It's 14 days til the real thing, it's time to mock draft!
Here is last week's edition
Now onto the new one
With only five picks to work with in the roster reformation Adofo-Mensah has quite a boulder to try and roll. The lower value of the 23rd pick diminishes the opportunity to trade down while simultaneously getting high value in return and maintaining a presence in the first round for the fifth-year-option. The best chance to stay above this year's 32nd would be to bamboozle another GM the way he was bamboozled during Thursday & Friday last year, that's not a given though. It also makes trying to project selections more of a pickle than usual, which is also adds intrigue.
Enough pretense though, it's time to get on with it!
23 brought an offer from "Dallas" of 26 & 58 to move up and get 87 as well. "Denver" also offered 67, 68 & Courtland Sutton for the pick. With four viable defensive options near the top of the board "Dallas'" got the nod but it would be interesting to hear KA-M talk about a deal such as "Denver's". The hosts then dialed up a 31 & 2024 second round pick for 26 that also seemed like a winning deal. If the steam is accurate that the Purple are interested in QB Hendon Hooker then Thursday could play out similar to this.
In this edition signal-caller will have to wait however.
Clemson LB Trenton Simpson has some Swiss-Army-Knife to his game and could be great under Brian Flores.
At 58 "Las Vegas" put 70 & 100 on the table for it and a six next April. That would give the GM three bites at the top-100 apple which has already been established as a preference of his. The flies in the ointment are that first round-possible WR Zay Flowers (Boston College) & DT Calijah Kancey (Pitt) were still available. Getting Flowers to stretch the field for Jefferson & Hockenson outweighed the addition of the 100th selection.
19 picks after that one brought another chance to add a piece to the pressure scheme. Kentucky CB Carrington Valentine has the upside to make people wonder why it lasted so long, which is a great fit for the desperately-needy!
Thanks to "Indianapolis" 158 became 162 with a sweetener of the 221st. Moving down didn't cost either of the players thatere w considered initially as Edge Isaiah McGuire (Missouri) & DT Moro Ojomo (Texas) were overlooked by the simulator. With so little long-term certainty at the DE spot McGuire was the choice but either one could join the team around that point Saturday.
The second to last pick could have gone the way of the offense with RB Deuce Vaughn and QBs Max Duggan (TCU) & Jake Haener (Fresno St.) available but Duke's Shaka Heyward could also prove to be an impact player for the revamped D. That takes precedent over a backup.
The National Runner-up was pegged to Dallas but the other two remained. If Dalvin Cook is traded by or during the draft then RB would be added to the needs list but in lieu of that, a swing for a possible player under center is the smarter choice. If Haener can be even just as good as his predecessor from Fresno, Derek Carr, then all the other weaknesses on the roster would be that much easier to fill! $$$
Turning five into seven and finishing the three-day blitz with three potential game 1 impact players would be a quality rebound from last year's run that remains an incomplete minus for Adofo-Mensah.
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