2023 NFL Draft Thread

[Motown Bombers]

"Mitchell certainly fits within that “potential impact-maker” role that teams are likely to find on Day 3 of the 2022 NFL Draft. While serious injury in his senior season may cloud his projection and make his evaluation a little tricky, his scouting report reveals a talented tight end with plenty to offer."

"Mitchell is an alluring prospect as a pass catcher. His tape is littered with excellent examples of his securing catches in even the toughest of situations. The Virginia Tech TE is a reliable receiver, with zero dropped receptions in the games studied. This isn’t simply the result of excellent quarterback play. He can make remarkable adjustments to the ball, even bending his 6’4″ frame down to scoop the ball up from within an inch of the turf."

"Mitchell also showcases some play strength as a blocker, particularly against the run. In summation, Mitchell presents as a versatile NFL Draft tight end prospect with particularly impressive pass-catching ability. A former team captain, he plays with competitive toughness while possessing special-teams experience. That should help him carve out an NFL role while developing."

 

https://www.profootballnetwork.com/james-mitchell-virginia-tech-te-nfl-draft-scouting-report-2022/

[Cruzer1]

36 minutes ago, Longgone said:

Name one non-subjective trait that's above average.

Size and speed. Long wingspan. He's ideal.

[Longgone]

32 minutes ago, Cruzer1 said:

Size and speed. Long wingspan. He's ideal.

 

35 minutes ago, Cruzer1 said:

Size and speed. Long wingspan. He's ideal.

32 3/4 arms, 77" spread, nope, obviously couldn't run for combine or pro day, but before injury was running mid 4.7's, 4.41 shuttle, 29 vert, so nope.

[buddha]

next gen stats gave mitchell an athleticism score of 82 and hockeson a score of 77.

so there's that if you pay those scores any mind.

[Longgone]

6 minutes ago, Longgone said:

 

32 3/4 arms, 77" spread, nope, obviously couldn't run for combine or pro day, but before injury was running mid 4.7's, 4.41 shuttle, 29 vert, so nope.

To be clear, i like him, hes a decent prospect, he's pretty good at everything, not great at anything, and if everything breaks right he could be an average tight end, and an average NFL player is pretty damn good.

[Motown Bombers]

St Brown ran a 4.6. Mitchell is almost as fast as our best receiver. 

Mitchell has excellent hands. His catch percentage was 100% granted on only 11 targets but he also showed great hands in college. A big TE who is a reliable pass catcher is valuable. 

[Motown Bombers]

Hockenson also ran a 4.7 40. Gronkowski ran a 4.68. Kelce ran a 4.61.  TEs generally aren't running 4.4s. It's why they are TEs and not WRs. 

It's also worth noting that Mitchell's 40 time and measurables came from high school and not after 4 years of athletic training in college. 

[Longgone]

18 minutes ago, Motown Bombers said:

St Brown ran a 4.6. Mitchell is almost as fast as our best receiver. 

Mitchell has excellent hands. His catch percentage was 100% granted on only 11 targets but he also showed great hands in college. A big TE who is a reliable pass catcher is valuable. 

He doesn't have any traits above average, maybe his hands but that's still pretty subjective, he doesn't have any traits much below average either, except he's smallish for a Y.

[ewsieg]

While I love football, I'm far from able to truly give an intelligent thought process on who's the best player based on what scheme we're using them in.   That said I found another mock draft site outside of PFF and it can be ridiculously fun at times (and I'm confident highly inaccurate).  I got Carter after dropping back to 14 or 15 the other day.   I have to believe this would be a good draft:

https://www.profootballnetwork.com/mockdraft/

Trades left me with the following:

#18 Joey Porter Jr.

#25 Trenton Simpson

#46 JL Skinner

#48 Keion White

#55 Bijan Robinson

Also picked up Minnesota's 1st and 2nd round 2024 picks, Atlanta's 2024 3rd rounder, and New England's 2024 4th rounder.

 

[buddha]

i'll be stunned if porter is available at 18 and robinson is around at 55.

[RandyMarsh]

I could potentially seeing Porter at 18 just cause of the depth of the position.  If the various big boards are to be believed there's potentially 5 or even 6 1st round worthy DBs with the top 4 having little to no separation so if a team has him at say 4 or 5 on that list there's a decent chance he'll still be there. Just another reason why I'm a little apprehensive about taking a DB at 6 unless Holmes has 1 in mind that he feels is clearly above the rest and doesn't want to risk missing out on.

