Yeah, I've pretty much zerod in if he's there, I would take him.

He's 24 and has one good season of production. Not that either are deal-breakers, but it's enough teams could choose others over him. I still think he's got a legit shot to go in round 1 to a 3-4 team in need of a base 5-tech, but 4-3 teams have more than enough options to likely pass.

LMAO

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">My rankings for the EDGE prospects in the 2023 Draft. Broke it all down on today&#39;s podcast. <a href="https://t.co/1L80RRIif5">pic.twitter.com/1L80RRIif5</a></p>&mdash; Chris Simms (@CSimmsQB) <a href="https://twitter.com/CSimmsQB/status/1645497791895019530?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 10, 2023</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Simms ALWAYS does ranking that push against the grain because he knows people will talk about what he said.

I think Tyree Wilson could be picked ahead of Will Anderson because of well the history of the NFL.

Again, listening to Middlekauf talking about some of his scouting buddies, they aren't really top end of the draft high on Will Anderson.

He's probably not an ideal 4-3 player.

If you're going to take him high, you probably need to be a 3-4 team. So for Seattle I was happy to have him fall to me in the CP Mock. But I could see teams that are focused on finding traditional 4-3 DEs being a little less enthusiastic about him because I'm not sure he's stout enough to be an every down lineman in a 4-3.

But putting him behind McDonald is stupid. They're the same style of player, Anderson's just better.

So - why isn't anyone talking about Colby Wooden?

Are they and I'm just not hearing it? Wouldn't mind seeing a little more arm length but his are by no means short. Good mass, solid athleticism, seems to have nice bend and a good pass rush approach.

I'm routinely seeing him available in the 3rd - is there any reason at all that we shouldn't be pretty damn stoked to get him there if he made it? What am I missing? I've been focused on Zach Harrison there as a possibility but Wooden is just...better. Just a lot more dynamic from what I can see.

Why does he suck? Because I don't feel like he does.

DTs

1st - Breese, Smith, Benton
2nd - Dexter, Roy

Any NT types that we like later in the draft? Coburn, maybe?

DE's

1st - Murphy, White, Foskey, McDonald
2nd - Tuipulotu, Adebaware, Hall
3rd - Harrison, Young, Carter
4th - Diaby, McGuire, Fehoko, Brooks
5th - Incoom

I like him. Ended up snagging him in the middle of the 4th for the Patriots. Not sure if I'd take him in the 3rd but maybe. His run defense is lacking and his sack/pressure production isn't enough to make up for it, especially as an outside rusher. He's still better than Harrison in my opinion too.

Let's say hypothetically:
Lukas Van Ness falls to like 20.
Mazi Smith falls to like 50.
Is it worth it to move up in either scenario? Both scenarios? How does this D line compare to spags SB winning dline with the giants?

For my part, this is the dream, and I would not hesitate to burn a second from next year to move up for van Ness and 95 this year to move up for smith. The dline instantly becomes a huge strength and the defense becomes incredible for the foreseeable future.

I'd have to see the board.

My first impression is no, I wouldn't trade up for either.

Sure! Let's do it!

How about Myles Murphy and Keanu Benton?

Murphy - maybe.

Benton - still no.

If Kancey's height/length issues have him sliding in the 2nd though, that's a guy I might be willing to move up for. Because unlike your Mazi Smith sorts, he's a guy who might be a difference maker.

Could Kancey be a Dre'mont Jones sort of interior pass-rusher? Yeah, I think he can be. And maybe a little better especially with Jones being able to draw some attention and maybe help him keep guys hands off him a bit.

If I've traded up for Murphy, though, I'm not also trading up for Kancey. It's just too much capital to throw at the DL when I still think we need a substantial infusion of talent/depth at WR and OL.

This board pretty routinely undersells the value of a 3 down 1 tech, imo. Mazi will demand double teams, which will single up the edges and CJ.


DJLN, this comment is purely for the sake of continuing the conversation and is not intended as shade or anything like that:
Kancey would play three technique and get destroyed on down run blocks. So you only play him in obvious passing situations? Replacing whom, exactly? Who is your four man front with Kancey? Are you moving CJ to one tech, so you can free up kancey to rush? Plus, frankly, I have reservations about a 280 pound d lineman with 30 inch arms and their ability to beat virtually any nfl guard.

Every down is a passing down in the modern NFL.

If having him on the field encourages teams to run the ball more - hell, that's value in its own right.

