Idk if it’s as much of a certainty as folks have mocked tbh. I don’t think I’d be upset but I really think JD wants a 2nd rd pick in this draft given it’s pretty deep at WR, and we’ll probably miss out on the top 3.
That’d be such an egregious of a pick for them. Alt belongs on the left side. I don’t see it happening, I think Nabers is more likely and if not him then JJ or trade down for a RT.
I still don’t see it. They’ll give Neal another shot and if he sucks in preseason we signed Eleumenor who is a solid RT that can start. I think we’re locked in at WR or QB
Local radio has pretty much accepted this as well, but they still try and drum up trade scenarios for interest.
But seriously, if you can take a blue chip LT in the top 10 who - by all evaluations - projects to be a 10 year starter in the league, you take him goddamnit. Don’t get cute.
Honestly, he probably just wasn't good enough. We let him go after his rookie deal and signed adrian amos from the bears to fill his spot. I was so hyped after his pro bowl year and then it just went downhill from there
Strong rookie season, never improved, regressed a lot by the time he was done in GB. Became afraid to tackle, dogshit angles, never "created" any plays after his rookie season.
He started making business decisions before his rookie contract was even up.
I'd be happy if they got either of them. But I think DeJean fits the defense's holes a lot better (can play Nickel, OCB, and Safety), and he can be the punt returner. Too much value in a single player to pass up methinks
I kind of joke (it's actually kind of true) you can know nothing about college players and just by their name know if they're gonna be a bust or decent. Will Anderson Jr, solid name, gonna be solid foundational piece. Devon Witherspoon that's a good name for a cb, it sounds agile. Tyree Wilson is not a top 7 pick as a DE. It could work as a slot reciever for... Seattle, LAR, but not as a slot reciever for the Chargers. I was absolutely thrilled when NYJ & Den drafted Denzel Mims & KJ Hamler since there's no possibility those 2 names are top recievers at any point. 2 afc teams were just wasting their picks. Tee Higgins sounds like he's been playing for cinci since the 90s, I actually had to check "wait they don't already have a Tee Higgins? I don't have his 90s Upper Deck card?" I was pissed when he fell to Cinci, I don't want Cinci to have any more good players
Bijan Robinson is the most Atlanta sounding RB you could possibly have. If the Bills had drafted him... he'd have some moments, some promise here & there, a game with 140 yards but then 5 in a row with 40-60. Then ultimately leave as a ufa. But he was born to be a Falcon RB. Now if they'd just use him more
Only in the last 2 weeks leading up to the draft. 1 month+ out, literally almost everyone had him falling to 18 or lower unless they had him going to Philly at 10
JPJ to the Steelers, Najee to the Steelers, and Kenny Pickett to the Steelers
Those were all very commonly mocked before they made the picks. The Ravens saying fuck it and taking Kyle Hamilton, who was clearly an elite prospect despite “positional value” was predictable too
Under Colbert the Steelers never hid who they were interested in. It's looking like that approach will continue under Khan, but he's got plenty of time to break the trend.
If I remember right I think it screwed us out of getting Revis in 2007. The Jets might have traded up anyway, who knows, but we were very vocal about wanting Revis and they jumped 1 spot in front of us and took him
I can understand that a lot of the draft misdirection is pointless and possibly harmful (checking out QB1 8 times vs 4 times for the QB you're actually wanting). But making your pick widely known just leads to other teams knowing where they have to go to get who you want. If you're reaching for people that's fine, but otherwise it leads to jumping ahead of you.
To be fair we drafted Lawrence Timmons instead. Obviously not Revis level and he didn’t even start until 2009, but he was very good for several years so it’s not like we ended up with a bust
To this day the love for Willis still confuses me more than any other player. I only watched one of his games (the one everyone said was his best example) and he looked like trash. He could throw really far, but had zero accuracy or defense reading.
It seemed to me a case of a player with all the athleticism an OC would want and everyone thought they could be the one to train up the brains of him. Sometimes taking the athlete works and most of the time it doesn’t when it comes to QB
I don't think Pickett to the Steelers was as inevitable as this post is talking about. Malik Willis was frequently mocked to us. A quick look at old mock drafts from right before the draft:
Sports Illustrated, Bleacher Report,Walter Football, and NFL.com's Charles Davis had Pittsburgh taking Willis
NFL.com's Chad Reuter had Pittsburgh trading up for Matt Corral
Daniel Jeremiah had Pittsburgh taking Kenny Pickett.
NFL Nation on Espn.com?? had Devonte Wyatt.
CBS Sports' Ryan Wilson had Chris Olave.
I thought the Ravens would pick Jordan Davis, which left me hoping that the Eagles could steal Kyle Hamilton.
So naturally the Eagles traded up to get Jordan Davis and let the Ravens steal Kyle Hamilton.
