I think Giving Dareke Young that much responsibility would be a mistake. I don’t trust him to play a position he’s never played before. I can see him being the lead blocker okay but picking up blitzes?!? HELL NO. I agree with most of the picks being A and B grades except for the later round guys
The only one I can't grade is Coby. He wasn't a great nickel corner, but he showed some aptitude for playmaking (or luck), as a rookie. Then he spent his entire 2nd season learning a new position. I'm gonna need to give him two more years as an NFL safety before I weigh in.
This year will tell us what Cross really is, since he had a really tough foot injury and played through it. We Know Lucas can play, but yea can he remain healthy so again this year will tell. Mafe should continue to improve so I give him a B+ and Dareke Young is yet too be used properly IMHO- Coby B has yet to show much- and Riq needs to regain his confidence and Learn to Tackle ( why he doesn't already know that is a huge ?)- I enjoy taking a look back after year two and three to see what and how they've done! Thanks-
Lovable Serial Ruminator (“chewer”) SSJ topic-trims ‘22 offseason in sudden, procrustean exercise.
How can you recount ‘Hawk History so well and then slide this in without reiterating the exhilarating franchise frenzy felt from:
adding 1st round TE Noah Fant,
solid vet Shelby Harris,
the tantalizing potential of hose-owner Drew Lock,
several high value picks,
$1.7 billion cap space,
and the Godiva-esque thrill of parading , riding topless (no QB) up 4th Ave!
That draft was full of crazy opportunities & severe risks (Malik Willis) among pundits’ mandatory must-dos - and then our coaches had months to wait before they could unwrap all the presents (starting with Broncos nail-biter, a miss from 64!).
But for fan experience, it didn’t measure up to the angst & thrill, high highs and low lows, of the TRADE that offseason.
One rather unrelated comment. It appears the they are leaving Haynes at RG, Jarrell at RT, but moving Lumea over to LG. Potentially we could see 2 rookie guards emerge this year just like we saw two rookie tackles emerge and start 2 years ago. Having 2 third year tackles, 1 second year center, and 2 1st year guards would be a great way to build a top o-line over the next few years. Fingers crossed that Lucas is back to his old self this year. It would be asking a lot of Lumea to do a position switch and beat out Tomlinson, but who knows.
I give the prior coaching staff a D- for how it developed and used the talent they drafted. Many of these players have much more to give IMO, which hopefully will begin to be proven out this year.
I am strongly pro the Penix pick. I think it's a bold idea based on a sound process that lots of teams will be copying if it works for Atlanta. I think there is a positive outcome available to them where they win a playoff game with Kirk this season but feel good about handing the reins over to Penix next year and trade Cousins for some draft picks. ATL felt Penix was worth a 1st round pick and when that happens and the guy is there for you to pick, you take him. Don't get cute, don't try to galaxybrain the rest of the league for a couple of Day 3 picks, just take the guy you think can be The Guy.
QB contracts are so inflated that even if he is just a backup for a couple of years he will provide some $ value versus say Drew Lock or Mariota or whoever they would be paying while keeping both fingers crossed they don't have to play them. At least this way they can develop their asset.
The other thing that goes overlooked in conversations around the Falcons is that they have to decide how much former top 10 picks Pitts and London are actually worth. Bringing in Cousins lets you evaluate those guys before you give em the bag because their QB situation has been so poor the last couple of years that it's tough to tell if they will be worth the near-market leading money (or at least Christian Kirk level contract for London) when those extensions roll around.
Finally, I've said many times that the really good GMs should differentiate themselves from their peers by doing shit you or I wouldn't think to do; if I, some schmuck on the other side of the planet, can come up with the same idea then why pay $$$ to a bunch of personnel guys? I also think that alot of the negativity in the media is from a perspective of "well NONE of my 266 mock drafts predicted Penix to the Falcons so it MUST be a TERRIBLE idea". Chil', hush. Don't be calling out a FO for drafting a QB they like just because you thought they should take Dallas Turner, who was the 3rd defender off the board.
I’d give Walker an A++ and be totally sincere. A million years ago I was a running back in HS. I always love a good RB, and to watch Walker reverse field two times and run 35 yards for a 4 yard gain when he’s hit IN THE BACKFIELD 5 yards behind the line of scrimmage is something I love to watch. He makes me smile a lot.
You've got to keep in mind that we had the #9 pick and desperately needed o-line help.
Knowing what we knew in '22, who would you have picked and who do you wish we had picked?
Cross was the best of known hot commodities and turned out the best of the lot, as you just pointed out.
Clearly we did our homework on guard play, because, as you also noted, we turned around in the 3rd round and drafted the player that may develop into the best of the lot, as you also alluded.
What bears remembering, is that part of the draft preparation and luck/skill is figuring out how high EVERYONE ELSE is willing to go for a player.
For example, if you believe, in your heart of hearts, that NO ONE is going to pick a player you covet when it's your turn to pick, you might turn around and pick your SECOND FAVORITE player instead, because you have figured out that THAT player would be gone before you got another chance.