But in clear running situations I'm just going to go ahead and have a body in there. Nnadi and a 4th/5th rounder? A FA pickup this summer like Wormley?

I just don't care as much about the position as many others do. We HAVE our monster in the middle. Would there be some value in another guy like Smith alongside him? Sure - but hell, I just don't think fat/heavy guys are that hard to find.

And no team will EVER double-team Mazi Smith to set up Chris Jones. Jones is going to demand the double teams - full stop. The only time you'll see Smith doubled is on run plays and if that's the case - fine. But nobody's going to do the math and choose to free single Jones in a passing situation in favor of Mazi Smith and his half sack/season production.

When you put a freak like Mazi in the one gap, imo, they will blow up the guards right shoulder if the center doesn't help resulting in complete loss of that gap. And rapidly. The 1 tech is designed to demand the centers assignment.

Were that the case he'd have been far more dominant in college.

I just can't reconcile the idea that Mazi is a freak when you watch him be fairly pedestrian in college.

I don't see why I should expect him to be a difference maker at the next level when he went in the Big 10.

Now that said - I think he has a super high floor and if the Chiefs traded up for him in 2 I wouldn't lose my mind. It's just not the direction I'd go.

To be clear, I value what I think he could bring. Not enough to pick him straight up at 31, but am very comfortable with the idea of going and getting him at an appropriate point in day two.

But this is where you lose me a bit.

If this is a guy who's so dynamic and so disruptive that teams will have no choice but to take their chances with Chris Jones rather than have him blow apart their interior - that's a 1st round pick.

I don't see that ceiling so I seen a high floor player at a position of need and approach it not unlike the Bolton or Morse selections - safe picks with a little upside in the 2nd is fine.

At the end of the day, he's still a 1 tech, with pass rush upside that I like. Nnadi can play the spot serviceably on run downs, and we just have to live with a body there on pass downs as the roster stands or if we draft a Byron young type late in the draft.

Mazi is different in my view. He's incredibly strong, heavy, long, and can give you over 50 snaps a game there. So trading up in the second is as much premium as I would give for prospects of that nature not named Suh. And yeah, he changes the ability to rush four rather than always blitzing for pressure. Is that worth 31 though? Or should the Chiefs be looking to identify their long term EDGE there? I think getting both accomplished with these athletes makes a ton of sense for locking in a core defensive line group for the next 4 years.

If you can find a solid right tackle and a developmental guard late in the draft, the trenches could be locked in for phase 2 of mahomes career.

Oh and one secondary consideration: the fifth year option feels like a lot better value on a premium edge vs 1 tech.

On the flipside, you're a lot more likely to find an excellent 1-tech at 31 than you are a premium edge who's going to get a 2nd contract.

It happens, to be sure. But a DE version of Aaron Donald, who was just so very clearly an absolute monster in college, goes 1.1. It's not smart, no, but it's the reality of it. Clowney went 1.1 in that draft because he had similar physical traits to Donald (less productivity) but the length to play DE.

It's similar to the market efficiency that comes from having a truly elite pass-catching TE. They just don't get paid as much as WRs, right wrong or otherwise.

I still think the best approach at DT might be to double dip. If you can get an undersized guy with a little juice to support Jones as a pass rusher like Kobie Turner in R4, or Karl Brooks if he slips to there, and then a guy like Brodric Martin or Jerrod Clark a little later as a run stuffer, I think that goes a fair way and might be more impactful than a guy like Mazi Smith alone. That way you can use the first 3 picks on "premium" positions like DE and needs like WR and OT. I keep coming back to DE, WR, OT, DT as the first 4 picks. Then anything from RB, TE, G, DT, DE and WR that makes sense.

Interestingly, I just ran a draft that I think went pretty sensibly through the first 5:

Harrison
Rice
Carter (Edge)
Pickens (DT)
Schoonmaker

Then it went completely off the damn rails but I also couldn't convince myself it would be a bad idea:

166: Colby Wooden (Doubling up at edge)
178: Moro Ojomo (Doubling up at DT)
217: Anthony Johnson
249: Keondre Coburn - Now TRIPLING up at DT but there's no way you could pass on him here.
250: Evan Hull


So I didn't get a CB and I'd have liked to have managed it. But even after TRIPLING up at DT and really hitting the DL hard through the middle rounds, I covered a TON of needs with high end talent that fits the squad really well.

I think you might be right - this might be a numbers game waiting to happen.

