Amazing Drops in this year's first round

[Stryker]

Holy ****, I haven't seen this many reaches since my cat was going for my toes under the door. This draft is crazy go nuts. So now we've got some drops that were supposed to be first rounders that are now possibly second rounders. Lets take a look at some of the biggest drops of this year's first round:

1. Myles Jack. A consensus top 5 pick in most mock drafts is now officially a day 2 pick. Rated #2 on Del's board, he is now available in round 2. I won't lie, I thought the Steelers BPA strategy would have made Jack their pick, but instead, he was not. The question is, how far will he fall?

2. Cody Whitehair OG #11 on Del's sheet is now in the second round.

3. Jalen Smith OLB #13 on Del's sheet. Surprised an OLB with this talent would drop this far.

4. Jason Springs OT #14 on Del's board. 4 OTs go in the first. None of them are Springs.

5. Hunter Henry TE #16 on Del's Board. The top TE is not a first rounder in this year's draft. I have him slotted to the Steelers if he falls to their spot in round 2.

6. Reggie Ragland LB #17 on the Del Scale

7. Noah Spence LB #21 on Del's list. A great edge rusher (possibly the best) fell to round 2.

Best of the rest:

DTs Billings, A'Shawn Robinson, and McKenzie Alexander CB.

There are 10 players I'd love to have in round 2.

There was a huge run on Guards this first round. Most of them were not mocked as first rounders, yet 3 G/C went in the first round.

Who were the biggest reaches?

Keanu Neal was ranked #57 by Del, yet went 17th. The top reach though by Del's numbers was Kenny Clark at #72 going 27th in the draft.

Here's to hoping more RBs, WRs and QBs get taken in round 2 before we pick. We're going to get a first round talent slide to us in round 2. I'm hoping for Billings and Henry. Though Jack, Spence, Ashawn, and Alexander have to be in consideration if any of them are on the board.

 

[lefty]

Some good players still there for sure. Still a bunch of safeties in Justin Simmons, Jeremy Cash, Sean Davis, Vonn Bell, TJ Green, and Darian Thompson available. WR's Shepard, Cooper, Boyd, and Miller. DT's and DE's Austin Johnson, Chris Jones, Jarran Reed, Hargrave, Dodd, and Bullard. Amazing the depth in these next couple rounds...

 

[Ghost of Frenchy Fuqua]

...1. Myles Jack....Rated #2 on Del's board...

Who's Del?

 

[Stryker]

Who's Del?

Deljzc. Our resident draft guru.

 

[swal75]

They were talking about nerve damage/stretching with Smith. I bet he doesn't go before round 4.

 

[Superman]

Who's Del?

Del Kiper, Sr. with more nasal hair.

 

[Drink IRON City]

Who's Del?

He is the dude that puts in a lot of time and work to satisfy this message board's hunger of knowledge of the game. We thank him for his efforts and dedication of that fact.


Salute the nation

 

[deljzc]

Well, most of the falls have to do with medical issues.

Mack (possible microfracture surgery)
Smith (Sean Spence type leg injury and will be out all of 2016)
Ragland (enlarged aorta, possible heart complications)

As for Whitehair, Spriggs and Henry, I probably like them more than most. We'll see if they turn into good pros over the next 5-6 years like I forecast. I think they are all very solid football players.

As for the reaches, I agree there were a few that stood out.

1. The trade up by the Bears to get Leonard Floyd. I still don't see it with that guy and think he is just way to light in the pants, but both Chicago and the Giants seem to have had a huge hard-on for the guy. The bears use a #11 and #106 pick to get what I think is another Barkevious Mingo (also way over drafted).

2. Keanu Neal to Atlanta might seem odd at first, but my friend (who played football at college with Falcons' head coach Dan Quinn) immediately after the pick pointed out that Quinn coached Neal at Florida. Obviously there was something there Quinn liked and knew about Neal. But for the second year under the new coach I though they reached pretty hard for a defensive player (I thought Vic Beasley at #8 was a reach last season as well). I don't think Neal's play will ever be worth the #17 pick overall.

3. The pick following Atlanta at #18 by the Colts was even more confusing. Ryan Kelly is a nice interior football G/C, but he is not in the class of Mack, Pouncey or Pouncey. Even if you convince me he's a Travis Frederick (which I thought was a reach in 2013), that was pick #31, not pick #18. In order for that pick to be of value, Kelly has to be an pro-bowler. That's a tall task. And let's not forget I think Whitehair is a hugely superior interior player and can maybe play all-5 positions for you in a pinch. The Colts draft record of late has been sketchy at best and this is another big head scratcher to me. Not a fan of how Greigson is building that offensive line.

4. Kenny Clark at pick #27 by Ted Thompson is another weird pick. I think Clark is just a guy, even at only 20 years old, that is a typical "tweener" rotational guy that Green Bay likes to collect: Justin Harrell, Jarius Wynn, Mike Neal, C.J. Wilson, Lawrence Guy, Mike Daniels, Jerel Worthy, Datone Jones, Josh Boyd, Kyri Thornton. If you can believe it I think ALL those draft picks (except Harrell) are still in the league floating around but all are "just guys" that have come and gone in/out of Green Bay's defense and not really done much to help their issues. Just like the Steelers a bit, when you continue to pick the same type of player to solve the same type of problem I don't know why you'd expect different results. Clark is a huge reach in a very deep D-line draft and Thompson could have found a similar prospect one or two rounds later. I would have much preferred to see Green Bay pick Billings, Butler, Ragland or even Whitehair for more depth on the O-line.

5. San Francisco (and Chip Kelly) trading up for a guard in round 1. Sounds dumb when you say it out loud and I expect nothing will justify the reach for Josh Garnett over the next 2-3 seasons. Again, we'll see if my scouting is correct and Whitehair becomes the best G in this draft class or not.

6. Seattle and their ever changing offensive line. Pick #31. Another eye-of-the-beholder line pick. When you realize from 2009-2011 this team picked Max Unger, Russell Okung and James Carpenter all in the top-50 and all started for your Super Bowl Champion team and now they are all gone (almost pushed out), you have to wonder what Pete Carroll is thinking. I loved his Glowinski pick last year (one of my big sleepers), but the selection of the very big and very raw Ifedi this high is questionable to me. Where he ends up will be telling because I saw on film potential struggles at all his possible landing spots. That's a big risk for a pick this high.