extremely early mock

1. luke falk QB wash.st. spreads the ball around better than any qb in this draft.

2. armani watts FS texas a&m he's a good one. critical spot that needs help.

3. kyzir white SS w.va. here is a guy that has size and we could possibly plug in as a replacement for 50. this kid plays a lot around the LOS, rushes the passer and can drop well into coverage. may have to put a few lbs. on but could be the next do all guy from the inside.

4. fred warner OLB/ILB byu good size, good speed pretty good in coverage, makes plays. move inside. i really like this kid.

5. marcus baugh TE oh.st. good size, good blocker, can make the catch.

6. damon webb SS oh.st. we need the help.

7. quinton flowers QB/RB/WR/ath. s.fla. kid is good with the ball in his hands. could be a bu qb as well.

 

I think the first round is too early for Falk. Assuming the worst happens with Shazier I could see them skipping qb early in this draft and focusing on shoring up the defense. I still like the idea of going hard after Cousins over drafting a qb. Salary cap for 2018 looks tight right now, but when you remove roethlisberger, Shazier, and Haden from the mix it opens up significantly. Something along the lines of another 22million.

 

that depends on dead money. why remove haden? we need him. if ben retires the remaining money is due towards the cap. not sure how shaziers money will be worked either since we took that option already.

i think by draft time falk will be right there in the first round mix. benkurt may be an option later.

as far as an ilb in the worst case scenario with shazier, i don't think there is one that would be 1st round worthy. the kid from w.va. would be a good option anyway as a backup to him or with him.

i don't think we can afford cousins. keenum may be a slightly cheaper route. i wouldn't be opposed to either if we could swing them. just not sure we can.

 

I'm going by OTC. Even with the dead money hit removing those salaries frees up a ton of cap space. In 2019 our cap space increases massively($59,000,000). If they designate those guys as post June 1st cuts it. eases the initial pain and increases cap space for 2018. Do we really need Haden? He's played okay for us, but it's not as if he has completely locked down one side of the field. Also if I remember correctly his salary jumps by 10 million next year. Is he worth that much? Not in my eyes. We also have Sutton to think about. Obviously they think a lot of Bryan Allen or he would have been moved to the practice squad long ago.

 

i know if ben retires, we owe whatever is left on his guaranteed amount that year. i'd hate to go backwards on the secondary. haden would be costly but we need the help back there.

 

You can use the post June 1 designation on retirees as well.

https://www.behindthesteelcurtain.c...-retirements-and-trades-affect-the-salary-cap

 

ahhh i see. i was of the understanding that retirees had to accelerate the remaining money that year. that makes a difference. if he doesn't file the paper work until after june 1.

 

Okay, you’re going to retire. Thanks for letting us know before the start of free agency. We are devastated by the loss, but understand the reasoning. Please don’t file the paper work until June 2nd.

 

Falk is overrated product of the system, he got benched a couple of times this season not interested at all.

 

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct...unning-backs&usg=AOvVaw1zquaopdnwmvF0uqwHOUEv

i wouldn't say he's over rated. he spreads the ball around better than any qb in college football. by a huge margin too. TD's to int. rating is pretty good as well. lots of qb's have been benched in they're days. hell chuck noll used to bench bradshaw at times.

 

the stat they showed of him with his distribution numbers was like, games throwing to 5 receivers or more with multiple receptions. he had 40 of those at the time and the next closest qb had 7. that was earlier this year. i don't think the top qb's will be there when we pick and falk just might be. good size, good arm, good TD to int. ratio, good completion percentage. we could do much worse. i don't want jackson thats for sure. i think mayfield, rudolph, rosen and maybe allen will be gone. if so, i'd take falk or benkurt or thorson. i wouldn't want to mess around like last year and the safeties we just missed out on. every player has a bad game elvis. he has a lot more good ones. not the greatest of team around him either. most are not blue chip players.

 

time to edit.

1. ben staying, no qb this year. sam hubbard would be a good starting point but noway we have 3 1st rd. OLB'ers. i'm going with:

mike hughes CB/KR/PR UCF

2. armani watts FS

3. kyzir white SS/ILB

5.5. tegray scales ILB, fred warner ILB, chris worley ILB, skai moore ILB, pick two.

 

Kyzir White .....shouldn't we be able to do the same thing with Sean Davis. He's not a FS that's for sure....
Then we can still take a FS and a already legit ILB in the top 2 picks

 

Go ronnie harrison saftey rd 1

Then get a mlb then a dlineman

Then another safety then another mlb

 

kyzir to be moved to ILB. armani watts is a FS. fred warner as an ILB as well.

 

1. sam hubbard OLB oh.st.
2. Terrell Edmund's SS VT
3. Deshaun Hamilton WR. Penn St.
5. Kallen ballage RB arz.St.
5. Leon Jacobs LB. Wisc.
7. The flowers S. OK.St.
7. Joshua Frazier. DT ala.

