With the Bengals, Chiefs, Eagles and Packers exiting the post season, the 2014 draft order is now confirmed from picks 1-24.
A dramatic weekend also raised a number of questions for the teams involved.
Andy Dalton had another playoff horror show against San Diego — enduring a second half meltdown to turn the ball over three times. He’s now 0-3 in the post season.
The Bengals have an uber talented team with pretty much everything you’d want in a contender. Great defense, elite playmakers on offense, good offensive line.
They could be better at corner — and wasted a pick on the overrated Dre Kirkpatrick in 2012. But that’s not holding them back.
Dalton is.
Seattle dodged a bullet in 2011 if you believe the rumours that John Schneider had a lot of interest in drafting him at #25, only to be overruled by Pete Carroll.
He has purple patches in a season — but they’re usually followed by calamitous reality checks.
Today should be the biggest reality check of them all. Dalton isn’t good enough to lead the Bengals to the Championship they’re capable of winning.
Really they should be looking for an alternative in the 2014 draft. This is the final year of his rookie deal — and you really don’t want to be paying him an inflated contract right now. Draft a little competition for him in round 2/3 and let him fight for a future. Hey, I’d consider taking a quarterback in round one if the right player was there.
I doubt it even gets considered. The Bengals ownership give off a satisfied vibe. Contending is enough, as long as they make a profit. They never push the boat out. Today actually gives them some leverage to low-ball Dalton and tie him up for another 3-4 years.
If that happens, Cincinnati will always be nearly men. Expect them to target a cornerback at #24 like Justin Gilbert or Darqueze Dennard.
The Chiefs face a slightly different conundrum.
Alex Smith is solid if unspectacular and he can lead an offense. But he’s also approaching 30 and due another contract after the 2014 season.
Is it time for Kansas City to plan ahead? Or do they re-sign Smith now and make him their guy for the next few years?
They have enough talent across the board to be really competitive as we’ve seen this season. But they’re also in a window and fighting in a division that contains Peyton Manning and Philip Rivers.
I don’t think they’ll use the #23 pick on a QB this year, but it might be worth adding one in the middle rounds so there’s some long term thinking in place. I can definitely see them looking at a tight end in round one — such as Eric Ebron, Austin Seferian-Jenkins or Jace Amaro.
The Eagles just need to concentrate on their defense. There’s too many stop gaps across the board.
Whether it’s a pass rusher off the edge, a corner or a safety — the Eagles have to go defense at #22. I like Virginia defensive end/tackle Brent Urban as an under-the-radar option for Philly. Chip Kelly loves length and athleticism on defense and Urban ticks all the right boxes. They really need to find a safety from somewhere, though.
Green Bay fans probably wish they could draft a new defensive coordinator.
While Aaron Rodgers could use better protection and maybe another receiver — the Packers need to take some of the strain off Rodgers and the offense.
Getting some speed at linebacker and safety would be a major help. But it’ll all go to waste if they keep Dom Caper’s outdated schemes.
C.J. Mosley would be a great choice for the Pack if he’s around at #21.
The Seahawks cannot pick any higher than #28 overall. Even if both Seattle and Denver lose next week, the Broncos get the #27 selection due to an easier strength of schedule.
There were also some interesting declarations today. Blake Bortles (QB, UFC) is turning pro, along with Oregon wide out De’Anthony Thomas. Sammy Watkins made it official today and tight end Jace Amaro is heading for the NFL.
Mocking the Draft has a nice tracker to see who’s declared so far.
We’re going to see more and more underclassmen turning pro due to the new CBA. It’s become a race to get a second contract, because the rookie deals are nowhere near what they used to be. The sooner you get started, the sooner you get paid.
More talent entering the draft helps the Seahawks, of course, given they’ll be drafting so late in each round.