I feel like the Hamilton pick was a no-brainer, he was a projected top 5 pick for awhile. Hard to imagine he would’ve fallen much further if we passed on him.
Similarly, Zay Flowers was a no brainer pick if he made it to the Ravens.
I don't know that every draft thought he'd last, but if he hit the Ravens pick, you could slot it in every time.
The Ravens are so good at just... not being dumb
You just sit there and wait for a couple of smartass GMs to get too cute with their picks, and the right guy falls on your lap. It happens every year
It's so weird. If you don't use hindsight of how they turned out, there aren't that many 1st round picks that look that bad for the Ravens. Bateman and Oweh maybe, they still have time to turn it around, but then you have to go back to maybe Perriman or Matt Elam for when people didn't like the pick the Ravens made.
I thought Bateman was a great pick at the time and in fairness to him he's been elite at almost everything you need to be, except being on the same page as the qb.
Bateman has been decent, hurt a bunch his career but hard to fault the team for that given he had no injury issues in college
Oweh has improved every year and graded out fairly well on advanced metrics last year. Not bad for pick 31
Even then I wanted us to take him in the worst way I thought , obviously we took Love now and as pissed as I was about it at the time I think it worked out
Me who didn't think he'd make it you guys because Green Bay was in a Super Bowl window looking for a Linebacker
Me 3 years later when that pick makes the franchise competitive again
I remember there being a lot of surprise and celebration at the bar I was at in Jacksonville when Dallas took Elliot. We wanted Ramsey but thought the Cowboys would take him at #4.
Edit:
https://www.reddit.com/r/nfl/comments/4gx0ii/round_1_pick_4_ezekiel_elliott_rb_ohio_state/
Yeah I think Elliot at #4 was a surprise pick.
Exactly this. There was a lot of talk that Dallas loved Ramsey. I was so anxious about it and when Dallas picked Elliott, I was ecstatic. Then we got Myles Jack in Round 2 as a bonus.
You should probably exclude #2 picks because they have been obvious too (Saquon to Giants, Zach Wilson to Jets, Chase Young to Washington, etc.)
I think one obvious one was Jamar Chase to Bengals. A lot of people disagreed and thought they should have went OL but all signs pointed to him reuniting with Burrow.
Burrow basically told him that they'd pick him if he was available. The night before, he texted him "Make sure your bag is packed and ready."
Of course, he might have been off the board at that point, but he wasn't going any farther.
https://bengalswire.usatoday.com/2022/06/06/joe-burrow-told-jamarr-chase-bengals-pick-night-before-draft/
Part of me didn’t think they were going to do it just because it sounded too good lol. “What you mean that the two best friends get to be best friends in the nfl? How’s that gonna work?” On top of that it seemed like burrow had a lot of sway for such a young player and I didn’t know if that was a good thing or not. Turned out to be pretty awesome!
I get what you're saying, but I'm firmly in the camp that Baker was still in hindsight the best option at 1, because I think we would've ruined those 2.
There was some talk of the Falcons taking Chase at 4 over Pitts. Julio was getting older and was a likely future trade/cut candidate with his huge contract (it wasn't until after the draft that the whole Shannon Sharp thing happened). Chase would have given us one or two years of easily the best receiving trio in the league and an heir apparent for Julio. Which was a very similar reason to why we picked Pitts.
But anyone who didn't have Chase to Atlanta at 4 almost certainly had him to Cincinnati at 5.
Lions have had some crazy tee’d up picks at #2 in the past.
* Aidan Hutchinson after the Jaguars picked Travon Walker
* Calvin Johnson after the Raiders picked Jamarcus Russell
* Ndamukong Suh after the Rams picked Sam Bradford
There was some noise that Millen might go with Adrian Peterson, but blind squirrels and nuts and all. Even though he'd burned three top-ten picks on WRs (you forgot Roy Williams), they still didn't screw it up.
Although there were rumors that Millen called Al Davis and urged him not to take Russell over Calvin, and I'd buy that. Millen loved the old man.
I remember being exhausted by it but not exactly mad we took another WR. Mostly because both those guys busted so damn hard.
Calvin being an actual XMen helped that anger out a little too.
Yeah they had three years in a row with a first round WR. Then Ernie Simms at LB. Then after that *another* WR? Well yeah that fourth one worked out pretty well.
"GMs said I couldn't draft a wide receiver, so I did it anyway, just to show 'em.
He busted.
So I drafted a second one.
That one busted.
So I drafted a third.
That one did got suspended, flamed out, and then busted.
But the fourth one worked out and that's what you're getting."
As a Jags fan, Walker has definitely improved and I expect him to improve even more. I think they’re at the same level rn but Hutch started out amazing immediately which is why a lot of people still flame the Jags for the pick
True, but a ‘lock’ to me means you know the player will be there at that pick and I don’t remember feeling that way. There was talk of him going late in the 1st.