Edited February 22, 2023 by RandyMarsh

[buddha]

6 minutes ago, RandyMarsh said:

I could potentially seeing Porter at 18 just cause of the depth of the position.  If the various big boards are to be believed there's potentially 5 or even 6 1st round worthy DBs with the top 4 having little to no separation so if a team has him at say 4 or 5 on that list there's a decent chance he'll still be there. Just another reason why I'm a little apprehensive about taking a DB at 6 unless Holmes has 1 in mind that he feels is clearly above the rest and doesn't want to risk missing out on.

you never know what will happen.

i still see a scenario where they trade up to get carter at 3.

but im probably being naive.  i dont see arizona trading out of that spot because theyre almost guaranteed to get one of carter or anderson and they need dline help and those two seem to be universally rated as the two best prospects in the whole class.

[RandyMarsh]

1 minute ago, buddha said:

you never know what will happen.

i still see a scenario where they trade up to get carter at 3.

but im probably being naive.  i dont see arizona trading out of that spot because theyre almost guaranteed to get one of carter or anderson and they need dline help and those two seem to be universally rated as the two best prospects in the whole class.

Assuming they view Carter like the pundits do as one of the true elite prospects in the draft I too definitely see a scenario where they atleast try to trade up for him.

I just keep going back to the Jamo trade up as reasons why I think that, Holmes said something to the effect of they had 11 guys they thought separated from the rest of the draft and Jamo was the last of those 11 guys, instead of just being conservative and just accepting a lower tier player that was going to fall to your next pick he did what it took to make sure he got one of the players that he felt separated himself from the pack.

Also my memory is a little hazy but I think he was trying to do that for Sewell as well who he targeted as being one of those guys but either a deal couldn't get done or he rolled the dice hoping that the Bengals and Falcons would go the route they did.

Anyway yeah it seems to be in the Holmes playbook to get the standout players or atleast the standout players in his eyes and he isn't shy about paying the price to get them. 

[buddha]

25 minutes ago, RandyMarsh said:

Assuming they view Carter like the pundits do as one of the true elite prospects in the draft I too definitely see a scenario where they atleast try to trade up for him.

I just keep going back to the Jamo trade up as reasons why I think that, Holmes said something to the effect of they had 11 guys they thought separated from the rest of the draft and Jamo was the last of those 11 guys, instead of just being conservative and just accepting a lower tier player that was going to fall to your next pick he did what it took to make sure he got one of the players that he felt separated himself from the pack.

Also my memory is a little hazy but I think he was trying to do that for Sewell as well who he targeted as being one of those guys but either a deal couldn't get done or he rolled the dice hoping that the Bengals and Falcons would go the route they did.

Anyway yeah it seems to be in the Holmes playbook to get the standout players or atleast the standout players in his eyes and he isn't shy about paying the price to get them. 

the rumor was he was trying to trade up for chase, but that's obviously never been proven.

i think both the bengals and lions are happy with their picks from that draft.

[Motown Bombers]

32 minutes ago, RandyMarsh said:

Assuming they view Carter like the pundits do as one of the true elite prospects in the draft I too definitely see a scenario where they atleast try to trade up for him.

I just keep going back to the Jamo trade up as reasons why I think that, Holmes said something to the effect of they had 11 guys they thought separated from the rest of the draft and Jamo was the last of those 11 guys, instead of just being conservative and just accepting a lower tier player that was going to fall to your next pick he did what it took to make sure he got one of the players that he felt separated himself from the pack.

Also my memory is a little hazy but I think he was trying to do that for Sewell as well who he targeted as being one of those guys but either a deal couldn't get done or he rolled the dice hoping that the Bengals and Falcons would go the route they did.

Anyway yeah it seems to be in the Holmes playbook to get the standout players or atleast the standout players in his eyes and he isn't shy about paying the price to get them. 

There is also the fact he really didn't have to give up much to go from 31 to 12 that played a role. I think it will cost more to go from 6 to 3 in this draft. 

[Hongbit]

Chris “Clickbait” Trapasso from cbssports.com is up to his old tricks again.    I’m not going to post the link but his latest mock has the Colts trading to 1 to take Richardson.   
 

Lions go Witherspoon and Mayer

[Mr.TaterSalad]

20 hours ago, RandyMarsh said:

Assuming they view Carter like the pundits do as one of the true elite prospects in the draft I too definitely see a scenario where they atleast try to trade up for him.

