AZ54

Ro need to lighten up a bit and get some more flexibility in those hips. He needs these type of drills.

I don't see how his medicals "lose" him a job if he gives them to every team since he's already said he's giving them to only the teams he's interested in? How does a team with no interest in drafting him sway the medical opinions of those who are interested? You can try to sell me on his arrogance, which is your assessment not mine, and ignoring coaching being a positive trait but it's my own personal dislike of working with people like that which, for this old man, isn't going to change. Regardless of your McMahon example, elite arm talent and arrogance didn't work well for Jay Cutler. Cockiness I'm ok with as I view that as a different trait of competitiveness versus the arrogance of putting one self above others.

For a chance to have a $7mil/yr job I'll give my medicals to every team.

Agreed on the roster building at premium positions. You can find good WRs in Rd 1 to Rd 2 in most drafts.

I like Turner a little more than Verse because of his elite quickness and bend. He reminds me a lot of Von Miller and his speed to chase down plays from the backside is outstanding. Verse is outstanding in his own right but is more of a power rusher. So it might depend on what the team wants. Both are really good against the run but Verse with his power is going to hold up better setting the edge. I saw Kollman's breakdown of Verse last night and he said something that was interesting: If you want to run a defense with 2-high safeties, which he said is done 50% of the time in the league, then you need a stout edge who can force run plays back inside. I like Latu a lot as well, he's very technical with his hands and strong. Draft any of these top 3 and we're a much better defense. After them it is slim pickings in this draft. I don't see Chop having the length needed for our scheme as a run defender. He will likely fit in as an OLB in a 3-5 front. As far as draft day strategy it all depends on how the top 8 go but I still prefer to get the DE over the WR (assuming MHJ and Nabors are gone). We can find a very good WR with a 2nd Rd grade in the 3rd Rd. A WR3, with potential to become a WR2 in the future, is all we need right now to complete the starting group. We could use 4th WR to build depth but with no trade down off #1 those wishlist items are becoming just that....wishes.

No clue who this guy is and what his credentials are. By the way if a QB is really smart about knowing his defense sucks he does all he can to make long drives and win time of possession and keep the D off the field. Hero ball hoping for big plays and quick scores is not ideal.

My point was about some of his mannerisms during press conferences. Has nothing to do with coaching acumen.

This is how I see it too. Poles wasn't getting the trade value he wanted for Fields and might have been ok keeping him as insurance poilcy (i.e. massive offer from Raiders). I think his biggest issue is the fact he fleeced the Panthers last year and no team wants to be embarrassed like that this year. Certainly not well ahead of the draft. So nobody was coming to table with the offer he wanted. Then at some point Poles just decided that hanging onto Justin was hindering his negotiation leverage so he had to jettison him. Poles may have been content with the delay and loss in value trading Justin as it allowed him time to perform some due diligence on the QB prospects. That late decision (as opposed to doing this around the combine time before FA), along with giving up a valuable 4th Rd pick makes me think he wants the trade down with Washington. Or he is just completely happy with drafting Williams. I can't see any scenario at this time where he'd trade to #3. On draft day if he wants Daniels and NE wants Maye, or vice versa, then they can hit the dance floor. The only move ahead of the draft is to #2 and that's if Wash commits to who they are drafting. That might be a possibility but I think we wait until draft day and we're on the clock. Or we even draft Williams and keep him, or draft and then trade him.

Blue chip players are what wins Superbowls so you always take one, or two, when you can, and especially at the premium positions. The rest you have to backfill one way (FA) or another (draft next year).

I think Flus is an easy tell just like when he was asked about Getsy late in the season. It seemed clear to me that Getsy was getting fired if Flus was staying. I get the part about Flus being cringy at times. I think he's the type of person that would rather just tell you what he's really thinking and doesn't know how to mask that. Then the nice things he says just come out awkwardly. Poles I'm never sure how to read him other than the fact he always looks like he has a plan and refuses to tell you anything about it.

I don't think we have resources to fill all the gaps. If we are to prioritize for the rookie QB that means the defense has to suffer without a 2nd decent DE, and we have to rely upon Pickens/Dexter to improve as a 3-tech. Or does an elite defense give the rookie his best chance to win games versus relying on a rookie WR?

Sorry had some family in town from Spain so I've been mostly offline the last few days. You have a good perspective on many things. I think you can be confident that everyone wants to read that. I just enjoy the debate, or reading the debates, even when we disagree.

Can we get no clue as an option? At this point in time I have no idea who I think is the best QB in this draft for a variety of reasons. Reasons that are different on each of the top 3. I've got 5 wks to figure it out so I can be disappointed on draft day.

This is a big red flag for me regarding MHJ. I'll just never understand an athlete not wanting to compete. Bowl games and injuries I can understand moreso but we're just talking about running and jumping. Apparently there are rumors that several teams have Nabors as WR1 in this draft. Some of that can be need on individual teams too. None of that matters now since there is almost no way either Nabors or MHJ will be on the board when we draft at 9. In any case I still think the value play is DE at 9. This WR draft is so deep you can get a WR in Rd 3 who has 2nd Rd grade.

I wouldn't leave that out of the realm of possibility.