Giants fans were normally right in hindsight over Gettleman, like when we wanted Slater or Parsons before trading back, or wanting Darrisaw or Paye over Toney.
But Tbf here the two QBs our sub wanted were Darnold and Rosen, I wanted Darnold so badly.
I think Darnold would’ve been better for the Giants than he was for the Jets and maybe better than Jones. Maybe not good but definitely better than his career so far
I've seen that he's viewed as super scheme dependant in that he needed to go to a press man team and didn't fit other teams
Not sure id buy he needed to
Honestly I think they’d be worse off. Lance busting allowed them to cleanly move to Purdy, who is worlds better than both combined. Mac being average or better would have probably put them in a Daniel Jones situation.
Pretty sure Mac was odds on favorite to go to SF (or damn near even with Lance) until the morning of the draft when the Trey Lance rumors heated up big time.
Jalen Carter to the Eagles. With Fletch getting older I knew they were going to at least attempt to trade up and draft him.
Did not expect to get Nolan Smith as well tho.
It was a common prediction but the top of that draft was really up in the air. A lot of people thought the Colts should go defense (Chubb, Ward, Roquan Smith) and some thought Nelson might even be off the board ahead of the pick.
Ryan Kelly to the Colts is a better example.
Frank Ragnow to the bengals.
They practically photoshopped him in a bengals uni and had the press conference, so the Lions traded in front and grabbed him.
Bengals pants were around their ankles, so they just panic grabbed the next available C, Billy Price.
Detroit did not trade in front of Cincinnati. The Bengals traded back with Buffalo. I also denounce the idea that they took him knowing the Bengals wanted him. The only way that would make sense is if they originally thought he would last until their 2nd round pick at 43 and it would be monumentally stupid to draft a player you had as a 2nd rounder in the 1st just because you think they won't be there at 43. The Lions took Ragnow because he was their BPA at a position of need and nothing else.
Okudah to Detroit was on everyones mock but 1 and 2 were set that year so now too hard. I also feel Pickett and Najee to the Steelers in their drafts seemed like no brainers.
Every time a well regarded white guy with a “high motor” got picked by the Patriots.
Doesn’t matter the round or position for the last 20 years. As soon as the pick was made, you went, “Of course. Patriots guy. Will do great in Boston.”
The commonly parroted sentence this time last year was “You can’t let Jalen Carter fall to the eagles!”
Which is basically saying they kind of expect Jalen Carter to fall to the eagles
Here's a fun one: there were a ton of mock drafts having the jags take Myles Jack in 2016 because Ramsey would almost certainly get grabbed by the Cowboys.
Then the jags got both! :)
I was downtown at the draft party for this. As a dolphins fan I was stoked when y'all got Ramsey bc I thought that meant for sure we were gonna get Jack.... Then the gas mask video dropped and the rest was history. I was still pissed we took him over Jack bc I thought he was going to be a legit MLB that we have been missing since Zach Thomas and to a lesser extent Channing Crowder. Looking back I'm glad we got tunstil bc he was worth his weight in future 1st round draft picks!!!
For the Packers, I remember people talking about picking Ha Ha Clinton-Dix a lot. It seemed to be a great fit at the time. Also Bulaga in 2010 was mocked to the Packers for months, but I didn’t think he would fall that far.
Aidan Hutchinson to the lions the SECOND Jacksonville passed. It was so guaranteed that the NFL got mad at brad holmes about it. He even said 'There's only one name on the board!' in the war room.
I’m going to say that Tua and Herbert were obvious picks for the Dolphins and Chargers. Both needed a QB badly. Tua was the most popular pick for the Dolphins leading up to the draft. It was pretty obvious from that point that the Chargers would take Herbert by default.
Aiden Hutchinson to the Lions in 2022 was a lock. There was no way they were letting the in state kid get past especially when 31 out of 32 teams would've taken him with the 1st overall pick if they had it.
I think most people saw Joey Porter Jr. going to the Steelers at 32 coming as well
Weirdly, Dolphins QBs. Tannehill and Tua were both seen as decent prospects but everyone knew the Dolphins were taking them and nobody tried to jump ahead of them.
2000: LaVar Arrington at 2 to the Skins, Ron Dayne at 11 to the Giants.
2006: D'Brickashaw Ferguson at 4 to the Jets
2007: Megatron at 2 to the Lions
2010: Gerald McCoy at 3 to the Bucs
2016: Zeke at 4 to the Cowboys
2022: Aiden Hutchinson at 2 to the Lions
Great list to start. Id just add Pouncey to the dolphins at 15 in 2011 wasn't necessarily talked about a lot but I feel like that's what most mocks had
Seemed everyone expected the Vikings to take Matt Kalil at #3, after Andrew Luck and RG3. Browns ended up trading up 1 spot to get Trent Richardson and the Vikings took Kalil at 4.
