Official 2024 NFL Draft Thread

[texaspackerbacker]

You're doing a static analysis. A more dynamic analysis would not assume that anybody who isn't signed is gone. They really ought to re-sign Rudy Ford and Jonathan Owens as well as Ballentine. Savage is not horrible if the price isn't too high. Ditto that for Dillon, and Emmanuel Wilson is not exactly a nobody.

Bakhtiari being gone is a good thing, and we do have 7 or 8 other O Linemen who have been at least adequate NFL starters plus two that were considered decent enough that they lasted the whole season on the practice squad.

I HOPE they don't draft an O Lineman early. We're pretty solid at Corner, although you can never have too many good Corners. I have a better opinion than a lot of people about the Safetys we have, and drafting one high is a gamble, as that is a position where college quality doesn't always translate to NFL quality. We also are pretty solid at Edge Rusher as well as D Line.

IMO, the greatest needs are ILB and RB, both of which usually aren't good positions to draft in the first round. I'd draft one of each of those in the second and third, though - I'm on record as saying Braelon Allen in the third.

There's also the strong possibility we switch to a 4-3 with Halfley.

So what should we get in the first round? I've always hated the idea of trading down, it always seems like an unlikely scenario, but it's one possibility. What else is there? I guess Edge Rusher or maybe a true 4-3 OLB or maybe another Corner.

[run pMc]

You're doing a static analysis. A more dynamic analysis would not assume that anybody who isn't signed is gone. They really ought to re-sign Rudy Ford and Jonathan Owens as well as Ballentine. Savage is not horrible if the price isn't too high. Ditto that for Dillon, and Emmanuel Wilson is not exactly a nobody.

I prefaced my comments with "as it stands now, they need bodies at S, CB, ILB, RB and OL"
that is basically the majority of their shopping list, whether it be via draft, resigning their own, or FA.

I can see a world where they bring back Rudy Ford just to have someone back there. Bringing back Owens and Ballentine are tougher to see. We already know what they are, they don't improve your team. Dillon is a RB3 and Wilson would only come back for competition. Signing vets to minimums will generally cost as much as a last R3/early R4 pick and won't raise the ceiling of your team's potential. You're better off getting younger, cheaper, more years under control with a rookie contract, and with potential for upside.

No they won't do this everywhere, and there is a benefit to having a veteran in the position room, but there isn't a good reason to bring back a lot of these guys (or any of them, really) - you'd be essentially running back a team that eked their way to a 7 seed, and they are chasing a DET team with 4 top 90 picks and 50M in cap space.