Call Your Shot: Who’s the Chiefs first selection in the 2020 Draft

[staylor26]

I’m going with Kristian Fulton, CB, LSU

[Mecca]

The weird push between sides of fans puzzles me, "RB is like the 5th highest need on the team" when you just finished like 28th in rushing you aren't gonna sell that bag to me.

[O.city]

Originally Posted by DJ's left nut

I like McKinney well enough.

But not enough to pass on Epenesa on that board.

I really do love his fit as the strong-side DE on this team. He's absolutely perfect for that role and you've got a probable 10 year player on your hands there. He's just so damn solid.

Epenesa just screams "solid, maybe not great,player" which is fine at 32. I don't know if thats the route i'd go, but at the back end of the round, you probably need to be looking at hitting doubles instead of swinging for the fence.

[Mecca]

Also there seems to be some increasing thought that rookies this year are going to do nothing because most rookies aren't good anyway and now you are going to have the strange offseason.

[OKchiefs]

Originally Posted by Mecca

Also there seems to be some increasing thought that rookies this year are going to do nothing because most rookies aren't good anyway and now you are going to have the strange offseason.

Maybe early in the year, but those that still get playing time I think can start to hit their stride late in the season.

[staylor26]

Originally Posted by DJ's left nut

Couldn't it also be that agents/reps/players knew that the dilluted sample wouldn't be taken as a positive test and as such players decided to 'cycle' differently?

The spike in diluted samples (presuming there is one) could just as easily be due to a series of volitional acts that came about as a result of the new rules on drug testing, no? If anything it's more likely, given the ridiculous amount of water one has to consume to dilute a sample. The idea that the new combine format somehow created a wave of these guys slamming enough water immediately before their weight in to create a bunch of dilute tests seems a little odd.

At best I could see some odd quirk where guys decided to chug water right before their weigh in in order to jump their 'tested' weight up and appear to be bigger on their official weight. And if you conduct a drug test shortly thereafter, you'll have guys who are trying to 'goose' their weigh in popping as dilute. That would be pretty benign I suppose. Though when you think about it - it's not impossible to slam a gallon of water, especially these bigger boys. That's 8 extra pounds of weight on their weigh in - that's not insignificant.

Ultimately I just don't think you can hand-waive it as obviously some kind of benign explanation, though. It's also a possibility that there were simply more guys willing to stay on a cycle to get their combine numbers boosted (because I think there are a TON of dudes who cycle on/off PEDs), dilute the sample knowing it wouldn't' count as a positive, and move forward.

Alright, but if that’s the answer, why are NFL teams reportedly not concerned at all and it isn’t expected to affect anybody’s draft stock? If this were a legitimate possibility, you wouldn’t think that would be the case.

Also, why aren’t we hearing all of the other names? I think that’s strange as well.

Side note: there was definitely a spike. That’s been reported by multiple guys in the know.

Tony Pauline for example was one of them. He’s the one that gave that excuse and basically said it’s much ado about nothing. He’s well connected and knows his shit.

[DJ's left nut]

Originally Posted by O.city

Epenesa just screams "solid, maybe not great,player" which is fine at 32. I don't know if thats the route i'd go, but at the back end of the round, you probably need to be looking at hitting doubles instead of swinging for the fence.

The patron saint of 'good, not great' players - Grant Wistrom.

Okafor and possibly K-Pass are gone next season and Epenesa would provide a pretty significant upgrade on both.

What really surprised me about Okafor was how light he played. He was a lot more agile than I expected him to be but he was also WAY easier to blow off the ball than I'd hoped. He was essentially a finesse player and I think part of our improved run defense came from his absence. He was pretty shitty against the run.

So you take a guy like Epenesa, who should be an outstanding run defender, and give him an 8-10 sack potential w/ variety of power moves that play better on the strong side than Okafor - he's a real nice bookend.

I think I'd be a pretty damn big fan of that pick.

[staylor26]

Originally Posted by DJ's left nut

The patron saint of 'good, not great' players - Grant Wistrom.

Okafor and possibly K-Pass are gone next season and Epenesa would provide a pretty significant upgrade on both.

What really surprised me about Okafor was how light he played. He was a lot more agile than I expected him to be but he was also WAY easier to blow off the ball than I'd hoped. He was essentially a finesse player and I think part of our improved run defense came from his absence. He was pretty shitty against the run.

So you take a guy like Epenesa, who should be an outstanding run defender, and give him an 8-10 sack potential w/ variety of power moves that play better on the strong side than Okafor - he's a real nice bookend.

I think I'd be a pretty damn big fan of that pick.

People talk a lot about Epenesa’s upside, or lack thereof, but if you’re sliding him inside in subs, his pass rush upside is a lot higher than people give him credit for. When he lined up inside at Iowa, he just destroyed guards.

