LAOJoe & RTTRUTH's 12th Annual Collaborative Mock Draft

Phew. Trade down was a success. It was getting close. I did have some alternates but not as high and the list was getting slim.

 

@TopDawg Don't be saying I don't like Ohio State players

 

@Willie

 

When I was in a 2 guitar band (The Narly's), we did this song really well... it sounded great with the harmonizing guitar lines. As a matter of fact, we sometimes had to do it a couple times because we would run out of songs on our set list and the crowd was yelling; "play the Cowboy Song"... so we did. I think I was almost sick of it, lol.

 

The Giants have some young guys they really like in their system at linebacker that are really low investment at the moment and they are currently preaching "you have to let the kids play" so I figured I would live or die by their current creedo lol. But Honestly I did not expect either of these guys to still be available at this pick. I think both guys will be better pro's then college players -- Nico is just a great fit for what the Giants are trying to do on offense. We can have a debate if drafting for Garrett's offense makes sense though =P

 

Idk about over Barmore but I feel like the highs Nixon flashes are higher than those of Owuzurike. I like all three though

 

Nixon over Barmore is a tough sell. I never said he'd push for DT 1. But if I were going to try I'd say Nixon is more explosive. That's probably the only real sell I can make there.

Nixon over Onwuzurike I can make a solid case IMO. First of all, IMO he's much more aware, will locate the ball-carrier more consistently, currently picks up on screens more immediately and is occasionally in position to make those plays right now. I also think, while both fairly inconsistent and both flash when they do, that Nixon is more disruptive at the line of scrimmage. I mean the plays he is on for, he'll completely blow up the offenses plan. I'll see it on Onwu's flash plays, but I'd make the argument it's less frequent. Back to the awareness, it's a bit more glaring because there's plays where Onwu disrupts a gap fairly well, but then because he can't locate the ball-carrier it really doesn't do him any good.

Actual production. I know stats don't tell the whole story, but in last two years played each:
Onwuzurike 12.5 TFL / 5 sacks / zero FF, zero INT or PBU
Nixon 19 TFL / 8.5 sacks / 1 highlight reel INT returned for TD / 1FF/ 1 PBU
In 6 less games too.

I don't want to play the low-hanging fruit because even I don't buy this full out in these strange circumstances, but Onwu held out last year, Nixon didn't. For the GM's who "might" downgrade over that, I guess it technically could be relevant.

Awareness is probably the most obvious spot where Barmore has both of them beat. I think he always knows where the ball is.

 

I think I found a good fit here. A lot of top OT's were already off the board, but this kid was over-looked, so I pulled the trigger.

the MINNESOTA VIKINGS select:

Brady Christensen - OT, BYU

 

Can you give me some specifics or is it just more your general feeling after watching all 3?

I enjoy reading how other people break down video and come to their own conclusions, so I'm just curious to see where your thought process goes on this kind of thing.

 

I like him. But he's old so he better be ready but if he is he's a solid day 2 pick. I believe I took him in the GMO, but later. Regardless, some team will take him by the 4th and probably sooner.

 

@nomomercY x2

 

Hope you enjoy this @xinik I'm doing another mock, and the guy repping NYG took the exact same guy, in the exact same spot, and basically made the exact same case. I found it amusing.

 

With being on rotations I haven't been able to watch as much film as I normally would, but in the games I did watch he seemed more explosive and at his peak could be a game plan wrecking DT vs "just" a solid piece of a strong line.

 

I'll be back but if I don't check in and Tim or RT are around then text me.

 

Thin Lizzy doesn't get their just due, IMO.

They got some stuff on their albums that borderlines on nonsensical, but they never let you down when it comes to guitar riffs that both stretch your ability and sound awesome when you play em. That, and Lynott has to be one of the most underrated front men of that era.

 

Email sent.

 

After all my previous rant though, I re-watched the Onwuzurike highlight reel and there are some pretty damn impressive splash plays in there. I'd believe it if someone in the know told me NFL evaluators were pretty split on these two. But I just feel slightly safer with the upside of Nixon than I do Onwu. If you could get him cheap enough to simply be an interior pass-rush specialist I'd be as big of a fan as anyone. I think it's the rest of his game that just hasn't convinced me as strongly.

 

Agreed. And the cool thing is, at the time in which we did it, no one else was doing stuff like that... all you would hear is 'Jailbreak' (which is really a cool song too). We usta do Thin Lizzy and follow that up with Humble Pie... the classics really got us over the top as far as a bar band in NW Ohio, lol.

 

On the clock

 

Thirty days in the hole?