So here’s what the first frame looks like so far:
1. Houston Texans
2. St. Louis Rams (via Washington)
3. Jacksonville Jaguars
4. Cleveland Browns
5. Oakland Raiders
6. Atlanta Falcons
7. Tampa Bay Buccaneers
8. Minnesota Vikings
9. Buffalo Bills
10. Detroit Lions
11. Tennessee Titans
12. New York Giants
13. St. Louis Rams
14. Chicago Bears
15. Pittsburgh Steelers
16 or 17. Baltimore Ravens
16 or 17. Dallas Cowboys
18. New York Jets
19. Miami Dolphins
20. Arizona Cardinals
21. Green Bay Packers
22. Philadelphia Eagles
23. Kansas City Chiefs
24. Cincinnati Bengals
Bortles is really intriguing to me- I think he’s a better version of Ryan Tannehill, and the league just fell over themselves talking up Tannehill (with mixed results). I wasn’t a huge fan and thought he was decidedly a 2nd round talent, but he’s been better than I’ve given credit for.
Bortles has it all- arm strength, pocket presence, accuracy and good decision making- but he’s raw. He needs some time to clean up some young mistakes and work on his footwork, but man he could be a really good QB. I am a fan.
Cinci is too cheap to make a big move at QB, so they’re going to piss away Geno Atkins and Michael Johnson and AJ Green so they can pull a “see we told you’d he’d work” move regarding Dalton. A shame.
Rams are the Rams. I think Fisher is a tad overrated at this point- he’s put alot of 8-8 teams on the field and a handful of really good teams that ultimately fall short. The love with Bradford could hold them back, especially since the offense was really bad with him at QB earlier this year *insert storyline about something outside of him holding offense back*. There will always be an excuse. The coordinators. The offensive line. The running game. No receivers. Pick an excuse, but I think St. Louis have to be considering moving on, especially after his knee injury.
Dom Capers is asking to get canned in GB. They had 2 good years initially, but as soon as that group of key players moved on they haven’t been able to adjust. They need defense and a fresh face.
Seattle needs talent on offense, not that they are lacking. They need some beef up front and some pass catchers. It’s time to stop making every yard so damn difficult to get. You watch SF sometimes and the yards they get are easy. It’s time to give Tom Cable some guys who can really move people. The Carpenter/McQuistan experiment is a flop, and JR just might not be cutout as a fulltime guard. There’s no shame in admitting that.
Watching the KC game I could only wish Dwayne Bowe was on our roster. You’d never stop this offense. Ever. They must find a go to receiver since Sidney Rice has never taken that role.
One thing stood out today watching San Fran — the ease with which they made completions in the passing game.
This is almost exclusively down to the talent of their receivers.
Crabtree is the player we all expected. The player who should’ve been drafted by Seattle with the #4 pick in 2009 (I’ll never let that one drop). Amazing hands, just finds a way to get open. Vernon Davis is a sensational athlete and Boldin just does his thing.
Seattle has good receivers too — but none with that blend of size and skill set.
They need some big physical pass catchers in there who just get open. We’ve got smaller playmakers. Let’s get some bigs.
Couldn’t agree more. i like your take on Coleman, he seems like the big guy we need. i hope they draft 2 BIG WR’s this draft and take the best one or both after training camp, OTA’s, pre-season… i Would still like to see a T.E. also. not sure if were gonna keep miller or not. we have a fast T.E. in Willson who i have a feeling will explode this next season. but we need a Big body 3rd down go to, red zone go to guy.
whats your thoughts on T.E. Rob Staton?
TE Rob Staton? Where does he play? Some small school in London?
I have the height (6-4) but not the size!
i meant what whats was Rob Statons opinion on the T.E. situation haha. i just worded the question badly..
what was**** man am i on drugs or something today?
Sorry. I could not resist …..
Agree with all of you – watching AJ Green – he is a player you want. Crabtree is good – as much as it annoys me, but GB’s defense was so bad – any decent D would have stopped them on several drives. Let’s hope Carolina gets it done. Dalton must have peaked because he makes the same mistakes over and over again and he was at home. I really think we need a big receiver to go up and get the ball. I love GT and DB but they need some help. Percy is one asset, but we need another big receiver. I felt bad for Alex Smith, he played very well and if he had any type of consistent D he would have won.
Rob, this is a great blog – thank you!
Well, I will agree they had a lot of impact completions. But Kaep was 16 of 30. They weren’t efficient at all — but they certainly were clutch.
