MichiganCardinal

I think the Lions will pick up one high-end corner in free agency, and that addition alone would change the conversation about the secondary drastically. If you sign Jamel Dean, then all of a sudden you have your CB1, you have your CB2 in Okudah, and all you really need in terms of draft day starters is your nickelback, of which the 2nd and 3rd rounds should have plenty of. Brian Branch, Antonio Johnson, and Quan Martin are probably the three best nickels in the draft (as of now), and any of the three could drop to the middle of the 2nd round.

I'm not one to judge a guy's injury in this sport. It's too violent and they're putting their lives on the line every play.... but I don't think that locker room appreciated how Lamar's season-ending injury went down. It definitely stunk of something fishy, and it probably wasn't great for moral as 21 other starters played while hurting while he didn't even show up to practice and posts on Twitter "sorry guys I'm still hurt 😞"

I don't think the Lions draft a corner in the 1st round unless they see a Sauce Gardner type. There are just so many available that there will be very good ones still there in the 2nd and 3rd round, who would go in the 1st in a normal year. Similar to when the Lions waited on a WR two years ago, and wound up with ASB.

Lamar to the Panthers then?

Let him walk / trade him for picks that will let you get his successor... He's not Mahomes or Burrow. Let another team sweat like the Browns are after Watson's mediocre 2022.

If Holmes picks either of them, I won't immediately categorize it as a waste. He's earned at least that much. Hooker is at least somewhat intriguing to me because he's going to fall like a rock. I know 1984 said 2nd round, I don't think I would be interested there. Too many good corners and linebackers are likely going to be immediate plug-and-play options in the 2nd round. I think Hooker may be there in the 3rd/4th round or even later though. A lot of teams need immediate answers at QB, and a lot will cross him off for injury concerns and age. Had he not torn his ACL though, I think he's talked about in the Levis/Richardson tier 1B of QBs this year. He had a really good year for Tennessee and was an impressive dual-threat QB. If he's there at 81, or into the 4th Round, or at 149 or later, I think he's worth consideration alongside the others on the board. He'd be QB3 in 2023 and would be a NFI out of camp (like Jamo), maybe for the whole season. If he ends up sucking as the, you roll with Goff like nothing happened and he's just a mid to later round bust, which isn't ideal, but also isn't the end of the world.

Cards should probably put out the fires in their ownership and front office and find a head coach willing to work with their QB before thinking about the draft anyway.

I could see a world in which the Cardinals absolutely fall in love with Bijan Robinson. I forgot that Saquon was taken #2 overall, I knew it was high but sheesh. Otherwise though, I agree. I think Levis is the kind of guy that some teams in the top five could be all about, while others would cross out.

Tyree Wilson is setup perfectly for a Travon Walker like jump. Down to the same initials. His physical measureables that the analytics fanatics drool over are better than either Anderson or Carter, Anderson just had a "down year" (compared to his phenomenal 2021 at least), and Carter has the mysterious "character concerns". If the top three QBs do go in the top five, all you need is one player not named Carter or Anderson (could be Wilson, could be Skoronski, could even be Bijan Robinson) to jump them and all of a sudden a perfect fit has fallen into your lap, just like Sewell did when the Bengals took Chase and Hutch did when the Jags took Walker.

I think if three QBs go in the top five there is a 50/50 or better chance that one of Carter/Anderson is sitting for us. And IMO it would make it three straight years of the perfect prospect for us falling into our laps, so maybe too much to ask for.

My Mock Draft 2.1 1. Carolina Panthers (Trade w/ CHI): Will Levis, QB, Kentucky 2. Houston Texans: Bryce Young, QB, Alabama 3. Arizona Cardinals: Tyree Wilson, EDGE, Texas Tech 4. Indianapolis Colts: CJ Stroud, QB, Ohio State 5. Seattle Seahawks (from DEN): Jalen Carter, DT, Georgia 6. Detroit Lions (from LAR): Will Anderson, EDGE, Alabama 7. Las Vegas Raiders: Myles Murphy, EDGE, Clemson 8. Atlanta Falcons: Christian Gonzalez, CB, Oregon 9. Chicago Bears (Trade w/ CAR): Peter Skoronski, OL, Northwestern 10. Philadelphia Eagles: Isaiah Foskey, EDGE, Notre Dame 11. Tennessee Titans: Paris Johnson, OT, Ohio State 12. Houston Texans (from CLE): Quentin Johnston, WR, TCU 13. New York Jets: Tyler Steen, OT, Alabama 14. New England Patriots: Jaxon Smith-Njigba, WR, Ohio State 15. Green Bay Packers: Michael Mayer, TE, Notre Dame 16. Washington Commanders: Joey Porter Jr., CB, Penn State 17. Pittsburgh Steelers: Jaelyn Duncan, OT, Maryland 18. Detroit Lions: Bijan Robinson, RB, Texas 19. Tampa Bay Buccaneers: Brian Branch, DB, Alabama 20. Seattle Seahawks: Lukas Van Ness, EDGE, Iowa 21. Los Angeles Chargers: Devon Witherspoon, CB, Illinois 22. Baltimore Ravens: Anthony Richardson, QB, Florida 23. Minnesota Vikings: Cam Smith, CB, South Carolina 24. Jacksonville Jaguars: Jordan Addison, WR, USC 25. New York Giants: Cedric Tillman, WR, Tennessee 26. Dallas Cowboys: O’Cyrus Torrence, OG, Florida 27. Buffalo Bills: Josh Downs, WR, North Carolina 28. Cincinnati Bengals: Darnell Washington, TE, Georgia 29. New Orleans Saints (from DEN thru SF): Trenton Simpson, LB, Clemson 30. Philadelphia Eagles: Kelee Ringo, CB, Georgia 31. Kansas City Chiefs: Tuli Tuipuloto, EDGE, USC Lions 2.18 - Antonio Johnson, DB, Texas A&M 2.26 - Cody Mauch, OG, North Dakota State 3.18 - Daiyan Henley, LB, Washington State 5.18 - Dante Stills, DT, West Virginia 6.5 (from DEN) - Jake Moody, K, Michigan 6.18 - Garrett Williams, CB, Syracuse

