glazeduck

LOL I'll trade you my EJ Manuel signed football straight up if you want! 🤣 I believe in Tre, I believe in Frazier, I think they'll get it figured out -- last year was just far too crazy of a season to lean into too heavily either way.

I think he was limited by his injury more than we know, but time will tell. I guess I look at it like this: the coaches, front office and med. staff are closer to what's really going on than those of us watching from our couches. If they think he's the guy -- for whatever reason, then I don't have enough info to disagree with them. Taking your QB rating of 114+ a different way -- we were without our NT and our run defense clearly suffered because of it. Who's to say that the staff may have had Tre triggering downhill on run looks more aggressively to account for that? Just playing devil's advocate here, but regardless of what the reason was, we still almost made the super bowl. Tre's not perfect, but I think he'll have a bounce back season and is not the liability that some make him out to be. I hope I'm right.

Sure, long term it makes sense. But the focus needs to be on the next couple years. Tre is still as young as some of these rookies and now should know the defense inside and out. I'm all for making upgrades where we can, but switching out your defensive QB probably ain't it in my opinion.

Wholeheartedly agree here, but the biggest factor in improving the pass rush will almost certainly have to come through Oliver and Epanesa's development. Don't see this happening. I know a lot of people on here dislike Edmunds, but I think (just a gut feeling) -- for better or worse -- he's ours and will be for awhile.

That story could easily have been a fake leak to leverage Addison into doing just this. Would still love Autry, but DE space is getting tighter and I have a hunch we'll have quite a few near the top of our board for the draft as well...

This is how I view him too. Love the athleticism, but he's better standing up than as a true 43 DE. Possible that Leslie varies things up a bit and goes more multiple to accommodate, were we to land him, but there's some square peg/round hole discussion to be had here. It's a pipe dream, but the guy I want is Phillips.

I'd be all for this in a "bring him in and let him earn a spot" kind of way. Obviously intriguing upside, but between the injuries and the constant thought of "if he was going to pop, he'd have popped by now", that's about the most I'd go. He's the right type of player this offense could use, no question; just not sure if he's the specific player this offense needs...

I think Leatherwood's stock is plummeting, also don't think Levi O is a day-1 guy when all is said and done. Like Ojulari better than Phillips for Pitt, but that's more of a style/scheme thing than a philosophical thing. Speaking of Phillips, I know you didn't include trades, but MY GOD, if he drops into the mid 20s I hope Beane is burning up the lines trying to move up to get him. Other than that, with the side comment that it feels a little 'chalk', nicely done...

Agreed. Of all of the DL cannon fodder mentioned around here he was by far my favorite.

Jamin Davis and Earnest Jones are 2 under the radar LBs that I'm really intrigued by. Both great athletes, both performed VERY well in the SEC.

I'm not kidding when I say that his continual development over the next couple years might be the most important factor in whether or not we win a super bowl in this era. Interesting that he dropped so many LBs, given the initial commentary about him playing inside and out... Sounds like that might've been turd polishing and they dropped it pretty quickly...

Pitts

He barely played for Cinci, which would speak to his bad season. Count me in at the right price, he flashed when given opportunity in Seattle.

LOL I'm not sure would else you would trust for an educated opinion on that, if not your own doctors? High usage RBs wear down fast, OL very often do not, so while yes, Long has had injuries in his past, comparing them as apples to apples doesn't feel appropriate to me. 32 is starting to get on the older side for an OL, for sure. My "narrative" is (and I've said this before) -- for us to remain in a championship window, we're going to have to take some risks. A guy who was formerly a stud and by all accounts, seems to be now in great shape again, seems like a risk well worth taking. The only factual information I have to go off of is that he's apparently healthy and I would trust our medical staff to do their homework on him before he got signed, so where's the issue there? Yes, he's had injury troubles, hence the year off. I, not being a doctor, am in no position to comment on whether or not those injuries would disqualify him from being considered or be cause for concern for whether or not he'd be able to last an entire season, that's for the doctors to decide. That is not a lazy take, it's simply the process, I'm not sure what you want me to do about it. Formerly high-level player + position of need + ostensibly healthy again + likely discount = risk well worth taking in my book.

