Draft
CRAFT
Drafts and Crafts. Football and Beer. Dan & JP, twice a week. ish.
Draft
Craft
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Everyone knows about the first rounders, the picks expectedto change your favorite franchise either this year, or maybe if you're one ofthe privileged few that roots for a team that actually plans head for thefuture, even next year or the year after (looking at you, Rams fans). But wheredid teams really create value? Who do we think is going to be the mostunderrated, biggest overachiever, most valuable…you get the idea. We’re keepingthis to just guys that were drafted, so if you’re a UDFA geek, apologies, thosenames won’t be showing up here. Also, no first rounders. We already talkedabout those. We’re going based off of our boards, and we’ll roll through theteams like we always do in our shows.
Coming out hot with a seventh round pick! Endries has size,doesn’t drop the ball and comes at a crazy value in comparison with where wethought he’d go. Of course as a last round pick there’s no guarantee he’ll evenmake the team, especially with Sample, Gesicki and Erick All in front of him onthe depth chart. Shout out as well to MyGuy Brian Parker II who looks slotted in as a backup IOL at worst as a sixthrounder.
We’ve already talked about the value generated with SpencerFano, so we’ll go with JP’s preferred receiver pick for this team. GettingBoston, who had first round upside in the second is always good business. Thatthey got him AFTER Concepcion makes this an even bigger value add. He’s long,strong, and down to get the contested catch on. At least Cleveland did well at thestart of this draft. There’s a reason you don’t see us talking about the laterround picks.
JP’s favorite OL this year. What’s not to like? The hair,the nastiness, the motor! Lasting until the end of the third round likely hasto do with teams not being sure what his true position would be at the nextlevel. He looks likely to slot in at guard at least to start his career, but it’spretty clear from watching him that he’s going to help this line at any of fourpositions. Quick nod to Daylen Everette. Loved him in the pre-draft process andhe could easily start next year for the Steelers
I loved this pick for a WR needy team. Sarratt got openoften for Indiana last year and found the end zone with ease. He has good size,and can move around the formation as they work him in alongside Zay Flowers.The pressure to be WR1 isn’t going to be there, so he should be able to get outthere and compete for the 2/3 role along with Bateman, Walker and fellow rookieLane. Also, while JP wasn’t high on Chandler Rivers, even he couldn’t deny the valueof grabbing the little spark plug in the 5th!
I was on record after day three saying Coogan has a path tostart as a rookie at Center for a Titans team that is lacking IOL leadershipoutside of Skoronski. Coogan started for two teams that made the title game inthe past two years, and was a captain on both. He’s smart, effective and readyto go out of the box. How he lasted till the 6th is beyond me.Probably why I’m not a scout.
They got JP’s 58th overall guy at 214!!! You KNOWit’s bad when we’re hyping up buckeyes, but how a guy with 12 sacks and nearlya 9% poop ratio tumbled into the sixth round…did he punch a puppy or something?This is a team with Laiatu Latu and not much else for proven production at theedge. Great opportunity for him to out play his fellow rookie George Gumbs, whoJP had as a UDFA. He probably would have had AJ Haulcy as his biggest value.This might be the “value team” in this draft.
It really couldn’t be anyone else. JP was talking up Huskeyall year! Getting a borderline 2nd rounder at the end of the 3rdis the type of value play that good teams make. We’re not sure thatJacksonville qualifies as that yet, but Huskey has a great chance to crack thestarting lineup with the incredibly average Eric Murray currently a placeholderat FS.
We didn’t like much about this draft, so it came down to Bondor Aiden Fisher. When the only value you’re talking about is in round 6 & 7…it’snot good. Bond was efficient last year at Boston College with 88 catches andnearly 1000 yards. There’s a pretty clear pecking order for the Texans, but hecould stick as their WR 4/5. It’ll likely take an unfortunate injury for him toget playing time as a rookie.
JP was surprised and stoked that Jacas fell to his belovedPats. His third ranked ER has good size and solid production last year atIllinois. 12 sacks and 13.5 TFL will get you noticed by us! He might not start thisyear because of the vets in front of him, but there really isn’t anyone on thisroster that projects as a true ER1. Shout out to Dametrious Crownover as wellfor some super depth at OT
There were a LOT of picks we liked for the Bills, TJ Parker,Jalon Kilgore, Zane Durant, Even Jude Bowry and Kaleb Elarms-Orr. But the mostunderrated has to be JP’s 5th WR, Skyler Bell. This My Guy has moresize and speed than you might think, and racked up 102 catches last season. Onlything we can guess is because he played at UConn, teams wanted to ding him forthe lower level of competition. But when you light it up like he did AND youtest well? Yea, he should have gone earlier.
