Pittsburgh takes the stud WR in front of us at 1.1. That makes things easier.
I'm still grappling with trading down to get more value. That likely means doing something sensible like taking the best CB on the board at the 10th pick or so and probably getting a 2nd rounder or a future 1st or something for our trouble. If we made the pick right now, we'd get a stud DT who is a scheme fit. I'm trying to weigh things out. Trading for future 1sts and whatnot has always felt like a quick way to stretch the AI's competitive boundaries, but if I can play pretty close to all out with the straightforward limitations I've placed here that would be a nice thing to discover. I'm also just legitimately not sure the all out play isn't to just take the stud DT.
*Jeopardy music*
We take the DT.
1.2
He's got a 6.9 raw Grade and 7.5 adjusted. That's a high raw Grade. The dash is top end. A number of other combines are very good. He's got nice looking bars and the scouts think he's Underrated. My guess is he's very good. Just a lot of boxes checked to make me think he's a lock to be a 70+ type. Will he have some insane impact on our team? I don't really know and finding out holds some interest for me. I have some rough working assumptions that you need good DL depth because it's a spot that fatigues and subs as much or more than any other and that running the 4-3 means we need to have some impact on the DL.
2.2
I'm surprised this guy slips to us here. He was on our list of a few options we'd probably take if we had traded back to the 10-15 range. He looks like he'll be a pure FS type and patrol that deep zone. It's not the CB we need, but we're getting warmer at least. There was another WR I really liked who I assumed we'd take here. He got popped at 1.19 in a strong play by the AI. Score one for the machines.
On Shelton, I'm pretty bullish on big Grade, no combine guys. When they have good bars to go with it, I don't overthink it.
3.2
This is another steal for us. I know we went safety and then guard with these last two picks, which is probably the money move in this range of SP drafts if you're just looking to get some big red bars, but these guys are really good I think. I think the AI tends to value these positions, so I don't think there's a huge cue here that these spots don't matter. But Shelton and Anstaett should probably be off the board before we get them. I like these guys.
And for those following at home, I like Anstaett because those are some big bars for a guy with good combines and a 5+ raw Grade. I have very few reasons to suspect he's not something like what the bars are telling me. So we're probably getting a 60+ long time starter here in the 3rd.
4.2
My least favorite pick so far. I like Smith as a good solid ratings type who gives us some depth quality. There are more interesting players still on the board, but they all have a much better chance of slipping deeper. I do wonder if some of these solid types don't have as much value as the "precision tool" type that I could somehow put in perfect positions. The 6'4" height gives Smith at least something of an elite attribute to go with his otherwise vanilla skills.
Code:
Rnd 5 - Pat Giles, RB, Nevada - Las Vegas
Rnd 6 - Nicholas LaChapelle, OLB, Northern Illinois
Rnd 7 - Jay Blackwell, CB, Washington State
We round out with a punt returner, some more LB depth, and our first CB snag in the 7th (smart!).
There's a lot of quality here. We'll add a couple UDRs as well. And we're up against the cap, so I think that will be that.