Never been there. I'll have to go one day because I've essentially gotten bored of our equivalent in Toronto with Canada's Wonderland. The 2 parks are essentially "equal" from what I've heard.
Cedar Fair owns them both now. Paramount originally owned CW, hence why it has a mountain. The most important difference is that CW is in a city that shares a name with a cool actor, Vaughn, while CP's city shares a name with a notorious pedophile, Sandusky.
Rankings for small school players tend to be all over the place, but some lists say he's a value pick at this point. And given how many receivers we've had go off the board, he's a good choice for a WR prospect regardless of what sources you use. Main knock on him is small school, so he'll have a steeper learning curve at the NFL level as he goes up against much better CBs. Main thing that jumps out for me as a positive is that he has a huge catch radius, adjusting to and bringing in throws that are off target.
A lack of depth in this draft should make for some guys viewed as UDFAs going into it getting selected.
This fits in with a question I was going to ask... as mock GMs, how do we feel about taking prospects in round 7 that we feel are almost certain to start their rookie seasons on the practice squad?
I think that’s a fair question for mock and real GMs alike. If you boil it all the way down to vapor, it’s basically a question of how long do you keep the confidence that the pick you’re making will eventually be a contributor. Knowing when to cut bait is just as difficult as knowing when to stay bullish.
Personally, i feel like if a GM expects a 7th round pick to be locked into a roster spot; then it’s a huge need or the amount of red flags is comparable to the talent. When a 7th rounder does make a roster, it typically means they balled out at OTAs, training camp, and in the preseason.
You can have all the 6th and 7th rounders you want, but its no comparison to having a 1st... I read that somewhere, Twitter maybe, Maybe Tim posted it , but I tend to agree, there is a huge drop off, apples and oranges if you will. Seems to me, once you clear the first 3 rounders, you get real vanilla, but there's always that 1 guy , lol, that proves some of us wrong and shocks the world.
Makes me wonder what can be done with this or what to do about this. Might as well call it a 'practice squad draft' at this point. I suppose the good GM's know how to manipulate things well enough to do some package deals and trade up to get their target, but it seems as though the draft going 7 rounds may be a bit too much?
The CBA makes it an interesting question for me. With the drafted guys who make the roster, you have them under contract for four years, and they are eligible for the PPE in year four, jacking their cap hits north of $2M. A fourth or fifth rounder is going to make your roster and in most cases be an active player as a backup even as a rookie. But if he hasn't stepped up to true starter by year three, that's a problem. Players who start on practice squads are first released from their contracts. They have restricted free agency after three years instead of the Proven Performance Escalator in year four. And if they spend the full year on the practice squad, that doesn't count as an accrued season - if they make the roster the following year, that's when you start counting their three years before you face restricted free agency. In that sense, high upside guys who need developmental time are more interesting than lower ceiling guys who are rated higher. But whether you use those late round picks to get them or wait to sign them as UDFAs is a tricky balance. You risk losing them at any time just by having them on the practice squad rather than the roster.
It all depends on the depth of the class. I have a breakdown on a spreadsheet that I’ll give a little info from later today (on the road, again...). It’s nothing special, but I do keep a personal tab on picks (check my own work) and part of that includes players of note in later rounds, both positive and negative.