With apologies to Kyle Louis (who we dogged most of the year)and Michael Taffe, it’s Chris Bell. The belief is he dropped largely because ofthe injury issues, because the size is something scouts usually drool over. 72 catchesfor just over 900 yards isn’t spectacular, but when you remember he missed afew games in there, it checks out. He’s shown an ability to get deep and getopen, so provided he’ll be good to go for most of his rookie year, this shouldplay out well for the fish.
The Jets absolutely hammered the start of this draft. Andthey snagged VJ Payne late as well! Ponds though stands out as a guy who willprobably be underrated his whole life. A short corner that plays large, theonly reason he was still around in the second is his size. The guy just makesplays, as anyone that watched Indiana last year can attest. Given all of theinstability in the backfield for this team, Ponds seems likely to start at nickelthis year.
No Jeanty this year, no problem! The Raiders moved up a pickto take the biggest faller since, well last year with Shedur. McCoy might havea degenerative knee issue that could shorten his career. He might not. Dependson the doctor. But in the 4th round? Totally worth a flier to see ifhe can overcome that issue. If he does, he’s a larceny of the highest order. Ifnot…well a lot of day three picks don’t really pan out anyway do they? ThrowHezekiah Masses and one of our favorite RB’s in Mike Washington Jr as well onday 3 and we’re in!
If they hadn’t burned some capital to get Jake Slaughter, hewould be the pick, especially with the issues on the IOL for the bolts.Thompson gets the nod here as we really weren’t enamored with any of theirpicks this year. He might get blown over in a stiff breeze, but the dude canscoot, running a 4.26. That’s the kind of upside you look for in the 4thround as a part time gadget guy to start out.
Mr. Irrelevant?! We’ll show you who’s IRRELEVANT! Ok, wedefinitely loved this guy a LOT more than other people, but our flabbers weregasted when he lasted this long. Good size, solid speed, tackle machine…doesthe NFL not still need guys like this? Is there some Buffalo Bull bias that wedon’t know about? Personally I’ll be stunned if he’s not on the field in somefashion this year.
Talk about a guy swinging from overrated to undervalued justbased off of a draft slot. When he was being talked about as a 2ndrounder we were so far out. But in the 5th? On a team that lacksdepth behind a guy that hasn’t ever been a full time lead back and has theoccasional injury? Yes please. Hard runner with questionable vision but a solidability to follow blockers and catch the ball out of the backfield. He’ll be RB2/3 for KC this year.
Could it be anyone else?! JP’s man crush on Halton grewstronger as the season, and off season wore on. His top DL going in the 4th?You’re going to get a huge underrated nod. Halton is likely going to start outas depth behind Alfred & Osa, but with the crazy injury history in the bayarea, this penetrating DT could be in line for big snaps as a rookie.
Ooof…since we’re pretty sure the #4 pick can’t be underrated,and we’re leaving first rounders out of it…umm…Sharar was literally the onlypick Arizona made that was any number of spots of value below where we thoughthe should go…and that’s because JP just does round grades at that point. Soyea, he went in the sixth…like we thought. And he’s going to be a third string LBthat might not make the team. But! He’s from Iowa, so that has to be a fewpoints in his favor in JP’s eyes at least.
Cut & paste the Arizona take here. This five man draftclass had only one player picked at relative value, and it’s another guy that wentfrom well overrated from where we initially thought he could end up, to maybe abit underrated? Keenan’s a big ol’ lumbering nose that’ll back up Poona thisyear and could develop into something more down the line, but his numbers incollege, especially as a senior don’t give a ton of hope. But sure, for a 7th,why not?
This one was easy, pretty much whoever picked JP’s IOL crushwas going to get an underrated tag…and then he went in the 5th to ateam that clearly needed one more guard to step up after the questionableeffort Anthony Bradford put in last season. Slam Dunk. Physical and technicalin the same breath, certainly not a speed demon, but has the size to stick inthe NFL. Seattle is now young across the line.
These two went back to back a round and a half after JP hadthem slotted in, so both get a mention here. Kelly is a tough Mike LB that’sgoing to be a nice backup for veteran Tremaine Edmunds, and could take over infuture seasons. Davis adds another body to the tackle room, and as we’ve said,anything that pushes Jermaine Eluemunor out the door is fine by us. Either him,Mbow or Mauigoa should be starting there next year. Please Giants. Please.
