Fantasy Football Daily - NFC West Draft Grades and Running Back Evaluation Recaps | On the Clock! NFL Draft Podcast

Episode Date: May 2, 2023

Brett Whitefield (@BGWhitefield) and Chris Wecht (@ChrisWechtFF) grade the 2023 NFL Draft hauls of the Arizona Cardinals, Los Angeles Rams, San Francisco 49ers, and Seattle Seahawks. They also look at Brett's draft evaluations of running backs dating back to 2015. BRETT WHITEFIELD'S 2023 NFL DRAFT PROSPECT GUIDE IS FREE TO READ WITH A NO-CHARGE LOGIN AT FANTASY POINTS. Interested in playing Best Ball in 2023? There's no better place than Underdog Fantasy. Use our code FANTASYPTS to sign up for a new account at Underdog, and not only will you get a 100% deposit match up to $100... but you'll get a Fantasy Points Standard subscription for only $5! https://www.fantasypoints.com/underdog --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/fantasy-points-podcast/support Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It's time to the Fantasy Points podcast brought to you by FantasyPoint.com. Top level fantasy football and NFL betting analysis from every perspective and angle. From numbers to the film room with a single goal to help you score more fantasy points. We are back with another episode of On the Clock. I am again joined by my math guy, Christopher Wecht. Chris, how are you doing, sir? Doing good. Sweet.

we're continuing on with some draft recap stuff today we're going to do a deep dive into the nfc west but before we do that chris i wanted to kind of come circle back on the running back conversation we had yesterday mostly because i want to point out how special of a prospect jimier gibbs was and i and scott barrett's going to accuse me of some copium here but i once we got off the pod yesterday i kind of had this epiphany like gibbs's score is really he scored really really high for me. And I want to go back and look historically how that stacks up with all my scores since I've been doing this. So I polled every draft class since 2015 that I've scored. That's when I started scoring prospects. And what I found was Jumeir Gibbs is one, the highest scored running back since

Sequin Barclay, if you just pretend like Bejohn doesn't exist. So my highest scored running back since Saquan Barclay. And two, he is the fifth highest scored running back in my system ever. and I thought that was pretty remarkable. He's kind of lived in Bijan's shadow this entire draft process. No, I'm not saying this makes the pick at 12 good, but it is interesting to think about it because no one cares that Bijan went eighth, but Gibbs scores pretty favorably.

So I don't know. Do you have any immediate thoughts on that? I'm going to run through my top 20 here in a second because I think it's kind of cool. Well, I think people would care more about Bijon going eight if Gibbs didn't go at 12. I think Gibbs is definitely covering the Falcons a little bit and giving them some, you know,

hiding them a little bit from the media backlash. And Gibbs can be an awesome player and the pick can still be not the optimal way to build a team. So I think that's the point to make is, yeah, Gibbs is awesome. Maybe he deserves to still be a first round pick and maybe even a high first round pick, but it's just not,

you're not going to long-term build good, strong, optimal teams if that's how you're approaching the draft long-term. Yeah. I agree. Real quick, let's run through my top 20. These are the top 20 running backs in terms of draft score for me. So Christian McCaffrey with a 92.4. Bejohn Robinson with a 92.0.

Ezekiel Elliott with a 90.8. Saquan Barkley with an 88.4. Jamir Gibbs an 871 Todd Gurley with an 87 Travis Etienne with an 86.4 Nick Chubb with an 86.1 Melvin Gordon J.K. Dobbins.

Delvin Cook. Jonathan Taylor. Brees Hall. DeAndre Swift. Alvin Kamara. Najee Harris. Kenneth Walker the 3rd. Javante Williams, Josh Jacobs and David Montgomery. Actually, you reminded me pre-show that Charbonnet had a higher score than Montgomery. So Charbonnet slides in there to the 20th spot. That's a pretty,

I would say good list. And I think the point to make is that when you ran through that list is how many of those guys have been available via trade or free agency in their careers. And these are the top guys at the position. Whereas if you gave me your top 20 receivers or top 20 edge rushers, probably not many of them were ever available via free agency or a trade. I mean, McCaffrey was just traded. Zeeq is a free agent and probably could have been stolen by another team if Dallust didn't give him a monster second contract.

