2014 NFL Draft Thread

[jakecronus8]

I'll start with Bucky's draft prospects. Overall, they have a lot of underrated guys

Chris Borland was born to play football. Whoever gets him will be getting a steal. One of the most instinctual defensive players I've seen at Wisconsin and can do it all. If he was 6'1 he'd be the first ILB off the board.

Abbrederis is tough to peg. My guess is his ability as a returner will get him drafted late, and he'll surprise a lot of people as a possession receiver.

Melvin Gordon could have a breakout year, declare as a RS soph and be the first running back taken. Great player, but also says a lot about this class of running backs.

Jacob Pedersen, Beau Allen, and Zac Matthias will also probably hear their names called on day 3.

Manziel will declare and have his ego checked when he's picked in the third. I know the NFL is all about the mobile QB's but he doesn't have the arm strength and moxie to overcome his frame like Russell Wilson has. His personality is Claussen-esque which won't do him any favors.

Bridgewater will go number one over Clowney. So far Clowney has disappointed, but regardless, it's a quarterback driven league, and whomever is picking #1 is likely to need one. I always thought Clowney was overrated anyways. Similar to Luck as far as I'm concerned. Great players and prospects, but some pegged them as the best prospects ever at their respective positions, which is ridiculous. If Clowney doesn't go unblocked and nail that Michigan running back whose helmet wasn't properly strapped on at full speed, he doesn't have half the hype. Gotta love that four letter network.

For Green Bay, I'd love to see a top tight end fall to us. Seferian would be a dream, but Fiederowicz from Iowa is a beast too, and totally underutilized. Could be there for us in the second. Lyerla reminds me of Eifert. If we could nab any of those guys in the first two rounds I'd be ecstatic.

Offensive tackles are pretty deep in this draft which should hopefully work out in our favor.

[whatthe_buck!?]

Great thread, good time to start this one. Any info on prospects that people want to post that will get me excited about Tight Ends, Safeties, ILBs, and Centers that will be draft eligible this year will be great reading. I like the fact that going into this draft all our biggest needs are most likely going to be at non-premium positions where top players could be available in later rounds, one good draft where we hit on 4 picks and we could really shore up every need spot on the team. Pretty sure that's by design, in TT we trust...

[Bucksfans1and2]

I'll be linking my reports via Jeff's site.

Abbrederis will be drafted earlier than you'd think. He's polished and more athletic than he's given credit for.

I have a hard time saying that Clowney has been dissapointing unless your expectations with him were really insane. As bad as he supposedly played against the Tar Heels, he lived in their backfield and put a number of shots on Renner, especially going up against a preseason All American, James Hurst. He's still far and away the best non-QB in this draft.

Lyerla shouldn't be compared to anybody at this point. For all the talk about him, he's pretty much been a massive disappointment at this point in career. For all the hype, you'd think he was coming off a 1000 yard season rather than a 400 yard season. He hasn't done a damn this year either in two games.

It will be interesting to see what the plan is with the Tackles. If Bakhtiari can handle the left side reasonably well, it might make sense to move Bulaga back to the Right. This Tackle class is remarkably deep.

If we're looking at Needs, I'd put Center and Safety on the top of the list. I'm ready to improve from a ceiling of average at Center, and I would like to see a legit blue chip guy on the back end.

[whatthe_buck!?]

It will be interesting to see what the plan is with the Tackles. If Bakhtiari can handle the left side reasonably well, it might make sense to move Bulaga back to the Right.

This is what I'm kind of assuming will happen if Bak stays healthy and shows good progression as the year goes on. A Bak/Sitton/top 3 college center/Lang/Bulaga line looks attractive as hell to me assuming that by next season Bak can hold his own out there on an island against top rushers in pass pro...

[Profound23]

All the hype around Clowney, I think Mosley is going to be the top LB out this year. WOULD LOVE to get him opposite Matthews, but we will be too scared to give up on Perry so quickly.

Besides that for the Packers I like:

Marcus Roberson CB
Aaron Colvin CB
Dion Bailey S
CJ Barnett S

ANY offensive lineman who will protect Aaron and give Lacy at least a little room to run.

Oline, Safety PLEASE PACKERS for the love of GOD

[Bucksfans1and2]

All the hype around Clowney, I think Mosley is going to be the top LB out this year. WOULD LOVE to get him opposite Matthews, but we will be too scared to give up on Perry so quickly.

Besides that for the Packers I like:

Marcus Roberson CB
Aaron Colvin CB
Dion Bailey S
CJ Barnett S

ANY offensive lineman who will protect Aaron and give Lacy at least a little room to run.

Oline, Safety PLEASE PACKERS for the love of GOD

Mosley's an ILB

Both of the Gator CBs are good players.

Look out for Cover 2 CBs like Bailey. Press man sells in the NFL.

[giraldo5]

I don't really understand the people who say Clowney has disappointed.Have you watched any of their games? Teams are running away from him and doing short 3 step drops because of him. His presence isn't showing up in the box score that much but it's certainly showing up live. The SC staff needs to start moving him around. He'll go Number 2 behind BRidgewater simply because it's a QB driven league (and rightly so).

[jakecronus8]

When I say disappointing, I mean so in that he hasn't lived up to the near impossible expectations bestowed upon him.

My biggest gripe with JC is that he relies on his physical gifts too much and yes, conditioning seems to be an issue.

[Bucksfans1and2]

When I say disappointing, I mean so in that he hasn't lived up to the near impossible expectations bestowed upon him.

My biggest gripe with JC is that he relies on his physical gifts too much and yes, conditioning seems to be an issue.

