If Josh Simmons falls to 31...
 

Do you take him? This is assuming the medicals check out and he should be back to 100% at some point in the near future.

In the hypothetical, can you provide a few other names on the board?

That’s the question for me. What else is available?

Gone (besides obvious ones):

Grant
Nolen
Harmon
Burden
Green
Pearce
Stewart
Emmanwori

Available:

Starks
Hampton
Conerly Jr.
Scourton
Jackson
Amos
Higgins

IF, and this is a BIG if, the medicals fully check out and looks like he will get back to 100%, it's a no brainer. He was the best LT prospect this year prior to the injury. He would have been a likely Top 5 pick; someone the Chiefs would never have a chance at with their sustained success.

We have a tackle spot likely opening up next year at RT if/when Taylor is cut. Moore is a wildcard and we don't really know what we have with him. If you get a chance at an elite guy that has the potential to be a good to great LT for the next 10 years protecting Mahomes blindside, you ABSOLUTELY do it!

All that said, I'm nervous about the injury and what the medicals are gonna show . . . . .

He wouldn't make it to 31 if the medicals check out, right?

I have a really hard time passing on Hampton

You'd think so, but reports have been mostly positive, yet the most plugged in guys are mocking him to the Chiefs or around that range.

It probably has to do with a lot of the playoff teams not having a huge hole at T.

No. Even if it looks okay, you don’t know how the recovery will truly go in camp and how his body will respond. I also remember seeing that when they measured his arms, he was barely 33 inches. I think that matters to them.

Not just a little short. It’s way short.

No, definitely not if Conerly is there. And it's most probably no anyhow. I am sure some team is going to take the chance in round 1, but I'm just going to say that after looking at this a lot I'd probably not take him until at least our 3rd round pick.

He has one of the two true career killers at this juncture in the sport. At best, there's about a 25% chance he returns to his prior performance after 2 seasons.

I'm just going to direct you guys to a study done on this injury (as well as Quad tendon tears) and leave it there.

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/article...rmance%20level.

Edit: Wanted everyone to know I just recently came across that study a couple of days ago. It's drastically shifted my belief that he can ever be the same player he was and if he does, it could take a while.

Harmon is the one guy I would absolutely not pass up this year (that has a chance to be there at 31) and maybe one of the receivers.

Other than that I'm hoping to trade down a bit and still come away with a Defensive Tackle, an Edge and either CB or WR with our first three picks.

yeah, I don't think so.

I think if he makes it to #31, it's BECAUSE the medicals are questionable.

No way he makes it to 31.

Of course it's not likely. This is a unique situation though.

On one hand, you have a really bad injury.

On the other, reports have been surprisingly positive albeit a little quiet. I haven't seen anything negative honestly.

When you combine this with where the more plugged in guys have him going, and you look at most of the teams picking before us in the 20s and the lack of a need at T, it's at least a possibility worth discussing.

The negative stuff doesn't usually surface until about a week or two before the draft, if not a few days before. If reports on his knee are still positive around that time frame then he won't be there at #31.

Even if the medicals are 100%, glowingly positive, that doesn't mean he'll ever be the same player. It's an extremely critical injury. I have significant reservations. I think rolling the dice on him isn't the issue. Doing it with your first-round pick is.

Teams that took pass rushers that ruptured their Achilles early in the draft are finding out that wasn't such a great deal either.