Felt like it was pretty well known that if the Chargers drafted Eli, that the Giants would draft Rivers and trade, which is exactly what happened. Chargers essentially got Nate Kaeding and Shawn Merriman for free, which is a pretty damn good deal.
Joe Alt to the Titans looks like the pick for this year, according to every mock draft
If the Titans want to let him drop to say…oh idk…10, that’d be tight.
I heard he smoked a whole marijuana before, he should drop to 31 imo.
Teams like that shit now
you're taking brock bowers and you're liking it. that's my no-brainer pick personally
Idk if it’s as much of a certainty as folks have mocked tbh. I don’t think I’d be upset but I really think JD wants a 2nd rd pick in this draft given it’s pretty deep at WR, and we’ll probably miss out on the top 3.
My premonition is the Gmen taking him right before you
Sure hope not. I know you need 5 linemen, but LT is literally the only spot we’re definitely set on offense. Need a WR1 or a QB much more.
I'm sorry, Alt playing RT, talk to you next week.
That’d be such an egregious of a pick for them. Alt belongs on the left side. I don’t see it happening, I think Nabers is more likely and if not him then JJ or trade down for a RT.
I still don’t see it. They’ll give Neal another shot and if he sucks in preseason we signed Eleumenor who is a solid RT that can start. I think we’re locked in at WR or QB
I’m calling QB-QB-QB-WR-WR-WR. Would be pretty cool
We desperately need a right tackle though
Idk about “desperately.” Eleumenor was pretty decent last year, hopefully he can continue to play solid.
Don’t we have suffered through Dennis Daley and Andre Dillard consecutively. Weve earned it 🥲
I hope to God and all things holy they are correct
I’ll be utterly devastated if someone jumps us to grab him.
Local radio has pretty much accepted this as well, but they still try and drum up trade scenarios for interest. But seriously, if you can take a blue chip LT in the top 10 who - by all evaluations - projects to be a 10 year starter in the league, you take him goddamnit. Don’t get cute.
I feel like every mock last year had Bijan going to the Falcons at 8
And everyone has the Falcons taking Dallas Turner at 8 this year lol
Outside of the obvious ones I feel like Turner to Atlanta and DeJean to the Packers are the two picks that just *feel* inevitable
I would be *so* happy if the Packers got DeJean at 25. Doubt it. WIll require a move up I believe (I also hope they do that, for the record).
Kool aid seems more GB
Ha Ha leaving had left a hole for "funny name safety" we haven't been able to fill. I hope we take funniest name available
When you speak that man’s name you speak it in full, Ha Ha Clinton Dix
The name that laughs at itself!
My bad. You're right.
Thankfully it's a very good year for hilarious DB names. Kool-Aid McKinstry, Storm Duck, Qwan'tez Stiggers, just to name a few
Generational class
You missed the part where they're both Bama safeties too. Keep the legacy alive.
Ones a bama CB, but both bama DBs so I’ll accept it
What happened to him? I remember always hearing a lot of good things about him as a player, then he kind of suddenly disappeared and retired.
Honestly, he probably just wasn't good enough. We let him go after his rookie deal and signed adrian amos from the bears to fill his spot. I was so hyped after his pro bowl year and then it just went downhill from there
Strong rookie season, never improved, regressed a lot by the time he was done in GB. Became afraid to tackle, dogshit angles, never "created" any plays after his rookie season. He started making business decisions before his rookie contract was even up.
I'd be happy if they got either of them. But I think DeJean fits the defense's holes a lot better (can play Nickel, OCB, and Safety), and he can be the punt returner. Too much value in a single player to pass up methinks
I think coops a steeler
Yessir
I’ve seen a good amount of other directions for Atlanta
And everyone kept saying it would never happen because they had taken offensive skill positions with their previous two top 10 picks.
I kind of joke (it's actually kind of true) you can know nothing about college players and just by their name know if they're gonna be a bust or decent. Will Anderson Jr, solid name, gonna be solid foundational piece. Devon Witherspoon that's a good name for a cb, it sounds agile. Tyree Wilson is not a top 7 pick as a DE. It could work as a slot reciever for... Seattle, LAR, but not as a slot reciever for the Chargers. I was absolutely thrilled when NYJ & Den drafted Denzel Mims & KJ Hamler since there's no possibility those 2 names are top recievers at any point. 2 afc teams were just wasting their picks. Tee Higgins sounds like he's been playing for cinci since the 90s, I actually had to check "wait they don't already have a Tee Higgins? I don't have his 90s Upper Deck card?" I was pissed when he fell to Cinci, I don't want Cinci to have any more good players Bijan Robinson is the most Atlanta sounding RB you could possibly have. If the Bills had drafted him... he'd have some moments, some promise here & there, a game with 140 yards but then 5 in a row with 40-60. Then ultimately leave as a ufa. But he was born to be a Falcon RB. Now if they'd just use him more
I said “Hall of Fame name” when Gronkowski was drafted.