As we could and have claimed about our O line, we haven’t seen our base WR package due to injury this year. Seattle essentially already drafted their impact WR in Harvin last year. Normally, it’s hard to justify going top shelf at the same position 2 years in a row. Ultimately, the depth at WR certainly would indicate to me that there is a strong possibility that we do so this year.
Particularly given the kinds of prospects that should be available. They aren’t generally the same kind of WR that we already have. And they should fit well with the roster we already have on paper. It does feel like we’ll move back if we can and still have several big WRs that we could potentially like.
I can see real interest in either Coleman or Benjamin. These two players really look like the kinds of raw talents that we’d be interested in molding. I don’t think consistency issues are going to turn us off on them. Seattle has a strong track record of drafting potential. Confident that they can solve consistency problems in training camp.
On the hoof, Coleman and Benjamin do stand out amongst the bigs. Not unlike Hageman and ASJ at their position. Both of these bigs have a lot of dings on tape and we’ve dutifully noted those. But they are both also fairly unique in that they flash outstanding, even dominant quality moreso than others in their same grade/range. Seattle likes to stress what you can do, instead of what you can’t. These two kind of stand out to me in the 25-60 range of prospects at WR.
Really looks like a year we’ll move back and take who remains.
Amen to this. I’m shocked how often Kaepernick stares at his first read and throws to them and they are seemingly open by 3 yards every time. I’ve never understood the “Kaepernick doesn’t have anything on offense.” I’d be hard pressed to find a trio who is as good at getting open as Davis, Boldin, Crabtree.
Would love to afford RW the same luxury.
What do you mean when you say that, “Cinci is too cheap…”? I’ve heard a few different people say this and I just don’t understand it.
Isn’t there a salary floor to go along with the salary cap? Are the Bengals consistently paying their players as a whole less than the rest of the NFL? According to the NFL cap tracker at sportrac.com, the Bengals have the 8th highest total 2013 cap number in the NFL. How is that being “too cheap”? Please explain.
The Bengals are regularly among the cheapest teams in the NFL. Never a big player in FA and very selective over who they re-sign. The owner is the GM and they’re turning a profit. That’s his biggest priority.
They will be among the top spenders this year because they used the franchise tag on a defensive lineman and re-signed two others (Dunlap and Atkins). Although I’m not sure even Brown could afford to look the fans in the face if they’d let Geno walk.
Between the years of 2000-2009 (according to numbers from USA Today) the Cincinnati Bengals have had an average “league payroll rank” of 17.8 out of 32 putting them in the 55th percentile for that ten year stretch. They were among the top 5 highest payrolls three separate times in that ten years and outspent our beloved Seahawks 6 out of 10 times.
I have to assume that the perception that Mike Brown is “cheap” stems from his reluctance to pay big money to individual (often aging) players, either in free agency or to keep them from getting there. While this makes for a bad reputation with fans, it does nothing to refute the numbers above. If the Bengals had a Superbowl trophy or two sitting in their building those same fans would be praising Brown for smartly spreading the money around to several players instead of wasting it all on one or two big signings. Fans in general are not terribly conscious of the process, and tend to pass judgement based only on results. So they wouldn’t empty the coffers to grab Warren Sapp? They also didn’t give a seven year $62MM deal to a 28 and a half year old running back (Shaun Alexander), so there are positives and negatives for either side of the argument.
How often do you hear people complaining about how cheap Robert Kraft is? Between 2000-2009 the Cincinnati Bengals spent more money on player salaries than the New England Patriots. The difference? Championships.
It’s not just salaries. It’s behind the scenes. As Colin noted earlier, they don’t have a full time scouting department. The only team in the league.
I’m not saying the guy isn’t cheap. He very well may be. I don’t know the guy so how the hell should I know? But the original point floated out there was that, “Cinci is too cheap to make a big move at QB.”
This is just a ridiculous statement in my opinion, and is backed up by the fact that the Bengals spend at a pretty average rate when it comes to player salary numbers in the recent past. I guess my point at the end of the day is this: There is a fine line between “cheap” and “shrewd businessman”, and in the world of sports the average fan will draw that distinction based on the amount of winning that takes place. On a long enough timeline, with a large enough sample size, spending on player acquisition is going to be very close to even from team to team. So to say that “Cinci is too cheap to make a big move at QB.” is just dumb.
