nfl draft 2022 NFL Draft: Day 3

[Foxx]

258. Green Bay Packers select Samori Toure, WR  Nebraska.

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259. Kansas City Chiefs select Nazeeh Johnson, S  Marshall.

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260. Los Angeles Chargers select Zander Horvath, RB  Purdue.

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261. Los Angeles Rams select AJ Arcuri, T  Michigan State.

[CarpetCrawler]

one more.....

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And with the final pick of the 2022 NFL Draft, with the 262^nd selection, the San Francisco 49ers select Mr. Irrelevant, Brock Prudy, QB  Iowa State. 

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I would like to thank @TakeYouToTasker 2.0 for doing the First Round. @Ann for doing Rounds Two and Three. @Alaska Darin for doing Round Five and @CarpetCrawler for doing Round Six.

 

They all did a fantastic job! Thank you!

[Arm of Harm]

1 hour ago, CarpetCrawler said:

 

Good height/weight ratio for the modern-day LB. Hip flip in coverage is noticably good, which is vital. His speed/athleticism alone could allow him to stick on a roster but he's a developmental type in terms of his on-field fundamentals.

 

Despite his athletic chops, he's delay when ID'ing the play, both on runs and passes, which makes him play a touch slower than he really is. Block shedding is hit or miss but closer to a weakness than a strength. Length is an issue against blockers and gives him a tiny tackling radius. Too often a tick late to his assigment, leaves him diving at more ball carriers than he should, and he misses more tackles than most. Minimal blitzing effectiveness.

 

2020: All-ACC second-team (AP)
2020: Led team with 72 tackles and 4.5 sacks

 

So . . . you're saying this LB/draft pick has great speed and athleticism, but isn't good at shedding blocks or diagnosing plays. I thought we had that guy on the team already?

 

[Alaska Darin]

2 minutes ago, Arm of Harm said:

 

So . . . you're saying this LB/draft pick has great speed and athleticism, but isn't good at shedding blocks or diagnosing plays. I thought we had that guy on the team already?

 

16th pick versus 230.

[Arm of Harm]

21 minutes ago, Alaska Darin said:

16th pick versus 230.

 

I wasn't criticizing the pick, just making an observation. Now for two more observations.

 

1) It would be very difficult for any GM to find a non-punter in the 6th round capable of making this roster.

2) Two LBs in the same draft suggests Beane might be preparing against Edmunds' possible departure.

 

[Core Four]

27 minutes ago, Arm of Harm said:

 

So . . . you're saying this LB/draft pick has great speed and athleticism, but isn't good at shedding blocks or diagnosing plays. I thought we had that guy on the team already?

 

From the positives/negatives I've seen on Bernard, he is instinctive but can have tunnel vision once he sees the ball carrier, which causes him to get aggressive going downhill and get caught in blocks he isn't strong enough to shed.  Edmunds is neither instinctive nor can he shed blocks due to his high center of gravity.

[Alaska Darin]

3 minutes ago, Arm of Harm said:

 

I wasn't criticizing the pick, just making an observation. Now for two more observations.

 

1) It would be very difficult for any GM to find a non-punter in the 6th round capable of making this roster.

2) Two LBs in the same draft suggests Beane might be preparing against Edmunds' possible departure.

 

Sorry, I didn't mean that to come across as an indictment.  My overall point is I expect a 7th round pick to be missing a ton of qualifying factors, whether it's size, speed, instints, technique, etc.  One of the truly maddening things about Olanim is he literally looks like the exact prototype McD would want to man the middle but he simply can't consistently do it.

 

I wouldn't put high odds on Olanim being on the roster next season.  There are simply too many other higher value players coming up for deals and paying him in the associated $15-20M range would mean moving on from someone like Knox.  I fully expect to see another stable veteran LBer to show up by training camp.

 

The position was one of the thinnest on the roster and both Olanim and Milano regularly miss time.  Dotson is a serviceable player but he's currently the only real depth we have, which just isn't enough.

