We'll see.

He played a ton in that Tampa game and was playing a fair amount before he got hurt vs. the Raiders. And it was not a bad idea to slow-roll ANOTHER rookie into the defensive backfield where we could.

I suspect we'll see 3-safety looks about 40% of the time as a general rule going forward.

But I do agree that we had FAR greater priorities and that was my greatest frustration with the Cook pick at the time. Deon Bush is a solid player. He's probably better than Cook right now anyway. And I don't see Cook as a guy who can replace Thornhill going forward because he's not a single-high guy.

It just seemed like we created a need that didn't really exist. At least not yet. Then again, with Sneed/Fenton/McDuffie as your 1-3 coming out of the first round, and Fenton's injury history (not to mention McDuffie being a rookie), maybe they just weren't confident that a standard Nickel was a strong package. There's no way they expected Watson to be this significant a contributor and probably not even Williams.

But yeah, I definitely would not have gone with Cook there. The need on the DL was just too great and too obvious.

Well, him playing that many snaps against Tampa was a bit of a necessity and not necessarily by choice. Reid got put in concussion protocol and even if he did return to the game he's pretty clearly not going to be 100%

I think Cook will be a great player, in the long run. It seems a bit perplexing why he didn't prioritize DL when there were solid options available, but I do understand the draft-to-replace strategy when there is good value there.

His options at 62 weren't great overall, outside of going DT with Travis Jones or a flier on Perrion Winfrey. Perhaps he felt like going for a potential ace safety was better than a plugger at NT or a DT that's going to sit behind Jones?

His options at DE largely dried up right after we picked Skyy Moore.

The only one that I'd maybe say eh he should have taken a poke was Dominique Robinson and he didn't go until 174 in the 5th. In his defense, Robinson looked really raw.

GET AHOLD OF YOURSELF!!

https://external-content.duckduckgo....7b2&ipo=images

Once Williams came off the board, though, Veach should've been working the phones to move up. Because as you said, the options were really thinning out at that point.

Atlanta in the middle of a rebuild taking a LBer in a draft LOADED with guys just like Troy Andersen seems like such an obvious fit at 58. Just feels like 62 and 145 can probably get you to 58 there.

But like you said, barring that, feel like Travis Jones is someone you've still gotta take there over a 3rd safety. And I think you can make an argument for Bonitto or even Petit-Frere or Raimann there. Leal or Cameron Thomas as more versatile inside/outside DL pieces. Shit, Nakobe Dean (dart throw on upside) or Jalen Tolbert (youth and size).

I'm just not gonna talk myself into the idea that S3 was such a dire need, even in the longer term, that we needed to attack it at 62.

This goes without saying. But thank you for saying it anyway. :thumb:

Nah. Abraham Lucas. That guy was more athletic than Eric Fisher. He had size, speed and core strength.

He would have been perfect here

Sure.

But he wasn't on my radar at the time so I can't be too terribly loud about him.

This was the pick

Absolutely my take. Is it ideal having Bush out there on significantly more snaps? Not really, but as you say right now he's not worse than Cook as a rookie. DL was the need and there was a fair amount floating about at that point.

Think I agree with this also, my only thought was DT and DE were both current AND future needs and so seemed the obvious area to target.

Film study on our boy George. Turns out he's been more effective than we've been giving him credit for:

<iframe width="640" height="360" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/DnN3eZp46RY" title="George Karlaftis POWERS UP ���� Chiefs Passrush!" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>

When George Karlaftis is drawing a double team, somebody - ANYBODY - needs to step the **** up and win 1-on-1.

I mean, they kinda are. But as that clip shows it's just that it's Chris Jones swinging across to DE not a regular DE. He's showing what we hoped he would last year and been a wrecking ball all over the line.

What we REALLY need is anybody who is a designated DE actually winning 1-on-1 quick enough to bring real pressure and sacks. Good on Karlaftis for taking the double, and I know you've said elsewhere you think he's getting close. But we need him to get closer! (Or Clark, Dunlap, whatever)

Seems like he's got a million dollar head to go along with physical tools...


Guys had a odd set of jersey numbers for a DE.