While on some level, it seems we got faster and addressed a position of need in LT, it's kinda hard for me to be really enthusiastic about rounds 2-3 at the moment for a few reasons. But here are some of my thoughts.
Round 2, Pick 33: Tyson Campbell-while I really didn't discuss himpre draft-I like what he offers. Seemingly all of the Georgia DBs were flying during their Pro Day 40s. We got the one with the size. One concern expressed on this board concerned where he would play. I think that was alleviated in part by UM's press conference where he highlighted his ability to play S. That made pick click for me. Assuming CJ Henderson isn't quitting or demanding a trade or will otherwise go AWOL, Campbell could enable us to either have three good cover guys in nickel defense, or, if you lined him up at S, provide the equivalent of nickel caliber coverage in base defense. He makes our secondary bigger and faster.
Round 2, Pick 45: Walker Little-One by one, guys we talked about for our 25 and 33 picks came off the board before 45. I thought Friermuth would be our guy at 45. But it turns out we addressed a T position in Walker Little. I see three potential issues with him: Injury, rust, and position. Assuming his injury is healed-and he will be two full years away from his ACL injury by training camp-the second issue would be rust. Since it's been two years since he saw any game action-or likely any quality practice action, it will take him a while to not only shake off the rust in his technique, but to enhance his technique to get it just to the rookie OL level. This will really test Warhop's teaching ability. On top of that, there is the question of whether he will play LT or RT. I'm not sure which he should be prepared to play, which position he should be trained for, and how much training for either side slow his development. That said, if he's healthy, he has the size and feet to be a good one once the rust comes off. If you are content to be patient, it would be close to ideal because he could sit behind Cam Robinson working his last year under the franchise tag. But if urgency to improve the T positions are paramount, he might start earlier if he plays RT.
Round 3, pick 65: Andre Cisco-before I get into this, there were guys that came off the board at the bottom of the second round that really hurt-as always. As always, there were guys that somehow made it to us that excited me-including Dyami Brown. When they announced Cisco as the pick, I was thinking "Damn we got another ACL guy! What they said about Baalke was true!" But once that thought left my head, I realized we got a good player who shows hitting ability and good hands for the interception. I would not be surprised to see TC and the Cisco kid as our starting safeties as rookies.
As I feared, we would miss out on Friermuth thanks to the Steelers, who are drafting as though they are planning a tank year. According to UM, the team has been in talks with other teams exploring a trade. During the press conference after the Cisco pick, UM wa sdirectly asked if we were talking with Atlanta about a trade for Hayden Hurst. UM stated they were in talks with teams about the TE position, but not Atlanta. I'm thinking Cleveland for Njoku and Philadelphia for Ertz. There are maybe a couple of rookies that could possibly help, but the fact they are talking to teams lets me know they are not counting on the available rookies to do anything to improve the room. In order, I'd prefer Hayden Hurst, David Njoku, and then Zack Ertz.
There are still some good players left who could help and possibly even start. Trey Smith and Jabril Cox are two players I have in mind in round four. I think taking Smith at 105 and dealing away the 130 for one of the TEs would be ideal.
Worst to 1st. Curse Reversed!