‘The Bengals are also the only team in the league to not have a full time scouting department and employ a HC who is now 0-5 in the playoffs to go along with his .500 record over 10 seasons.
No other organization lets that dysfunction and mediocrity carry on for that long.’
It’s not ridiculous to consider them cheap.
Again, I’m not saying they aren’t cheap. I’m saying that being “to cheap to make a big move at QB” doesn’t make any sense. They spend at roughly a league average rate on player salaries.
The Bengals are also the only team in the league to not have a full time scouting department and employ a HC who is now 0-5 in the playoffs to go along with his .500 record over 10 seasons.
No other organization lets that dysfunction and mediocrity carry on for that long.
I agree we need WR talent – someone with with a unique trait; ie size. Kelvin Benjamin has unique size at 6’5″ and a natural 230. If the light comes on for this guy and he starts playing hard consistently he could be a terror. Boom or bust! Looks like the Irvin pick….guys a little older with some history but a real special athlete. I’m starting to talk myself into this guy…Coleman is big too but Benjamin seems stronger.
Martavis Bryant just declared for the draft. I’ll be honest, I didn’t know his name before the Orange Bowl and that amazing TD catch. He’s 6’5 and might be late round draft prospect we could target. He’s got a good frame but needs to add weight (he’s listed at 200). Not a ton of film on him but I bet the Seattle will have some film of him.
There’s a couple guys with good size in this draft. I’m sure Seattle will come out of the draft with one of them even if they decide to stick with Rice.
LaDamian Washington, Moncrief…lots of size….I wish we had a 3rd round pick.
Cordarrelle Patterson, DeAndre Hopkins, I wish we had our 1st and an extra 48 million dollars… ah well
When healthy Harvin is a top 3 WR. It’s a 6 year deal and we are only in year one. Still a lot of time to make up for those draft picks and money.
You cannot say all the easy yards SF gets is because of it’s receivers based on today’s game. Would you trade all our WR and TE’s straight across for theirs? Maybe, maybe not. What stood out to me today was that time after time Kap had all day in pocket.
Even avg NFL QB’s will pick a D apart if they have time. Kap looked good today because of the time, still he only completed 16-30 passes. You can have All-Pro receivers but if the QB has no time then the passing game will be extremely limited.
As much as we all want a big WR in R-1, in the long run it probably makes more sense upgrading your offensive line. Big WRs drafter early don’t always pan out and then it can take 3 seasons to know for sure if they ever will. The light does not always go on.
As a fan I would love get the big name WR but as a realist I would prefer more stud depth on the OL and draft several big WRs late. They will have flaws of course that’s why they were not drafted earlier. I love our coaches and trust PC/JS will have another fantastic draft, they are simply the best.
Not splashy but deep. The draft guru’s will say they bombed but so what. For example, Luke Willson is going to be a star. Drafted in the 5th round. Only next draft we will look to draft 2 Luke Willson’s in the form of WR’s.
Can you imagine an upgraded OL and then 2 players that match Luke Willson’s potential playing WR?
Kaepernick had some time in the pocket, but on many occasions he also bought extra time. Something Wilson is also adept at.
One factor in the SF/GB game you cannot ignore is field conditions that made consistent pass rush impossible and gave receivers a HUGE advantage. So, that game is probably not the one for drawing too many conclusions. I saw BMW look pretty good at CHI a few years back under similar conditions.
That said, this year is great to be in the market for a WR. I would not ignore some potential bargains in free agency that might be svailable precisely because the draft class is so deep at the position.
FA not always the easiest place to find a bargain WR though. I suspect Kenny Britt might be open to a minimal contract, but he’s consistently blown every opportunity to deliver on his promise. Eric Decker will command big bucks, probably similar to Golden Tate. Nicks probably gets paid. I’m not interested in Maclin at Philly. The rest of the FA’s don’t really scream out.
I also think they’ll make a big push to keep Tate and probably pull it off. If they re-sign Bennett, I think that’ll be it for SEA in terms of high profile moves.
Kaep had time in the pocket, because the GB defense was and is pretty terrible overall. And missing Heyward and Shields left them pretty bare in the secondary. No pass rush and no quality corners is a recipe for disaster and it reliably came true. Missing Matthews really left them with no pass rushers at all. Despite spending top shelf picks on the DL in 2012 and 2013.