Barclay was just available. Gurley had knee problems but was available. Gordon has been on multiple teams. Dalvin Cook is trying to be traded right now. A lot of these guys are still on their first contract. Swift was just traded. I think that and that's the point with the Gibbs pick is running back is a position where you can get the elite talent outside of the draft. you're really not doing that at receiver or edge or defensive tackle or offensive tackle, stuff like that.

I don't know that that's true. Because pretty much all these guys became available after their first contract. Well, they can't become available before that. I mean, you see guys traded on their first contract semi-often. Not really. But point being is like you don't want any of these guys. Like running backs, you're getting the most out of them in their rookie deal. So they're not elite talents anymore by the time they're passed that first contract,

is my point. Like McCaffrey was just traded for what, two seconds and a third? Yeah. And he's still playing at an elite level. But like, for the most part, these guys aren't. Some of these guys have had serious injury issues too, like Gurley, Dobbins. Dobbins is still young. Javanti now having a bad injury problem.

But I mean, Zeeke played well through his second contract. Barkley, we expect to still play pretty well. Zeeke did play well, but he definitely dipped, though. Yeah, eventually. Teams could have had a shot at him if Dallas didn't give him a ridiculous contract. Gordon certainly did. Cook's on a, has played well through his second contract. A lot of these guys have played well on their second contract.

Chubb. They for sure have played well, but they haven't played elite. But these are the top guys. So what else is elite then? well yeah i mean the guy's still on their rookie deals are probably like you know i mean mcalfrey's probably still elite was john taylor elite he's on his rookie deal yeah um i wouldn't say nagee's elite but he's he's a good player josh jacobs played elite last year on his rookie deal now he'll be off of his rookie deal he's franchise tight right uh yes yeah

franchise tag, yep. Yeah, but that's my point is you're, but we can make arguments that a lot of these guys could have been available and still played at a high level through their second contract and available to play for some other team than the team they were drafted for. You just, that just doesn't happen at other premium positions. Yeah. It is crazy too, how the draft capital tracks through here.

Yeah. Just going on the board. You have first round pick, first round pick, first round pick, first round pick, first round pick, first round pick my top six all were first round picks etienne was a first round pick too right yes so that's top seven chub was a second gordon was a first yeah daubbins was a second cook was a second taylor was a second brees hall was a second deonder swift was a second camaro was a third nage was a first walker was a second javante was a second jose jacobbine was a first zach charbonnet was a second all first and second round picks, one third round pick.

And then, you know, obviously the further down the list you go, the more third round type guy. Like I had Aaron Jones is probably like 24th on here for me. He went in the fifth round, obviously. Mixin, I think, is next. No. And no C.E.H or Rashad Penny, who also went in the first round. No, Penny is probably in the late 20s.

C.E.H is in the 40s or 50s. Yeah. And their careers have not exactly panned out. although Penny maybe would if he could just stay healthy. Yeah. But yeah, it's crazy that you have to get through like the top 25 before you start getting into. So there's, I guess one of the things I'm getting at is

we talk about how running backs don't matter and they're easily replaceable. But based on this list, are they? Can you just find a running back in the late rounds? You can get similar production for sure. from a collection of parts that have different skill sets yeah for sure but if you want a dude like the dude you got to draft them early is kind of the

yeah you got to draft them in this probably the second round to really to really find one you're not going to find man I'm trying to think of like a super late round running back that it's Joan Aaron Jones is the example right now yeah where he most it was undrafted like he's another one oh cream hunt would be close on this list too. I think he was like 23rd probably. He was a third round pick though. Still a day two guy.

It is pretty crazy how the draft capital is tracks with this list. The problem is none of these guys have had right. None of them have really done anything in terms of actually winning a Super Bowl. Gurley I guess did right? No he lost. Now he lost and literally none of these guys have come really even close. Gurley is the closest. Hey, CEH has won two rings. Is that?

So your scores are flawed. You're totally backward. So yes, while you definitely have to take one early, you also clearly, the teams that are doing this are not putting out winning teams. Yeah.

Yep, this is true. Man, I don't know. I had a lot of fun pulling up this list and putting it together because it's, it makes me feel a little better about the Gibbs pick, but also makes me feel a lot worse about the Gibbs pick. None of these teams are good.

