adam

Hey Spence is off my board, way to underwhelming to take at 11.

Here are some Twitter reactions: http://www.pennlive.com/pennstatefootball/..._hacken_23.html I apparently saw the drills where he was off and you saw the ones where he was on.

Hackenberg with great accuracy? Was I watching the same drills? He was way off and looked like one of the worst QBs in most of the throwing drills. Even on short passes he was throwing high on most of them. https://twitter.com/theScore/status/703621139294085120

Vitale was arguably the best RB/FB at the combine. 30 reps, 38.5 vert, 4.12 20-yd shuttle, 11.36 60-yd shuttle were all top 5 for RB/FB group. Someone to consider in the 4th (if he is there).

Funny you mention Lattimore because many are comparing the injuries due to the now discovered nerve damage.

Good question, but I don't think so.

Nerve issues, worse than expected. Saying "at least" 2016 may drop him further than originally thought. https://twitter.com/RapSheet/status/703346089454411777

Exactly, with 3-5 year windows for GM's and coaches to produce, you can't afford to waste a year "waiting" for a guy. Teams with less needs and who have well established front offices and coaching staffs can get away with this, but we can't, at least not right now. To me, Smith is a luxury pick, and we have too many holes to fill to use #11 on a luxury pick.

I think it will depend on free agency. Also could be some posturing. I still think we need to draft at least one OL a year to make and keep that unit a strength on the team.

The difference is you don't have 300+ pounders running full speed at you while you are planting and changing directions, or players making contact with your legs and knees. I have a partially torn meniscus that is fine if I run on flat ground, even sprinting, but the minute I run hills or start cutting, it hurts like hell. So I can see how you can run long distances without issue, but that puts no where near the force on the knee compared to football moves with contact.

scs, I will leave it up to the team doctors, but even before this information was out, it was hard for me to see the Bears taking a chance on him in the first. The 11th pick is too high for an "what if" pick. Too many red flags since the injury to think he can come back and be the same player.

I am also thinking at least 2x QBs go in the top 10.

Because Smith has not played since the injury and it was the ACL and LCL, which is supposedly worse than the ACL/MCL. When healthy, definitely a top 3 talent but post injury/surgery? Who knows. It is bad enough that guys don't pan out when healthy; this guy has a tough road ahead. ILB's have to change directions a lot and quickly; can a repaired knee handle that type of stress?

If they don't sign him, then they will tag him. No way he sniffs free agency.

Look at his home/road splits. It definitely looks like he is out of shape. Half as many tackles and 0 sacks at home (elevation).

Going off BPA, it would be Hargreaves.

I just can't see Pace taking Smith in the first round after White missed his rookie year.

I looked at 10 different Mock Drafts to get the consensus top 10, or the likely projected top 10. Based on the 10 mocks I looked at, there were 6 players off the board in the top 10 of every draft: 1. Tunsil (#1 in all mocks) 2. Ramsey (5th was lowest slot) 3. Goff (2nd, 4th, or 7th) 4. Bosa (between 3 and 6) 5. Buckner (between 3 and 10) 6. Hargreaves (between 5 an 9) Jack was selected 9 times out of 10 in the top 10, so there is a 90% chance that he would be gone by our pick. That makes 7 players. Then you have Stanley who was selected in the top 10 8 times, as high as 6 and as low as 16, but only twice out of the top 10 and once to us at 11. The odds of him being there are low, 20%, so rule him out. That makes 8. Then you have Wentz. As high as #2 and as low as #22. In the top 10, 50% of the time. We will call him 9. The last player with at least half of the mocks in the top 10 was Spence with 6 times and a high of 9th and low of 29th. That is #10. So that leaves the following players with over an 80% chance of being there at #10: 11. Robinson, DT, Alabama (never in top 10, 11-12th 6 times) 12. Smith, LB, Notre Dame (top 10 x2) 13. Treadwell, WR Mississippi (top 10 x1) 14. Ragland, LB, Alabama (top 10 x2) 15. Elliott, RB, Ohio St (top 10 x1) 16. Lynch, QB, Memphis (top 10 x1) 17. Lawson, DE, Clemson (top 10 x1) 18. Dodd, DE, Clemson (top 10 x1) The rest, never in top 10 but several selections in the teens: 19. Rankins, DT, Louisville 20. Conklin, OT, Michigan St 21. Alexander, CB, Clemson 22. Nkemdiche, DT, Mississippi 23. Butler, DT, LA Tech 24. Reed, DT, Alabama 25. Decker, OT, Ohio St * - used Kiper, NFL.com (multiple), CBS, Walter, Drafttek, Draftsite using Jason's draft, and my rankings, the following would be BPA: Hargreaves-6, Wentz-9, Spence-10

AZ, what about someone like Patrick Robinson at CB? He is a former Saint (Pace connection) and had a very solid year in SF this past season. I think he would come cheaper than the top tier guys, and would give be a consistent Corner for us. In regards to WR/KR, what about Travis Benjamin from CLE? I know he has handled kick return duties before and seemed to have some big play potential in CLE. Something we have missed for quite some time.

Yeah, if Forte gets $4mil and we sign Miller for a similar amount (who will likely have a fraction of the touches), I will be pissed as well.

If we are trying to improve, but not get older by signing guys north of 30, these are the names I came up with of players who are 28 or younger with 500 or more snaps last year who look to be solid signings: DLINE Damon Harrison, 27, Jets Muhammad Wilkerson, 27, Jets Malik Jackson, 26, Broncos Ian Williams, 27, 49ers Jaye Howard, 27, Chiefs LB Danny Trevathan, 26, Broncos CB Trumaine Johnson, 26, Rams Janoris Jenkins, 27, Rams Patrick Robinson, 28, Chargers Prince Amukamara, 27, Giants Safety Rodney McLeod, 26, Rams George Iloka, 26, Bengals OLINE Ryan Schraeder, 28, Falcons Mitchell Schwartz, 27, Browns Jeff Allen, 26, Chiefs Cordy Glenn, 26, Bills Kelechi Osemele, 27, Ravens Joe Barksdale, 28, Chargers WR Rishard Matthews, 26, Dolphins Marvin Jones, 26, Bengals TE Ladarius Green, 26, Chargers I would be happy with a few of those names, especially on the OLINE and defense.

McPhee is 27 and Houston is 28, so it is not like those are really old players. Also, you need a good mix of vets, rookies, and mid-level players. Right now we actually have a weird roster composition that just needs more impact players in general. Our top 10 player salaries is quite sad. Our top 10 are: 1. Cutler 2. McPhee 3. Houston 4. Bennett 5. Royal 6. Gould 7. White 8. Slauson 9. Young 10. Rolle I would have no issues with Chris Long and Laurinaitis in those numbers replacing some of the other underachievers. My thought on Long is that he might come cheaper due to his lack of production and injury concerns. I was thinking more along the lines of a 2-3 year incentive laden deal with some team flexibility in the numbers. Laurinaitis made $4.2 last year which would be less than Royal and $100k more than Gould this year. Something around $4mil seems to be reasonable for a couple of years based on his production.

Long as a 3-4 DE? I think it could work. I was just thinking how motivated Kyle and him would be, playing on the same team.

Re-unite Long brothers? Laurinaitis at LB, he is 29?

Yeah, we can make a sticky post and get it going on the first and attempt to end it before the draft. It would be interesting to see how accurate it ends up (at least from a positional perspective).