Big Blue Huddle

Rich: Of all the guys you "follow" for purposes of creating interesting topics, Feldman is my favorite college expert, though I never pay attention to him until now (shortly before the NFL draft). Why not? Because my view of him is so high that I don't want my analysis to be "tained" by hearing in advance what he believes or concludes. My goal: come to the same conclusions as he does. How did I fare this year? Not bad. After listening intently to him with Sckmelk (who, by the way, asks all the right questions) I'm satisfied to stand pat regarding my views of all of the positions on offense. I split about 60/40 positive vis-a-vis his views on defenders (my knowledge of the various college defense, many of which are little-used in pro ball, is vague and far from comprehensive). Bob

Below are my four "best case scenarios" (in order of best-ness) and my one "worst case scenario" for the Giants' upcoming 1st-round pick:

Best case: (a) they want a WR and their absolute favorite falls to them; (b) they want a QB and their absolute favorite falls to them; (c) their favorites are gone and the Vikings come a-callin' offering not only this year's two 1st-round picks but also next year's first rounder; (d) their favorites are gone and they draft the best player at one of the other positions (likely an OL) and he turns out to be good enough to start on opening day.

Worst case: Whomever they select sucks.

Bob

Quote from: 4 Aces on April 11, 2024, 09:06:35 PMWith OZ you gotta stay even with the LOS and start arcing up the field. I saw him consistently taking false steps backward (bad trajectory out of his stance) and getting beat by the DT. That's a tough block - the reach block - against some athletic DTs who are sometimes already shaded ahead of you. If the C can't cut the guy off (or loses depth) the play is ruined by penetration.

Aces: Right, but it's a typical rookie error, especially against an elite NT or DT. I'm certain he'll fix it this season. Rookies are caught between a rock and a hard place getting overpowered when they don't back up & getting getting beat around the side when they do. Bob

Quote from: uconnjack8 on April 12, 2024, 04:10:18 PMThis is listed by a sack per the amount of times blitzed:

Jayden Daniels  2.4
Spencer Rattler 2.7
Caleb Williams  3
Drake Maye      3.2
JJ McCarthy     3.5
Bo Nix          5
Penix           12

uconn: That's one reason why I continue to stick with my long-held view that Daniels is most likely of this group to succeed (though I continue to have questions about how he'll do on a team lacking an elite WR or TE). Bob

Quote from: H-Town G-Fan on April 11, 2024, 02:29:27 PMSteep drop. Probability is that 2025 pick is in the 20s. But if there was another bad season for the Giants in 2024-2025, could that additional 1st rounder help facilitate a trade up for a QB (if they weren't already in position)? I would imagine Schoen is considering such possibilities. If I'm the Giants, I stay pat at pick number 6.

H-T: Same conclusion, slightly different reason. IMO, picking from the low 1st round (especially if draft depth doesn't match your team's needs) is the highest bust-per-dollar spot in the draft (which is already a super-high-risk endeavor). I'd also refuse such a trade. Bob

Quote from: kartanoman on April 11, 2024, 11:13:20 AMIt's bad enough I have to preach it to engineers integrating components and subsystems into a system. That's another story I'll share in depth when I retire in a decade and change.

k-man: Does your final sentence mean you're going to change after you retire in ten years -or- you're going to retire in slightly over ten years?  Bob

A lot of jabber, encompassing EVERY possible view so that whatever happens they can say "we told you so." IMO  Bob

Quote from: MightyGiants on April 11, 2024, 09:34:36 AMI would be unhappy.  The Giants already have very good left tackle.  After that, the contribution to victory between an elite lineman and a solid lineman does not justify using such a high draft pick, in my opinion.

Rich: Assuming the OL selected would be Joe Alt, who also is very good at guard, I can see a plan to put him next to Andrew Thomas for one year until they make a final decision about Evan Neal. This would give the line five good players who are young enough to stay together for at least five years.