With that kind of knowledge/luck, the Seahawks were possibly able to get bookend tackles and wait until the 3rd round to grab the better of the two. If the two of them get healthy and keep improving, '22 would have been a goldmine before even mentioning the rest of the draft.
I give Charles Cross an 'A' grade because I look at him as our actual 3rd round choice, after he would have been long gone. Picking Cross may have also affected the boards of other teams by making them think that we wouldn't turn around and draft another tackle.
There’s player grade and team grade. One thing that gets me with a lot of posters is JS is terrible because we don’t have many Wilson’s Sherman’s ETs Kams etc. I go another route and someone already posted. To me success, thus B to A, is seeing players drafted getting multiple contracts, even if no longer on the team. Every player drafted is still playing. Sure they may not be starters but a team has 53, plus emergency QB. Carp and Ifedi etc are a couple examples. 10 years in the league. Shoot Fants still playing. That says to me evaluations were done well. Can’t have a team with 22 all pros. KC doesn’t. NE didn’t. Mafe may have just gotten what he critically needed to move up (new coach and a monster disruptive DT). And that in turn helps Riq bait a QB like he did in Germany. Etc etc
And apologies to Seaside Joe for not being totally INSINCERE as he recounted a story in the article. I did give sincere grades to Big Chuck (B, sorry Chuck) and Tyreke Smith (D). Everybody else was an A before realizing Joe's sincerity test 😄
How Boye Mafe doesn't get an A is mind boggling even with disappearing, more or less, after the streak. Nwosu goes down and he shot up!! I'm just happy for new coaching. That decision gets an A whilst choice of coaches from Mac on down gets an A++. Starting to get really excited for the new season.....
1st year Cross & Lucas get an A simply for couple of rookies not getting Geno killed. 2nd year Cross gave cross a B and overall B - space to improve, including run blocking. Re Lucas, the most important ability is availability. His '23 availability was a D, my 2 year grade was C. Like Jamal, he can't help his health. No A's for "when healthy he's great!"
DBs were Cs, hard for me to tell because w/pass rush as bad as '23 Hawks, any DB could look bad. Their tackling not good overall...
I think Giving Dareke Young that much responsibility would be a mistake. I don’t trust him to play a position he’s never played before. I can see him being the lead blocker okay but picking up blitzes?!? HELL NO. I agree with most of the picks being A and B grades except for the later round guys
The only one I can't grade is Coby. He wasn't a great nickel corner, but he showed some aptitude for playmaking (or luck), as a rookie. Then he spent his entire 2nd season learning a new position. I'm gonna need to give him two more years as an NFL safety before I weigh in.
This year will tell us what Cross really is, since he had a really tough foot injury and played through it. We Know Lucas can play, but yea can he remain healthy so again this year will tell. Mafe should continue to improve so I give him a B+ and Dareke Young is yet too be used properly IMHO- Coby B has yet to show much- and Riq needs to regain his confidence and Learn to Tackle ( why he doesn't already know that is a huge ?)- I enjoy taking a look back after year two and three to see what and how they've done! Thanks-
Lovable Serial Ruminator (“chewer”) SSJ topic-trims ‘22 offseason in sudden, procrustean exercise.
How can you recount ‘Hawk History so well and then slide this in without reiterating the exhilarating franchise frenzy felt from:
adding 1st round TE Noah Fant,
solid vet Shelby Harris,
the tantalizing potential of hose-owner Drew Lock,
several high value picks,
$1.7 billion cap space,
and the Godiva-esque thrill of parading , riding topless (no QB) up 4th Ave!
That draft was full of crazy opportunities & severe risks (Malik Willis) among pundits’ mandatory must-dos - and then our coaches had months to wait before they could unwrap all the presents (starting with Broncos nail-biter, a miss from 64!).
But for fan experience, it didn’t measure up to the angst & thrill, high highs and low lows, of the TRADE that offseason.
Love you, Brother Joe!
One rather unrelated comment. It appears the they are leaving Haynes at RG, Jarrell at RT, but moving Lumea over to LG. Potentially we could see 2 rookie guards emerge this year just like we saw two rookie tackles emerge and start 2 years ago. Having 2 third year tackles, 1 second year center, and 2 1st year guards would be a great way to build a top o-line over the next few years. Fingers crossed that Lucas is back to his old self this year. It would be asking a lot of Lumea to do a position switch and beat out Tomlinson, but who knows.
I give the prior coaching staff a D- for how it developed and used the talent they drafted. Many of these players have much more to give IMO, which hopefully will begin to be proven out this year.
I am strongly pro the Penix pick. I think it's a bold idea based on a sound process that lots of teams will be copying if it works for Atlanta. I think there is a positive outcome available to them where they win a playoff game with Kirk this season but feel good about handing the reins over to Penix next year and trade Cousins for some draft picks. ATL felt Penix was worth a 1st round pick and when that happens and the guy is there for you to pick, you take him. Don't get cute, don't try to galaxybrain the rest of the league for a couple of Day 3 picks, just take the guy you think can be The Guy.
