LAOJoe & RTTRUTH's 12th Annual Collaborative Mock Draft

Buffalo

 

A slightly different approach to a Falcons draft recap...

Did I go overboard in scooping up four 2022 picks and one 2023 pick? If you check out OverTheCap and look at the Falcons situation for 2022, they have $170 million committed and only 20 players under contract for the 2022 season. And one of those players (starting edge rusher Dante Fowler) doesn't count - his restructuring this year created one of those fake void situations for next year. You'll see him listed, but with a $0 base salary.

So... only 19 players, and there's already a cap crunch to fill the other 34 roster spots. In other words, I'm dead serious when I stress the need to get the extra future picks. Getting out of the team's current cap hell isn't a one year job, and the roster turnover next year is potentially going to be extreme. Getting that firepower for 2022 is the very best thing I can do to help my team.


With so much focus on future picks, what's the plan for this year's roster? It's not like I gave up on this year's draft. I drafted eight players, with all of them expected to make the roster and at least six of them projected to be active on game days. The team also has a whole lot of youngsters from prior drafts who will now get their chance to shine, and the real team signed almost enough stop-gap free agents to fill out the roster. So with only a few exceptions, I'm drafting this year to improve the roster rather than just plug holes.

If the coaching staff can do their jobs (as opposed to last year, when the Falcons lost multiple games in truly bizarre fashion), this lineup should be true contenders for a wild card spot in the postseason.



Why didn't I take a RB or TE? I really did think hard about taking Travis Etienne at #28 overall. That would have been fun. And I did consider Hunter Long at 3(41) as well. But the real team quietly added players to both groups as we were winding down the GMO, which gave me the opportunity to use those picks on other units instead.

At RB, the real Falcons team signed Mark Davis, former fifth rounder Qadree Ollison is ready for a larger role, and releasing Ito Smith suggests they might be planning to use free agent Cordarelle Patterson on offense as well as in the return role. I also like speedster Tony Brooks-James, who was tracked with GPS at Oregon reaching 22 mph - during a game in full pads, not on a track. They have Hayden Hurst at TE along with emerging #2 Jaeden Graham, and they recently traded for veteran Lee Smith to round out the TE group.


DEFENSE: The Falcons finished 29th in team defense last year, and new DC Dean Pees is known for wanting flexibility. The goal is to get him a roster capable of switching between 4-3 and 3-4 and with versatility in the back seven. Also... the franchise hasn't had much success bringing in pass rushers since trading for John Abraham in 2006. We need all the help we can get.

2.3 Jayson Oweh - EDGE - Penn State joins Dante Fowler as the team's main edge rushers this year. Oweh certainly needs some polish, but he's a freakish athlete and versatile enough to be a proper 4-3 DE as well as a 3-4 edge rusher. Pees should be able to figure out how to use him effectively. The rest of the defensive line includes Grady Jarrett, last year's second rounder Marlon Davidson and 2019 fourth rounder John Cominsky. It will be a make-or-break year for 2018 third round DT Deadrin Senat and free agent Tyeler Davison, but I suspect that both will have more success with Pees than with the two-gap assignments they had under Dan Quinn and Raheem Morris.

2.8 Jevon Holland - S - Oregon won't have to start right away as the Falcons signed Erik Harris and Duron Harmon (who knows the Dean Pees defense already) at safety. He joins last year's fourth rounder Jaylinn Hawkins as potential future starting safeties, but Holland might also take over the nickel corner role this year. The rest of the secondary includes last year's first rounder A.J. Terrell, 2018 second rounder Isaiah Oliver, 2019 fourth rounder Kendall Sheffield and free agent Fabian Moreau plus other prospects at corner. T.J. Green returns from the practice squad to compete for a depth spot at safety.

Favorite bit of draft season silliness: Maurice Jones-Drew says that Holland is the best defensive player in this year's draft.

4.13 Charles Snowden - Edge - Virginia is a second shot at developing an edge rusher. I need versatility for the Dean Pees defense, and Snowden plays the SLB role in a base 4-3 in addition to edge rusher in a 3-4. He won't have to start right away, but he'll get playing time in both positions this year and hopefully step up to a starting role next year. The rest of the LB group is interesting, with Deion Jones, Foye Oluokun and Mykal Walker returning and Brandon Copeland and Barkevious Mingo coming aboard as stop-gap free agents.

6.35 Christian Uphoff - DB - Illinois State is likely a year away from real action on defense after not having a 2020 season (conference postponed the schedule until spring). But he'll make the roster as a core special teams player and might even be active on game days with his strong play on coverage units. He also drew conference honors as a return man, and I'm figuring him to take over the PR/KR role in 2022.



OFFENSE: the team still has a fantastic WR group (led by Julio Jones and Calvin Ridley), but the blocking in front of Matt Ryan and the running backs was atrocious. I mainly blame the coaching staff, who said in 2019 that the team would add more inside power/man blocking rather than staying with the outside zone scheme. So they signed free agents James Carpenter and Jamon Brown, drafted Chris Lindstrom in the first and traded up to add Kaleb McGary at the end of the first round. And then they kept playing the outside zone, which was the football equivalent of deciding to take a vacation at Camp Crystal Lake. (Does ANYONE think having 340-pound Jamon Brown lead the way on an outside stretch run is a good idea??)