[Core Four]

9 minutes ago, Arm of Harm said:

 

I wasn't criticizing the pick, just making an observation. Now for two more observations.

 

1) It would be very difficult for any GM to find a non-punter in the 6th round capable of making this roster.

2) Two LBs in the same draft suggests Beane might be preparing against Edmunds' possible departure.

 

 

A third round project and 7th round SpT candidate probably aren't enough to replace Edmunds.

[Core Four]

8 minutes ago, Alaska Darin said:

The position was one of the thinnest on the roster and both Olanim and Milano regularly miss time.  Dotson is a serviceable player but he's currently the only real depth we have, which just isn't enough.

 

I wonder, what are the chances of them re-signing AJ Klein at a more team friendly deal?  He was paid as a starter, yet didn't regularly see the field.

[Alaska Darin]

6 minutes ago, Core Four said:

 

I wonder, what are the chances of them re-signing AJ Klein at a more team friendly deal?  He was paid as a starter, yet didn't regularly see the field.

I've had the same thought and I would think the likelihood increases the longer Klein remains unemployed. 

[Foxx]

🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥

 

...

[Arm of Harm]

On 4/30/2022 at 4:50 PM, Core Four said:

 

A third round project and 7th round SpT candidate probably aren't enough to replace Edmunds.

You are right, but the key word in your post is “probably.” 
 

Edmunds is not playing up to his draft position. Obviously. For the sake of argument, let’s say his production is about what you’d expect for a late 2nd round pick. Can a late third round pick replace that? Maybe. What are the odds of that happening? I have no idea, but if you asked me to pluck a number out of thin air my number would be 30%. The 7th round pick’s odds of replicating that are obviously a lot smaller. 
 

Now suppose that when Edmunds hits free agency, some other team offers him, say, $12 million a year. Maybe a year from now Beane thinks Bernard is a little bit of a step down from Edmunds. But, he’s willing to take that small step down to free up the $12 million. 
 

By drafting Bernard, Beane at least gives himself a shot at one or the other of those things happening. If that shot misses, maybe he extends Edmunds, or maybe he addresses LB again in next year’s draft. 

[Core Four]

1 hour ago, Arm of Harm said:

You are right, but the key word in your post is “probably.” 
 

Edmunds is not playing up to his draft position. Obviously. For the sake of argument, let’s say his production is about what you’d expect for a late 2nd round pick. Can a late third round pick replace that? Maybe. What are the odds of that happening? I have no idea, but if you asked me to pluck a number out of thin air my number would be 30%. The 7th round pick’s odds of replicating that are obviously a lot smaller. 
 

Now suppose that when Edmunds hits free agency, some other team offers him, say, $12 million a year. Maybe a year from now Beane thinks Bernard is a little bit of a step down from Edmunds. But, he’s willing to take that small step down to free up the $12 million. 
 

By drafting Bernard, Beane at least gives himself a shot at one or the other of those things happening. If that shot misses, maybe he extends Edmunds, or maybe he addresses LB again in next year’s draft. 

 

At this early juncture, I would be inclined to believe Edmunds' replacement is not on the roster.  Bernard appears to be more of a Milano backup and possible replacement in 2-3 years, as well as a big nickel, rather than a MLB where he would be undersized by about 25 lbs.  Also keep in mind that Bernard probably won't be ready to start on day 1 as he is a bit of a project.  I think Beane will have to acquire a MLB either through the draft or FA next year.

[Arm of Harm]

10 hours ago, Core Four said:

 

At this early juncture, I would be inclined to believe Edmunds' replacement is not on the roster.  Bernard appears to be more of a Milano backup and possible replacement in 2-3 years, as well as a big nickel, rather than a MLB where he would be undersized by about 25 lbs.  Also keep in mind that Bernard probably won't be ready to start on day 1 as he is a bit of a project.  I think Beane will have to acquire a MLB either through the draft or FA next year.

