OFFICIAL 2015 NFL DRAFT THREAD

[Fritz]

I agree that value might dictate taking a CB in the 1st round, but there are only a few ILB's worthy of going in the 2nd round - they'll likely be gone by the time our pick comes around.

There are some ILB's further down I like... any way you slice it, we have to come away with 2 viable ILB candidates in this draft. The cupboard is bare, so unless that start bringing in bartenders...

One thing we do is compare players in the same draft class. One thing we don't do much of is to compare relatively unknown players already on the roster to those in the draft class.

I wonder how someone like Carl Bradford measures against, say. Dawson or Anthony.

[wist43]

One thing we do is compare players in the same draft class. One thing we don't do much of is to compare relatively unknown players already on the roster to those in the draft class.

I wonder how someone like Carl Bradford measures against, say. Dawson or Anthony.

Bradford has short arms, and didn't show much of anything last year... short arms aren't a deal breaker necessarily, but if he doesn't have some other redeeming quality suited to playing ILB, I think it will be tough for him to stick around. All he had to do in college was go forward - playing ILB asks a lot more of a player than just flying off the edge. We'll see.

Dawson looks good on tape, but my God was a bad at the combine... slow and unathletic. So which guy is he?? A stud player on the next level, or a guy who looked artificially good b/c of the level of competition??

Anthony I like... a little stiff in the hips, and don't like his ability to change direction, but other than that, he's a decent player IMO.

[Fritz]

Bradford has short arms, and didn't show much of anything last year... short arms aren't a deal breaker necessarily, but if he doesn't have some other redeeming quality suited to playing ILB, I think it will be tough for him to stick around. All he had to do in college was go forward - playing ILB asks a lot more of a player than just flying off the edge. We'll see.

Dawson looks good on tape, but my God was a bad at the combine... slow and unathletic. So which guy is he?? A stud player on the next level, or a guy who looked artificially good b/c of the level of competition??

Anthony I like... a little stiff in the hips, and don't like his ability to change direction, but other than that, he's a decent player IMO.

Your point about the short arms is good, but I was thinking more about the measureables plus whatever the coaches saw or did not see. So what I'm thinking is that someone like TT or MM has to think not only about whether Dawson is better than Anthony (or whomever), but whether they think he's better than Bradford.

On the other hand, this doesn't account for the possibility that they may be looking for a certain type of ILB. If they think of Barrington as a heavy hitter, a run stopper, do they want a rangier, more cover-guy type instead of going for another heavy hitter?

My own very limited sense is that McKinney may be the guy that has the most ceiling - if the coaches think he can be taught to cover well. I don't want two guys back there who bring the lumber but can't cover - but I don't want another Brad Jones, either.