Alphadawg7

Im not saying not to take a WR there, but people are upset about AJ as if we NEEDED a WR there. DE was a bigger need and AJ was the BPA on the board IMO.

Yeah it makes no sense. Dude was a beast and huge value where we got him and probably the biggest need on the roster with our starting edge guys 32 and 34 respectively.

BUMPING this post I made earlier...read what the top OL LINE PROSPECTS who FACED him had to say about AJ.

Why do we need a 4th WR to sit on the bench for next 2 years?

Read my other posts about what all the top OL guys in this draft said about him a few pages back.

I would call Jags and offer our 5th right now, if Beane has not already.

What did the best offensive line prospects in the draft have to say about AJ...well you can read here and see what this is a GREAT pick: That's what we saw. But what we heard during interviews with the offensive players who faced him was a very different story. Michigan left tackle Jon Runyan, who provides deeply technical insights into his opponents, said Epenesa was tied with Ohio State's Chase Young as the two toughest defenders he ever faced. "A.J. exploits the weakness of what I play," Runyan said. "I'm a vertical setter, and the weakness of a vertical set is what A.J. loves to do: bull rush with a one-armed stab. He's able to catch me leaning a lot, catch me off guard. Early in the [2019 Michigan vs. Iowa] game, the first three or four drives, I wasn't really keying on his shoulders. He started running downhill, and I wasn't able to get my hips down and react to the bull rush." Purdue tight end Brycen Hopkins also singled out Epenesa as one of the toughest defenders he ever faced, adding a most unusual compliment to his scouting report: "I thought he was a great player. He was physical, but at the same time he's a cool guy. He wasn't a jerk out there. ... So I thought he was a great player, great guy. He came off the ball with an explosive power." And then there's teammate Tristan Wirfs, one of the stars of Friday night's offensive line workouts. Wirfs didn't hesitate to name Epenesa as the toughest defender he ever faced. Sure, he may be a teensy bit biased, but players rarely single out teammates when answering "toughest opponent" questions. "We had some battles," Wirfs said. "When I met with the Broncos, they said a scout was there [at Iowa practice] and I didn't lose to A.J. So I said, 'I'm glad you were there on that day.'" "It goes back and forth, me and him," Wirfs added. "He was one of my best friends on the team. We will try to help each other get better. If he sees something that he beat me on, he'll tell me what he saw. And when I beat him, I tell him what I saw." So Epenesa earned glowing endorsements from a first-round-caliber teammate and two of the guys who had to block him, and those were just the remarks we heard while making the interview rounds. If you don't believe Runyan, Hopkins and Wirfs, there's also the production across two seasons against major competition. And also there's the tape, which shows opponents redesigning their offenses to corral him. At one point against Minnesota, for example, Epenesa was chipped by the tight end before a route, and then chipped by a running back before a route, with the left tackle backing up to engage Epenesa after he worked his way through that whole bag of chips. (It's at the 2:09 mark on this cutup.)

Huh? Where do we need an upgrade on offense? Why are people so freaking out about offense? Our top 3 WR's are LOCKED. No rookie is getting time. We already have a young TE in Knox, and another in Sweeney. Our OL is well stocked. We have a lead RB and our QB. So can someone please explain to me why everyone is so panicked about the offense? The ONLY thing we need is a COMPLIMENT to Devin. We have a STARTING RB. There are a TON of RB's on the board and one will certainly be there in the 3rd. Yet at DE, our starters are a combined 66 years old. AJ Espensa is a first round grade who we got at pick 54 at a big position of need, especially going forward after just this next year.

At 54, AJ Espensa is a steal. Does that guarantee he will be a stud? No, but value wise, this was a great pick at 54 as most mocks had him going in round 1, and almost all mocks that didn't have us taking a WR at 22 had us taking AJ. Love this pick. He's a beast. Now go get AJ Dillon in the 3rd and I will be on cloud 9 until tomorrow.

This thread is going as badly as the last thread ail whole back suggesting the same thing. Answer is still a big fat no.

NO.

I just don't think replacing Slay with a rookie is going to move that team forward. Yes, he is the top corner in the draft (graded at least), but look at the board, there are a lot of really promising corners and safeties on the board for their pick in the 2nd. All positions have about a 50% bust ratio in the top 10.

