5-at-10: Draft talk on the Falcons trading for Odell Beckham, quarterback rankings, Kiper's hits and misses, this week's Rushmores and where White Men Can't Jump ranks


              New York Giants wide receiver Odell Beckham catches as pass before an NFL football game against the Detroit Lions Monday, Sept. 18, 2017, in East Rutherford, N.J. (AP Photo/Bill Kostroun)
New York Giants wide receiver Odell Beckham catches as pass before an NFL football game against the Detroit Lions Monday, Sept. 18, 2017, in East Rutherford, N.J. (AP Photo/Bill Kostroun)

From Falcon Mike

Like you I like the draft. A lot. Heading into this year's draft I have two questions for you:

Which quarterback do you like the best? And as a Falcons fan, I have heard they are interested in Odell Beckham. Would you trade for him and who would you give up if you are Tom D. and Dan Q. to get Odell?

Thanks, love the 5-at-10.

Mike -

Thanks for the kind words and for playing along.

Yes, we are fond of the draft. You may be aware.

As for the first part of the question, I think Sam Darnold is the best quarterback in this class by a wide margin. We'd then go count flip between Mayfield and Rosen with Jackson ahead of Josh Allen next. (Heck, we may even have Mason Rudolph ahed of Josh Allen, who we think will be a slightly more athletic version of Paxton Lynch to be honest.)

Side note: While we are here, here are the Wonderlick scores of the top five QBs.

As for your Falcons question, I would be all over the move to try to get Odell Beckham Jr. if I were at Flowery Branch in the Falcons command center.

All. Over. It.

If the Giants want this year's 1, next year's 1 and say Mohamed Sanu, then here you go.

Think of it this way, if the draft falls exactly like the Falcons could dream of, and they get a first-round contributor at DT this year, are the Falcons that much more of a Super Bowl contender?

The last seven players picked at 26 in round one were Takk McKinley (2017, Falcons), Paxton Lynch (2016, Broncos), Breshad Perriman (2015, Ravens), Marcus Smith (2014, Eagles), Datone Jones (2013, Packers), Whitney Mercilus (2012, Texans), Jon Baldwin (2011, Chiefs)

Now answer that question through the prism that this will be this coming season most cap flexibility the team will have unless Matt Ryan takes an extreme hometown discount. (And what better way to entice him to take a cap-friendly contract than to get him the ultimate set of QB toys with Beckham on one side and Julio Jones on the other?)

The Falcons window offensively is closing. The line is another year older. So is Julio. We know about the Ryan contract on the horizon, and how long could the afford the flexible Coleman-Freeman tandem at running back?

Now ask if the Rams and Eagles and even the Cowboys (who get Zeke back), the Saints and the Packers are standing around waiting for the next three drafts to try to win now?
Nope, what's the other thing those teams are doing? They are maximizing their strengths.

The Rams added Ndamukong Suh to demand a double team on the interior line. The Eagles have too many offensive weapons to cover. The Cowboys built an elite offensive line.

The Saints have Ingram and Kamara and match-up nightmares everywhere. The Packers have Aaron Rodgers, and gave him Jimmy Graham.

Absolutely the Falcons should do everything possible to try to get a game-changer like Beckham.

Win big, lose big or go home, right?

From Steve

Loved your Mel Kiper item (Thursday). I see what you are saying about Mel being prepared but don't you think he misses as much as he hits?

Steve -

Speaking of Kiper, we are perplexed by his approach to this quarterback class that includes a clear hypocrisy.

Now whether it's out of politeness or political correctness, it's impossible to figure the logic Kiper uses to say that Lamar Jackson has accuracy issues and Josh Allen is the most NFL ready.

Jackson's completion percentage - in a more NFL-esque offense under Bobby Petrino and against far better competition - went from 54.7 percent to 56.2 percent to 59.1 percent in his three seasons. Overall, Jackson was 619-for-1,086 (57.0 percent) for 9,043 yards and 69 TDs to 27 interceptions.

Allen's completion percentage was 56.0 as a sophomore and 56.3 last year. He was 365-for-649 (56.2 percent) for 5,066 yards with 44 TDs and 21 interceptions. How is one the clear number and the other is a risk because of accuracy issues?

That said, we think Kiper hits more than he misses overall.

Now to be fair, hitting an accurate first round of any mock draft seems somewhere between picking a perfect NCAA first round on your bracket and getting a date with circa-1988 Kathy Ireland. It's just about impossible because one off-the-board pick leads to amazing trickle down. That's one of the reasons I enjoy it as much as a do.

That said, the misses are always more fun.

Here, going back through the interwebs, are Kiper's three best calls and his three biggest misses, other than his famous Jimmy Clausen prediction:

Of Detroit taking USC wide out Mike Williams, Kiper said, "I'll see you at his Hall of Fame induction in Canton."

Of Ki-Jana Carter, the former Penn State running back, going No. 1 to Cincinnati, Kiper said Carter was going to be the next Bo Jackson. Speaking of the Bengals, Kiper said Akili Smith, the Bengals pick at No. 3 in round one in 1999, would be the best Cincinnati quarterback since Boomer Esiason.

Of JaMarcus Russell, arguably the biggest bust in draft history, Kiper compared him to wait for it John Elway. Ouch-standing.

