So. I've done some thinking. Disagree with me if you want... But these are my thoughts.
Eric, if you draft the following players/do the following strategy it will tell me all I need to know. Please don't do the following.
1) Devin Bush- The ILB class as a whole has two good prospects here, and Bush is one of them. I am not denying his talent or ability as a football player, and as usual I feel like
@Sami84 is underselling him and his potential value to a team. He's got the potential to be a good WILL LB for the next decade, which even if you don't have an elite player there, has become valuable. I would hate everything this pick stands for though. You have a clean slate, new QB, a chance to craft a new identity, and you go with a fucking inside linebacker. I've been adamant about not taking a WR, but at least WR is a big position of need. Bush may look like an upgrade on paper, but your team as a whole fundamentally doesn't get better. He's not as smart as CJ, not as a good of a communicator as CJ, doesn't improve your pass rush, and doesn't make the defense that much better. Bush is a good talent, but he's not Devin White, who WOULD change the defense. Devin Bush would not be a bad pick from a player perspective, but he would be a TERRIBLE identity pick. If that's the direction the team is moving in, we are completely screwed.
2) Most WRs in Round One. Wait till rounds 3-4. I hope we take them in rounds 3-4, with a far bigger investment coming next season. I've made my point clear time after time. It's not a strength of this draft, this forum has grossly overrated the talent pool here because of the fact that we need a WR. I've done my thinking. There's four WRs in the first round I could see us taking that would actually make some sense to me. DK Metcalf, Deebo Samuel, AJ Brown(even if I think he's slot only, he is a fit here), and JJ Arcega Whiteside. I think all four(and I'm a huge Samuel fan) would be TERRIBLE picks if there was a top tier OG, C, DE, or Edge player. If we trade back into the second and take Deebo Samuel, I'm fine with that. But for my money, those guys, along with Emmanuel Hall, Riley Ridley, Terry McLaurin, Hunter Renfrow, and Antoine Wesley are the best guys in the class to put next to Lamar Jackson.
3) Garrett Bradburry in round one over a G or pass rusher.
@JoeyFlex5. I've done a reevaluation. I was harsh, but still hold strong. I don't want Garrett here, there's better talent.
Roman does ask a C to do a lot, but in the AFC North where he's going to go against some powerhouses, his lack of a consistent anchor scares the everloving crap out of me. You can get away with some of what he did in college vs. overrated prospects like Dexter Lawrence(who I'll get to, believe me). As for your post in another thread, no Sean Payton is better at utilizing his oline to his strengths(are as McVay, Shannahan, McDaniels, and Reich). I think Bradburry would end up being a good player here, but over a guy like Cody Ford, who's a plug and play day one starter at the LG position(and potential day one pro bowler next to Stanley), I'd rather trust Bozeman for a year and draft a center in the third, fourth or fifth. Which there should be plenty of.
4) Dexter Lawrence: Micheal Pierce and Brandon Williams are two top 5 NTs in the league. Pierce is a superstud who should've gone to the pro bowl instead of Williams. I don't see the need for Lawrence. I see legit work ethic concerns with him unlike others(Jerry Tillery has similar concerns about him). Lawrence got worse every year in college. That's a work ethic concern to me.
5) Passing up Jeffery Simmons because of "character concerns". Yeah, if Simmons is on the board, there's maybe only 4 or 5 players I'd rather have over him tape wise. If we take Simmons over anyone not named Lindstrom, Ford, Wilkins, Burns, it will send me into an alcoholic depression(one moreso than I already have). I don't think his character concerns are huge, and I don't care about the torn ACL. He looks like a future perennial all pro in my eyes.
6) Not drafting multiple OL: I never want to see Hurst or Skura on a football field again(for us. Go play for the fucking steelers). Beyond that, a good oline is going to benefit Lamar far more than a good WR corps. The two TEs alone will auto generate a passing attack so long as we have a competent deep threat on the field to force safeties to not stack the box. We need to find a Yanda replacement.
7) Not drafting multiple pass rushers. Interior dline, edge. I don't care. We're going to be a team predicated on running the ball. We have a good secondary. The defense will be elite if you get some pass rushers there. If you can field a defense that can pin it's ears back with an offense that chews clock like Babe Ruth chewed tobacco, you will win a lot of football games. Especially with the secondary.
8) David Montgomery: The tape is great. Does it translate? That's a scary question for me. In most cases, I would agree that speed is overrated, but when you lack acceleration entirely it scares the crap out of me. The NFL is a whole different ball park than college, and while Montgomery has some fantastic balance... That's about it. Most NFL LBs have better closing speed than he does acceleration, he really isn't powerful. He has some nice moves, which will get him by as a rotational back, but he's not the type of back this team needs. He'd be a good player elsewhere, just not here, and I'd rather go get a scat back like a Gaskin.