Another issue with Clowney is his obsession with his inside move. It's effective, but when it doesn't work, SC losses contain of the pocket, and he uses it on running downs so teams are able to run around him.

It's a nitpicky complaint, but one I have.

[eagle13]

Who we draft will be affected more or less by who we lose in free agency.

If we lose Raji I can see us taking a NT 1st or 2nd provided a worthy one is available
If we lose Finley I can see us taking a TE 1st or 2nd provided a worthy one is available
If Bakhtiari doesn’t play well I can see us taking a OT 1st or 2nd especially since OT is deep
If we lose Shield I can see us taking a CB 3rd or 4thh provided a worthy one is available
If S play remains mediocre I can see us taking a S anywhere from 2nd to 5th
If EDS is only mediocre I can see us taking a C 4th or 5th provided a worthy one is available

TO RECAP
1st = NT, TE, OT
2nd = NT, TE, OT, S
3rd = NT, TE, OT, S, CB
4th = NT, TE, OT, S, CB, C
5th = NT, TE, OT, S, CB, C

[emunney]

What's your take on Christian Jones, BF?

[Newz]

Any chance Clinton-Dix falls all of the way to us after his suspension?

[PkrsBcksGphsMqt]

I'll get this out of the way, would LOVE to get Ra'Shede Hageman. Dude is an athletic freak and could really add some nastiness to our DL. I'm thinking he'll probably be off the board when we select though.

[raysbookclub]

Mosley looks awesome, looks like he'd be great at an ILB spot for us. Would really help our coverage and blitzing from that spot too.

I think we get guys who are NT (or Raji), TE (or Finley), S, WR, or ILB in the first and second rounds.

[Bucksfans1and2]

What's your take on Christian Jones, BF?

Need to watch way more of him. I like this LB class a lot though.

I'll get this out of the way, would LOVE to get Ra'Shede Hageman. Dude is an athletic freak and could really add some nastiness to our DL. I'm thinking he'll probably be off the board when we select though.

The skill level isn't there yet but that athleticism is going to get him drafted early

Any chance Clinton-Dix falls all of the way to us after his suspension?

I don't think the suspension hurts him very much. There's plenty of tape on him. He might be available, but that's just cause Safeties aren't looked at very highly. He's pretty darn good though. I like the guy from Washington more based on upside, but if I needed a Safety for Capers system tomorrow, Ha Ha would be my guy.

Mosley looks awesome, looks like he'd be great at an ILB spot for us. Would really help our coverage and blitzing from that spot too.

I think we get guys who are NT (or Raji), TE (or Finley), S, WR, or ILB in the first and second rounds.

Mosley is going to get drafted VERY early. Elite athlete and elite production without any of the red flags like Ogletree.

[Newz]

[

Any chance Clinton-Dix falls all of the way to us after his suspension?

I don't think the suspension hurts him very much. There's plenty of tape on him. He might be available, but that's just cause Safeties aren't looked at very highly. He's pretty darn good though. I like the guy from Washington more based on upside, but if I needed a Safety for Capers system tomorrow, Ha Ha would be my guy.

I have read he's pretty great... and having him and Burnett at the S spots with Shields, Tramon, Hayward and some of our other young corners flanking them would have to be pretty terrifying for opposing QBs.

Plus his name is cool.

[DanoMac]

BF...give me your top 5 tight ends for this draft

[Bucksfans1and2]

BF...give me your top 5 tight ends for this draft

Amaro
Lyerla
Fiedorowicz
ASJ
Ebron

Every one has the potential to be an above average TE in the NFL. I need to make some calls on Lyerla and watch more of ASJ and Ebron before this list is finalized, however.

[Bucksfans1and2]

[

Any chance Clinton-Dix falls all of the way to us after his suspension?

I don't think the suspension hurts him very much. There's plenty of tape on him. He might be available, but that's just cause Safeties aren't looked at very highly. He's pretty darn good though. I like the guy from Washington more based on upside, but if I needed a Safety for Capers system tomorrow, Ha Ha would be my guy.

I have read he's pretty great... and having him and Burnett at the S spots with Shields, Tramon, Hayward and some of our other young corners flanking them would have to be pretty terrifying for opposing QBs.

Plus his name is cool.

We're at the point of the year where my opinions will be changing hourly. So here's where I'm at: I've got that Randall Cobb run in my head and I can't get the Lions Safety flying down the field and completely whiffing on Cobb. I've got Adrian Peterson breaking past our front 7 and having MD Jennings bounce off of him, stuck in the front of my brain.

The ability to bring guys down in the open field is my one concern with Ha Ha. He's more lackadaisical coming down into the box when he's by himself and he's tentative at times. He's also a skinnier guy, and I worry about him being able to get bigger backs on the ground. I'm nitpicking, and I know it, and I don't know why. He's got elite coverage skills and he's adequate if not great tackling in the open field. He's a really good player.

The nice thing about Ha Ha is that he's been doing it all at Alabama.

A staple of Capers system when Collins was here was that we did a ton of things with our safeties. It's a complicated system, and it asks a lot out of the safeties. One play they might be manned up on a slot receiver and the next they might be the lone high guy, and after that they'll be playing the deep half. We haven't been doing much with that since we got Jennings because Jennings doesn't really have the chops to pull it off consistently. With Ha Ha, we've seen him do it all, and we've seen him do it at a high level. There shouldn't be much of a learning curve with him. I expect him to be a good player from day 1.

[Bucksfans1and2]

What's your take on Christian Jones, BF?

Great athlete, mediocre Linebacker. If he ends up a Packer he redshirts or only plays situationally.