 

These picks are with the thought that we don't land any starters in FA for the defense, since LB26 will be taking all the money. Will sign some guys with a pulse as usual to help alleviate the issues at ILB and S.

1. Rashaan Evans ILB Alabama. Not my favorite yet, but I don't like any safeties here. Ones that would be available anyway. Smith and Edmunds picked, and I don't like Jefferson. My least favorite pick, and will be 22 I think. Alabama defender and a little older so probability is low.

2. BJ Hill DT NC State. Guy is growing on me. Complimentary piece to Hargrave's pass rush, Hill is the run stopper.

3. Natrell Jamerson S Wisconsin. Love, love safeties who can tackle efficiently. Which is why I do not like Armani Watts. Jamerson is #1. 31 tackles in run defense and ZERO misses. Showed ball hawking ability at East-West game/practices too. Game's defensive MVP

5. Frank Ragnow C Arkansas. One of the top rated Centers but maybe his injury pushes him down. Luxury pick? maybe... Finney could use some help at the interior back up positions. Ramon Foster may only have a season or two left.

5. Garret Dooley LB Wisconsin. Versatile LBer who could play outside or inside. Steelers will ask Watt for advice and they tend to draft schools in spurts at times.

6. Jordan Aikens TE UCF. Receiving type TE since McDonald's future is up in the air for now.

7. My annual Husker pick Josh Kalu or Chris Jones CB Nebraska. Jones was injured mid way thru this past year, but I liked what I saw. Kalu experienced at S and CB

 

I haven't seen Harrison projected to go in the first round.

 

He is by some. He is fitzpatrick but he is a stud.

http://draftwire.usatoday.com/2017/12/30/ronnie-harrison-nfl-draft-profile/

 

i don't dislike jamerson at all but he only started 1 season. thats my concern. we have that plus in brian allen whom i really hope gets the chance at the FS spot. watts reminds me a lot of ryan clark which isn't a bad thing. i know one thing for sure we need speed added to the defense at LB and on the backend. thats a huge part of what made shazier special.

henderson i believe will keep heading up on the list of safeties as we get closer to the draft. i really like this kid as well as watts. i agree about the 7 missed tackles but that also goes with the territory of always being around the ball. he was 2nd on the team in tackles so many more opportunities to miss a few. it happens to the best of them.

RB has to be a fairly important position to look at. we currently have 1 RB under contract and he just underwent knee surgery. we will be looking i'm pretty sure.

skai moore, fred warner, chris worley are 3 guys at ILB that stick out to me. i've seen worley play every week. he can cover down field very well. lots of range. good speed. ohio state may be a place we look again to fill ryan shaziers spot again.

there are some guys that could be late rounders too that are flying under the radar somewhat. oren burks has some speed and coverage ability. he's got some smarts too. warners athleticism sticks out. moore has a knack for coverage. scales has a knack for coverage but speed is not the greatest. he's still a very active ILB though. baker from ohio st. is another guy that has the speed and range that could try and help fill the void. i've never been that high on the bama players. they have never seemed to really take the next step in the pros that most think they should.

 

agree on the bama players, Landon Collins took a year and CJ Mosely has been very good but you also get some misses especially on the d-line recently. Tough to pick a first rounder for me right now, but its fun to look at this early.

I will have to dig into Henderson, impressed with his Senior bowl week but that's the first I've heard of him. Not a ding, just that Hawaii isn't a big TV draw here.

Combine results will have a big impact on how I view the ILBs this year. Like you said, we need the athleticism there. We have the thumpers already.

 

I see Henderson has been on the rise since the SR.bowl. he's no longer flying under the radar. Ballage will be moving up as well I'm sure. I do like my above mock and would love if we could pull it off. We would be getting some good fits for this defense but man we would be young.

 

1. ronnie harrison SS ala.
2. kerryon johnson RB aub.
3. terrell edmunds SS VT
5. leon jacobs LB wisc.
5. daurice fountain WR N.Iowa
7. parry nickerson CB tul.
7. joshua frazier DT ala.

there is a new one to kick around.

 

Some things are changing since free agency has started, the combine is over, pro days and visits have started so here is a different look. Anything right now is a possibility. What if they decided to:

1. Mason Rudolph. QB. OK. St. Probably not popular but do we pass on a solid replacement for the future?
2. Terell Edmund's. SS VT. Can do a lot of things. SS, down in the box in the hybrid and can play back too.
3. Tony brown CB/FS. Ala. Move him to FS to team with Davis and Edmund's in the hybrid 3 safety looks.
5. Kellon Ballage. RB. Az. St. Would be a good complement and maybe eventual feature back.
5. Leon Jacobs. OLB/ILB. Wisc. Great speed and strong in a defense we play. Has starts at ILB and OLB.
7. Matthew Thomas LB. Fla. St. Another with good speed and size to play either spot.
7. KaRaun White. WR. WVU. This kid has been good for WVU. Strong too. Maybe an Eli replacement and more.