I did some more study on the guy - he does have some elite traits in important areas. Bend is great and he can become a good situational pass rusher, maybe as early as this year. I can see why the Jets took him with OTs gone, when they could not trade down. He struggled with the run throughout his career, but improved a lot in this area last season. Still not great, but not a liability like before. Sacks are down, but pressure rate is still there like in previous years. He is a older, but was good at generating pressure even 2 years ago. The question is, can he continue improving run defense, can he add weight and maintain the bend and athletic ability? He certainly has potential to become a really good starter. The floor is probably Jacob Martin, but he could be more than that. At this point we have no choice but to trust Saleh/JD evaluation, but after watching him more, I can acknowledge while there is no guarantee and he can easily become a journeyman, there is something there can propel this guy to be great too. Let's see what happens. He is definitely a talented player, perhaps in that mid/late 1st-early second round range, and has a chance to succeed. Certainly not the guy you run to the podium to select with #15 thanking lucky stars he is there, but he's got a shot.
Thanks for that. Interesting nugget at the very end. Will is 240lb right now. His goal is to get to 250lbs in a couple of weeks. He feels he can maintain all the quickness at higher weight, because he was 200lb when he started College (2019) and gained a lot without losing speed and has the frame gain more still. Let's hope it happens, could make a big difference.
I feel like this kid needs a do over welcome thread. 90% of the posts are hating JD for swapping firsts or calling him a terrible reach. I hope he tears it up this season and gives us back to back defensive ROY honors.
I posted this earlier but I will never understand this idea that you can't take a player at #15 because he was rated a low 1st rd/ early 2nd rd pick. TJ Watt was projected later first early second. You think SF would take him over Solomon Thomas at #3 if they could have a re-do?
What bothers me..1ST ROUND PICK, SITUATIONAL PLAYER, 237LBS.... I gotta see it to believe it. These guys usually have strong 1st year, then tapes out on them, like ziggy ansah....
Can you imagine the reaction on the board if the Jets had selected the RB Detroit took (people are reporting he would have been picked if available).
Of course. Everyone loves the "game of the draft" and it's grades, but what you really want to do is get good football players regardless of the efficiency of where your pick is. A smart GM ought to allow a +/- of a half a round of pick position to get a player they believe in.
I wouldn't trust these reports. We just got 20 year old Izzy in the 5th round who has a very good chance to be as good as Gibbs.
Though it does raise eye brows I have no issue with this pick. Sounds like a great kid and positive in the interviews. And if Saleh and JD love this kid, I trust them 100% and who wouldn’t especially to Saleh’s credit, what Jermaine Johnson, Sauce and Clemons did as rookies under him? Unlike Rex and Bowles couldn’t do to get a lot out of top defensive prospects, Saleh has. So why not have faith in him?
Value is perceived based off of a bunch of peoples' opinions of a player before they even touch an NFL field... which more or less, yea, means it's fake. Obviously there's some common sense applied but when you're talking about a situation like this where the player is going 15-20 slots earlier than projected then that's not "bad value". By all means it seems like the trade down was not an option because no one wanted to trade up, so what were the Jets supposed to do? Abandon their board and take a guy that Dane Brugler or Mel Kiper says SHOULD be the pick?
I know at least one poster who was ready to say “told ya so” and revel in the chicken littleesque posts which were bound to follow. I find it funny one poster believed all the smoke during lying season but doesn’t believe the report post draft. We all saw the immediate impact a FRB can make. No RB sans AP has come back from that injury strong year 1. Breece will likely start the season on IR.