That game was not a real good indication of how well that OL plays. Let’s check back in next week when they play a real defense. I suspect we’ll be singing a different tune after Carolina.
It seems to me that the SF/Carolina game will be a sort of referendum on the value of spending big draft capital on the line. Few (maybe no) teams have invested in their OL like SF has.
Agree totally on the OL, which makes this the perfect place to insert my little rant on the subject.
!!!BILLY TURNER!!!BILLY TURNER!!!BILLY TURNER!!!
OT, NDSU, 6’6″ 315lb
After watching everything I can find of him on the internet over and over again, I’ve become completely enthralled with this guy. I describe him like this: He is Warren Sapp at LT. At LT, he plays on every down with the kind of intensity and dominance that Ra’Shede Hageman only flashes once or twice a game at DT. Remember how nasty and vicious Erik Williams was on the Cowboys OL during their SB heyday in the 90s? That is Billy Turner, with a lot more athleticism and intelligence. Right now he is playing at the level that the upsides of Greg Robinson, Antonio Richardson, Cedric Ogbuehi, Cyrus Kouandjio, Cameron Erving, and Taylor Lewan hope to achieve. He is playing right now at a level that Jake Matthews will never achieve.
As far as I’m concerned, he is the best offensive lineman in this draft and belongs at least in the top 10 overall, likely top 5. I want him for the Seahawks more than Ra’Shede Hageman, and more than any tall receiver in this draft. I want him with our 1st round pick because I don’t trust Gus Bradley to let him slip past the top of the 2nd round. He will immediately replace Giac at RT, and move with ease to LT when it is time to move on from Okung in a couple years. He will be our next Walter Jones and finish his career with his number retired…and even, dare I say, a bust in the HOF.
A lot of hyperbole, I know, but hey, it’s the interwebs and I’m geeked out of my mind about this guy. Try to talk me out of it if you can, not likely though. He is the most insanely dominant offensive lineman I can remember seeing in…forever. And is the type of talent that the League will likely allow to fall to us, like Warren Sapp fell (granted, not because of false drug allegations like Sapp, but because he is such a freakish athletic talent just like Sapp was that the League may not quite know what to make of him). Go watch all the game tape of him on draftbreakdown.com, then head over to youtube and watch a few of the very interesting interviews he did with the local CBS TheFan affiliate. He just oozes Seahawks/PC personality/moxy. With Billy Turner guarding the edge, Beast will have gaping running lanes once again and Russell will have the kind of pocket to throw from we have dreamt of for 2 years now. This draft is loaded with tall receivers and we can get one in later rounds, but there is no individual receiver anywhere in this draft nearly as dominant at their position as Billy Turn is at his. Yup, I’m leading the charge for Billy Turner. Please PC and JS, make him a Seahawk.
wow i watched a few Videos on him, he does look very promising. i like how active he is. he can play guard, and is quie fast, which is what we need, a quard that can pull. like you said, he can replace Breno or replace one of the guards
Yeah, there ARE some good tackles coming out. If one we liked fell to us I’d say go for it and try to get a WR with the 2nd round pick…just depends on how the draft falls when our pick at 32 come up!
I think Wilson needs playmakers more than anything else as well. Hopefully Harvin will be one of these, I’d like Tate to be re-signed but they really need a good, big receiver who can create separation. I think the loss of Rice has been massive. His numbers last season weren’t outstanding, but his impact was huge. He made loads of big plays, often winning jump balls. The team has really missed that.
While the pass-blocking has had its faults (especially when both tackles were), there were many, many occasions were Wilson was sitting back there with all the time in the world but no receivers to throw to, leading to a scramble, a throwaway, a sack or a holding call. That said, bringing in competition for the o-line spots and depth is also a necessity.
My vote is to get a big wide receiver first and then choose 2-4 offensive linemen later. That may seem like a lot but only half will make the team. Also wondering if we need another running back since Michael isn’t playing.
Regarding KC, they need to resign Smith who could play another 6-8 years. What they need most is better defense. Especially secondary, they have got lit up by passing teams. Throw in another pass rusher or two and they will have a great team.