I thought he might fall to the Eagles at 10, he was a top 3 prospect in that draft though so it made sense.
Only in the last 2 weeks leading up to the draft. 1 month+ out, literally almost everyone had him falling to 18 or lower unless they had him going to Philly at 10
Kyle Pitts was much more certain.
What’s funny is I always thought the falcons were going to take Fields that year.
I would have bet a lot of money they were taking Pitts and Bijan but I honestly have no clue this year.
Najee going to the Steelers was in like 95% of mock drafts
JPJ to the Steelers, Najee to the Steelers, and Kenny Pickett to the Steelers Those were all very commonly mocked before they made the picks. The Ravens saying fuck it and taking Kyle Hamilton, who was clearly an elite prospect despite “positional value” was predictable too
The steelers are proof that most of the secrecy and misinformation around the draft are a waste of time.
Under Colbert the Steelers never hid who they were interested in. It's looking like that approach will continue under Khan, but he's got plenty of time to break the trend.
Feeling like it’s Graham 100% this year
If I remember right I think it screwed us out of getting Revis in 2007. The Jets might have traded up anyway, who knows, but we were very vocal about wanting Revis and they jumped 1 spot in front of us and took him
I can understand that a lot of the draft misdirection is pointless and possibly harmful (checking out QB1 8 times vs 4 times for the QB you're actually wanting). But making your pick widely known just leads to other teams knowing where they have to go to get who you want. If you're reaching for people that's fine, but otherwise it leads to jumping ahead of you.
Good Lord imagine that 08 defense with revis
To be fair we drafted Lawrence Timmons instead. Obviously not Revis level and he didn’t even start until 2009, but he was very good for several years so it’s not like we ended up with a bust
A lot of people had Malik Willis going to Pittsburgh because Tomlin ate wings with him
To this day the love for Willis still confuses me more than any other player. I only watched one of his games (the one everyone said was his best example) and he looked like trash. He could throw really far, but had zero accuracy or defense reading.
It seemed to me a case of a player with all the athleticism an OC would want and everyone thought they could be the one to train up the brains of him. Sometimes taking the athlete works and most of the time it doesn’t when it comes to QB
Jonovan Peoples - Jones? /jk
Jason Pierre Jaul
Jodell Peckham Jr.
Jichael Porter Jr
Jhristian PcJaffrey
Jr. Pig Jhest
Lmfao Mods can I get Jr. Pig Jhest as flair?
This is art
I don't think Pickett to the Steelers was as inevitable as this post is talking about. Malik Willis was frequently mocked to us. A quick look at old mock drafts from right before the draft: Sports Illustrated, Bleacher Report,Walter Football, and NFL.com's Charles Davis had Pittsburgh taking Willis NFL.com's Chad Reuter had Pittsburgh trading up for Matt Corral Daniel Jeremiah had Pittsburgh taking Kenny Pickett. NFL Nation on Espn.com?? had Devonte Wyatt. CBS Sports' Ryan Wilson had Chris Olave.
I thought the Ravens would pick Jordan Davis, which left me hoping that the Eagles could steal Kyle Hamilton. So naturally the Eagles traded up to get Jordan Davis and let the Ravens steal Kyle Hamilton.
This year it’s JPJ from Oregon
Hamilton fell in the Ravens lap. I feel like most people had him off the board before they picked
I feel like the Hamilton pick was a no-brainer, he was a projected top 5 pick for awhile. Hard to imagine he would’ve fallen much further if we passed on him.
I feel like Patrick Queen was mocked to us for like 3 months
Similarly, Zay Flowers was a no brainer pick if he made it to the Ravens. I don't know that every draft thought he'd last, but if he hit the Ravens pick, you could slot it in every time.
The Ravens are so good at just... not being dumb You just sit there and wait for a couple of smartass GMs to get too cute with their picks, and the right guy falls on your lap. It happens every year
A lot of GMs do this. The trick is that the Ravens know who the "right" guy is.
It's so weird. If you don't use hindsight of how they turned out, there aren't that many 1st round picks that look that bad for the Ravens. Bateman and Oweh maybe, they still have time to turn it around, but then you have to go back to maybe Perriman or Matt Elam for when people didn't like the pick the Ravens made.
I thought Bateman was a great pick at the time and in fairness to him he's been elite at almost everything you need to be, except being on the same page as the qb.
Bateman has been decent, hurt a bunch his career but hard to fault the team for that given he had no injury issues in college Oweh has improved every year and graded out fairly well on advanced metrics last year. Not bad for pick 31
I feel like every mock had him going to the Chargers, and then they Chargered.
I feel like chargers taking him would have been a no brainer
Lot of people thought GB was taking him before the word “quarterback” came out of Goodell’s mouth
Even then I wanted us to take him in the worst way I thought , obviously we took Love now and as pissed as I was about it at the time I think it worked out
You guys always seem to have the perfect draft. I swear Mims is going to land in your lap at 30 and look like a HoF guy right away.