Diggs trade was proven to be an excellent decision. All 3 of the top WRs were gone by pick 17, the compensation we paid to get Diggs was equal to moving up to 18. That means we would have had to have paid more to get one of the top 3 WRs, which are the best guys with a chance to be as good as Diggs and could still underperform to expectations or even just flat out bust. More importantly, we threw in extra 5th and 6th round picks, plus next years 4th (equivalent to a 5th this year) to get Diggs. To move around in the first round, we would have had to include less picks, but more valuable picks like our 2nd and maybe even also our 3rd or 4th this year too. End result, we landed a top tier WR in Diggs for one first, and 3 day 3 or later picks (2 of which were extra from Beane fleecing teams trading them bad players last year who were gonna get cut anyway). And Diggs is the #1 WR at contested catches, the leading deep threat, an elite route runner, and a fiery competitor who is just 26 on a team friendly contract for 4 years that will step in and for sure make an immediate impact to this offense and Allens development. Now on to your criticisms...fully agree. No chance in hell I am taking a CB with the 3rd pick in the draft. Lions get rid of slay, to just use the 3rd pick to replace him? Jags get rid of Ramsey and likely Yannick to just use both first round picks to replace them? Both were bad teams with proven talent at those positions, so now they get rid of the talent and replace with rookies that will more than likely not be as good as the guys they are replacing? Feels like spinning your wheels in a pool of mud. Funniest part is neither the Lions or Jags were good football teams with pro bowl level players at those positions. So their plan is to replace those top tier players with rookies? How about fixing the trenches first...getting your QB some help in protection or weapons...etc etc.

Every draft ever called and wants their facts back. Hahaha, just saying the draft never ever falls like anyones mock drafts ever. All kinds of first round graded guys end up in the 2nd round or even later while 2nd round graded guys will end up going in the first round.

Yeah but Beane is batting a better batting average than .400 on players picked in rounds 2 and 3 So while the group will likely see more than 60% underachieve, I have a lot of confidence in who our regime taps as the picks.

He traded up with extra assets he acquired. He’s already “traded up this year when he went and used extra capital to get Diggs. No one should expect a big move at all, Beane likes his draft capital and he’s never included any high future picks In any trade ups and already traded next years fourth. No way Beane is going into next year with just 1 or two picks in first 5 rounds because he traded up. If we make any moves, it won’t happen until the cheaper rounds to trade up in. He won’t be trading up in the first 3 rounds IMO unless it’s a cheap and small move. I can’t see him giving up on any of our first three picks next year.

We better not draft a QB this year, that would be stupid. We are very close to contending, finish building a contender before we use picks on luxury things like “assets drafted to try and flip”.

Lasting 16 games is certainly always a big question mark for him. Gonna come down to how much the time away helped his body really. I just think they plan to start him, but I would expect plenty of Brate reps too of course.

Yeah, Josh has a brand new lead WR he needs to build timing with, and more importantly that same new WR has a very complicated offense to learn as well. Im not seeing this as and advantage for Allen. Not really a disadvantage as a lot of teams have plenty of things their QB's and offenses need to work on. But to say it gives Allen an edge doesn't make a lot of sense to me when he is just entering his 3rd year and has a new shiny toy to get used to.

They were looking to move Howard prior to this anyway though. Maybe he is just not a fit for Arians offense. And I still think Gronk will start. Gronk has been getting in shape because of WWE, I don't think he is in nearly as bad of shape as people think nor is he as old as some people think he is. Gronk will be Brady's safety net IMO, he has all that rapport and timing with him, so I think he will be the starter with a lot of 2 TE sets getting Brate on the field too.

Because they dont need 3 starting TE1 players on the same team and could use OJ to bring in an asset that could be used elsewhere to help fill out the roster is my guess. Gronk will start, Brate would be a starter on most teams and so would Howard.

Someone should tell Stephen A that Jordan and Shaq are not Buffalo Bills. Disagree. I dont think we make the playoffs with Fitz. Did he get hot for a little bit with the Dolphins, sure...but no guarantee he does that here and he is NOT a good QB. He is a great backup who can win some games, but he is mistake prone. And we had a LOT of close games and Allen went for 21 TDs to just 3 turnovers from week 5 on. NO WAY Fitz only has 3 turnovers over that stretch and we don't win 10 games with more turnovers. So, sorry man...Allen is better than Fitz already, and is the best QB in this division right now. We would have missed the playoffs last year with Fitz with his turnovers and inconsistency IMHO.

He isnt gong to sniff being a WR2 here, which is why I do not think he would ever come here. He has no chance at significant reps outside of injuries and would be no better than WR4 on the depth chart.

It will be one of Dugger, Diggs, or Winfield IMO.

Send our 4th and I’m in on this. I wouldn’t send our 3rd, I’d rather take a rookie RB like AJ Dillon with our third to keep him around longer on a cheap contract.