(01-18-2024, 01:45 PM)jaglou53 Wrote:

(01-18-2024, 12:04 PM)Caldrac Wrote: Yep. In agreement all the way with this. I am still leaning towards WR / OT/OG there early but it's unlikely Nabers is there, his teammate, Thomas Jr. should be there though. Odunze would be ideal. I would be surprised if he slips out of the top 15. Nabers is a top 10 receiver. 

Fuaga is probably the most logical and probable prospect to be there. He fits a lot of areas of concern. Newton would honestly be a steal for me there at 17. I think he's that good of a player as well. He would be an instant plug and play upgrade that we also need severely on defense. 

That's why in this thread I went the other route with my mock. Similar to yours. I want the offensive line addressed first while targeting and double dipping in other areas of need. I walked out of my mock with three offensive lineman, two defensive tackles, two edge rushers and two receivers. 

A lot though, like you said, it's hard to predict for sure until they get into free agency. You just never know. They might goof up Josh Allen, they might goof up Calvin Ridley, they might make some obvious cuts to us and then some not so obvious cuts to us. They might think they already have some of their areas of need addressed based on what Baalke did with last year's class and the previous year's class. 

This is why I try to cover my basis and double dip at these areas of need. In hopes of at least knocking one of them out of the park. I don't think it hurts. Especially when you clearly see that your starters are lacking in quality and when they were injured your depth behind them was also lacking in quality. 

Baalke does do a better job in drafting defensive players and he's had more luck in finding and signing proven players offensively. It might be a little too unrealistic with some of our opinions. He might very well go CB with the 17th overall pick. He might very well go EDGE, even if some of these guys listed above are sitting pretty on his draft board.

Yea, at this point it is safe to say that not many on the Board would complain if the first 2 picks were Fuaga and Parker-Johnson- regardless of what position they play on the line in their rookie year. It's asking a lot of Parker-Johnson to start at center as a rookie after playing just one year as a starter in college; that's why one of the free agent centers would be preferable.

While none of us know how things will look following the draft, there is one thing I am sure of. If Baalke doesn't find a replacement for Luke Fortner, things for this team will only get worse. While I don't like to single out just one player for the team's regression (many contributed some to the 2nd half collapse), Fortner clearly stands out among this group. Sadly, Baalke's track record does not convince me that he will actually replace the weakest link on a terrible offensive line.

Agreed 100% on the Fortner take.  He has been the weakest link for 2 straight years and arguably the worst center in football.  Its not even arguably imo when it comes to pass pro and run blocking combined as he is horrible at both.   There are 32 teams and he was the 33rd ranked C and if you watch him play he gets destroyed more often than not. Im also in agreement with you that my top 2 guys at 17 right now are the 2 Somoans, Fautanu and Fuaga.  I really hope one of those fall to our pick and we select them.  Id put Fautanu at LG day one and could play LT if injury and Fuaga id put at RG day 1 if we keep Cam for another year and if we let Cam go id put Harrison at LT and Fuaga can play RT day 1.  This online needs to add one of these Somoans, hopefully 1 falls to us at 17. 

On the Powers Johnson take, hes one of my favorite players in the draft and I dont think he will have a problem strarting at C day 1. He graded out the best C in run and pass blocking and won the Remington Trophy his only year at C.  17 is a bit early and i dont think he will be there when we pick in the 2nd.  If we dont add a C in FA and he is there going in to the 2nd round I would trade up 10 spots or so just to add him to the oline though.  Fautanu or Fuaga along with adding Powers Johnson to the oline would change the whole identy to the oline going forward and could be a strenght of ours.  I still wouldnt stop there though going foward in the draft in the later rounds.  Id continue to add to the group if a lineman is at the top of our board when its our pick.  Hopefully we at least add one really good starting piece to the oline in FA

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