Spent some time this weekend snooping on other teams media and lurking on their message boards, trying to gather intel on who they are most likely to take...
Jets: Jets nation seems to be in lockstep. Defense at two, and they are praying Tyson or Lemon falls to them at 16 (if not, back up plan is TE Saddiq or one of the second tier WRs). They are looking at the pick of the litter among pass rushers. The media is trying hard to push Reese on them, and a lot of their fans are fine with that. But just as many prefer Bain and to a lesser degree Bailey. There’s a little support for Downs as well, but not much. They’ll almost certainly be taking the one of the three edge guys, the only question is which one rises to the top of the board come April. Can only guess at this point.
Pick: Bain
Cardinals: The vibe with Arizona fans is ‘we suck, our O line is a disaster and it’s always a disaster’. So the majority are content to take the top OL on the board and fill their biggest hole. Maui-wowie. There is however a significant faction that prefers a pass rusher, and Bain is mentioned the most while some like Bailey (there’s almost zero talk of Reese, but I do wonder if that’s because they think he’s going to the Jets from the mocks out there). And similar to with our fans (myself included) there is a faction of BPA/star power support for Love and Downs. But there is pushback on both. Love would be set up for failure with such a bad line in front of him. With Downs it’s even if he hits we’ve had a great safety with Buddha Baker and the defense still sucked. In the end, though, it’s most likely the obvious pick and the majority of mockers have it correct.
Pick: Mauigoa
Titans: they need a receiver, and there’s some talk about giving young QB Ward that weapon. But also a general sense that none of the receivers are really worth a top 4 pick. Most of the noise is they really want a pass rushing stud up front for incoming HC Saleh. Bain, Bailey, or Reese. Bailey is thought to be a perfect fit for the system so he’s probably the choice, especially if Bain is gone.
Pick: Bailey
Giants: in order to find any information on the Giants, you have to wade through hundreds of articles about them taking Caleb Downs. If you make it that far, you will find significant pushback based on the position value argument. For those people it’s generally receiver, and the vast majority seem to think Tate is the best. So it’s really a two horse race… Downs or Tate. New ‘coach centric’ GM Harbaugh will be the one deciding though, and he has already professed his love for Downs. It breaks my heart, but I can’t ignore that.
Pick: Downs
Browns: receiver and OT are the big needs. Fano is a beast, and the Fanbase will mostly be content with him as the pick. However, there is plenty of love for Tate and Downs. This is amplified because there are a lot of Ohio State fans in the Browns fan base. The Browns could take the boring but sensible pick with Fano (and that would be the best scenario for us) but more likely ownership will see a lot more juice with one of the OSU guys. Tate makes the most sense, both in terms of filling a need and selling tickets. Will be telling to watch what they do in free agency.
Pick: Tate
Conclusions…
One of Bain, Bailey, Reese will most likely fall to us. The Jets and Titans will decide our fate on this. I think it’s Reese, because the other two are more of a sure thing upfront, and Reese feels like a tweener LB/DE. The national media does seem to love him, but local media and fans not nearly as much.
We’re not getting Caleb Downs. Sadly. He is seen by most as the best player in the draft, and one of the teams ahead of us is surely going to put aside the positional value argument and take him. He is the one player that every team ahead of us is at least considering.
Love will be there for us. The only team that seems to be considering him at all is Arizona, and again there’s too much fear that he’ll be the next Jeanty behind their crappy line.
Our choices may well be coming down to Reese, Love, Styles, Tyson/Lemon. For me that makes for an easy call…LOVE! But if we are fortunate enough to have Breece or K9 (or maybe Etienne) on our roster, it makes for a good debate among the other guys. Reese then would be my choice for the upside and good fit.
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