Running back side. Yeah, you got a great player, but you built the team the wrong way. I think that's just the moral of the story. Yeah. I mean, shoot, like even the Panthers, like they went to the Super Bowl with McCaffrey, but lost, and then they were.

Did they? Was he there by then? Yeah. He had to be pretty, early on in his career. Maybe he wasn't. Maybe that was Jay Stu still. Yeah, that was a long time ago. I'm trying to think.

He didn't play many years with Cam Newton. I lived in Charlotte when that happened. I lived in Charlotte when they went to the Super Bowl, so that's interesting, but well anyways, their offense kind of, once he got that second contract bogged down, obviously same for Zeke. Sekewan has not moved the needle in New York at all.

Gurley, the big wild card with Gurley is I did not project him to be the elite pass catcher he became. Right. I projected him to be a belkow type, but I didn't think he would be such a good pass catcher. Some of that was off, right? Yeah, McCaffrey was not on that team. No, okay. Jay Stu then? Yep.

Nice. Yeah, the Browns have done nothing. The chargers have always woefully disappointed people. Oh, Austin Echler is a good. That's a good late round one, right? That is a good round. Yep, yep. Yeah.

But yeah, I mean, it's, it is pretty wild how none of these teams have really performed well despite, it shouldn't, it shouldn't really shock you, to be honest, but. All right. Let's get into the NFC West. I gave out some letter grades. I am writing this up in written format. We'll go division by division. throw out a team to start with, Chris.

Let's just start with Arizona because they, you know, probably had the most to, well, maybe not. Seattle was close. But Arizona was, you know, a big part of how this draft unfolded in a lot of ways with that third pick. Yeah. Okay. I gave the Cardinals a B plus. I think that's fair. They, you know, they trade back from three to 12.

trade back up from 12 to 6 to take Paris Johnson, which I didn't love the move, but I don't hate it either, just because I don't think Paris Johnson was that much more of a difference maker than the rest of the offensive tackles in the class. I think they could have gotten a good one at 12 if they had stayed. And especially what it does seem like they're clearly playing for 2024 and having picks in the 2024 draft. so why why give up capital for unless he really was that much higher on their board who knows um outside of that uh i like b j luja luja wow i can't speak right now ojolari uh a solid pick in the second round garrott williams is a great pick in the third round i like mike we both like michael wilson a lot they they definitely need receiver help um

Interesting, they never traded DeAndre Hopkins through this draft. That was a pretty, people thought that was going to happen for sure. Yeah. So they got Houston's first next year, right? Yeah. Trade back. So that's huge because Houston's going to suck. Yeah.

Yeah, they could have picks one and two next year. That alone makes their draft class viable to me. But getting the guy they want, Paris Johnson, I found out yesterday, is he's graduating with a degree in three years from Ohio. state. So it seems like they got a super high quality guy as well as good football player. The pick that's killing them in our model is the BJ O'Jolari pick. But when you, it's a 68th percentile pick. But when you look at the way the edge guys fell off the board, and I say this every year and so I haven't adjusted myself. And I don't know that I should because I think, I think the draft capital edge kind of prove it's like it's a position where

you have to take guys early. But anyways, Ojolari was the, let's see, one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight. 11th edge guy off the board. And there was a noticeable tear drop if you look at my scores.

The really only next guy that I like at all is Keon White and he's as raw as raw gets. So the fact that they got, like I know we're killing them for taking my 70 second player at 41, but that's the nature of the beast. Big guys go early, man. Offensive linemen, defensive linemen, they go early every year.

If you can play it all and you play those positions, you go early. So this is what I mean by adjusting. I haven't adjusted to that. I don't want to artificially boost scores just because they play big man positions. Right. You know what I mean? Like I want to stand on the evaluation. So because of that, you know, our models crushing them for that pick.

But the reality is I like BJ O'JLari a lot. they needed to get help rushing the passers. So what were, what were their options? It's not like they could sit there and wait on a guy. Yeah, there was no, so,

there was no better edge player to take later. It wasn't. Yeah, it wasn't. They took, like you said, they took, Edibuari went in the fourth round,

but he's kind of a detackle. He's a tweener, so I won't, I won't give him. And clearly there's a, something, wisdom of the crowns, crowds thing there with,

basically every NFL team passing on them until the fourth round. Exactly. So, like, As much as our model doesn't like the pick, I probably like this pick a lot better than the model does. So that's why I went B Plus. Garrett Williams, I thought was a fantastic pick. He was a borderline second round player for me.

