Official 2019 Draft Thread

[mraynrand]

Maybe. But Fox, like ESPN before it, just paid a huge amount for Thursday night football. The only reason to pay it, as ESPN did for Monday night, is as a loss leader and a promotion for all your other programming. NFL ratings have recovered and overall have still fallen slower than almost all other programming.

Cord cutting might affect NFL contracts last. ESPN fired people rather than rethink its live sports strategy and their new President is on board to have a "better" relationship with the NFL.

I have no idea how it could be "better".

One theory floated is that networks are going to focus on live sp;orting events. Non-sports programming is going elsewhere (Netflix, etc do it better), and most of the top rated shows are still live sports. So that's encouraging if you still want to get free broadcast football going forward. Also, the networks smartly stopped focusing on the protests that were at least in part hurting their ratings. But the trends are all against football. I think soccer overtook baseball this year in more popularity measureables, and the focus on football negatives like concussions, 'toxic masculinity' and the fallout from title IX particiapation leveling is working to deplete the lower ranks.

[bobblehead]

Not so sure I agree.

https://www.cbssports.com/nfl/draft/prospect-rankings/ - here we only have 9 WR ranked in the top 75 players. Seems a little low but beyond that none are rated higher than 24!

https://www.sbnation.com/nfl/2018/12...bosa-ed-oliver - Here we have only two!! picked in the first round in this heavily defensive draft.

http://walterfootball.com/draft2019_1.php - Has only one!! picked in the first round

https://www.si.com/nfl/2018/11/15/20...justin-herbert - None!! in the top 20 prospects

Of course none of this is cast in stone, but it is interesting.

8 went in the first 2 rounds last year. I like this years crop much better.

[deake]

Not so sure I agree but what we are seeing is very few great teams and a lot of mediocre teams. Lots of parody since everybody can move the ball pretty well.

My thinking was, if there are a larger number of NFL ready qbs available in the draft, why saddle yourself with 20 million contract on your vet ob when you can get a good one cheaper in the draft? This happens regularly in todays world.

[mraynrand]

My thinking was, if there are a larger number of NFL ready qbs available in the draft, why saddle yourself with 20 million contract on your vet ob when you can get a good one cheaper in the draft? This happens regularly in todays world.

Was this intended as a parody? Because there's lots of parodies among quarterbacks. That's why it only took Cleveland 20 years to draft a decent starter. And they only needed the first pick overall to do it. The last thing any NFL team needs is a great quarterback. Get the punter figured out first and the Lombardi trophy is yours.

[gbgary]

if Rodgers plays (with the groin/knee) and damages the draft position, with a win(s) (let alone rips the shit out of his groin/knee), it's front office malpractice.

[call_me_ishmael]

My thinking was, if there are a larger number of NFL ready qbs available in the draft, why saddle yourself with 20 million contract on your vet ob when you can get a good one cheaper in the draft? This happens regularly in todays world.

I tend to agree with this, at least when projecting 5 years out. Unless you have a superstar, is the 20th best quarterback really that much worse than the 10th best five years from now? What about 40th? Could you get the 33rd (aka the best back-up in the league) for 8M a year instead of 25M? Would you rather have Kahlil Mack and 24 points per game or Aaron Rodgers without Kahlil Mack and 30 points per game? Of course these are all hypotheticals.

My theory is that QB play will get better and more efficient and the median/mean will become very good and the truly special ones will be a slight hair better than the mean/median. The rule changes are enabling this future where if you can accurately throw a short to mid-range crossing route you're golden.

[deake]

I tend to agree with this, at least when projecting 5 years out. Unless you have a superstar, is the 20th best quarterback really that much worse than the 10th best five years from now? What about 40th? Could you get the 33rd (aka the best back-up in the league) for 8M a year instead of 25M? Would you rather have Kahlil Mack and 24 points per game or Aaron Rodgers without Kahlil Mack and 30 points per game? Of course these are all hypotheticals.

My theory is that QB play will get better and more efficient and the median/mean will become very good and the truly special ones will be a slight hair better than the mean/median. The rule changes are enabling this future where if you can accurately throw a short to mid-range crossing route you're golden.

The last few years have produced an unusually large number of average and better than average qbs, with few busts. If this trend continues we will have a surplus, which "should" reduce their value, which "should" reduce the size of their contacts.

[red]

we have 2 first round picks

and need 2 starting OLBs (or pass rushers if we switch Ds), 2 starting safeties, a new starting RT, maybe another starting guard, a starting TE (if the new head coach can figure out how to use those pesky guys), and another top notch player for the d-line to add to the rotation

oh and we still might need another WR if we finally dump cobb

so no problem

[Bretsky]

we have 2 first round picks

and need 2 starting OLBs (or pass rushers if we switch Ds), 2 starting safeties, a new starting RT, maybe another starting guard, a starting TE (if the new head coach can figure out how to use those pesky guys), and another top notch player for the d-line to add to the rotation

oh and we still might need another WR if we finally dump cobb

so no problem

F'ck

you are pretty much right.

I did like Harvey's dream offseason and it started with signing Golden Tate and a starting OG

[wist43]

I agree with the tank sentiment. Fuck it. We need two pass rushers. Have to let Matthews go and cut Perry.

We've needed pass rushers forever!!!

Even when a team has good pass rushers - you know what they need next?? More pass rushers!!!

Every draft, year after year, the first position I'm focusing on is DE, Edge, and OLB - however you want to define them, i.e. pass rushers. The next position I look at is DT, with an emphasis on pass rush.

The Packers have spit on building a dynamic front seven for years, and it's caught up to them. They have a weak defense overall, and they've been trying (and failing) to build a competent back end, all the while completely ignoring the front seven.

[beveaux1]

F'ck

you are pretty much right.

I did like Harvey's dream offseason and it started with signing Golden Tate and a starting OG

Why would we want Golden Tate. He’ll be a 31 year old WR that couldn’t start for the Eagles and this year averages less than 10 yards a catch when he plays. That’s the very definition of an aging, slow WR. Isn’t that what Cobb gives you.

[Bretsky]

Why would we want Golden Tate. He’ll be a 31 year old WR that couldn’t start for the Eagles and this year averages less than 10 yards a catch when he plays. That’s the very definition of an aging, slow WR. Isn’t that what Cobb gives you.

Golden Tate is better than Cobb and gives us a decent #2 while the young guys develop

[pbmax]

Is Tate really no longer starting?

[beveaux1]

Is Tate really no longer starting?

That’s been the talk in Philadelphia. He’s got Cobb numbers since the trade.

[beveaux1]

If we sign him or someone like him, we still need to draft a high round WR to develop. MVS and St. Brown have hit the wall. Together, they’re averaging less than 3 catches a game for the past 5 games. They might be closer to Janis and Davis in terms of potential development.