With apologies to our current favorite NFL Nigerian UarBernard, we kinda figured he would go in the 7th, as much as JPwould have taken him at any point on day 3. The underrated honor goes insteadto Morris, who JP had slated for the 3rd round, and on his list asthe 5th IOL guy…going in the 6th?! Of course Philly wouldtake a Georgia guy. He’s a beast in the passing game and has plenty of size tohold up inside. If he can refine his run blocking technique, he gives the birdssome options going forward.
Shelton was the only player aside from Downs to come in atvalue for the Cowboys…and that’s because we expected him to go in the 4th.So…yea. Shelton was fine in college,even as a part of the imploding Nittany Lions last year. He’s not ready tostart though, but with some time could take over from Terrence Steele, who hasnever really been impressive.
Coming into the season it actually looked like NicholasSingleton was going to be the Penn State back to watch, but Allen turned in a1300 yd campaign going over 6yds a clip, even adding a handful of receptions aswell. With Washington’s rather wide open RB situation, Allen has a clear pathto meaningful snaps. Jacory Croskey-Merritt didn’t exactly light it up as arookie, and Rachaad White is a known average commodity now.
Another of JP’s underrated guys, Billy was 4th onhis IOL list with a third round rating, and here he was languishing until theback half of the 5th! He could stand to put a little bulk on, but heallowed a less than 1% pressure number at Notre Dame last year and held his ownin the run game as well. He’s a nice depth piece for the Bucs as they stayyoung on the line
You need to be something special for us to see a thirdrounder as underrated, but as I said throughout the pre-draft process, Branchruns like someone that hates the ground and just wants to hurt people. The manI dubbed “Lil’ Diesel” for how physical he is at his size will be a greataddition to a Falcons team that is starving for a WR2 to step up behind London.Branch brings speed, agility and flexibility to the pass game to go along withRobinson and Kyle Pitts. Could have easily seen him go in the 2nd.
For a Carolina team that clearly knew they needed someanswers on the O-line to wait until the 5th to grab their second (andonly other) one might seem a bit short-sighted. But then they snagged who somehad as the top center prospect in the class, and they got him at nearly a tworound discount! Hecht is about the right size for center, and while he may havehad more hurries than you’d like, he only had one sack or hit, and put upsimilar numbers in the run game. Add in that he won’t have to start right away,and the Panthers crushed it.
The classic case of doubling up when you take a risky pickearly, Lance could end up better than Tyson as a rookie. Not because he’s moretalented, just that we don’t trust Tyson to stay on the field. Like, ever. Bryceis as underrated as his bro was overrated, putting up big numbers at an FCSlevel. He’s a big body as well, and can be a good compliment to Olave should hehave to step up in an unsettled WR room behind their oft injured star.
A bit undersized back that ran alright and caught the ballok out of the backfield…and then tore up the track at the combine. So he’skinda small and really fast. We can work with that in the 6th on ateam that’s still looking for a long term answer at RB. Admittedly he’ll be RB3this year for the Vikings, but with Aaron Jones likely to be done, he could moveup a spot and be a third down back and potential return man for them down theroad.
Sorry, we can’t talk about Thieneman twice, and Logan Joneswas actually taken earlier than we expected, so Malik was the obvious choice. He’sa good sized corner with enough speed that held up well for Texas at a high level.There’s question as to whether he’s better suited for man or zone, but a coupleof picks and 4 PD’s shows some chops. He’s going to be a backup this year, butwith Stevenson a year away from free agency, he could be the guy to step upnext season if the Bears don’t want to pay Tyrique.
Every year we go in hoping the Packers will have a terribledraft. And the last few seasons we’ve been disappointed. It’s because of pickslike this. Sutton was JP’s 5th ER, and flat out looks the part. A poopratio of just south of 7% is good, and for a team that just let all of theirveteran rushers not named Parsons go, he has a direct path to playing time orat least some rotation snaps, especially if Lukas Van Ness doesn’t take theleap the GB faithful are hoping for this year.
This team needs all the corner help they can get with injuriesand the crazy Terion Arnold saga. Abney would have been much higher on boardsif he was a couple of inches taller, but the diminutive slot corner still had12 PD’s last year for Boston College, and added a few picks as well. It wouldn’tbe surprising to see Abney get on the field for Detroit this year, especiallyas Ennis Rakestraw can’t seem to help but stay off of it. This has to be one ofthe most unsettled defensive backfields among contenders. Abney can help rightaway.