Thomas, Alt, JMS, Runyon, Elueminor(or Neal) (to start the season) with the "worst" possible scenario being that Neal fails and/or Elueminor (29 years of age) can't go forever but they have Alt as a backup.

This is a group that could make some noise in the NFL with a little good luck avoiding the injury bug.

Bob

Quote from: kartanoman on April 11, 2024, 08:50:42 AMThe offensive line has to work as an integrated team.

kart-man: Please re-post this sentence about once per week until the season starts. lol

Probably more flabbergasted than disappointed.  There are two scenarios where it could happen:

(1) (a) A perfect storm of some combination of the five picks ahead of us taking off the board ALL of the QB's and WR's on whom the Giants believe it's worth spending a high first-round pick, plus (b) the Giants have given up on Neal (adding disappointment in the Neal pick to my being flabbergasted that our luck is THAT BAD).

(2) The Giants are already (as of today) interested in so few (if any) QB's and/or WR's that there's almost no chance one or more of them could fall to the sixth pick (highly unlikely, IMO, because each of the three top WR's seem worth a first-round pick, as do at least one or two of the QB's (so the math is IMO on our side).

Bob

Quote from: katkavage on April 10, 2024, 01:39:12 PMNo one will give them that. They will have to come way off that if they want to move that pick. I don't blame them for trying. They want Harrison Jr. and know no one will do that deal.

kat: The Vikings may have a better offer... they currently have two first round picks this year, and they could add to that their first-rounder next year, which IMO is a better offer. Bob

IMO there is a shortage of QB's (if you measure by evaluating the percentage of starters who are elite against the number of QB's who are merely serviceable, barely average, or outright useless. Bob

Quote from: MightyGiants on April 10, 2024, 12:30:55 PMNow, the new hot term is "processing speed".  Much like arm talent, I don't think the term is fully flushed out.  Waldman talked about Daniels processing too fast, in that he passed over one of his targets right before that player got open.

Rich: As for Daniels, what you said is one thing that does worry although he's top of my list, but that has nothing to do with processing speed.

I was referring to his critique of May.

The knock on Maye by Waldman is that his "slow" processing speed often leads to reduction in the yardage to be obtained on a particular play, because it's taking him too long to decide to throw the ball, which means it's often thrown to a less-than-optimal spot, causing the receiver to have to break stride or contort his body or even stop moving. This has little (or nothing) to do with completion rate. Maye is still very good at getting completions (good accuracy, good target selection, good at tight windows, etc) but in the NFL a lack of optimal processing speed not only costs you yardage, it also reduces your completion rate because defenders in NFL are far superior to what you ordinarily see in college. More often than not, pro CB's and S's are almost draped over the receiver, so any chance you lose to get him the ball at the optimal time and location is a very serious matter. Bob

Quote from: Painter on April 10, 2024, 11:10:34 AMSome of the differences between Brugler's (with a r) and Martz's may not be great but can be worthy of note, not that it matters beyond whatever importance we impart to it.

Larry: Thanks for pointing out that Dane is not a musician. LOL

Quote from: AZGiantFan on April 09, 2024, 05:14:32 PMIt's interesting that you label it a weak QB class since so much of the narrative is about how strong this class is, especially compared with the next one.  With the strong subtext that if you need a QB you better get him this year.  Interesting in a good way, not the Chinese curse way.

AZRich: You laid your finger on the gist of my reasoning... next year's class is unlikely to be as "good" as this year's... BUT... that doesn't necessarily translate into this year's group being any good, and I don't think it's very good.  I'd probably bet on Daniels for the having the "quickest" path to success in the group, but I'm not even very confident in that prediction because it will depend on which team selects him and how much (if any) the coaches try to change his style. For one thing, I think he looks to run as his next option whenever a pass play breaks down on the first or second read, rather than knowing how (as Mahomes does) to buy time and re-focus as (IMO) the correct next option. Bob