At Corner, we gave that a 96th percentile grade. And then Michael Wilson, you know, you look at that receiving core. Let's just assume they don't have Hopkins on the roster. They might end up having him anyways, but let's assume they don't. They have Hollywood Brown, Ron Delmore, Greg Dorch, like a bunch of really tiny diminutive receipts. receivers that all do similar things, Michael Wilson's the complete opposite of those guys. He's a big alpha dog possession,

route running, like technician kind of guy. Like he just gives them a totally different dynamic that I think could be really, really good for that team. And then Clayton Tune, I know you've bagged on some teams for the quarterback thing,

but they got him in the fifth round and I think he's a really good player. I think he's a legit backup. He's going to get a chance to get on the field probably this year with the Kyler thing. I guess I shouldn't say probably. There's a chance. But I really like that pick.

So, I mean, that's basically those five picks are why I gave them the great I did. Everything after tune I didn't really care about. Yeah. And all the 2024 capital. Yes. Yeah. That's actually a big part of it. Yeah.

Big part of it. If you look at just the amount of value they're pulling in, they're pulling in the, they're pulling in the sixth most value in terms of the guys. And that's without factoring in all the capital. So that's, that's a good draft. Yeah, it's a good draft. Go Rams? Yeah. I thought the Rams had a pretty brutal draft.

I know they didn't have a first or second round pick. No, they had a second, sorry. They didn't have a first round pick. But they did not do a lot with the picks they had, in my opinion. Yeah, they, well, Steve Avila is a solid pick. Yes. That's the only one I really liked. We like the Puka pick late, but again, you know, late round pick.

You just don't see a ton of guys become like cornerstones of teams from late-round picks or can't give that too much weight even if we like him. Yeah, Byron Young in the third, Kobe Turner in the third. Stetson Bennett is possibly one of the worst draft picks of the entire draft. I hate it. In the fourth round. It's just like a waste of a – it's just a waste of a pick. I've had people text me and ask me, what does Bryce Young do that Stenson Bennett can't?

And I don't even, first of all, I don't even want to get into that because it's just ridiculous. But secondly, the most important trait for your quarterback is like leadership and character. Beyond anything else, those are the two things your quarterback has to have to succeed the NFL. He has neither. He has won two championships off of two of the greatest defenses in college football history. And you might think that he was Tom Brady based off the way he acts sometimes. Yes. So no, I didn't like that pick.

I thought the Davis Allen pick was decent. Yeah. We talked about this yesterday. Perfect number two kind of tight end. Now the problem is they kind of have that guy in Higbee. He's not really a one. Right. It's like a low, a low end one.

Davis Allen works for a team that has like a, what's a good example? A Kincaid, a Dalton Kincaid. Yeah. He's like a bona fide one but not really an inline guy or a Sam LaPorte even. like Davis Allen works really, really well with a team like that. He feels like a Higbee replacement. Yeah, it does feel more like a Higbee replacement. They've drafted a lot of these guys over the years too.

They do. They do. He's such a Rams tight end. Yeah, kind of a combo tight end can do a little bit of everything, but nothing great. And then Puka, we talked about that yesterday too. Robert Woods kind of guy. He was a day two player for me. So obviously we're not going to boost them artificially too much because of the,

the steel myth. And then Travis Hodges Tomlinson, he's a 5-7 corner. So he's going to play in the slot for them. It reminds me, remember they had Lamarcus Joyner? They drafted him. Yep. He's a very similar player to Lamarcus Joyner,

who was a really good slot corner for them, but he was also like 5-7. So if they're envisioning the same role for him as Joyner, I think that could work. This draft screams to me a team that we haven't made picks in years and now we're devoid of like young cheap talent on our roster and we're just we're just going to throw stuff at the wall and hope it sticks yeah whereas i would have rather than they traded down a ton in this draft basically getting more and more of these late day three picks stay at your

current picks and try to get like some actual like good i guess it just really depends what they view their team are they are they willing to blow it up and go full rebuild which they probably should but it seems like they're still like if we just could hit on 25% of these later round picks we can we can be back in you know playoff contention yeah it is crazy how they value certain things over others like the byron young and Kobe Turner picks just they were awful picks to me 60 second percentile and 55th percentile picks there young was like they're both just athletes they're just betting on traits hoping like it's like they put on a blindfold and just like, oh, God, I hope this athleticism translates to the football field.