I just keep going back to the Jamo trade up as reasons why I think that, Holmes said something to the effect of they had 11 guys they thought separated from the rest of the draft and Jamo was the last of those 11 guys, instead of just being conservative and just accepting a lower tier player that was going to fall to your next pick he did what it took to make sure he got one of the players that he felt separated himself from the pack.

Also my memory is a little hazy but I think he was trying to do that for Sewell as well who he targeted as being one of those guys but either a deal couldn't get done or he rolled the dice hoping that the Bengals and Falcons would go the route they did.

Anyway yeah it seems to be in the Holmes playbook to get the standout players or atleast the standout players in his eyes and he isn't shy about paying the price to get them. 

Not all trade ups are created equal. I believe it was reported that Holmes wanted to possibly move up to get Chase (maybe Sewell too, but I remember it being discussions around Chase). As well, he allegedly had to be talked out of moving up to get Levi. Trading up for Levi would be proof that not all trade ups are created equal nor good for the franchise, even if the GM has an otherwise solid drafting track record.

[buddha]

i am going to be so excited to see all your reactions when the lions take richardson with #6.  🙂

[Motown Bombers]

Not going to happen. Holmes is smarter than to replace a Pro Bowl QB with a QB who only completes 53% of his passes. 

[Hongbit]

Interesting 

[NYLion]

22 hours ago, RandyMarsh said:

Assuming they view Carter like the pundits do as one of the true elite prospects in the draft I too definitely see a scenario where they atleast try to trade up for him.

I just keep going back to the Jamo trade up as reasons why I think that, Holmes said something to the effect of they had 11 guys they thought separated from the rest of the draft and Jamo was the last of those 11 guys, instead of just being conservative and just accepting a lower tier player that was going to fall to your next pick he did what it took to make sure he got one of the players that he felt separated himself from the pack.

Also my memory is a little hazy but I think he was trying to do that for Sewell as well who he targeted as being one of those guys but either a deal couldn't get done or he rolled the dice hoping that the Bengals and Falcons would go the route they did.

Anyway yeah it seems to be in the Holmes playbook to get the standout players or atleast the standout players in his eyes and he isn't shy about paying the price to get them. 

Holmes is much more likely to trade up than trade down based on his history. He was heavily rumored to wanting to trade up for Sewell (I don't think it was Chase based on rumors), we know based on the behind the scenes stuff that he wanted to trade up for Levi, he did trade up for Barnes and traded up for Jamo.

Holmes just seems like one of those GMs that prefers quality over quantity so with 5 picks in the top 81, I'd bet that he heavily pursues a trade up probably not from 6 but I could see him packing the two 2nds to move into the 1st round to take "his guy". I wouldn't mind that tbh especially if it's a high upside player even if it's not a position of big need.

Edited February 23, 2023 by NYLion

[Jason_R]

1 hour ago, NYLion said:

Holmes is much more likely to trade up than trade down based on his history. He was heavily rumored to wanting to trade up for Sewell (I don't think it was Chase based on rumors), we know based on the behind the scenes stuff that he wanted to trade up for Levi, he did trade up for Barnes and traded up for Jamo.

Holmes just seems like one of those GMs that prefers quality over quantity so with 5 picks in the top 81, I'd bet that he heavily pursues a trade up probably not from 6 but I could see him packing the two 2nds to move into the 1st round to take "his guy". I wouldn't mind that tbh especially if it's a high upside player even if it's not a position of big need.

Yes but we only have two drafts of history to go on. I like that he is aggressive to get players that he believes are difference makers. But something tells me if he doesn't see a guy he is in love with at 6 and he has a chance to move back to 9 he will take it. 

[RedRamage]

On 2/21/2023 at 9:31 PM, Hongbit said:

 

Not even slightly shocking to me.  Honestly, this sounds like exactly how I would expect a front office to handle this.  You're should definitely look at the mocks to get an idea of what buzz it going around and make sure you didn't miss something, but mocks should never, ever be your primary source for decision making.

About the only think that mock's might help with is getting an idea of who might be targeting whom when you consider trades. But even then this would be one data point among many.

[Motown Bombers]

 

[Hongbit]

The Lions scouting department spent enough time at Florida games scouting O’Cyrus Torrence that I’m hoping they saw enough to see Richardson to say nope.