membengal

It has been a SLOW courtship. Like - 15 years slow.

Piss off. Marvin was YEARS late incorporating that kind of technology. He fucking sucked with new stuff. He had his way of doing things to the end. You can be his gimp, have at it. Moving on.

They’ve been passed over plenty in the past when the money was close. That didn’t happen this time.

Bullshit. Marvin and his staff took an entire half to figure out how to use the headsets when he took over for Austin as DC in his last year. The idea that Marvin would seamlessly embrace Zoom is laughable.

They played fucking hard all the way to week 17 in a dead season. That says a lot for the buy- in. Add in the successful FA recruiting and the quotes for players who remain and I am good to see where this goes.

I am completely the opposite on this.

Yup - if it were me it would be duverney and I would have no complaints.

I feel like Collin Johnson's skill-set most closely duplicates Auden Tate and we already have Tate - Duverney brings something needed in terms of speed and production and most closely mirrors a healthy john ross and Ross is on the last year of his contract (or might be dealt I suppose) so I really lean Duverney if he's there when I want him to be there. I love Strnad by the way in 6 - good pull. Frankly, that mock draft looks fucking perfect to me.

While we are here - add in this bit from ZT from that article on how they are handling the uncertainty and working on keeping everyone in the loop: Two observations about that: 1. If ZT wants to be hitting the ground running with virtual install by May 1 - I would continue to bet a sizeable amount of money they already are feeding Burrow huge chunks of the offense and install in their weekly 3-hour face to face meeting allotments of time. 2. Can you imagine if Marvin was still head coach? My god, there's a guy who did NOT process new things well. This would be crippling to him and his staffs.

I think the latest Hobson makes clear (if you know your Hobson) just how IN they are on Burrow - if there was ANY lean that way (trade down and taking Herbert) he would be signaling it in his columns. He isn't doing that AT ALL. Basically latest column said they are spending max allowable of three hours a week with Burrow on zoom - my guess is he already has the offense. - AND taylor said flat out that seeing Burrow throw live was totally unnecessary (which was the ONLY thing Herbert had on Burrow in the evaluation process): https://www.bengals.com/news/zac-adjusting-to-first-draft-of-the-zooming-20s

NOT ME. I mean, for godssake, if they go Kmet or an IDL or a safety there I will lose my shit. This team has needs. There are going to be players who address those needs with roughly equal grades unless somehow Kinlaw falls from top 10 to top of round 2. Short of something crazy like that, I want them to fix things that need fixing.

Sorry for how long that was but I realized much of my responses to other people’s mocks were coming from my own unexamined review of what I have sorted this draft into in my head from six weeks of obsession (and three weeks of being in Covid 19 stay at home mode). At least now, for those who read that, you will know where I am coming from.

Cards on the table, I just went and looked at a bunch of my saved TDN drafts and here is the range of players I have considered or taken the most often in rounds 2 - 4. Post FA spending spree, I sorted out CBs, S, and IDL from my considerations - after they spent $135 million to shore up those positions I am hoping they are looking WR, OL, and LB in rounds 2-4 in some order. I would be super grumpy over a TE in those rounds. BPA, but targeted BPA given the areas of need remaining would be my hope. Note, some set of the players I have listed below are unavailable in each given simulation, but sometimes are available - enough that I get to choose from them every so often. Assuming no massive falling from the top 20 players, here is who I am looking at usually for pick 33: WRs - Mims, Reagor, Higgins ( note - J. Jefferson almost never makes it to 33 on the mocks I do, and I don't really want Shenault) LBs - Queen, Baun, Murray (altho I admit to being not as high on Murray as some of the experts are and often pass on him for other positions) OL - Ruiz, Cleveland, Josh Jones (I REALLY don't like Austin Jackson based on some of what I have read and Niang is probably a reach here - Jones doesn't fall to 33 a ton, but just enough that I hold out hope that he's there for them to consider at start of day 2) That's my big board of preferred players for top of round 2 - unless something crazy happens with one of the top WR or OT falling from top 20. At top of round 3 I am usually choosing from amongst this crew in the mocks I do on TDN and Fan Speak: WR: Aiyuk, Peoples-Jones, Pittman Jr. Claypool (Aiyuk could go as high as round 1 or as low as 3 - I would prefer him here - I am not as high on Peoples- Jones and Claypool as others arebut this is where they likely would have to be taken if not already gone) LB: M. Harrison, W. Gay Jr., J. Brooks, ADG (not a one of these four seems to be sliding to round 4 now, so if you want one of this group, this is the spot) OL: Isaiah Wilson, Prince Wonogho, R. Hunt, N. Muti, Josh Jackson, D. Lewis, L. Niang, Cushenberry (there's a lot of variability here in the mocks, but some combo of the names on this list will be there in 3 but most often only one or none slips to top of 4 - and any of this crew immediately decidedly upgrades the OL) And the players generally available around top of round 4 that I like (this got harder when those damn comp picks were assigned and we slipped to pick 107: WR: Van Jefferson, D. Duverney (often Duverney slips to round 5 in my mocks but I think come draft that is unlikely) LB: Logan Wilson, T. Dye (MAYBE on each of these guys- very possible to get here and both have already been taken - I would kill for Dye at top of 4 but that is only every so often) OL: S. Lemieux, S. Kindley, B. Bredesen, J. Simpson, L. Stenberg, B. Bartch (these are all IOL except for Bartch and Bartch may play best there in the NFL) My general conclusions/working theories from six weeks of running mocks: If you want an OT to challenge to play this year, has to come from a selection in rounds 2 or 3. IOL is deep enough that you can find someone at top of four (and RARELY 5) who might be able to challenge to start. As deep as WR is, the true difference making depth at the top of the WR class are gone by middle of round 3 in almost every mock unless you are higher on Van Jefferson than I am. I think he and Duverney could immediately help, but I have them a good tier below the crew I have listed in rounds 2 and 3. LB is deeper than we thought back in January (at least deeper than I thought) , but still no guarantee that there will be someone there in round 4 that we can count day on 1.