Because they're both really raw players. Like, they're not well developed at all. I mean, outside of, everyone rags on the Cardinals defense and like you basically can't name anybody other than Buda Baker off of most like the average person's head. How many guys on the Rams defense can you name outside of Aaron Donald that are, you know, like starter players? Well, after losing Ramsey and Wagner, probably not many. Is Greg Gaines still there? Nope. Did he move on?

Nope, he's gone. Nick Scott? Nope, he's been gone. Yeah. They have another safety from HBCU. Jordan Fuller. Yes, Fuller. Yeah, he's probably the most notable name.

See, and this is our job as a living to study football. And we can barely think through who the starters are for the raised defense. They did lose a lot in the offseason. They lost Ramsey, Gaines, Wagner. The other safety, Rapp, Taylor Rapp. Over the years, they've also lost corners. Well, they lost David Long this year or two. Darius Williams left last year.

I don't know. Who's even playing corner for them this year? starters are currently listed. Robert Rochelle and Kobe Durant. Oh my God. Yeah. Dary and Kendrick is still there. He played a good amount of snaps for them.

Kendrick is awful, though. Yeah, he's bad. And they're de-lawed. Do you know their pass rushers? Byron Young's a starter right now. Oh, boy. This, I mean, yeah, people are killing the Randals. Their division mate in the Rams defense is just as, almost just as bad,

except they've got one of the best defensive players of all time on it. Wow. Yeah, so I gave the Rams a D plus here. So I know they didn't have a first round pick, but they still only brought in the 28th most value per our model. And they also made egregious picks with premium capital. Yeah. All right, 49ers, we can spend all of five minutes on this one.

Yeah, it's a big old F. This was horrible. The least amount of value, and they didn't have top picks, but they brought in the least amount of value. I gave them a solid F. The picks they did make were egregious. Their first three picks were Jair Brown, Jake Moody, and Cam Lay, too. Yeah.

I don't even know where to start with this. How are we still doing the drafting kickers thing in anything other than day three? The kicker with a top 100 pick. I know. When are we going to learn? Oh, my God. How good does that kicker have to be for the him to pay off? Does he have to, what does his field goal percentage have to be, like 95%?

percent although that man if there's a team that likes to kick field goals when they shouldn't be it is the 49 oh my god that is the best self-own ever right there that is so they're just going to validate that pick further and further is robbie golds playing anywhere this year did he sign somewhere oh that's a good question did he finally retire he probably retired i mean he's ancient yeah yeah this is enough i mean jire brown yeah he's not anywhere right has a chance to be decent i guess but he's a safety. He's raw. You know,

his film was not impressive to me. Cam Leet too, I don't even know what he gives you. Do you have 19 tight ends now? Yeah. I mean, he lost well. He played a good amount last year.

Kittle, obviously, like, yeah, what is the point? And then the fullback kind of tight end combos, too. Yeah.

Use check. But late, too, I guess he checks the run after catch box that they like for their tight ends. But I don't know what he brings you. You don't, you know, if you're throwing to Cameron Leitou over Kittle, Iyuk, Debo, McCaffrey, throw use check in there.

It's probably not going well for you anyway. Yeah, Joanne Johnson's a beast after the catch, too. Jennings. Jennings. Yeah. They're basically the same player, actually. Yes. I seriously, I think Joanne Johnson weighs like 10 pounds more than Joanne Jennings.

They're identical on what they do, how they're used. So the one thing I will get, how much. do you factor in that they're still paying off the Trey Lance and the McAfree deals not that there's necessarily been good do you factor that into their draft hall at all no because the the McAfre deal was bad we just wanted you to say instead of me yeah yeah it's the author of their own demise here I mean the Lance deal like I can't fault them for taking a shot at a quarterback but you traded three first round picks for a guy with less than 500

career dropbacks in college. Yeah. And he may be good. And he may be good, yeah. And I know I loved Anthony Richardson this year, so it sounds hypocritical. But, like, Lance was very raw. At least Richard did it in the SEC. Lance was doing an FCS level.

