Thanks! And thoughts on the final draft grade?

[JPH83]

Just wanted to give a hat tip to a few people here for their work over the draft season.

Dante for the visits tracker and insane work on getting info on the picks up so quickly

Crow for the immense detail and knowledge provided on prospects. I always learn stuff from you each year. Much appreciated.

Staylor for the mock draft. Amazed we made it, thanks for putting in the effort to keep it on the road man

Coach for starting loads of interesting threads to ponder and general enthusiasm for all things draft. You seem like a real solid dude as well.

And then there's a load of you who know loads more than I do about scheme fits and specific skillsets etc.which includes those above, but also DJ, Duncan, Chris Meck, Run...probably loads of others.

Thanks all, I really enjoy this time of year, and I'm pretty happy with how this year's draft has gone. Reckon I'd give it an -A. What do you think?

[TRR]

Originally Posted by kccrow

No, I don't think Burkholder and staff don't know WTF they are doing. That said, they can't make this guy a success either.

Do you think the Ravens second-guess their decision to take David Ojabo at the 45th pick in 2022, despite his Achilles injury, because he looked to be "healing well?" I bet they do.

You can't turn these terrible injuries into a positive.

Veach plainly said that Burkholder didn't like the idea when he first heard what the injury was. That should at least indicate to you something about his knowledge of the severity. The staff prompted him to evaluate him anyhow, and he gave a positive endorsement that it was healing as good as it could be. That doesn't say anything about Burkholder feeling he was going to be a successful pick. All it means is that Simmons at least has the potential to beat the odds.

Even the most recent of injuries haven't had good outcomes.

The good thing about this year? We get to truly have a great sample of this "modern procedure" as 4 offensive linemen attempt to come back from it: Simmons (age 21), Cole Strange (NE, age 26), D'Ante Smith (CIN, age 26), and Trent Brown (HOU, age 32). LB Nakobe Dean (PHI, age 24) and RB Chris Evans (CIN, age 27) also tore theirs last season. Crazy that the Bengals had 3 guys tear it in one season (Trent Brown tore it with them and signed with Houston for this year).

DE Bradley Chubb (MIA) tore his in 2023 and missed all of 2024. WR Russell Gage (TB) tore his in 2023 during camp and missed the entire year. He ended up cut by Baltimore and spent all of 2024 on the SF PS. WR Jakeem Grant (CLE) tore his in 2023 and missed the year. He tried to come back last year but was twice cut by the Falcons. So far 2/3 are pretty much toast, we get to find out about Chubb this year.

Every scenario has nuances, and are different however. Chubb’s injury was much more significant than the patellar tendon. He tore his ACL and meniscus also. Much worse. Grant was coming back from an Achilles tear when he tore his patellar tendon. Different than Simmons. Time will tell, and no two injuries are the same.

[SAGA45]

Originally Posted by kccrow

Veach plainly said that Burkholder didn't like the idea when he first heard what the injury was. That should at least indicate to you something about his knowledge of the severity. The staff prompted him to evaluate him anyhow, and he gave a positive endorsement that it was healing as good as it could be. That doesn't say anything about Burkholder feeling he was going to be a successful pick.

For Burkholder to be skeptical initially, given his KNOWLEDGE (that includes data, studies, and other relevant precedents) and, after a thorough examination, sign off on Simmons' knee - which, from all accounts, is far ahead of schedule in terms of healing - should indicate to you that Burkholder and the Chiefs are, at the very minimum, optimistic about his recovery.

Nobody is trying to "turn a bad injury into a positive". But Burkholder, a leading authority in the field, endorsed Simmons' progress. That's enough for me to feel good or at least cautiously optimistic about the pick going forward. That may not be enough for you and others and that's completely understandable. But let's not sit here and present studies, data, etc. and even remotely imply that the Chiefs didn't already do their due diligence. That's bullsh*t.

[duncan_idaho]

Originally Posted by SAGA45

For Burkholder to be skeptical initially, given his KNOWLEDGE (that includes data, studies, and other relevant precedents) and, after a thorough examination, sign off on Simmons' knee - which, from all accounts, is far ahead of schedule in terms of healing - should indicate to you that Burkholder and the Chiefs are, at the very minimum, optimistic about his recovery.

Nobody is trying to "turn a bad injury into a positive". But Burkholder, a leading authority in the field, endorsed Simmons' progress. That's enough for me to feel good or at least cautiously optimistic about the pick going forward. That may not be enough for you and others and that's completely understandable. But let's not sit here and present studies, data, etc. and even remotely imply that the Chiefs didn't already do their due diligence. That's bullsh*t.

No one is suggesting the Chiefs didn't do due diligence. I'm confident they did everything they could and know everything they could about that knee... at this point in time.

The risk I see is that the biggest risk with this type of injury cannot really be/is not really being measured yet, if all the guy is squatting is 225 pounds. At this point in his recovery, unless they've done stuff they didn't talk about, they can't have a firm answer on that yet. They can project. They can hope. They can decide the risk is worth the reward.