(04-16-2022, 03:01 PM)TheO-LineMatters Wrote:

(04-16-2022, 11:29 AM)Cleatwood Wrote: Hutch and Walker likely don’t even go top 10 in last years class but will likely be the first 2 in this one.

Kinda crazy.

You have to look at the situation though. You had 3 QB's last season that were considered top prospects, unlike this season, (even though I really don't think Trey Lance is any better than any of the QB's in this year's draft.) That's three spots in the top 10 already filled. Kyle Pitts looked like a generational talent at TE. We may not see another TE of his skill level in the next 10-20 years. There is another spot filled. Ja'Marr Chase had all the traits of a star WR and the last year that he played college football, he put up record breaking receiving numbers for LSU, as did DeVonta Smith for Alabama. Everyone knew Chase was gonna be a star, if he was paired with a competent QB and he set those records with Joe Burrow as his QB. The QB of his future team, the Bengals. Jaylen Waddle was a big play WR just sitting there for the Dolphins, who had no playmakers on their team and Waddle's former college QB was now the Dolphins starting QB. You couldn't pick two better fits for those particular teams. It was just a perfect match. There is 6 spots gone in the top 10. Penei Sewell, is far and away better than any OT in this year's draft. It's not even close. Elite OT's always go high and Sewell deserved being taken as high as he did. Seven spots down. Now we get into the teams with defensive needs, Carolina and Denver. The Problem was that neither needed edge rushers. They needed CB help, so no matter how good of an edge rusher was on the board, they wouldn't take one. There's 9 spots down. The Philadelphia Eagles at #10 is where I think Aiden Hutchinson might have had a shot at being taken. They went WR there with DeVonta Smith, but they could've used an edge rusher as well. It basically would've been a coin flip, IMO. 

With that said, that draft was absolutely loaded with offensive talent and that side of the ball dominated the top 10 picks. It was also very weak at edge rusher and despite Hutchinson being a borderline top 10 pick, had he been in that draft, he would've definitely been the top edge rusher in that class. If we had a viable QB going into that draft and if Aiden Hutchinson were available, we probably would pass on him too, in favor of Chase or Sewell. Everything that happened in that draft was based on circumstance. It's not that Hutchinson wasn't good enough to go in the top 10 of that draft, he was. It was just a mixture of available QB's with high rankings, truly elite offensive players (some with ties to certain teams) and other teams not having a need for an edge rusher that could've kept him from being a top 10 player in that draft. In like 95% of normal drafts, a player like Hutchinson would always go top 10. Last year was not a normal draft.

Agreed, you can't really compare this class to last year's.  That's was one of the best classes of all time.  You had the QBs, a TE that set the TE record, a WR that set the yards record for a rookie, a WR that set the catch record, one of the best tackle prospects in recent memory who actually got a vote for the Heisman, and Smith is one of the best college WRs ever imo.  I think that will be one of the best classes of All time when it's all said and done

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