"Way too long"??? He played in 2019. He took a year off to get healthy. He's Howie Long's son/Chris Long's brother, sooooo... I'm guessing he doesn't need the money. These are both lazy takes. Obviously any team signing him is going to do their due diligence on his health, so yes, clearly that's a hurdle for him to clear, but -- to my original point -- if he clears those hurdles, he's a 3x pro-bowl player at a position of need who will likely come at a discount...

Ughhhhhh yes pleeeeeease...

Can't say for sure as a STs contributor in general, but he absolutely will not be in consideration for returning kicks, nor will he be involved in any sort of handoff activity of any kind. You're pointing out his main challenge here -- its going to be tough to carve out enough of a role to fill to give him a roster spot, which is why you effectively have to consider him more in the TE bucket than WR. Unless he's drastically improved his footwork, flexibility, agility and hand usage, I'm not sure he ever carves out much of a meaningful role in the NFL.

Not sure what his market will be, but when healthy, Kyle Long is as talented a G as there is in this league. I hope Beane goes hard after him, would be a HUGE addition, and given his absence from the league, might come at a discount...

It's been a few years but I seem to remember JoeJ being a better athlete. Honestly, I can't think of a decent comp that's actually worked out in the league. My hesitation in calling him a good/solid possession WR is that typically those guys have a knack for getting open at least to a reasonable degree -- Hodgins, barring unforeseen development over the last year, doesn't possess that. I think the best comps I can come up with are your mid/lower-end pass-catching TEs. Someone like Tayo Johnson or Levine Toilolo come to mind. If you're expecting anything more than maybe 2.5 catches and the occasional RZ TD a game, you're probably shooting too high. His biggest challenge is that he's a one-trick pony. If we can find the roster spot for that trick, he can be effective in it, but it's a fairly niche trick. My preference would be to go out and get somebody who has that similar skillset but can also add other elements (I've not shared my love for Jonathan Adams Jr. on this board multiple times)

I've had things fall out of my body that are more athletic than Lee Smith, you have things in your trash can that are more athletic than Lee Smith, babies in utero are more athletic than Lee Smith -- you get the picture, so yes, I'd say so on that one. Kroft used to be a pretty decent athlete, but tough to say with the injuries that he's sustained over the last few years. I'd say he and Hodgins are comparable. Hodgins IS a good vertical athlete. Not a great jumper, but very good body control, knows how to use his size and length to gain position/box out, has great hands, good timing on jump balls, etc., so that's what I'm referring to as a "replacement" of sorts for a TE. What he's not is a good lateral/agile athlete. He doesn't make guys miss, he's not going to gain separation from route running, etc.

Kind of my thinking too, a short yardage/RZ specialist of sorts. As the husband of an OSU Beaver, I saw a TON of Hodgins, and what he does, he does REALLY REALLY well. Unfortunately, he lacks the functional athleticism to do those things all over the field, so he's limited in the ways he can be used effectively.

Hodgins really ONLY fits in the slot, against zone-heavy defenses. He's not going to be shaking decent man coverage anytime soon. He is, actually, an interesting name to throw into the TE discussion. Not to say that he moves to TE, but he operates in similar space and similar functions as an outlet TE. He's probably a WR5 or WR6 who chips in in the RZ at best. Also won't be surprised if he fails to make the roster.

Njoku needs to be in the TE discussion too. There's no long term future for him in Cleveland and he's popped when shown opportunity and healthy. He'd be a phenomenal complement to Knox and shouldn't cost a lot salary or trade compensation-wise... He might be as close to what I'd consider "perfect" a move as there is in the current TE market, actually...

WANT

Given your name, I'm not sure if you're serious or not. But this is absolutely only a partial list, and we're a solid 8 calendar weeks away from the draft still. Add to that that both the draft and impending cuts look like they'll have a good amount of quality LBs, and I think (again, if serious) you're stretching that reading too far here...