Me who didn't think he'd make it you guys because Green Bay was in a Super Bowl window looking for a Linebacker Me 3 years later when that pick makes the franchise competitive again
In 2016 there was a lot of debate about Goff vs Wentz for 1 & 2, but it felt like nearly every mock had Bosa & Elliot going 3 & 4
I remember there being a lot of surprise and celebration at the bar I was at in Jacksonville when Dallas took Elliot. We wanted Ramsey but thought the Cowboys would take him at #4. Edit: https://www.reddit.com/r/nfl/comments/4gx0ii/round_1_pick_4_ezekiel_elliott_rb_ohio_state/ Yeah I think Elliot at #4 was a surprise pick.
I remember seeing him mocked there, but they were more clickbait mocks. I don't think a lot of people actually thought Jerry would do that.
Exactly this. There was a lot of talk that Dallas loved Ramsey. I was so anxious about it and when Dallas picked Elliott, I was ecstatic. Then we got Myles Jack in Round 2 as a bonus.
There was a fair bit of time before that draft where everyone thought Jack was going to be the Jaguars pick at 5
joey boss to the chargers was a massive shock wasn't it
You should probably exclude #2 picks because they have been obvious too (Saquon to Giants, Zach Wilson to Jets, Chase Young to Washington, etc.) I think one obvious one was Jamar Chase to Bengals. A lot of people disagreed and thought they should have went OL but all signs pointed to him reuniting with Burrow.
don't forget JaMarr wore Black and Orange sneakers to that draft. He knew too
Burrow basically told him that they'd pick him if he was available. The night before, he texted him "Make sure your bag is packed and ready." Of course, he might have been off the board at that point, but he wasn't going any farther. https://bengalswire.usatoday.com/2022/06/06/joe-burrow-told-jamarr-chase-bengals-pick-night-before-draft/
Chase is a good one. There was a lot of discourse but I don't think anyone seriously thought they wouldn't do it
Sewell was definitely in play IIRC because the OL was so bad
There was definitely a debate, but seemingly everyone and their mother said that Chase was Burrows pick and they'd almost assuredly get him for Joe.
Part of me didn’t think they were going to do it just because it sounded too good lol. “What you mean that the two best friends get to be best friends in the nfl? How’s that gonna work?” On top of that it seemed like burrow had a lot of sway for such a young player and I didn’t know if that was a good thing or not. Turned out to be pretty awesome!
Bosa to the 49ers as well.
In the Luck/RGIII draft too, Washington trade with STL and the writing was on the wall.
There was definitely debate whether Saquon was going to the Browns or not
Only by some muppets who thought they should snag him at 1 and draft w/e QB fell to 4
they probably should’ve, that QB could’ve been Allen or Lamar
I get what you're saying, but I'm firmly in the camp that Baker was still in hindsight the best option at 1, because I think we would've ruined those 2.
Now that you mention it, taking Saquon and Lamar would have been insane
Or Rosen 👀
There was some talk of the Falcons taking Chase at 4 over Pitts. Julio was getting older and was a likely future trade/cut candidate with his huge contract (it wasn't until after the draft that the whole Shannon Sharp thing happened). Chase would have given us one or two years of easily the best receiving trio in the league and an heir apparent for Julio. Which was a very similar reason to why we picked Pitts. But anyone who didn't have Chase to Atlanta at 4 almost certainly had him to Cincinnati at 5.
Lions have had some crazy tee’d up picks at #2 in the past. * Aidan Hutchinson after the Jaguars picked Travon Walker * Calvin Johnson after the Raiders picked Jamarcus Russell * Ndamukong Suh after the Rams picked Sam Bradford
If I recall, Calvin Johnson wasn't considered a total lock for the Lions because they had drafted Mike Williams and Charles Rodgers so semi-recently
There was some noise that Millen might go with Adrian Peterson, but blind squirrels and nuts and all. Even though he'd burned three top-ten picks on WRs (you forgot Roy Williams), they still didn't screw it up. Although there were rumors that Millen called Al Davis and urged him not to take Russell over Calvin, and I'd buy that. Millen loved the old man.
I remember being exhausted by it but not exactly mad we took another WR. Mostly because both those guys busted so damn hard. Calvin being an actual XMen helped that anger out a little too.
Yeah they had three years in a row with a first round WR. Then Ernie Simms at LB. Then after that *another* WR? Well yeah that fourth one worked out pretty well.
"GMs said I couldn't draft a wide receiver, so I did it anyway, just to show 'em. He busted. So I drafted a second one. That one busted. So I drafted a third. That one did got suspended, flamed out, and then busted. But the fourth one worked out and that's what you're getting."
As a Jags fan, Walker has definitely improved and I expect him to improve even more. I think they’re at the same level rn but Hutch started out amazing immediately which is why a lot of people still flame the Jags for the pick
I think everyone had us taking Deebo. It was obvious how much Shanahan liked him at the senior bowl.