Stealers reportedly trying to trade up with CHI for the #9 pick "to take J Carter"

Really like the Mizzou kid Isaiah McGuire. He’s projected as a 3rd rd pick. And honestly if he somehow fell to us in rd 3 I would take him even if we already drafted and edge

If that is true it's because Pittsburgh sees him as a top 5 player and his fall as their 1 shot at one.

I think he's more of a 4th rounder but yeah - I mentioned him in the CP Mock thread - loud tools. There's a lot to like there.

What's nice about McGuire is that he was really really raw coming into Mizzou and just kept on developing. He got a little better every year.

But ultimately if KC took him in the 3rd, I wouldn't complain. I wouldn't love it if they'd already taken an edge player (2 DEs in the first 3 rounds is a hair too much draft capital for a team that needs to add talent at OL, DT and WR as well) but if they go with OT, WR or DT with their first couple picks, I wouldn't mind him as their first edge taken in the 3rd.

I think part of it is that Mizzou fans are damn hard on their own. It was why more people should've listened to the Mizzou folks when they were saying that KC was going to love Morse and Bolton. If WE'RE supporting a guy, he must be a pretty strong get.

I don't have the same level of affinity for McGuire that I did for Bolton or Morse, but I like him well enough.

Agreed. I don’t see why more people don’t want to trade down from our first. There are so many great prospects that are somewhat even. I’d trade down with our first and use that capital to trade up from 63. The talent difference bn 63 and late 40s seems much bigger than 31 to late 30s.

I feel like Siaki Ika continues to be the "forgotten man" when it comes to NT prospects. No, he'll never be a pass rusher and he also won't be a 3-down player but man if he doesn't reset the LOS on 1st and 2nd down for you. If you can get his weight down, maybe he can transform into a 3-down player but I won't hold my breath there.

He's alot of a young Danny Shelton but I think he's quicker. What do you pay for that? Would you pay for that? He still carries a late 2nd to early 3rd round grade from most pundits.

One thing for sure, especially in a one-gap scheme, is he's going to force the guard and center to account for him because he's going to be a handful for any guard to take on one-on-one. I think he's the type of player that has enough juice to make you pay because he's going to free a guy up or he's going to have his guy in your QBs lap. He'll definitely be a LB's best friend.

I don't like him as much as I like Benton and Smith, obviously, and I like him for different reasons than a guy like Zacch Pickens. I'd take him before I took Gervon Dexter. I think there's a lot to be said about a DTs snap quickness and he has it. His arm length hurts but he's a hard-charging bull with brute strength and that's that's difficult to stop on it's own.

He's a low-key target I think you have to consider at 63 depending on how the board falls.

My other forgotten man is Kobie Turner from Wake. He's so very well-rounded as a player. I don't think he gets as much attention as he should. A career at Richmond with a transfer year to Wake Forest tends to do that I suppose. Wake Forest never gets much love (see also AT Perry). He's not a huge pass rush type but he can make some noise there at times. I think he's going in round 3.

Totally agree. He's my 4th round-ish pick but agree he possibly goes before. Get THAT guy in ahead of a pure NT and then look for the run stuffer later. I'm not sure I see him as totally rounded but I think he does plenty enough on passing downs to be a big upgrade to what we have, and much more so than some of the earlier round DTs that are being suggested like Roy.

How would you view him vs Alim McNeil from 2021 draft? I normally don't get excited by NT, run-stuffer types high but McNeil was just fun to watch as a prospect.

Benton is a more along the lines of McNeill than Ika is to me because of the athleticism. I do think Benton is a bit more dynamic. I think Ika if he trimmed down a bit would be in that same ballpark. He does crush the LOS.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">If NFL coaches are comping Iowa State EDGE Will McDonald IV to elite All-Pro/Pro Bowl level players like Haason Reddick and Brian Burns then it’s highly doubtful he makes it out of first round.<br><br>Adjust your final mocks accordingly. <a href="https://t.co/Cbhmegei90">pic.twitter.com/Cbhmegei90</a></p>&mdash; Jim Nagy (@JimNagy_SB) <a href="https://twitter.com/JimNagy_SB/status/1650870116433756163?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 25, 2023</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Yuck. I was right. McDonald going earlier than mocks are saying.

Keon White and McDonald have the same problem being older prospects.

McDonald at least has bend. White doesn't he avoided agility testing on purpose...

Should we add a FA to DE?

If we signed Ngakoue he would be the most experienced and successful end rusher on our team. Omenihu's best season was 4 sacks and Felix is a rookie. Makes sense to me!

