(04-03-2022, 10:40 AM)TheO-LineMatters Wrote:

(04-03-2022, 09:19 AM)NYC4jags Wrote: OLM, why do you think TE need would be prioritized ahead of ILB or Safety? 

Just curious. All three spots have at least one good player with with some questions around their counterparts at the position, so do you think the draft class at TE dictates a pick in the first 3 rounds, or do you think the need at TE supersedes the need at the other two spots?

Quite simply, Pederson's offense revolves around the TE. We signed Evan Engram, but the reality of the situation is that he has only started every game in a season, just once in his career and he's only on a 1 year deal. If he can stay healthy, I believe he could be our most significant offseason acquisition, but even if he does, he probably leaves for greener pastures after the season. In Pederson's offense, he uses a lot of 2 TE sets. I'm not sold on Dan Arnold. He dropped several key passes last season and had fumble issues as well. I believe Pederson will want to draft a TE early on that fits his style of play to be the centerpiece of the future. This is a very good TE class and we need to take advantage of the talent rich pool. You normally don't see TE classes this deep. It would be beneficial for us to get our TE of the future from this class. Having Engram and Arnold would allow us to bring the rookie along slowly and allow him to develop without rushing him into a starting role, which could be very important in the long run. TE's normally take a while to reach their peak. 

As far as ILB and Safety goes, my expectations are tempered. We cannot fix every major hole in one season. We have a major upgrade at ILB with the signing of Foye Oluokun and I believe the team is very high on Dylan Moses if he is 100%. I don't think we will completely ignore the ILB position, I just think we will wait until day 3 to address it. I think there will be very solid ILB's still available on day 3. They may not end up being superstars, but they could probably be significant upgrades over Damien Wilson and Myles Jack. One player to keep an eye on is how far Damone Clark falls. He was one of my top ILB prospects in this entire draft, but just had surgery to repair a herniated disc and will miss the entire 2022 season. I thought he would be taken anywhere from the late second round to somewhere in round 3, before the surgery. Now, if he falls into round 4, do we pull the trigger? I know Baalke has a reputation for taking injured players and in this case, I would see the benefit. I also like less heralded linebackers like Mike Rose of Iowa State, Diego [BLEEP] of Navy, D'Marco Jackson of Appalachian State and Kyron Johnson of Kansas who I have seen projected to move inside. I believe all of these guys could be in play on day 3.

As far as Safety, I believe this position is just less of a priority. The addition of Darious Williams should make our secondary better as a whole. I expect very good things from Andre Cisco now that Urban Meyer is gone. Cisco should've been starting last season. I also really like Rudy Ford as our top backup. He did some nice things last season. IMO, he should be starting opposite Cisco. I know Rayshawn Jenkins was a liability before getting injured, but he is still on a significant contract and I cannot see Baalke ditching him after one season. I believe this is an area that will have to wait until next season to be fully addressed. I think the addition of Williams and Cisco to the secondary should minimize the poor play of Jenkins. I believe we will draft a Safety very late, but we could still get production from that player. Guys like Tycen Anderson of Toledo, Bryan Cook of Cincinnati, Smoke Monday of Auburn, Yusuf Corker of Kentucky, J.T. Woods of Baylor and Dane Belton of Iowa could be targets in the later rounds.

Strongly agree with your TE analysis.  Though we fans largely viewed Arnold as an upgrade last year, i think Arnold is a 3rd TE under Pederson.  As for ILB, I'm torn on Dylan Moses.  i want to be excited about what he can do, but I don't want to get too excited about a guy who has not played a down of NFL football and hasn't played in over a year.  Sucks to hear about Clark.  I do think Baalke can find LBs and this is a pretty deep ILB class.  Provided Cisco moves into the starting lineup, I don't see S as any real need.  If they stumble across a S later on, fine, but I don't necessarily list it as a need.

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