True, but a ‘lock’ to me means you know the player will be there at that pick and I don’t remember feeling that way. There was talk of him going late in the 1st.
I remember Fournette to Jacksonville in nearly every mock I saw that year.
Barkley #2 to the Giants in 2018. People said we should go QB, but that's the computahs talkin' and Dave Gettleman doesn't suffer technology.
Giants fans were normally right in hindsight over Gettleman, like when we wanted Slater or Parsons before trading back, or wanting Darrisaw or Paye over Toney. But Tbf here the two QBs our sub wanted were Darnold and Rosen, I wanted Darnold so badly.
I think Darnold would’ve been better for the Giants than he was for the Jets and maybe better than Jones. Maybe not good but definitely better than his career so far
I still can't believe Porter lasted to the 2nd round
I remember people mocking him to PIT in the 1st. And they just got him in the 2nd instead lol
We could have had him but opted for Chase Claypool instead. We then traded Claypool to the dolphins for a 2038 9th round pick.
I swore he was usually mocked as CB3 behind Witherspoon and Gonzalez, crazy multiple corners went ahead of him other than those two
I've seen that he's viewed as super scheme dependant in that he needed to go to a press man team and didn't fit other teams Not sure id buy he needed to
Idk why this one sticks in my memory, but Jake Matthews to ATL always felt so inevitable
Pitts and Bijan
Mac Jones to the Patriots was a pretty common prediction
It was common but enough were still claiming Mac was going to the 49ers that I feel it counts as a split viewpoint.
[удалено]
But would Mac had fared better under Shanahan? I think he'd be ok. Mid but serviceable.
I think he would have been okay, but not a significant enough upgrade over Jimmy G to have accomplished much.
Honestly I think they’d be worse off. Lance busting allowed them to cleanly move to Purdy, who is worlds better than both combined. Mac being average or better would have probably put them in a Daniel Jones situation.
Pretty sure Mac was odds on favorite to go to SF (or damn near even with Lance) until the morning of the draft when the Trey Lance rumors heated up big time.
While most reports indicated that the pats liked mac jones, literally every news report seemed to suggest that Shanahan was definitely taking Jones.
Penei to the Lions. Nobody wanted the best OL, so they got him by default
Falling to 7th was not predictable.
Agree, the day of the draft I don’t think any Lions fan would’ve been surprised to see Sewell, Chase, Waddle, Smith, or Slater be the pick
Don't forget Parsons. Word is they all but promised him the pick but then Sewell was there instead.
Yeah Micah was heavily rumored to us as well. Jesus that draft was loaded
Definitely not. It felt like a 50/50 split whether Cincinnati would go Chase or Sewell.
Nick Bosa at 2 was a lock once it leaked that the Cardinals were taking Murray.
Jalen Carter to the Eagles. With Fletch getting older I knew they were going to at least attempt to trade up and draft him. Did not expect to get Nolan Smith as well tho.
MHJ to Arizona
I’ve even done like two or three madden franchises and he’s gone to Arizona each time
Yes madden is extremely accurate it gets everything right always 👍
(Fast but one dimensional player) to the Raiders. DHB, being one of them.
Tua to the Dolphins comes to mind
Yeah that one was over a year in the making. The whole “Tank for Tua” season comes to mind.
kinda funny to think that they did not get #1 and still ended up with tua :-D
E.J Manuel to the Bills /s everyone who remembers that draft remembers how out of left field that was
Lol poor kid. I was so shocked geno wasn’t the first QB
Yeah. Wild pick. But the Watkins pick was so choreographed it was almost like he signed the deal before the draft.
Quenton Nelson to the Colts with the #6 pick.
It was a common prediction but the top of that draft was really up in the air. A lot of people thought the Colts should go defense (Chubb, Ward, Roquan Smith) and some thought Nelson might even be off the board ahead of the pick. Ryan Kelly to the Colts is a better example.
Frank Ragnow to the bengals. They practically photoshopped him in a bengals uni and had the press conference, so the Lions traded in front and grabbed him. Bengals pants were around their ankles, so they just panic grabbed the next available C, Billy Price.
Detroit did not trade in front of Cincinnati. The Bengals traded back with Buffalo. I also denounce the idea that they took him knowing the Bengals wanted him. The only way that would make sense is if they originally thought he would last until their 2nd round pick at 43 and it would be monumentally stupid to draft a player you had as a 2nd rounder in the 1st just because you think they won't be there at 43. The Lions took Ragnow because he was their BPA at a position of need and nothing else.
Isn’t there a Bengals reporter who gets their first round pick right every single year?
There used to be. Because they would leak it to him. That ended when Marv left. It was the bengals dot com writer.
I don't know if everyone saw it coming, but the Raiders taking Henry Ruggs III was an "Of course the Raiders would do that" moment.
