boom/bust territory. I expect that Femi Oladejo will get selected earlier than Jalyx did given that he's a Division 1 player and shifting from LB (rather than S), but not 2 rounds earlier...

The bigger issue is the draft class. High upside players go high when there aren’t high upside players who ALSO are more developed available.

It’s not so much about "high upside guys go in round 3” as it is "high upside guys go in round 3 when there are 2 rounds worth of better options ahead of them.”

And usually the bottom of the first and top of the second have a bunch of relatively raw but high upside players who get picked. Just looking at last year, Xavier Legette, Brian Thomas, and Keon Coleman were all high upside WRs who went in the top 40 picks.

8 minutes ago, TEW said:

The bigger issue is the draft class. High upside players go high when there aren’t high upside players who ALSO are more developed available.

It’s not so much about "high upside guys go in round 3” as it is "high upside guys go in round 3 when there are 2 rounds worth of better options ahead of them.”

And usually the bottom of the first and top of the second have a bunch of relatively raw but high upside players who get picked. Just looking at last year, Xavier Legette, Brian Thomas, and Keon Coleman were all high upside WRs who went in the top 40 picks.

You might be right - while I’m onboard with 20-50 perhaps being relatively the same tier, I didn’t expect that would extend to 75.

Me reading the Vikings are interested in trading for Kirk Cousins

4 hours ago, shlo said:

I'm sure this will be an unpopular opinion, but I think it's an overpay. Jurgens is a good center, but his Pro Bowl is largely because the Eagles O Line as a whole is great and the best centers (other than Ragnow) are all in the AFC.

It's not an overpay. Howie's just ahead of the curve. Jurgens was not perfect by any means last season but all his errors, at least the ones I caught, were mental errors, usually committing too soon to blocking a particular player and in so doing opening a door to another guy. One that comes immediately to mind resulted in a safety. My very unofficial count was six such errors. In 21 games, that's phenomenal. He's plenty strong and he's easily the fastest and most athletic center in the league. Ragnow and Humphrey are stronger, though not by a lot, but they're nowhere near him in pulling and blocking the outside zone. Another thing: do you remember any bad snaps, I mean any at all, in the entire season. I don't. I think he snapped early a couple of times but he didn't bounce any or launch any over Hurts' head.

Best of all, for me, is that this contract is evidence that his back issue is a non-issue. He'll be good to go.

Jerry Sisemore.

To confirm news that virtually no one bought from Boston podcasters trolling for clicks:

How nice is it being able to go into the draft trusting our GM to make the right moves? Took him some time to learn, but he has.

6 minutes ago, Diehardfan said:

How nice is it being able to go into the draft trusting our GM to make the right moves? Took him some time to learn, but he has.

Agreed if he's on the same page as Vic then I trust them to pick the edge rusher regardless of ranking. Because we know in the end Vic has to like a guy to play him anyway

1 minute ago, pgcd3 said:

Agreed if he's on the same page as Vic then I trust them to pick the edge rusher regardless of ranking. Because we know in the end Vic has to like a guy to play him anyway

True. Vic knows what he wants. See Jalyx. This Oladejo guy looks similar.

4 hours ago, LeanMeanGM said:

I think its your typical Howie extension. At the time of signing, it's a bit high. If he continues to develop and play at the same level or better as 2024 its going to be fine.

100%.

4 hours ago, wussbasket said:

There's only one position for center on the OL, you have 2 at guard and 2 at tackle. There's probably less than 10 centers drafted every year.

The center market is quite small, and if you have a player the level of Cam, you lock them up and don't look back.

Not if we expand our imaginations... have two centers and the defense will never know who is snapping the ball! Let's get creative.

Stan Walters.

3 hours ago, FranklinFldEBUpper said:

Daniel Jeremiah had Hunt rated 64th overall in his day before the draft Top 150 rankings. Based on that alone, I was pretty cool with getting him late in the third.

Jeremiah is really really good, but maybe more importantly, he's plugged in. And he has Eagles' connections. His list is always a good one to focus on.

3 hours ago, pgcd3 said:

It's hilarious that DJ has all year to rate these guys and it's his main focus yet he changes his rankings so much after they stop playing

See above. He has connections, and he uses them.

Apparently Derrick Harmon has medical red flags and could fall in the draft.

5 hours ago, T-1000 said:

Your point is certainly valid but Matthews was a Chip pick.

It was year 2 of the Chip error. There was some confusion... and still is regarding how involved and each one was. That particular year is when it came out that Chip wanted to draft Taylor Hart in Round 3, but Howie told him to wait. And they got him in Round 5. But that was a bad draft pretty much top to bottom. The best player to come out of that draft was likely Beau Allen, in Round 7.

I remember someone wanted to give Ed Reynolds a locked spot on the roster that year after that draft... and wanted to fight me for suggesting that we might want to wait on that. Turns out, Ed was a final cut and added to the PS.

1 hour ago, RLC said:

Love the Cam Jurgens deal. Had to pay him after he played the NFCCG when he could barely walk.

And played very very well.

1 hour ago, FranklinFldEBUpper said:

Jerry Sisemore.

. It took me a while to figure out what you were doing! Carry on.