Yeah. Do you think they know in that building who they want to be their starter, Lance or a party? Or do you think they're still unsure? I think they're unsure, man. I think. Because they have to try to recoup something from this Lance. deal if they think it's not Lance. You've got to make a call at some point.

I guess. Yeah, I mean, there's been rumors that they might try to trade Lance, so maybe that's the route they go. He can't go into the season being your QB3. I don't think that's a good way to run your team. And they brought in Sam Darnold too. Right, exactly. So maybe you roll with pretty. I love, as a guy who wants the line to take the next step, the 49ers keeping themselves.

out of contention is perfectly fine with me. Yes. I mean, seriously, is there a pathway for the 49ers next year at all? I think the Cowboys got better. Yeah. Purdy is actually what people think he might be. I don't know. Yeah, I got, yeah, if Purdy somehow is, no, it's just not happening.

No. We've seen this before. It's Nick Mowens and C.J. Bethard, and they've all looked awesome in this offense at times. Yeah. All right, let's round this out with the Seahawks. This was definitely my favorite draft of the division. One of my favorite drafts in general.

They made two picks that hurt them in our model a little bit, but I think we can explain a little bit why I'm okay with them. I gave this grade of this draft an A grade. How did you view it, Chris? I would go, I'd probably go B plus. B plus, that's fair. But I think if you look at it from the frame of how Pete Carroll wants to run his team,

I can see how you can get to an A. I'm just, if I'm looking at every team how they should be built and how you, what generally wins, I think I got to go B plus. Yeah, that's fair. Starting at the top, Witherspoon, we both agree we love this pick, right? Yeah, I'm shocked that Pete Carroll would take. a corner of this early. I mean, he seems to pride himself on finding defensive backs late and turning him into awesome players. I think it shows you how special he is. Like, Carol's a sucker for

DBs with ball skills. Right. His ball skills are so flipping good that, you know, Carol broke what a 20-year trend based, or not 20 years. What's it been? It's got to be 15 at this point, right? Yeah, I don't, I don't think they've done it since he's been there taking a guy this early. Yeah, so he broke, bucked a 15-year trend or whatever to to take with. their spoon at fifth overall. This was a 95th percentile pick for us, though. Like JSN at 20, I'm never going to complain about a team drafting a good receiver in the first round, and Jason was my top ranked guy.

The problem with it, one thing is I've seen tons of press conferences from Carroll since the draft about him talking about JSN's going to be a slot guy for us. He'll be our wide. We wanted to upgrade our wide receiver three spot, but they also love their tight ends and want to run a lot of 12 personnel, which they did last year anyway. That's a problem. I think they're going to play a lot less, 12 personnel now. I hope so.

That's just not the way they're talking. You don't go emphasize wide receiver three with the 20th overall pick to then not play 11 personnel more. We've seen Pete Carroll make some questionable choices. We have. We have. It seems like, and I said this on the live stream, it seems like he's kind of re-st, he's the Phoenix. He's rose from the ashes. He was buried there. Like, everyone thought the entire regime

was gone. And then all of a sudden they trade Russ. They all got a little pep in their step. They get the weird guy out of town. Who knew Russ was sinking the ship over there? We all thought it was, we need to let Russ cook. Maybe it was we need to let Pete cook. I know. We thought it was time for back in the lab. So Pete, he seems like he's got a little fire under, you know, under him now. And I like it. And I think he is making some slight philosophical changes. Obviously, to the Charbonnet pick suggests he's not fully diverting from the plan but yeah i like the pick i just i'm just speaking how it could become a disaster yeah they ran the second most 12 personnel last year at 30 if that is not if that's got to be what down at least down to 20% somewhere

in that range if not lower it's tough because i think what teams end up doing a lot of times when they make these personnel decisions it's not necessarily a philosophical thing it's like hey, is our tight end two better than our wide receiver three? Right. But sure, last year you could make that argument. Yeah, exactly. And so the other thing, too, is I'm a huge fan of 12 personnel if you've got the guys to do it because you can force those matchups.