QB contracts are so inflated that even if he is just a backup for a couple of years he will provide some $ value versus say Drew Lock or Mariota or whoever they would be paying while keeping both fingers crossed they don't have to play them. At least this way they can develop their asset.
The other thing that goes overlooked in conversations around the Falcons is that they have to decide how much former top 10 picks Pitts and London are actually worth. Bringing in Cousins lets you evaluate those guys before you give em the bag because their QB situation has been so poor the last couple of years that it's tough to tell if they will be worth the near-market leading money (or at least Christian Kirk level contract for London) when those extensions roll around.
Finally, I've said many times that the really good GMs should differentiate themselves from their peers by doing shit you or I wouldn't think to do; if I, some schmuck on the other side of the planet, can come up with the same idea then why pay $$$ to a bunch of personnel guys? I also think that alot of the negativity in the media is from a perspective of "well NONE of my 266 mock drafts predicted Penix to the Falcons so it MUST be a TERRIBLE idea". Chil', hush. Don't be calling out a FO for drafting a QB they like just because you thought they should take Dallas Turner, who was the 3rd defender off the board.
Rant over.
I’d give Walker an A++ and be totally sincere. A million years ago I was a running back in HS. I always love a good RB, and to watch Walker reverse field two times and run 35 yards for a 4 yard gain when he’s hit IN THE BACKFIELD 5 yards behind the line of scrimmage is something I love to watch. He makes me smile a lot.
Even better are those cut and go plays that end with a TD. Better blocking and K9 will explode.
Melton - B+ if we kept him, but since we didn't...?
I graded Bo highly cos he turned into a good player coming from a 7th round pick, just a shame he is no longer a Hawk
You've got to keep in mind that we had the #9 pick and desperately needed o-line help.
Knowing what we knew in '22, who would you have picked and who do you wish we had picked?
Cross was the best of known hot commodities and turned out the best of the lot, as you just pointed out.
Clearly we did our homework on guard play, because, as you also noted, we turned around in the 3rd round and drafted the player that may develop into the best of the lot, as you also alluded.
What bears remembering, is that part of the draft preparation and luck/skill is figuring out how high EVERYONE ELSE is willing to go for a player.
For example, if you believe, in your heart of hearts, that NO ONE is going to pick a player you covet when it's your turn to pick, you might turn around and pick your SECOND FAVORITE player instead, because you have figured out that THAT player would be gone before you got another chance.
With that kind of knowledge/luck, the Seahawks were possibly able to get bookend tackles and wait until the 3rd round to grab the better of the two. If the two of them get healthy and keep improving, '22 would have been a goldmine before even mentioning the rest of the draft.
I give Charles Cross an 'A' grade because I look at him as our actual 3rd round choice, after he would have been long gone. Picking Cross may have also affected the boards of other teams by making them think that we wouldn't turn around and draft another tackle.
A++ article!!
(I am sure I'll still feel the same after I read it)
There’s player grade and team grade. One thing that gets me with a lot of posters is JS is terrible because we don’t have many Wilson’s Sherman’s ETs Kams etc. I go another route and someone already posted. To me success, thus B to A, is seeing players drafted getting multiple contracts, even if no longer on the team. Every player drafted is still playing. Sure they may not be starters but a team has 53, plus emergency QB. Carp and Ifedi etc are a couple examples. 10 years in the league. Shoot Fants still playing. That says to me evaluations were done well. Can’t have a team with 22 all pros. KC doesn’t. NE didn’t. Mafe may have just gotten what he critically needed to move up (new coach and a monster disruptive DT). And that in turn helps Riq bait a QB like he did in Germany. Etc etc
And apologies to Seaside Joe for not being totally INSINCERE as he recounted a story in the article. I did give sincere grades to Big Chuck (B, sorry Chuck) and Tyreke Smith (D). Everybody else was an A before realizing Joe's sincerity test 😄
How Boye Mafe doesn't get an A is mind boggling even with disappearing, more or less, after the streak. Nwosu goes down and he shot up!! I'm just happy for new coaching. That decision gets an A whilst choice of coaches from Mac on down gets an A++. Starting to get really excited for the new season.....
1st year Cross & Lucas get an A simply for couple of rookies not getting Geno killed. 2nd year Cross gave cross a B and overall B - space to improve, including run blocking. Re Lucas, the most important ability is availability. His '23 availability was a D, my 2 year grade was C. Like Jamal, he can't help his health. No A's for "when healthy he's great!"
DBs were Cs, hard for me to tell because w/pass rush as bad as '23 Hawks, any DB could look bad. Their tackling not good overall...
I learned that a lot of people have higher expectations of what a 7th round pick is supposed to produce than I do.
Same, 7th round pick and you stick on a team, particularly multi years = A for me
Same grade I gave, A, same rationale. Guess we're 3 of 60