Does anyone know a body language expert? Those hugs from Poles and especially with Eberflus seemed to me highly indifferent. I'm a little odd in that I look for things like smiles and eye contact, even if brief, to tell if someone is being genuine. I see Poles looking away and maybe just being "professional". Eberflus OTOH didn't look happy at all, more mechanical in his motions. Usually after that I'd expect very brief "something" of an interaction yet Caleb moved on quickly and so did the Bears. Maybe to Phx's point they are just going through a formality with the hugs and not trying to show any cards. I also suspect Phx can vouch there are people in business that can smile and look you in the eye while stabbing you in the back. Probably we've all worked with someone like that one time or another. So maybe this is nothing but people getting ready to go their separate ways. Then later in his interview with Colin Cowherd you still do not see any smile from Williams during any discussion of Chicago. At the 1min mark Cowherd says hey Chicago has some dudes what's it going to be like working with Keenan Allen. Williams first part of the response is IMO somewhat scripted (blessed to be #1 overall pick) but there's no smile when talking about Keenan until he begins discussing their friendship going back for years. At that time I feel like we're seeing the real Caleb. Then go to the 5min mark when Cowherd asks him again about going to Chicago where the fans "care". While he still asking the question Caleb rolls his eyes, then has to bite his lip twice before answering what his vision of playing in Chicago will be like. Again no smiles no immediate reaction just thought out words like he's reading a script. Regardless of the talent assessment it is still my opinion this guy does not want to play in Chicago... at this point in time. I'm not sure we want him either.

I haven't seen anyone refute that Williams has elite pocket awareness. Everything I've seen on numerous breakdowns is just wow, almost 6th sense of what is going on around him. I think he also has elite arm talent with some incredible off-platform throws. However, I also think, as with many elite athletes, that talent gets him into trouble where he gets lax with his mechanics and just reaches around pressure with an off-angle throw. That leads to him missing relatively easy throws at times. It's correctable with some work and he's got the foot quickness to reset. As Kurt Warner said today each of the top QBs needs work on their game if they are going to be an NFL starter. Which makes this a really tough decision.

In part is his big time injury history, but for me the other challenge with him is that he is mostly a line-of-site passer. That works great in many situations, and he's got a nice strong arm, but in games I watched he seemed to struggle when he has to drop the ball in over a defender.

We all have the same facts in the world, yet the world is composed of billions of different opinions. His is just one and he's welcome to it. This is actually why I read this board because people will force me to see things from a different perspective. Some change my mind, others do not. I'm not married to the need for someone to see things my way, I simply accept the differences and see how things play out. So sometimes they are wrong and sometimes I'm wrong, and maybe more often than not I'm wrong. Despite all that, it is still possible to support an argument without declaring a "flaw" in someone else just because you disagree.

open eyes, see football.

The average opinion here is that Williams is generational. I think I’m the only curmudgeon.

I don’t run their computers decisions.

Maybe this is the guy we want? Not the biggest arm but he's the most versatile when you add in his running ability. He's already reading defenses well in SEC (make Jason proud!). When I consider the ability to deal with adversity, ability to be team first he has it as you'll see in his interview.

What luck. I decide to go to PFN to play around with some mocks and trade back to #2. I've been doing this off and on for weeks. For the first time today I get this:

I don't recall saying anything about Caleb's top 30 visit, I don't even know if that's happened yet or not. I don't even know if it was setup with Chicago or was that just an internet rumor spread by someone to make him look bad in Chicago? Painted fingernails, which isn't a big deal IMO because I have a grandson who paints his fingernails, but the need to make that "something" on the internet before a big game is more bothersome for me. I don't have an issue getting in my grandson's face when he's focused on Tik Tok and "likes" so I don't have an issue saying the same about Caleb. Attention seeking and the celebrity stuff when you haven't really done anything is a concern for me. In this modern world that stuff is going to find you anyway, especially in the NFL, but what is it you're working for? Then when things go wrong, and they will, how do you handle that publicity in a big city? His interview at the combine didn't impress me at all. Others thought he was great, I think he's being evasive when he says "it doesn't matter how I feel". He skipped medicals at the combine because.... he's more "special" than everyone else? Does he really want to just be one of the guys on the team? One of the guys on the field during their testing? I don't know how Caleb has no control over his father, that's interesting. If my father went public saying stuff about me and what I want and I didn't like it I'd be telling him, and the public he doesn't speak for me. He has no agent so who do you think he's working with? If he has no agent who has been doing the negotiating for him on his TV commercials? If he's choosing to do all that by himself well then my question is how much focus is he putting on learning the game? I don't like the fact Maye skipped the combine either. If you want to be the first pick go compete! I don't like some of the inaccurate throws he makes within games and I don't like that sometimes he doesn't seem to "see the field". He also sometimes wanders in the pocket closer to pressure. I wasn't hot on either of these guys because I don't see an Andrew Luck type worth #1 overall but now I'm stuck and gotta pick one. The only thing I know is that out of almost every draft there is one long term starter. I have no clue which one that will be. Interceptions: What I've seen on numerous breakdowns of Caleb is that he tends to stay away from the compressed reads where the defense is in tight. That's not necessarily a bad thing except at the same time he often ignores easy wide open underneath routes. You can pick any of his highlight throws from scrambles and more often than not find an easy target open underneath early in the progression. What I see on film is that if he can't make the read he wants he'll just scramble and try to make something on his own. He's really good at that in college but he's not that fast at the NFL level so again we have to project how he'll adjust to being forced to stay in the pocket. There are some times on film where he's composed in the pocket and goes through his progressions. That's the same with Maye. You can see in the video I posted that Maye is making those tight seam throws. He's not always perfectly accurate but he's making those reads. Doing it with reps you will learn how to get better. Really both of these guys have several bad habits to break but both have starting NFL QB talent. We have to figure out who is going to work harder to close the gap. If we choose Caleb I'll be hopeful he's got the work ethic to do that and I certainly hope he proves me wrong. If I had my way I wouldn't want to see any of these QBs starting in Wk 1. They aren't ready. (FWIW I purposely picked a scouting report that highlighted all those negatives on Maye).