 

You believe Bernard’s weight, or lack thereof, will prevent him from being Edmunds’ replacement. I believe his lack of weight might prevent him from replacing Edmunds. 
 

Maybe if I did more research on Bernard I’d come around to your way of thinking. Bernard has the height to be a MLB. But does he have the frame? Could he add more muscle, or is he maxed out? If he were to add 20 pounds of muscle, would that significantly reduce his speed? 
 

Now suppose he stays the same size or adds five pounds or something, but plays MLB anyway. What’s the disadvantage of him being undersized? That he’d get swallowed up by blockers? Edmunds gets swallowed up by blockers all the time anyway. You’d barely notice a difference. The other disadvantage of being small is that he might get run over by larger ball carriers. I could envision that happening more often to him, at his current size, than it happens to Edmunds. So that would make him a downgrade to Edmunds, at least at his current size, and at least for that aspect of his game. But maybe there are other areas where he’d be better than Edmunds. For example if he was a step up from Edmunds in pass coverage, that would be very significant in the eyes of McDermott and Beane. 

[Core Four]

1 hour ago, Arm of Harm said:

 

You believe Bernard’s weight, or lack thereof, will prevent him from being Edmunds’ replacement. I believe his lack of weight might prevent him from replacing Edmunds. 
 

Maybe if I did more research on Bernard I’d come around to your way of thinking. Bernard has the height to be a MLB. But does he have the frame? Could he add more muscle, or is he maxed out? If he were to add 20 pounds of muscle, would that significantly reduce his speed? 
 

Now suppose he stays the same size or adds five pounds or something, but plays MLB anyway. What’s the disadvantage of him being undersized? That he’d get swallowed up by blockers? Edmunds gets swallowed up by blockers all the time anyway. You’d barely notice a difference. The other disadvantage of being small is that he might get run over by larger ball carriers. I could envision that happening more often to him, at his current size, than it happens to Edmunds. So that would make him a downgrade to Edmunds, at least at his current size, and at least for that aspect of his game. But maybe there are other areas where he’d be better than Edmunds. For example if he was a step up from Edmunds in pass coverage, that would be very significant in the eyes of McDermott and Beane. 

 

I'll use Luke Kuechly as a comparison because, why not, he was pretty good.

 

Kuechly: 6'3" 238 lbs

Bernard: 6'1" 224 lbs

Luke was a good MLB because he was athletic, had great instincts, and worked very hard to improve.  By all accounts, Bernard is athletic, has good instincts, and worked hard to improve his game at Baylor.  There is certainly parallels between the two.

McD mentioned at one point that Kuechly was not the Kuechly he coached in 2015 (SB year), compared to when he was a rookie. 

I'm sure Bernard has a ways to go to get to his ceiling.

 

Bernards' knocks are he gets locked on to the ball carrier and can get caught in traffic (blocks) that he isn't comfortable in and not strong enough to get out of.  Bernard is not the strongest tackler and has trouble bringing down RBs at the point of contact.  He also can get caught flat footed in coverage, though this one could be a little nit-picky as there are other players this can be said.

 

Edmunds has poor instincts, not great in coverage, can't shed blocks, but is a good tackler.  He has all the physical characteristics to be a MLB, just not the processing power between the ears and lacking in athleticism.  While not a total whiff, he is far from a home run where he was drafted in the 2nd round after moving up to do so.

 

Can Bernard become a MLB?  It's possible, but it's going to depend on how well the coaches can develop him.  They really didn't do a great job on Edmunds, but maybe that's just Edmunds where his intangibles were not enough even with his physical attributes.  Bernard seems to have the instincts and athleticism to become a staple in the LB corps, but I'm still hesitant to say he'll be a MLB.  He will need to add some strength and muscle mass, which is not difficult for these guys to do.  As I've mentioned earlier, Bernard seems to be a project who probably won't be an impact player for a good part of this season.  I think he will end up replacing Milano in two years.