[DJ's left nut]

Originally Posted by staylor26

Alright, but if that’s the answer, why are NFL teams reportedly not concerned at all and it isn’t expected to affect anybody’s draft stock? If this were a legitimate possibility, you wouldn’t think that would be the case.

Also, why aren’t we hearing all of the other names? I think that’s strange as well.

Side note: there was definitely a spike. That’s been reported by multiple guys in the know.

Tony Pauline for example was one of them. He’s the one that gave that excuse and basically said it’s much ado about nothing. He’s well connected and knows his shit.

If 16 teams 'aren't concerned' and 16 teams are, you can still report that "many NFL teams aren't concerned" when in fact you've just cut a player's draft prospects in half.

I'm sure many teams ARE taking these fairly lightly. But I don't think that's necessarily a slam-dunk approach. For the reasons I suggested, I think there are absolutely red-flag possibilities there.

I think we have a tendency to view 'the NFL' as a monolith rather than a collection of 32 organizations that view things very differently. Especially when we start trying to interpret reports. There are teams viewing it as you are - just as there are teams viewing it more critically. Because there's just not a way to truly know the answer so why should we believe a consensus will have formed?

[Mecca]

Anytime a workout doesn't show a bunch of athletic explosion and major upside teams get super worried about using 1st round picks.

[O.city]

Originally Posted by DJ's left nut

The patron saint of 'good, not great' players - Grant Wistrom.

Okafor and possibly K-Pass are gone next season and Epenesa would provide a pretty significant upgrade on both.

What really surprised me about Okafor was how light he played. He was a lot more agile than I expected him to be but he was also WAY easier to blow off the ball than I'd hoped. He was essentially a finesse player and I think part of our improved run defense came from his absence. He was pretty shitty against the run.

So you take a guy like Epenesa, who should be an outstanding run defender, and give him an 8-10 sack potential w/ variety of power moves that play better on the strong side than Okafor - he's a real nice bookend.

I think I'd be a pretty damn big fan of that pick.

I'd be ok with it, but I do think history shows us we may be able to find that without the 32nd pick.

[The Franchise]

I’m going to lock in my wants for the top three rounds before the draft.

1. Grant Delpit, S, LSU
2. Willie Gay Jr, ILB, Miss. St
3. Cam Akers, RB, Florida State

[Mecca]

I'd take Queen with the first pick 10 out of 10 times if he's there and I think there's a good shot it happens since he has just enough questions.

[DJ's left nut]

Originally Posted by Mecca

Anytime a workout doesn't show a bunch of athletic explosion and major upside teams get super worried about using 1st round picks.

Morse is worth remembering here.

Morse was such a polarizing pick because there was zero flash to his game. And people are used to 1st and 2nd round picks having "tremendous upside potential" (hat tip to Hubie Brown).

And Morse brought none of that but a super-safe floor. Well everyone that was a reach because you draft floors in the 3rd round.

Well....maybe many teams do, but it's clear with the Morse pick (and to a lesser extend the Speaks pick) that the Chiefs organization will put a significant value on floor, even in early rounds.

Ultimately maybe 1/2 the teams in the 2020 NFL draft will get a player in the 1st round who has a career that rivals Grant Wistom's. If you get that guy at the back of the 1st, you've done well.

We love the possibility of snagging a 3-4 time All Pro in the 1st round, but man - you get a guy that can keep you from having to spend $8-10 million/season in FA to get your SDE and you get a firmly above average player, you've used that pick well.

[KChiefs1]

Originally Posted by The Franchise

I’m going to lock in my wants for the top three rounds before the draft.

1. Grant Delpit, S, LSU
2. Willie Gay Jr, ILB, Miss. St
3. Cam Akers, RB, Florida State

I’d love it.

[Mecca]

Originally Posted by DJ's left nut

Morse is worth remembering here.

Morse was such a polarizing pick because there was zero flash to his game. And people are used to 1st and 2nd round picks having "tremendous upside potential" (hat tip to Hubie Brown).

And Morse brought none of that but a super-safe floor. Well everyone that was a reach because you draft floors in the 3rd round.

Well....maybe many teams do, but it's clear with the Morse pick (and to a lesser extend the Speaks pick) that the Chiefs organization will put a significant value on floor, even in early rounds.

Ultimately maybe 1/2 the teams in the 2020 NFL draft will get a player in the 1st round who has a career that rivals Grant Wistom's. If you get that guy at the back of the 1st, you've done well.

We love the possibility of snagging a 3-4 time All Pro in the 1st round, but man - you get a guy that can keep you from having to spend $8-10 million/season in FA to get your SDE and you get a firmly above average player, you've used that pick well.

In the end it's all about what the options are, like I'd take him over a RB but not Queen etc.