NFL Draft

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Orioles
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NFL Draft

Post by Orioles »

This offseason Oakland, CA has been the scene of a gruesome string of bloody sacrifices to the god of salary-cap future. The roster was already awful, but otherwise innocent. The NFL FA landscape has been littered with the bodies of Silver and Black cap casualties like Seymour, Kelly, Lechler, and Heyward-Bey. The small handful of players who actually performed well in 2012 (Philip Wheeler, Brandon Myers, Michael Huff, Desmond Bryant and Carson Palmer sort of) were all allowed to leave. Though Palmer bailed by forcing the team (thanks Hue Jackson who is now - surprise! - a Cincinnati Bengals coach) that stupidly gambled on him to cut its significant losses and give him away to another shitty team.

The battered, sliced-up shell of a roster that survived the carnage is grotesque enough to make even the most ardent Raider fan look away and shudder with disgust, choking as they try to tear the bag from their head and catch their breath. A few cheap cosmetic tricks have given the Raiders all the appeal of a one-legged whore with a dick and an eyepatch.

Once GM Reggie McKenzie finished licking the blood off of his machete he wrangled career backup Matt Flynn (2 total NFL starts - both with McKenzie in the front office for Green Bay) to start at QB ahead of career work-in-progress Terrelle Pryor. There was a time not too long ago Oakland supporters might've dared to dream on a Rich Gannon-like rise from Clipboardtown for Flynn, but the New Raiders are realists. They are a professional and fiscally responsible organization with a fucking plan for once. The remaining crewmates from "Mr. Davis's Wild Ride" are few. Guys like "The First-Round Kicker," and "Our One Decent Player" are a dying breed. The days where the 40 yd dash was an annual footrace for a black jersey have faded into the past.

The one advantage the Raiders have going into this draft is that they are not limited by any positions of need, but are a putrid, sickly and small enough bunch that the team can pursue a strict "best available guy" strategy for the duration.

Over the past decade Davis tortured his teams' followers every year on draft day, instantly turning the best day of the year for Raider fans into an an emotionally scarring rodeo of power and insanity by sending the commissioner to the podium with names plucked from the depths of madness. It was like he got all the picks from his cat the night before the draft, and his cat was drunk on athleticism and tripping on acid. The good and bad news is that unlike last year, the Raiders do have a first round pick, the first one McKenzie has had in his tenure. On the one hand, I don't miss the sick day-of-draft feeling, like someone on a desert island with no water who has decided to start drinking their own urine. On the other hand, I do kind of miss reading a scouting report like the one below and immediately knowing he'd be a Raider after the draft:
Lawrence Okoye, DT

The great unknown resides in Great Britain. He's getting some run now, but in short, Okoye is a legitimate Olympic athlete who decided to try his hand at American football. Okoye finished 12th in London while competing in the discus throw and is Great Britain's record-holder in the event. His closest experience to playing tackle football is junior rugby. Okoye wowed scouts at a regional combine workout in Dallas. He posted 40-yard dash times as low as 4.78 at 6-6 and 308 pounds. He bench pressed 225 pounds 30 times. He also posted huge numbers in the vertical jump at 35 inches and also posted a 10-5 broad jump. Okoye is a massive blank slate in regard to technique. He has the frame and natural ability to play multiple positions along the defensive line. NFL teams project Okoye to defensive end, where they could limit his reads initially and take advantage of his natural gifts as a situational pass-rusher.


- from Brent Sobleski's article on ESPN.com re: draft sleepers
I guess it's not totally impossible. Maybe, like his doppelganger Emperor Palpatine, Mr. Davis's passing has made him more powerful than ever and he'll reach out from the grave to take guys like Zeke Ansah, Tyronn Mattheu, and the British discus thrower. The draft is in the air, and while it certainly smells different than before for Raider fans, they should reserve judgment until the new team leadership shows it doesn't get its draft list delivered by a talking stapler riding a unicorn from crazytown.

2023 GM Totals: 1780 W - 1460 L | 0.549 wpct | 89-73 (avg 162 G record)
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Royals
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Post by Royals »

Personally, I'm hoping the Raiders still take Okoye. First round.
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Post by Astros »

I don't know what I want the Colts to do. So many things were addressed via free agency, granted nobody on my wish list ended up in Indy. If one of the top corners is available at 24, I'd like to grab him and have him spend a year at nickel and move into a starting spot for 2015. Still need defenders to fit Pagano's scheme. Other areas of need are

Offensive line: Luck got hit more in some games last year than Peyton used to get hit in full seasons. Spent big money on Cherlilus, Anthony Castonzo has underachieved but is serviceable. I actually really like AQ Shipley at center, an UDFA out of Penn State who started some last year. We need guards, someone to push Castonzo wouldn't be the worst idea either. If a corner Grigson likes is off the board here, I suspect we'll go this route.

Nose tackle: We didn't have a true nose tackle last year. All Colts fans held out hope that Josh Chapman would get healthy eventually and be the savior but that didn't happen. While he is supposedly a beast, drafting a true 3-4 nose tackle, if one is available, needs to be high on the wish list.

We need pass rushers too. I hated the Eric Walden signing. Jerry Hughes has been a bust so far, but he was a 3-4 player that was being forced in a 4-3 scheme, he was okay last year. Besides Mathis there is nobody that pressures the QB. That has to be fixed

WR: Reggie Wayne has about 300,000 miles on him at this point. T.Y. Hilton was a great big play threat. Lavon Brazill has some potential. I'm excited about Heyward-Bey because at least he's not Donnie Avery. But we need to draft Reggie's heir if we can. Also switching from Bruce Arians aggressive downfield attacking offense to a West Coast style isn't something I'm looking forward to because I loved the big play ability we had, but it'll keep Luck off the ground more
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Post by Twins »

Manti Te'o Manti Te'o Manti Te'o Manti Te'o Manti Te'o Manti Te'o Manti Te'o Manti Te'o Manti Te'o Manti Te'o Manti Te'o Manti Te'o Manti Te'o Manti Te'o Manti Te'o Manti Te'o Manti Te'o Manti Te'o Manti Te'o Manti Te'o Manti Te'o Manti Te'o Manti Te'o Manti Te'o Manti Te'o Manti Te'o Manti Te'o Manti Te'o Manti Te'o Manti Te'o Manti Te'o Manti Te'o Manti Te'o Manti Te'o Manti Te'o Manti Te'o Manti Te'o Manti Te'o.

And that summarizes NFL Network's coverage of the second day of the draft.
2010 KC 83-79
2011 KC 94-68
2012 KC 83-79
2013 KC 90-72; AL Central Champs
2014 KC 84-78
2015 KC 103-59; AL Central Champs
2016 KC 97-65; Lost WC Game to BAL
2017 MIN 80-82
2018 MIN 84-78
2019 MIN 80-82

Overall IBC Record 1040-903
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