ESPN predicts the next 10 offseason moves:

"Chiefs signing a pass-rusher

After winning the Super Bowl, Kansas City Chiefs general manager Brett Veach has made the offensive line the focus of offseason spending. The Chiefs let starting tackles Orlando Brown Jr. and Andrew Wylie hit the free agent market, then quickly moved to sign Jaguars tackle Jawaan Taylor to a significant deal. It looked as if Taylor would be moving to protect Patrick Mahomes' blindside, but when former Bucs left tackle Donovan Smith's market didn't develop, Veach signed him to play on the left side, leaving Taylor at right tackle for now.

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The defensive line could still use a bit of work. The Chiefs moved on from Frank Clark and Carlos Dunlap after the Super Bowl. Both are still on the free agent market, but the Chiefs have gone in other directions. Veach signed Charles Omenihu away from the 49ers and used the team's first-round pick on Kansas State edge defender Felix Anudike-Uzomah. George Karlaftis gives the Chiefs another first-round pick (2022) in their edge rotation, but against an AFC full of devastating quarterbacks, I still think the Chiefs could stand to add another pass-rusher.

That could be Clark, although it would require him to take a significant pay cut from the $21 million he had previously been owed for 2023. Leonard Floyd, Justin Houston, Jadeveon Clowney and Yannick Ngakoue are all free agents, although they all have their issues. Floyd has only been a productive player next to Aaron Donald. Houston, a former Chiefs star, was cut by the team for cap reasons in 2019 and might not want to return. Clowney has one season with more than three sacks over the past four years and left the Browns in acrimonious fashion.

Ngakoue is the most appealing option of the bunch, but he would also be the most expensive. He has been remarkably consistent in terms of pass-rush production, posting 8-12.5 sacks in each of his seven pro seasons. On the other hand, teams have seemingly fallen out of love with Ngakoue quickly; he has now played for five teams over the past four seasons. If the Chiefs are looking to do only a one-year deal, though, no long-term love affair would be necessary."

If the money's there for Wormley he'd be my choice. Coming back from injury so the price could hopefully work. Consistently good against the run he'd free up Jones, reduce any reliance on Nnadi (who may be shot) and allow Coburn a reasonable introduction without flogging him, important as he seemed to have some stamina issues in college. If we got Wormley we'd be very stout against the run.

Other than that Dunlap. If there's a concern with our DEs for me it's no longer the pass-rush it's how they play the run. Dunlap looked surprisingly solid in that regard and seemed better at diagnosing and being in the right place than Karlaftis - undertstandable given the difference in experience. Omenihu absolutely has the capacity to set the edge in terms of power, weight, athleticism but he's not put it all together there yet, as far as I can tell. FAU will need time and bulk. I don't think we need Ngakoue, as much as I'd love a speed rusher I think FAU and BJ Thompson fill that role.

Kansas City Chiefs
Roster hole per ESPN: Defensive tackle

Here's the thing about being a championship team: You tend to have very good depth. If you're a veteran who no longer is going to start in the NFL, why wouldn't you want to go sign to at least share a locker room with Patrick Mahomes and get a shot at a ring? So the Chiefs have strong depth pretty much across the board. Their biggest question might be at defensive tackle.


No, not Chris Jones, but rather next to Jones. Derrick Nnadi struggled in 17 starts last season, and behind him is Tershawn Wharton (missed most of last season with a torn ACL) and Byron Cowart (former Patriots starter who played 20% of defensive snaps for the Colts a year ago and had no hurries or sacks). Veteran run-stuffer Danny Shelton is also around but spent all of last year on the practice squad. Sixth-round rookie Keondre Coburn is also an early-down nose tackle.

I'd still like to see one more guy. I feel like Cowarts not even JAG level. I'd like to find a JAG.

Cowart was cut, I believe.

Edit: He was, on May 10th.

They need another body in the middle I think. I'm not really sold on Wharton coming back and being very effective, atleast early in the year.

Brad Peach again proves my genius.

https://www.spotrac.com/nfl/free-age...kle/available/

I'd call up Shelby Harris and see if he's interested.

Yeah, Harris had a good year with the Seahawks last year. Not sure what's going on there?

The same thing that generally happens with vets this time of year, he isn't gonna get any money so he has to pick his spot, like Carlos Dunlap.

Harris, Nnadi and Colburn is a group i feel good about.

Clowney? I wouldn't mind.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uy2sv5eCNLM