HoosierCat

And Joe’s price goes up again. Get on the ball, Katie!

Here’s the six guys over at nfl.com: Jeremiah: Keeanu Benton, DT, Wisconsin Brooks: Harrison Schrager: Vikings trade up to 28 to get Hendon Hooker. Bengals get Minny’s third- (No. 87 overall) and fourth-rounder (119) in this year's draft, as well as a second- and fourth-rounder in 2024. Zierlein: Gibbs Davis: Gibbs Edholm: Gibbs

Hobs makes TJ’s day.

OT: remember to pour one out for our former mayor tonight. Jerry Springer, dead at 79.

You know who else had short arms?

Meanwhile, McShay gets my vote!

Mel’s final mock will get the Army stamp of approval:

As Army said elsewhere, happy draft day! Just a few more hours!

What I would love to see them do is swing a couple deals that get them extra picks in the late second/early third. So trade down from 28 and pick up a late second, then find someone early in the third who needs a tackle and deal Jonah in return for swapping third rounders. So they end up with something like picks 40, 50, 60 and 70. It probably knocks out corner but it seems like you can get good prospects just about everywhere else — OT, DL, TE and RB — in that range.

That’s great, but he’s not in the tackle mix here.

Yah, we’ve been chatting about that over in the Orlando Brown thread. Topics wander around a bit these days…

Mo money, mo money, mo money: Nashville approves $760 million in borrowing for new Titans sports palace. State is putting up $500 million more. Titans/NFL kicking in $840 million. Total cost estimated at $2.1 billion. https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/36294295/titans-get-760m-city-bonds-part-record-stadium-funding

Bengals pick up Burrow’s fifth-year option. https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/36290806/bengals-pick-star-qb-joe-burrow-fifth-year-option So he’s now officially set to make $29.5 million next season, barring an extension.

He’s a guard, not a tackle.

And to be fair that’s the situation for most teams. Few if any can boast having three or four starting caliber tackles. Given that the Bengals have dipped in FA twice in two offseasons at tackle, my guess is that they privately agree with you, Army. Which is why an OT sooner rather than later in the draft wouldn’t surprise me.

I’m sure he meant 2052. Or possibly 2205…or 5202…

It’s really not too bad of a backup. Brown - starting LT Jonah - starting RT (let’s just grant for sake of argument) Carman - backup OT/OG Smith/Adenji/Ford - backup OT Collins - PUP at least to start the year Cochran - back to the PS So really it’s three guys (Smith, Adenji and Ford) fighting for one spot. And yeah, that’s hardly a battle of great talents.

Yeah he is one of the handful of legit blue chip prospects in the draft. Landing a player of that caliber, even at a “devalued” position, at 25 or 28 would be almost unthinkable. Which is why I doubt he will slip anywhere near that far. Worst case scenario I think is LA grabs him at 21.

Hell just imagine a back who doesn’t go down the second the shadow of a defenders hand passes over his shoes.

Yeah, Musgrave at 28 is a no. Forbes would be fine though the pick instantly puts me to sleep. I’d say it’s a coin flip as to him being there. He’s been going in the teens in a lot of recent projections.

Gibbs is definitely the wild card at 28. There’s a good chance he will be there and is the kind of weapon Burrow could do a whole lot with. In the end I don’t think they pull that trigger and end up boring us all with a corner, but it’s not easy to let him go.

Also in today, longtime sports journo San Farmer with his mock, the make Army happy special: https://www.latimes.com/sports/story/2023-04-25/final-nfl-mock-draft-2023-sam-farmer

PFF with the make Hoosier happy & ruin TJ’s day mock: https://www.pff.com/news/draft-2023-nfl-mock-draft-pff-analysts-seven-rounds-four-qbs#RD1 Bengals trade 28 and 163 for the 25th overall to select Bijan Robinson. TE Musgrave in the second after a trade down from 60 to 66.

All the smoke is making my eyes water.

I think it’s more of a positional thing. He’s still Mel’s No. 2 guard prospect (Avila is No. 1 at 42). I wouldn’t be surprised if he still went in the first.