The new offensive line coach is a rookie coach, but at least he was an actual NFL lineman. Fingers crossed that he'll at least pick a blocking scheme and stay with it.

3.4 Davis Mills - QB - Stanford is probably the single most important pick of my draft. Mills immediately replaces Matt Schaub (retired) as QB #2, filling the largest hole in the roster. He will be groomed to become Ryan's successor, though I would plan to keep Ryan for at least two more years and perhaps all the way through the end of his contract in 2023.

3.41 Kendrick Green - G - Illinois steps in and immediately fills the other roster hole, which was the backup center / active interior backup. Green played a few games at center this season, and he's arguably better at center than at guard. Matt Hennessy (last year's third rounder) steps up to take over the starting job, and Green takes over as the new #2 center, also backing up both guard positions on game day.

5.4 Jaylon Moore - OT - Western Michigan is likely the new swing tackle. I was pleasantly surprised that the real team coughed up the cash to tender RFA Matt Gono. I suspect that he'll win the starting LG job (replacing James Carpenter), which would leave the team without any backups at OT.

6.29 Josh Ball - OT - Marshall will compete with him for that swing tackle role. We don't have access to the interviews that the real teams do to assess character issues, so I don't know if Ball would be scratched off the real team's draft board or not. I will note that Florida State was ready to reinstate him after his season at Butler CC and that it was his choice to go to Marshall rather than return to Tallahassee. That makes me more willing to risk a late sixth rounder on him. (As a side note, I generally like players that get a year in the Kansas or Mississippi JC systems. Not all JCs are that good, but players in those systems are getting more good competitive reps than they would in an underclassman year elsewhere.)


So... 8 players drafted, 4 each on offense and defense. I freed up a few million in cap space by trading down from #4 overall to the second round, and I also added...

2022 1st round pick
2022 3rd round pick
2022 3rd round pick
2022 4th round pick

2023 2nd round pick

which will help with that little problem of currently only having 19 players under contract for 2022...

 

That is definitely how it appeared. Not entirely Beach's fault. Dan had been on this site long enough I'm sure he'd had disagreements before.
My hunch is there might be a bit more going on with him and he just needed a break. Which is fair.

 

It's a wrap for AFC champs...

KANSAS CITY CHIEFS
1.31 Alex Leatherwood, OT - Alabama
2.31 Payton Turner, EDGE - Houston
3.31. Ben Cleveland, G - Georgia
4.31 Talanoa Hufanga, S - USC
4.39 Ihmir Smith-Marsette, WR - Iowa
5.31 Victor Dimukeje, DE - Duke
5.37 Darius Stills, DT - WVU
6.23 Paris Ford, S - Pitt

The kid hung in (as expected) for about 3 and a half rounds. Then it became a chore. I made him pay attention until chiefs were done.

He kept leaving little "KC" marks on my boards next to players he wanted...lol! Annoying, but not a bad effort overall.

 

CLEVELAND BROWNS

1.26 Trevon Moehrig, FS - TCU
2.11 Carlos Basham Jr., EDGE, Wake
3.25 Dylan Moses, LB - Alabama
3.27 Amon Ra St. Brown, WR - USC
4.14 Tommy Togiai, DT - Ohio State
4.20 Osa Odighizuwa, IDL- UCLA
4.27 Deonte Brown, OG - Alabama
6.10 Patrick Johnson, EDGE - Tulane
6.27 Austin Watkins, WR - UAB
7.29 (future HoF'r)

 

I'll email Ike. lol

 

Filling time:

So using this mock, from round four on who is the one prospect you would bang the table for if your job depended on it?

 

For me it's Bobby Brown III, DT, Texas A&M. He's young and played well enough in a SEC only schedule to get drafted, he may not be a star but I doubt he busts out of the league. If my job hangs in the balance I want a relatively safe pick like that.

 

My favorite value's from 4th rd on...I like Derrick Barnes a lot. Detroit 4.7.....Tyler Shelvin (GB) at 5.29 seems like a helluva value....Two in rd 6 to watch out for, Jermar Jefferson at 6.17 and Austin Watkins at 6.27.

 

Mine is Trey Hill. He had his share of problems this year but he is the perfect backup center in this draft IMO. Just some time to fix a few issues but they can be coached up with a coach that will give him the time, like screen, 2nd level or combo blocking. After a year or 2 he could be ready to start. He has all the physical tools.

 

Jose Borregales

 

Tuesday Morning there will be 2 rounds of UDFA. See you there.

 

The New Orleans Saints Select
Tedarrell Slaton Jr., DT - Florida

 

No one so far. Lots of prospects that I like, and a lot more that I think will do well in certain schemes or situations. Not pounding the table for any of them though.

If I'm in the war room, I'd be more likely to pound the table for my team to take a chance on certain prospects as UDFA signings. I can think of two in particular that I would want to grab should they slip past the end of round seven.

 

The Colts select:

Robert Jones / G / Middle Tennessee ​

 

Joe again.
Me again

@YoungHawk03 on deck after that.

 

Pick coming in a sec. A bit preoccupied.

 

The New Orleans Saints Select
Marquez Stevenson, WR - Houston

 

Dan should be back next year. He just wanted to step away for now. He still pops in from time to time to see the mock.

 

With their last pick in this draft the
San Francisco 49ers select




Chauncey Golston / DL / Iowa​