Regarding San Fran, Boldin carried them for half the season, a big strong receiver that will fight for the ball.
Not sure why folks think we need to draft a RB. SEA spent their highest pick in last year’s draft on Michael, even though we all knew that he wouldn’t need to play with Lynch and Turbin on the roster.
Curiously, now that he hasn’t played, all of a sudden it’s a problem and must mean there’s something wrong with him such that the draft pick SEA spent on him is so utterly wasted that they must spend yet another one replacing him.
Not saying this is you AlaskaHawk, so don’t take it personally. Otherwise, I’m torn between SEA concentrating their draft capital and trading up to a higher overall pick to get that one special player, or spreading it out more by trading down and stocking up potential replacements at key positions that will suffer from salary cap attrition.
Well if the mantra at Seahawks HQ is really compete. compete, compete and the best man plays… then it says something about CM that he can’t beat out RT…
He is a typical rookie – and he didn’t play much his last year in college. CM isn’t a good blocker at this time, and he needs to work on it. Turbin isn’t as good a blocker as Marshawn, so it does take time. Turbin didn’t do himself any favors this year with his fumbles – that spot will be open if CM wants to apply himself and work on his game. Let’s hope there is some improvement after a year and another training camp under his belt.
I just find it curious that a team with a rushing attack only has one viable running back. Most teams have 2 or 3 that rotate and fill in when one is injured. If Lynch goes down then who will be our running back? I don’t trust Turbin. The question will remain until Michael is actually used and shows he can play without fumbling.
I don’t think we need a superstar. In fact with our cap limits I don’t think it is even wise to recruit a superstar. Better just to have a bunch of excellent players that are coached well. Players drafted in the low first and second rounds will only expect a million a year, that’s still affordable to us.
My take from the 1st game was I thought the Chiefs miss manage the clock when they was 28 points up in the game and I’m not talking about just running the ball. The chiefs should have been staying in bounds and keeping the clock running and I saw this happen over and over again. It might be a small thing but little things like that add up. If they had made a conscious effort starting in the middle of the 3rd period they would have won the game.
My take from the 2nd game is. I will never pick a Team from Ohio to win a playoff game period.
My take from the 3rd game was I wasn’t surprised by the outcome. I was pretty sure the Saints would slip by the Eagles both offense’s being equal so I figure the defensive edge was with Saints and Rex Ryan.
My take on the 4th game was I was surprised Green Bay defense did as good as they did.
I got a lot of questions about a few players on Seattle’s roster such as Greg Scruggs, Anthony McCoy, Jesse Williams, Christine Michaels, and Spencer Ware. I thinking we trade back into top 2nd and grab a OG and WR. I know Robs not to high on Kelvin Benjamin but I think with the atmosphere in the locker room of this team he could prosper with its leadership. Doing practice against the best secondary in the league and RW constant communications with his receiver would show this guy what it takes to be great because the potential is all there. We let McDonald, McDaniels, and Bennett test the waters and see what they are offered and make counter offers if possibly.
Rob,
I was wondering if you had a chance to look at ASU’s Jaelen Strong, WR? Not sure if he will declare this year.
He’s said he’s going back to school — which is a good thing IMO. Shown in flashes but needs time. One to watch for 2015.
Fell asleep watching tape again. <3
I love football.
Me too!
If I was the Rams I would highly entertain the possibilty of taking Jadeveon Clowney @#2 and Mike Evans @#13 or strongly considering link up Johnny Manziel @#2 along with his favorite target Evans. Is a chance they take Watkins and Evans? Could you imagine those two lined up together? WoW! I dont like Bradford a lot but this would instantly make their passing game legit. Any thoughts Rob?
That would be a good way to boost the offense, although I fear they’d both be wasted with Bradford pulling the trigger. He’d really have no excuses in that scenario. It’s something the Rams should consider.
I dont think it would be a waste @ all, as you said it best “he’d really have no excuses in that scenario” well that should be a crystal clear indicator that its time to move on to a new signal caller, but as far as having both weapons, I dont see them as a “waste”. Who ever they acquire after Bradford is in a great position for success. On a seperate note what do you think it would take for the Hawks to move up around #15 or #16 to get Evans?