Drafting contest
Happy Draft Day friends. This should be a holiday.
Side point: We have had a great run of sports Thursdays over the last six weeks. Day 1 of the NCAA tournament. Masters opening day. Tonight.
I love the draft. You know this.
First, the BID-ness. Our annual Dodging the Draft While Feeling the Draft and Drinking a Draught Draft Doohickey is here. It normally is our lowest number of entries each year. There are a lot of specific details and detailed specifics. (We have about 40 entries so far, which is not bad, but those lower numbers mean more of a chance to get a free lunch.)
Here are the five questions (with my answers in parenthesis):
> Number of SEC players drafted in round 1? (12 - Quinnen Williams, Josh Allen, Devin White, Montez Sweat, Jonah Williams, Jawaan Taylor, Josh Jacobs and Drew Lock are eight (Drew) locks. Get it Spy? I am betting four of the next eight or nine of Jeffery Simmons, DK Metcalf, AJ Brown, Greedy Williams, DeAndre Baker, Johnathan Abram, Deionte Thompson, Erik McCoy and Irv Smith Jr.)
> First SEC player drafted? (Quinnen Williams and I would take him 1 overall).
> Second quarterback drafted? (Drew Lock, Missouri.)
> Falcons' first pick? (Christian Wilkins, Clemson.)
> Which team makes the last pick of the first round? (Patriots)
If we have a tie later tonight, we will have an emergency tie-breaker on Day 2. Good times.
Need those picks by 5 p.m. tonight.
Here's hoping the weather holds off for the folks making the drive to Nashville tonight.
Mocking the mocks in a mock-neck
As for today's draft topic, I will start with the great reminder I got from regular reader Ernie H., this morning and point people toward the very entertaining interview with Buddy Nix on Press Row on Wednesday afternoon.
Here's TFP all-around ace David Paschall with a mini-Q&A with the interview.
Here's the replay of the interview from to back.
With that - and the knowledge that Nix, the former GM of the Buffalo Bills, and there rest of the league laugh at everyone's mock drafts - here's my mock draft for the first 10 picks of the draft. (I will complete the first round before the start of Press Row. Deal? Deal.)
Arizona - Kyler Murray, QB, Oklahoma. Regardless of what they can or can not get for Josh Rosen (why do I think the Patriots are going to figure out a way to deal for Rosen), if Kliff Kingsbury and Co. believe he is the franchise, you pull the trigger. (That said, Vegas has the odds dipping on Murray going first.)
San Francisco - Joey Bosa, DE, THE Ohio State. OK, there are some certainties about the draft. Not many but some. Mel Kiper is going to yell at Todd because they squabble like an old married couple. And the 49ers are going to try to fill the pass-rusher void. See if you notice a trend of the last six 49ers' first rounders: DE, DE, G, DE, LB, OT. That's four dudes in the last four years picked in an effort to get more pressure.
Washington (from New York Jets) - Dwayne Haskins, QB, THE Ohio State. The first move that blows Kiper's hair back. The Jets have their QB of the future and they are looking for pass rushers. This draft is flush with them, so adding more picks makes a ton of sense. The Redskins have to address QB after the awful leg injury to Alex Smith last year. I would take Drew Lock but hey, what do I know. (And here's a report that Daniel Snyder is really excited to be back in the draft room.)
Oakland - Josh Allen, OLB/DE, Kentucky. If it plays out like this, my favorite player in this draft - Quinnen Williams of Alabama - becomes the talking point of the early part of round 1. Oakland was far and away the worst team in the league at getting to the QB after dealing Khalil Mack before last year. How bad were the Raiders at pressure? They had 13 sacks. Next-to-last in the NFL was 30.
Tampa Bay - Devin White, LB, LSU. This may be - after Murray and the Cardinals - the best player/team need fit in the draft. Still passing on Williams has to give the Bucs pause.
New York Giants - Quinnen Williams, DT, Alabama. the potential move to get Haskins and Williams availability makes this an easy play for the Giants. And if they can move to get Daniel Jones, the QB from Duke, later in round one, the Giants could be a huge winner on Day 1 in this scenario.
