42 minutes ago, eagle45 said:

You can't hate me for being disappointed. This is EXACTLY what they did with the pick. To the letter.

So you won’t be throwing a Lemon party this weekend?

29 minutes ago, HazletonEagle said:

Love to see some of my guys got in to round 1. Chris Johnson really was CB2. And Malachi Lawrence belonged as well.

As much as I liked Rutledge, I didnt know he was getting all the way up there. In the end, Rutledge even got ahead of Dunker.

From my limited look at prospects, Lawrence or Faulk was my guess with the board as it was if we stayed at 23. Lemon seems like he’ll be a good addition. It’s like a reverse of 2014 IMO. We got Brandon cooks finally 🤣

Guy won the fing Biletnikoff award can he at least suit up before "bust?”

Also had we not taken a wr and Brown is gone June 1st the posts would be the exact opposite. "Why didnt Howie take a wr we are stuck with Wicks?”

Speed is far less valuable these day in WRs b/c so many teams go two high safeties.

We saw that last season, takes forever for speed burners to get open, you have to have great play action and/or blocking OL.

One thing a quick WR corp with good hands does is open up the running game, and it moves the chains.

You'd think people would be tired of 3 and outs.

I don't care if Lemon runs a 4.46 instead of a 4.36, Bruce ran 4.6 and ended up with a great career. Because he ran perfect routes.

What matters is against a top pass rushing team, when Hurts takes a 5 step drop and goes to throw, Lemon has at least one step of separation on his defender.

How often the last three years when the deep pass is taken away, did most of our WRs fail to get separation.

One reason they're moving out Brown was he struggled to get separation last year and wasn't winning as many battles for balls.

I feel like some still criminally underrate how good and versatile Smith truly is.

At pick 23 in this low ish talent draft, the team threaded the needle with that pick. A WR is not my persona top preference, but the pick makes sense - much more than an OT ever did.

And importantly, the Rams and other teams made off the walk picks, this team did not

I don't expect to get a 1st for Brown, while the Eagles will eat a bunch of his money, film don't lie, he's not an elite WR anymore, he's following the WR age curve (peak at 28).

2nd and 4th or something like that.

Though given his ego and his declining skills, addition by subtraction.

And I think Howie is trying to clear out dead money and add draft picks for a "rebuild on the fly."

16 minutes ago, eagle45 said:

Everything you just said applies perfectly to Devonta Smith. I just wish I could agree that it applies to Lemon, which I don’t think it does. I don’t see how 1,100 yards makes him one of the most productive WRs over the last decade.

If you factor in volume/efficiency/level of competition it does. Not a bad list to be on. And neither Wicks nor Brown preclude them from taking a burner type. Next year or even this year really.

1 hour ago, ManuManu said:

I’m excited to see our first round rookie WR rocking number 38 in rookie camp.

I am just praying that Lemon doesn't squeeze his way into wearing #0...that would be some bad juju...

2 minutes ago, austinfan said:

Speed is far less valuable these day in WRs b/c so many teams go two high safeties.

We saw that last season, takes forever for speed burners to get open, you have to have great play action and/or blocking OL.

One thing a quick WR corp with good hands does is open up the running game, and it moves the chains.

You'd think people would be tired of 3 and outs.

I don't care if Lemon runs a 4.46 instead of a 4.36, Bruce ran 4.6 and ended up with a great career. Because he ran perfect routes.

What matters is against a top pass rushing team, when Hurts takes a 5 step drop and goes to throw, Lemon has at least one step of separation on his defender.

How often the last three years when the deep pass is taken away, did most of our WRs fail to get separation.

One reason they're moving out Brown was he struggled to get separation last year and wasn't winning as many battles for balls.

Speed is great. If it can be used properly. We’ve talked for years how often 40 doesn’t translate to on field speed. 4.4/4.5 speed is more than enough if you can run a technique clinic on the field. Of course there’s some outliers with great season but if you look at the best WR’s in the game over the past 10/15 years there’s a common variable with them all. Good speed with ridiculous route running, hand and arm control, insane footwork and great hands. Not many burners turn into hill or Jackson (though Jackson was incredibly polished when he was drafted). I’ll take the Hopkins, Adams, Jetta, chase and smith mold more often than not.

I’d have preferred to trade up to 18 and pick Freeling. No idea why the Vikings didn’t move off that pick. Inferring from Howie’s comments last night (“not as much movement in the late teens), seems like we tried.

1 minute ago, Saltpeter said:

I’d have preferred to trade up to 18 and pick Freeling, then trade up in round 2 to pick either an edge, WR, or S. No idea why the Vikings didn’t move off that pick. Inferring from Howie’s comments last night (“not as much movement in the late teens), seems like we tried.

Asking price might have been a bit too much. Honestly I think trade wise, Bowie kind of got taken behind the wood shed as is from a sheer pick for picks perspective. We will see in a year or 2 if it was the right call. I know next to nothing about mid round prospects, but chances are paying a little more is worth it if lemon was a top 5 target for them.