Get an extra linebacker on the field. And if they don't put an extra lineback on the field, then what are you doing? You're punching them in the freaking mouth with your run. Which is what PKK wants to do more than everything. It's what you know. And they finally have a quarterback who's probably willing to throw in the middle of the field a little bit more. so Noah fans presumably in Will Disley will presumably be more effective over the middle of the field than they had been in the past

so anyways I like the JSM pick I think they're going to divert a little bit from 12 personnel which will be good also Tyler Lockett and DK Metcalf both kind of get banged up here and there Metcalf less so in the rows but Lockett's usually always banged up so having just insurance for him in general is good he goes down you at least have two studs still and you don't really miss a beat that way. So the first pick we hated was Derek Hall, the Auburn Edge. Similar to the BJ O'Jolari discussion, I mean, they picked him at, what, 37? All the edges were gone.

They needed to address pass rush help. I think Derrick Hall is a fine player, and he fits what they do really, really well. So I've talked about this before, but if we were to go through and restack my board for each team, based on, you know, the scheme they play, the things they value, Hall would be way higher than, what was he, 66th on my board, just for the Seahawks specifically, because he is an athletic freak. He is long and physical,

and he has a good speed to power rush. That's what Pete Carroll loves and his edge guys. So does that necessarily justify the pick? No, but it makes it make sense, you know? Zach Charbonnet was the next one that had everyone, scratch in their head like what we just drafted Kenneth Walker in the same spot last year roughly I think they drafted Walker what 48th yeah they were close though yeah Sharbonnet at 52 and so but it's it's again it speaks to their identity as a team yeah and I

think I think Sharpenet may be their preferred long-term starter I think Sharpenet is a better pass catcher than Walker Walker Walker is a very much a home run hitter running back and I I wouldn't be surprised if Walker, they got a little frustrated with Walker at times with him, you know, because a lot of times he would basically lose yardage or get very little to nothing. Like, Marshawn Lynch was not like that. Marshawn's getting yardage every single run. Chris Carson was really good at that when he was healthy in there. I wouldn't be surprised if Charbonnet, you know, is the 1A at some point in their careers with Walker there.

And Walker is kind of the home run. You know, he can give you that little juice when you. need it sometimes kind of guy. I wonder how much of an anomaly, though, Walker's rookie season was because he was more of a grinder at Michigan State. True. That's definitely true. He definitely hit home runs, but there were games he would have 35 carries.

And he was just five, six yards at a time, boom, boom, over and over. So it does make me wonder if maybe that was like, I do think he's a home run hitter, but maybe that bounces back a little bit, the down for down efficiency you look for. Sharbonne, though, is a moderately better pass catcher. He still doesn't profile as a guy that you want catching the ball a ton. Like, I think he'd be functional in the screen game. He's functional as a checkdown guy. They don't throw a ton to their running backs, though.

So, like, I think he probably does enough for what they do. Do you see Scott and JJ going back and forth for like 17 hours about this? Yes, yeah. And I thought it was interesting, an interesting discussion. A couple times reading the thread, I kind of lost track of what we were talking about. I think they did too, to be fair. They're arguing different things at certain times. Yeah.

But fascinating thread, though, if you guys want to go on Twitter, was it Scott Barrett's initial tweet? And then somebody tagged JJ? Yeah, yeah. Yeah. So it's about Charbonnet. It's definitely worth reading through. You'll learn a lot of interesting things. And then the two picks that I really.

really, really rounded this draft class out for me. So anytime you can find starters, caliber players on day three, I don't care what position they play. Positional value doesn't mean anything to me on day three. But Anthony Bradford, guard from LSU and Olu, Alu Atami, from Michigan, both interior offensive linemen. This was the weak spot of Seattle's offensive line. They found tackles last year. They needed to upgrade the interior. They need a center and they need to guard. They got both. And I'm not saying both these guys are going to be a starter from day one, but they potentially found two starters on the offensive line on day three. I love both, these both scored as 100th percentile picks for us. Absolutely love both these picks. So Bradford especially,

like I think he really is going to help that offensive line. Talking about getting Kenneth Walker a little more consistent, building up that interior offensive line will help with that by a lot. So, and again, it speaks to the Seahawks identity and what they want to do on offense. Yeah. Yeah, their offensive line was not great last year, continuing to build out their depth there. Smart, just smart way to build your team. Yeah, and just about every evaluator I know had Bradford as a starting level player in the NFL as a prospect.