As for three he nailed, well, Kiper said Matt Ryan was the best player in the 2008 draft and that he would land in Atlanta at No. 3. (Both were spot on in retrospect.) Kiper said Matt Stafford would be the No. 1 overall pick all the way back when Stafford was a senior in high school. Kiper had Rick Mirer precisely rated in retrospect, ranking him as the 30th-best player in the 1993 draft. Mirer went No. 2 overall and was a drastic disappointment.

This week's Rushmores and today in history

Rushmore of acting/directing performances in the same movie: Gibson in Braveheart, Eastwood in Unforgiven, Orson Wells in Citizen Kane and Young Einstein starring and directed by Yahoo Serious. (OK, that last one was a joke. Had to make sure you were still paying attention.) The last spot belongs to Billy Bob Thornton in Sling Blade. (Not a real big Woody Allen fan, and if you want to consider Spike Lee for Do the Right Thing, we can see that. Also of note, Million Dollar Baby from Eastwood was highly decorated as was Dancing with Wolves from Costner.

Rushmore of sneakers/tennis shoes: Air Jordans, Chuck Taylors, the New Balance grays and the Stan Smiths. This one was sneaky (see what we did there) hard considering the first run of the red Nike, the PF Flyers, the Reebok Pump, and the Converse Weapons as well as the Air Force Ones were denied.

Rushmore of NFL free agent signings: Packers landing Reggie White, Saints landing Drew Brees, 49ers signing Deion Sanders in 1994 (who went on to be the Defensive player of the year that season to help the 49ers to the Super Bowl) and the Cowboys signing him in 1995.

Rushmore of people with a state in their name: This one is good enough to have the real and the fictional. Real would be George Washington (and we could have filled this puppy with George, george Washington, Denzel and Pearl or Claudell and called it a day), Sgt. York, Tennessee Williams and Virginia Wolfe. Fictional starts with Indiana Jones and goes to Nathan Arizona, Johnny Utah (FBI agent) and the little girl in Miracle on 34th Street that generated the classic line "Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus." (And that's leaving Florida Evans from "Good Times" on the cutting room floor.)

Today is March 30, and on this day in:

1867, the U.S bought Alaska from Russia for 2 cents an acre. That seems like it worked out. 'Merica.

1984, New York Police detective Robert Cunningham leaves the most valuable tip to a waitress ever. Cunningham offered Phyllis Penzo half his lottery ticket as her tip, and the next day they won $6 million.

1987, Vincent van Gogh's Sunflowers painting sells for $39.7 million. Wow.

As for birthdays, Ol' Vinnie van Gogh would have been 165 today, and considering what someone paid for Sunflowers, he would have had a fair amount of coin. Speaking of a fair amount of coin, Celine Dion is 50 today. According to this story Ms. Dion's net worth is around $360 million. Eric Clapton is 74 today and Robbie Coltrane, who you likely do not recognize by name but would by face, is 69.

From Andrew

I saw that today is the anniversary of White Men Can't Jump. Where do you rank it in the basketball movie genre?

Andrew -

Excellent question, and before we answer it, has anyone else noticed that there is a growing divide on Hoosiers among national voices?

Yes, Spike Lee has always said Hoosiers was racist because, in large part, Spike Lee believes everything from sunrises to scrambled eggs are racially divided and divisive.
But the conversations of late are something that, in truth, all of us who love that movie have consistently overlooked for years.

The fact that Shooter - the town drunk who was borderline homeless, begged for change and was known to fire his shotgun at random times - was allowed to sit on the bench and work with high schoolers does not exactly seem like an idea that would be embraced by most of any town anywhere.

The fact that Buddy just magically returned to the team in time for the playoff run.

And of course, there's the running gag of the whole "Four passes before we shoot" offensive scheme that goes the way of the do-do bird and the hand-cranked car as soon as Jimmy shows up. But Jimmy Chitwood's return, in a more overarching commentary on the importance of talent and the strides made by teams, coaches, sponsors and in this case and entire town to keep talent happy and involved is a testament to the modern-day construct of the tail wagging the dog in a lot of sports teams models.

Alas, as we normally do, we digressed because, well, that's what we do.

To your question, Hoosiers the sports movie is a no-brainer on the hoops sports movie Rushmore. It's right there with Hoop Dreams, the brilliant documentary that followed two Chicago-area high school players from their freshman years into college. We'll add Teen Wolf and White Men Can't Jump does make it, but we're not as high on that movie as most others, primarily because Rosie Perez is very annoying in that movie. (And if Spike thinks Hoosiers is racist, then what would his thoughts be about a generalized stereotype like the title of WMCJ? And to be fair about the racist laments about Hoosiers - which are based in the fact that the mighty Bears of South Bend Central, who are coached by a black man, run a play rather than running out the clock at the end of the state title game - conveniently forget that the Bears player that shoots the ball is a white dude.)

And while there are a couple of noteworthy names missing - Space Jam for one, He Got Game, the vastly underrated Fast Break with Gabe Kaplan and Bernard King, the ahead-of-its-time Blue Chips as well as Semi Pro - the simple fact that there are so many truly awful basketball movies is staggering.

This comes from someone who is a sucker for almost any sports movie, and check out this negative Rushmore of absolutely unwatchable dreck: Air Bud, the Air Up There with Kevin Bacon (this one is an all-time stinker), Eddie in which a fan is picked from the stands to coach the Knicks, Celtic Pride in which two fans kidnap a player, Juwanna Mann which features a dude playing in the ladies league, The 6th Man which features a ghost helping his former teammates, and a few Like Mike sequels. Oh my.

Side note: We will have the tie-breaker names up around noon. Got crunched on time friends.

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