I think if they’re taking a guard that high they’re expecting them to be a day one starter. Jonah Jackson is the last guard we took that early and he started his rookie season. If you can afford to keep Vaitai, I’m not opposed to the rookie being a backup interior offensive linemen. But I don’t want to keep paying Vaitai OT money if there is a perfectly capable guard sitting on the bench.

Vaitai probably won’t be decided until after the draft. If we take a guard in the first three rounds, Vaitai probably gets cut and we have that rookie start at RG… otherwise, he’s brought back.

Probably not a freshman starter but I see potential

But can he get the yard on 4th & 1?

Maybe I'm wrong but I feel like there is a tier of donors between the mega-donors who get buildings named after them and the people like me who laugh in the face of donation requests (as if the outrageous amount I pay/paid in tuition isn't enough). I think every major program, whether they have a booster program in place like USC and Ohio State, or don't, like Michigan and Michigan State, can find a base willing to give for this purpose. You might have to be creative about it, like the fellowship idea. If a donor is willing to give $40,000 yearly for the "Gehringer_2 Scholarship" that goes to Buster B. Brainiac, I'm sure a subset would be willing to allocate that money instead to the "Gehringer_2 NIL Fellowship" that goes to Alan A. Athlete. Like I said though, I'm the type that will never give my schools a dime after I'm out. Maybe I'm not in tune enough with those who would and do... Even if I ever was in a position to do so, I would probably give to the local community college where I went to start, where $40,000 can make a huge difference in 10-20 students lives, who are low-income, minorities, first-generation, have kids of their own, have a criminal record, etc., instead of making a small difference for one year for one student-athlete or one triple legacy.

Not to pile onto Michigan State, but if they can find two donors to pay Mel friggin Tucker $95MM, I have serious doubts that Michigan Athletics is just simply incapable of calling up some of their closest friends and saying "hey Mr. 5* needs your support!"... If anything, I would think the richy rich types that make up large donor bases would be more inclined to pony up NIL money, in a twisted sense of getting to see that 5* make plays for Michigan from their box suite at The Big House, as opposed to the money going into the big pot that helps pay for the receptionist at Schembechler Hall and the Track and Field team's bussing to road meets. It would require new institutional systems of administration and oversight, and a year or two of implementation, but isn't administration, oversight, and fanciful projects what every university does best?

Let’s not wait until we are 1-6 to fire him. /s

It costs a lot to get your franchise QB. When people know that's what you're doing, the price goes up very quickly. I don't think allowing the Jets to pass 2-4 QB-needy teams in the Raiders and Panthers, maybe the Falcons and Titans too, comes for a price less than a 2024 1st to start. For context, the Bears went from 20 to 11 (400-point jump) to get Fields and had to surrender a future 1st to do so (in addition to a 4th and 5th). 13 to 6 is more than that, a 450-point jump. If the Jets call with that offer you say, "we'll get back to you" and immediately have five people make five phone calls, bidding their offer against those four teams above, as well as the Commanders. If the Jets aren't willing to give a 1st, I would sooner take the Raiders 2nd round pick and drop a single spot, guaranteeing you don't miss your guy. If that's the only offer out there, you have to consider it, but seven spots is a lot. Even assuming Carter and Anderson are gone, you have to know you may miss out on instant difference makers like your pick of Gonzalez/Porter/Witherspoon, Bijan Robinson, Tyree Wilson, Myles Murphy, and even Peter Skoronski.

These two tweets put some more pieces together.

I'm not that bent out of shape about losing Staley. Sure I would have preferred keeping everyone, but he is probably #4 or #5 on my coaches priority list. 1 - MCDC (if you count him) 2 - Ben Johnson 3 - Aaron Glenn 4 - Hank Fraley 5 - Duce Staley

I didn’t think that Staley would leave unless he was joining an Aaron Glenn staff. This may mean Glenn is staying. This also may mean Tanner Engstrand may receive a promotion to Assistant Head Coach now.

I guess the question is who you consider the big boys to be. For me right now in the NFC it's the Eagles and maybe the Niners if they can find a QB. I don't think there is another team in the NFC who I look at and see a perennial power in the making. And if you're at the point where you can realistically be the 2nd or 3rd best team in the conference with the right moves, you should damn well try to make those right moves. At that point you're on the fast track to be hosting a playoff game - to be favored in a playoff game - to be one or two wins (one or two opponent's mistakes or injuries) from the Super Bowl.