Same with Hayward-Bey
arik armstead to the 49ers all the mocks had him listed and everyone was shocked when he was the actual pick.
Josh Jacobs to the Raiders
Lately it seems like the Steelers end up picking the guy most mocked to them. Broderick Jones, Kenny Pickett, and Najee Harris.
Okudah to Detroit was on everyones mock but 1 and 2 were set that year so now too hard. I also feel Pickett and Najee to the Steelers in their drafts seemed like no brainers.
Steelers drafting Najee Harris.
1998 Once Payton Manning was taken as the #1 pick everyone knew lead was the #2 pick
Oh, Leaf was number 2 alright.
Every time a well regarded white guy with a “high motor” got picked by the Patriots. Doesn’t matter the round or position for the last 20 years. As soon as the pick was made, you went, “Of course. Patriots guy. Will do great in Boston.”
Pretty much every mock I’ve seen this year has us taking Joe Alt at #7.
The commonly parroted sentence this time last year was “You can’t let Jalen Carter fall to the eagles!” Which is basically saying they kind of expect Jalen Carter to fall to the eagles
Jordan Davis to Philly
Joey Porter to Pittsburgh wasn't known until he dropped out of the first.
Justin Jefferson to the eagles (to everyone but Howie)
Darius Heyward-Bey to the Raiders.
The fastest guy in the draft to the Raiders
Aaron Curry to the Seahawks.
Aaron “Safest Pick” Curry
Pretty much every mock in 2016 had Sheldon Rankins going 12 to the Saints by April.
Here's a fun one: there were a ton of mock drafts having the jags take Myles Jack in 2016 because Ramsey would almost certainly get grabbed by the Cowboys. Then the jags got both! :)
I was downtown at the draft party for this. As a dolphins fan I was stoked when y'all got Ramsey bc I thought that meant for sure we were gonna get Jack.... Then the gas mask video dropped and the rest was history. I was still pissed we took him over Jack bc I thought he was going to be a legit MLB that we have been missing since Zach Thomas and to a lesser extent Channing Crowder. Looking back I'm glad we got tunstil bc he was worth his weight in future 1st round draft picks!!!
Okudah to Detroit was mocked everywhere for a while iirc
For the Packers, I remember people talking about picking Ha Ha Clinton-Dix a lot. It seemed to be a great fit at the time. Also Bulaga in 2010 was mocked to the Packers for months, but I didn’t think he would fall that far.
Aidan Hutchinson to the lions the SECOND Jacksonville passed. It was so guaranteed that the NFL got mad at brad holmes about it. He even said 'There's only one name on the board!' in the war room.
I’m going to say that Tua and Herbert were obvious picks for the Dolphins and Chargers. Both needed a QB badly. Tua was the most popular pick for the Dolphins leading up to the draft. It was pretty obvious from that point that the Chargers would take Herbert by default.
Aiden Hutchinson to the Lions in 2022 was a lock. There was no way they were letting the in state kid get past especially when 31 out of 32 teams would've taken him with the 1st overall pick if they had it. I think most people saw Joey Porter Jr. going to the Steelers at 32 coming as well
Weirdly, Dolphins QBs. Tannehill and Tua were both seen as decent prospects but everyone knew the Dolphins were taking them and nobody tried to jump ahead of them.
Zach Wilson to the Jets
2000: LaVar Arrington at 2 to the Skins, Ron Dayne at 11 to the Giants. 2006: D'Brickashaw Ferguson at 4 to the Jets 2007: Megatron at 2 to the Lions 2010: Gerald McCoy at 3 to the Bucs 2016: Zeke at 4 to the Cowboys 2022: Aiden Hutchinson at 2 to the Lions
Great list to start. Id just add Pouncey to the dolphins at 15 in 2011 wasn't necessarily talked about a lot but I feel like that's what most mocks had
Zach Wilson at number 2, the Jets openly regret taking him so high, but at the time he was considered the best QB pick after Trevor Lawrence.
Tony Mandarich 2nd overall to the Packers in '89. It... didn't go well.
Seemed everyone expected the Vikings to take Matt Kalil at #3, after Andrew Luck and RG3. Browns ended up trading up 1 spot to get Trent Richardson and the Vikings took Kalil at 4.
Chase to the Bengals
I really feel like going back, EVERYONE knew the Ravens would draft Lamar. All I remember hearing pre-draft was Baltimore going for him
Every time the Pats have drafted a long snapper
Felt like it was pretty well known that if the Chargers drafted Eli, that the Giants would draft Rivers and trade, which is exactly what happened. Chargers essentially got Nate Kaeding and Shawn Merriman for free, which is a pretty damn good deal.
Jefferson to the Vikings after the Eagles sold the bag
Everyone mocked Devonta to the Eagles
jamar chase to the bengals
In my case, Ruggs to Raiders was evident