Avila is a slam dunk day one difference maker. He should instantly impact the offense positively. None of us expected OL at the top due to years of abuse by the Rams on draft day, but they sure did make a great call this year by sucking it up and taking the big guy.
Young we'll see. He's an upside pick. I think he is part of that price of moving down in terms of the draft steering them to OL with the first pick and after making the right call you gotta accrue picks somewhere. So then we miss on guys like Hall who I am sure they would have liked. But Young does have good film. I've been watching him more than any of these guys after the pick and think there's a reasonable chance the Rams can get the most from him. But it's still a wait and see deal vice a deal where you know the guy is gonna slay it day one. Probably gonna have an adjustment period before we feel him and there's a gulf between a guy who can give you some sacks next to AD like say Fowler or him growing into a real dawg and solving blindside for years.
Turner is an intriguing pick. Rams have a plan for him on the rush as per Les, with him and AD duoing in the middle. I like DL who are naturally tough to move and this guy has that element to him. But he's not overpowering in that way. Also he's not in AD's class in terms of quickness to counter that. So where his ceiling is no idea, thinking he's at worst a rotational type who helps us year one. At best he's AD's replacement if he up and retires suddenly. Not a day one difference maker, though he has a chance to start most likely at 5T for us, that's his best spot with AD taking up 3T. If he wins that 5T job then maybe we have something.
Bennett is the QB pick we knew was coming. Not the QB we knew was coming but a strong backup option for us that makes McVay feel good if Stafford misses time. I think his ceiling is a backup but we'll see how it goes. Quality addition for the room all around. Backup QB.
Hampton is a dice roll on another twitchy edge, a bit undersized so he's a project. Depth and teams.
McClendon is a project for the OL pipeline. Depth role.
Allen I will say has some intriguing skills for development. Role will be TE depth chart and teams.
Nacua is another large possession option WR. What makes him a bit different from Skow and McClutch is he's a guy who can be plugged into the slot and be productive. He's a chain mover and has a real chance to squeeze someone we like off this roster. I shall call him mini-Kupp.
Tomlinson for where he was taken will have every opportunity to win a slot role. They may even let him play outside the hash if he comes in hot because our options out there are fucking ugly opposite Durant. So for a late round choice this is a really strong pick and represents real potential to start. Cannot complain about that.
Mathis is my kind of Edge. I like 'em rangy and menacing with a little pop to them. But he's another project to load that room, raw gristle for the pressure mill. Depth and teams.
Evans is a Snead boom/bust pick. I fucking hate that it's at RB and that shit triggers me badly. But maybe we finally get on the boom side of the ledger at RB as we are overdue. Nice talent level. Role should be depth but there is room for him to be needed as a rook so hope he's locked in.
Taylor is a box safety with some upside. Depth role and teams if he wants to make the roster. Scott path hopefully, if we hit on him.
Johnson is my favorite day three pick. Interior rotation addition for the DL, boy has some pop to him, physicality that I prefer. Will be in the mix if he comes into camp hot for the 5T role potentially. But either way good depth pickup for the DL roster.
Going into this draft we knew it was a reload deal where Les would move down and add pick volume. They did that and missed out on some guys I would have loved to have. Whether those picks we added move the bar we'll see.
Strengths of the class are they restocked the defensive front, which was no small feat, and added a critical need at OG to ensure our old QB doesn't get killed. I think to some extent the draft steered them to take OL early, but I'll take it lol.
Weaknesses of the draft is that our secondary is a shambles. We have a hole at boundary corner. Our safeties are iffy at best. Neither of those things were likely affected for this year by this draft haul. Also RB, which has been a problem every year for McVay since we lost Gurley, they went with a risky pick. And lastly will add that we lost two 1T and I am not sure we have a good NT plan in that room. Who's our NT? Brown? We need some oversized beef I think, and if not we're gonna get run off the field vs divisional opponents.
Now we can play with each others dicks here and act like every pick is gonna hit but we have been doing this long enough to know that rarely happens. So this is a good draft I think. Solid in many ways that we needed it to be. But it's not that draft that gives us hope of a quick reboot.
Kneejerk Grade: B+
I realize grades are soley on the prospect but we should also take into consideration the position group they're joining. Like when some talking head makes an astute observation like "success and failure have a lot to do with where they go". I gave them a B+.
Avila. He's a stud I've had my eye on since the end of the college season last year. Versatile (C - G). Nasty. Big...very big. Talented. He's going to a relatively young group and should fit right in.
Young. I didn't think we'd get a good edge rusher once Hall, Foskey, Ojulari and Keion White went off quickly in a span of 10 picks. Young is as good as any of them. Maybe better. We needed him but they also got Hampton in the 5th and Mathis in the 6th. When I was perusing the draft pubs, I saw Appalacian St and thought of Concordia. But Hampton seems different with a lot more production than Garrett. The OLB group has been improved. The only question is, who among them will survive?
Kobie Turner is joining a group of 3rd and 4th year guys with AD in the middle of them. I think he seems like a grounded young man, who could possibly be coached into a productive role.
Bennett? We needed a backup and I suppose now, we have one. Fellow Bulldogs.
I was confused why Allen was projected so low but I guess he's got limitations. I liked him at Clemson.
Honesty, I know more about astrophysics than I do about the BYU kid. (Don't usually watch MW football)
Thought Hodges-Tomlinson would be a nice get if for no other reason than LT being at Rams games. He, like Avila will join a young group and who knows what'll happen in competition there?
McClendon, Mathis, the punter, Taylor and Johnson might give us a couple ST guys.
But I was thrilled we got Zach Evans. Issues? Sure but being around grownups might help.
We got 14 more guys plus all the UDFAs. We ought to be able to make something out of that.