Jacksonville - TJ Hockenson, TE, Iowa. Too soon? Maybe. And the Jags will field a slew of calls from QB-hungry teams and teams that believe Ed Oliver is the next Aaron Donald. But, with the addition of Nick Foles at QB - a guy who had a great connection with Zach Ertz, his tight end in Philly - a weapon as versatile as Hockenson makes a ton of sense. (Which means the Jags - the team that signed Blake Bortles to an extension - likely will not do it.)
Detroit - Ed Oliver, DL, Houston. There will be a slew of teams calling the Lions for the same reasons as above, especially since the next two teams - Buffalo and Denver - are looking at OL and QB. This one could go a slew of ways, especially since teams like Carolina and Miami want an OL and teams like Cincinnati and the Giants have their eyes on QB.
Buffalo - Jawaan Taylor, OT, Florida. If teams do not make a move to get in front of the Bills here, Buffalo execs will spring to the podium.
Denver - Drew Lock, QB, Missouri. Same as the above, and in some ways we may look back on this in 10 years and realize the Broncos won the draft.
Day 2 right around the corner
OK, it's draft heavy. But you knew that was coming right?
One of the best changes in recent years for my sports viewing enjoyment was the divide of the draft into three days.
Round 1 is tonight. Rounds 2 and 3 are Friday and 4-through-7 are Saturday.
The benefit there is two-fold. One, with the fifth year on contracts of first-rounders, there will be a slew of activity from picks 28 on. (Side note: This may be the all-time 5-at-10 record on the word slew. Slew me.)
Especially if one of the four or five teams desperate for a QB is still hunting one.
Second, the trade talk tomorrow before the start of round 2 becomes crazy as teams know exactly who is still left on their boards.
Good times. (Yes, for those new to this parade and wondering, the answer is yes, I have a strange love for the draft. It's over the top. I know this. Now you know this too.)
With that, here are my five favorite guys that are not in any of the first rounds of the mock drafts I have seen.
> Will Grier and Jarrett Stidham. I think both of these QBs have a real chance to be quality starters and be better pros than they were college players.
> Justice Hill. The Oklahoma State running back has legit NFL wheels, and he's going to be an interesting name that people will covet come Friday. While we are here, Darrell Henderson from Memphis is a dude, too.
> Andy Isabella. An undersized (5-foot-9) white wide receiver from the Northeast. Cue the "Going to be a Patriot" jokes. Dude can scoot - 4.31 40 - and was very productive. (I had Deebo Samuel here, and he will likely slip out of round one, but he has been in the back end of some round 1s. Dude can play and Todd McShay loves him.)
And know this gang, if teams let Greedy Williams or DeAndre Baker fall, well, those dudes can play.
This and that
- Well, it's official. Joe Biden is running for president in 2020. Raise your hand if you are surprised. Anyone? Anyone? Bueller?
- We wrote about the awful idea of wiping away all student loans from Elizabeth Warren earlier this week. Here's more proof that better understanding rather than erasing the $1.5 trillion in loans is a much better path. Yes, make sure the students know they are taking on a large debt to make an effort to better their situation and lives. But don't borrow $100K on that elusive Interpretive Sanskrit degree and work pouring Venti and Grande cups of joe. This quote is spot on: "For millions of U.S. students, higher education begins with a significant decision that can impact their financial health for the rest of their lives," LendKey Technologies CEO Vince Passione said in a statement. "A quality education should begin with sound advice, not only about the best course of study, but also the best means of how to finance it." Exactly.
- Man, the GoT theories are flying. Here's a strange one that has Theon killing Bran so Bran can become a White Walker and kill the Night King. Tick-tock, tick-tock how long until Sunday night gets here.
- Golden State failed to clinch - at home - last night.
Today's questions
True or false, Warriors fans should be worried long-term.
What's the biggest surprise from tonight.
It's April 25, Al Pacino is 79 today.
On this day 41 years ago the Phillie Phanatic made his debut.
On this day 10 years ago, Matt Stafford goes No. 1 overall.
Rushmore of former SEC quarterbacks on their NFL career. Other than Peyton, it's not as easy as you may think.