He scored that way for just about everybody. There's actually no other position in the NFL that has more day three starters than interior offensive line as well. That is the sweet spot to draft guards. There's a million, you know, round three, round four, round five guards starting in the NFL. So I think this is a really good, really good pick. Yeah. So they get an A for me. So again, that's Cardinals got a B plus, Rams got a D plus, 49ers got an F, C Hawks with an A.

I feel good about it. Yeah, I think the Seahawks are definitely. going to push the Niners next year for this division just because of seemingly being a smarter team a little bit here. Yeah. Yeah, coming off their priors a little bit. It's, I think obviously what they've done is worked over the years. And it stopped working as effectively as they lost some superstar talent. So you either need to refine those superstars or you got to change what you do a little bit. And I think you're seeing a little bit of both. I think they've nailed some picks, which have really helped. but they're also tweaking their philosophy just a little bit, just a smidge.

I think that's going to go a really long way in making that team competitive. If you were to, just on paper right now, Chris, where would you put the Seahawks in the NFC? Are they a top five team in the NFC? I think they probably are. The NFC is bad. Yeah, the NFC is bad. Eagles. Eagles, Cowboys, Lions.

Niners, Niners, Seahawks. Probably be in my top five. Yeah. and I probably put them above Dallas. Really? Yeah. Is that your bias coming out or no? Maybe a little, but I don't know.

Maybe I would at least put them. Adding Brandon Cooks and Stefan Gilmore is. Stefan Gilmore is not what he used to be. No, but he's still better than their number two corner from last year. I think Anthony Brown's a very solid corner. Solid. I think Gilmore's better than solid. No, I think they're probably about the same now at this point in their careers. Oh, no.

Anthony Brown was better than Trayvon Biggs last year. Okay. That doesn't mean much to me because I'm not a big Trayvon Biggs guy. All right, then you're saying Gilmore's better than Biggs. Potentially, yes. Definitely more consistent. Yeah, for sure. I don't know. Yeah, all right.

We'll put Dallas above Seattle still. I'd probably put the Niners. Ahead of Detroit. Yeah. The QB situation for the Niners just like, is so annoying. It really is. It is annoying that they continue to be good every year despite just ignoring the most important position. Yeah.

Yes. They just do it. It's so annoying. And then they trade for a running back because they're like, this is what will make the difference. Yeah. Yes. What if they signed Teddy Bridgewater? Would that be funny?

And it's also worse that they lost in the playoffs because of basically having no quarterbacks left on their roster because then they get to say, oh, it's because our quarterback got her. We, you know, we would have. They only just got obliterated by 34 to like three on defense. But they literally couldn't stop the run. And yeah, it was a quarterback's fault. They were getting pulled out of the water regardless.

And then they go send Javon Hargrave, which player I like doesn't help you against these NFC teams at all. No, no. The lions are still going to run it down your throat. The Eagles are still going to run it down your throat. The Cowboys are probably still going to run it down your throat. So, yeah. Good luck, guys. Good process over there. Yeah. I continue to say every year I tweet when the season starts, where will Kyle Shanahan be calling plays next year? And then somehow he just out of a tat. And I'm like, for God sakes, last year where they were three and four, I tweeted that. Yeah. This is finally the year. I got him. I freaking got him. Then they went out.

or whatever. And I'm just like, God dang it, man. This is ridiculous. The moral of the story is the NFC is bad. Yes.

Aaron Rogers, choosing to leave this conference will never make any sense whatsoever. Yep. All right. Let's get out of here. We'll be back tomorrow with another division.

Have not decided what yet? Maybe we'll do two. We won't start with the running back combo. Yeah. Get that off my chest. So we'll just quickly spend like 20 minutes on each and get through two divisions tomorrow. All right.

Sounds good. All right. Thanks for listening, everybody. Be your out. Thanks for tuning in to this edition of the Fantasy Points Podcast. Remember to subscribe, rate, and review on your favorite platform. And come join the roster at FantasyPoints.com.