2 hours ago, NOTW said:

Dang - I really feel bad for all 37 people in their fan base

44 minutes ago, DeathByEagle said:

With the rumor of 2027 to be one of the best QB drafts in many years and Jalen's easy out contract, I would bet on QB as our round 1 next year.

If that was the plan, they would just extend McKee for a 2-year deal for good QB2 money.

I actually expect Hurts to have his best season this year. Not because of the new OC, but because I understand that QBs typically keep learning and usually peak around year 7 or 8.

49 minutes ago, DeathByEagle said:

With the rumor of 2027 to be one of the best QB drafts in many years and Jalen's easy out contract, I would bet on QB as our round 1 next year.

This year was supposed to be as well. Instead 2 QBs who were pretty much after thoughts were the only 2 taken in the 1st this year.

I’m just glad the Eagles didn’t force offensive tackle. I’m not over the moon with Lemon because I think he’ll have to be used in a specific way to be really productive (either as a slot or in condensed splits). As RLC and I talked about last night, he looks like the Jayden Reed in this offense. The problem is Reed didn’t play in two-WR sets despite being a pretty darn good player. Is that player worth a 1 and two 4s?

Now it’s entirely possible that I’m wrong and he’s just fine as a full time player who can play outside in two-WR sets like St. Brown.

17 minutes ago, austinfan said:

Speed is far less valuable these day in WRs b/c so many teams go two high safeties.

We saw that last season, takes forever for speed burners to get open, you have to have great play action and/or blocking OL.

One thing a quick WR corp with good hands does is open up the running game, and it moves the chains.

You'd think people would be tired of 3 and outs.

I don't care if Lemon runs a 4.46 instead of a 4.36, Bruce ran 4.6 and ended up with a great career. Because he ran perfect routes.

What matters is against a top pass rushing team, when Hurts takes a 5 step drop and goes to throw, Lemon has at least one step of separation on his defender.

How often the last three years when the deep pass is taken away, did most of our WRs fail to get separation.

One reason they're moving out Brown was he struggled to get separation last year and wasn't winning as many battles for balls.

Brown did struggle to get separation last year. And why is that ? It’s speed.

19 minutes ago, DawkinsOwnage03 said:

Guy won the fing Biletnikoff award can he at least suit up before "bust?”

Also had we not taken a wr and Brown is gone June 1st the posts would be the exact opposite. "Why didnt Howie take a wr we are stuck with Wicks?”

The guy banging the drum against him the loudest is the most negative, miserable person here - most people are level-headed enough to take a wait and see approach.

I like Lemon at 20 and not too worried about the 4ths they gave up to get him. Howie drops from a 70%+ hit rate in rounds 1-3 to about 45% in the 4th. Do they take Oscar Delp at 54 if he's there?

1 minute ago, eagle45 said:

Brown did struggle to get separation last year. And why is that ? It’s speed.

And effort. That's a pretty huge factor there.

Both Puka and St Brown ran 4.5+ 40s and don't seem to have any problem getting open.

4 minutes ago, eagle45 said:

Brown did struggle to get separation last year. And why is that ? It’s speed.

Mainly sloppy route running and what most perceive as lack of effort.

Nothing against the guy. I just didn't want WR

I absolutely love the Lemon pick and can't believe how polarizing it is on this board. Then again I shouldn't be suprised with how dumb a lot of people are. Howie did the opposite of what I was afraid he would do. Settling for an Iheanachor or Faulk, or reaching for a Lomu is the type of draft pick that haunts GM's. Howie continues to stay true to his board and take the best player available which is what Lemon clearly was. He was top 15 on pretty much on everyone's board. Forget the same school stuff, from a size and play style comparison we just drafted Amon-Ra St. Brown. Not only that, so many people had him mocked to the Rams at 13 and said he was a perfect fit in their offense and that is the style of offense we are about to run. Howie will figure out how to address "needs," but he just got an absolute dog.

7 minutes ago, ManuManu said:

I’m just glad the Eagles didn’t force offensive tackle. I’m not over the moon with Lemon because I think he’ll have to be used in a specific way to be really productive (either as a slot or in condensed splits). As RLC and I talked about last night, he looks like the Jayden Reed in this offense. The problem is Reed didn’t play in two-WR sets despite being a pretty darn good player. Is that player worth a 1 and two 4s?

Now it’s entirely possible that I’m wrong and he’s just fine as a full time player who can play outside in two-WR sets like St. Brown.

It looks like a lot of the OL who went yesterday are best inside with the ability to swing out in a pinch, slow slugs or projects. The Miami kid is the only one who projected to be a day 1 T starter caliber wasn’t he?

I don't understand the logic in trading up for a OT that would sit at least a year. Bad use of resources in my opinion. If one fell to them, sure take him, but don't give up more ammo if they are going to ride the bench. If Howie knows he's getting the Pats 2027 1st rounder, that makes it easier to get an elite OT next draft.