Re-Draft The Picks.

[Labrev]

Okay, so what would you have done? This is just a fun exercise, not a statement of anything either way.

me...

Round 1: WR Christian Watson. That run on WRs probably would have spooked me and I would have "reached" for my guy. I said before the draft and will say again, the nice thing about having two picks in the first two rounds is you can use one like house money for pure need, and the other one for the wise BPA pick or what-have-you.

If I knew I could have gotten him a 28 or 34, I would have taken him at 28, but I will try to do this without foreknowledge.

Round 1: S Lewis Cine. I was coming to the conclusion that he would be the best S in this class for us, perfect for that Henry Black role and gives us a physical "enforcer" type in a secondary that is largely made up of finesse type athletes, brings a lot of energy to that side of the ball in general, and would probably be a quality ST player.

Round 2: Leo Chanel. Tough call between him and Alec Pierce. With Watson in the fold, I would have relaxed on going WR. Chanel looks like a guy who can make lots of impact plays as a run stopper and blitzer, which I would have loved to have next to Campbell.

Again, doing this without the knowledge that he was actually available at our 3rd.

Round 2: TE Jelani Woods. As much as I want to, I will not assume Pierce would have been one of the guys who falls as a result of me taking one of the guys who was not actually taken by this point IRL -- more likely Chiefs takes him over Moore, who falls instead.

Having probably missed out on Pierce, I probably (low-key pissed) go "cash money" again and choose a different receiving threat, the physical specimen that is Jelani Woods. There are lots of ways to take the top of the defense, one is speed at receiver, another is a seam-buster at TE. Woods has the speed to do that and the size to be a dominant blocker.

Round 3: T Max Mitchell. I actually like the Rhyan pick better than this, but he wasn't on my radar; I liked Mitchell a lot.

Round 4: WR Romeo Doubs. Loved this pick, would have probably done the exact same.

Round 4: DT Mathew Butler. Similarly loved the Tom pick, but it would have been redundant with Mitchell in Round 3 in this scenario, so instead, I go get some DL help.

... by this point, I am out of guys I have much knowledge on. I only followed this draft semi-closely. I may have taken a shot on WR Bo Melton with our first Round 7 flyer, but apart from that...

[TheSkeptic]

I would have taken Watson at 28 and a Dlineman in the second without moving up. If Wyatt was still available late in the 2nd, I might have taken him but my opinion is that it is tough to be an NFL starter from behind bars for beating up women. The risk of Wyatt at 28 is too high for me.

[Foosball]

I wanted Jermaine Johnson over Quay Walker. Just thought Johnson was the better player.

I would also have preferred Pickens over Watson.

Second guessing is all part of the fun.

We’ll see how it all washes out.

[Yoop]

Wyatt imo had the best DT production in the class, surprised he actually dropped to us at slot 28, the off field stuff amounted to nothing, never hit anyone, kicked a door in, big deal, played in a pro style defense, should be ready to rotate in soon, great pick.

Walker offers great versatility, very instinctive, first time we've had 2 very good ILB's since the young AJ Hawk and Barnett years.

WAtson will groom up fast imo, he's smart for one and Rodgers already seems over joyed with the Pick, I doubt Pickens was even on our board, his off field must have disappointed Guty, and Skyy Moore or Pierce where the other two I liked, Watsons last year at NDSU was excellent, better hands, routes, blocking, he'll be fun to watch.

along with Rhyan and the others we did well.

[salmar80]

Wyatt imo had the best DT production in the class, surprised he actually dropped to us at slot 28, the off field stuff amounted to nothing, never hit anyone, kicked a door in, big deal, played in a pro style defense, should be ready to rotate in soon, great pick.

Walker offers great versatility, very instinctive, first time we've had 2 very good ILB's since the young AJ Hawk and Barnett years.

WAtson will groom up fast imo, he's smart for one and Rodgers already seems over joyed with the Pick, I doubt Pickens was even on our board, his off field must have disappointed Guty, and Skyy Moore or Pierce where the other two I liked, Watsons last year at NDSU was excellent, better hands, routes, blocking, he'll be fun to watch.

along with Rhyan and the others we did well.

I think Pickens was severely downgraded by us for him not even bothering to look like blocking. Yes, not most important part of WR play, but speaks to the attitude. Watson WILL learn and do everything asked of him. I doubt Pickens would. Question is how long til Watson can be more than a sweep specialist and day 1 MVS replacement as deep threat. Fun thing: We apparently tried to move up to 32 with Vikes for him, which woulda made him the First Round Receiver.

Quay, I feel has a longer road. He sure can stack blocks to free up Campbell day 1, but his tape lacked playmaking. I feel he played the "safety ILB" while Nakobe Dean got a free hand to attack. Maybe he can be dominant on STs while he learn the nuances It took Campbell a while to flourish.

Weird to get maybe the best inside rushing DL with crazy athleticism at 28. Usually those guys go top 15. If we hit, AMAZING value. Wyatt will get a reality check when practicing against our guard group consisting basically of college LTs. Not all of his moves will work, let's hope he finds stuff that does early.

I love love love how we build the OL. We need guards with athleticism to pull and move laterally to open up those sweeps and outside runs for Jones, along with protecting AR. And if they can hack it at OT, even better. Also love the Tom pick for perhaps an ultra-intelligent backup C.

And then we got some badly needed STs help, an edge backup and a pure nose/goalline DT.

[Yoop]

Wyatt imo had the best DT production in the class, surprised he actually dropped to us at slot 28, the off field stuff amounted to nothing, never hit anyone, kicked a door in, big deal, played in a pro style defense, should be ready to rotate in soon, great pick.

Walker offers great versatility, very instinctive, first time we've had 2 very good ILB's since the young AJ Hawk and Barnett years.

WAtson will groom up fast imo, he's smart for one and Rodgers already seems over joyed with the Pick, I doubt Pickens was even on our board, his off field must have disappointed Guty, and Skyy Moore or Pierce where the other two I liked, Watsons last year at NDSU was excellent, better hands, routes, blocking, he'll be fun to watch.

along with Rhyan and the others we did well.

I think Pickens was severely downgraded by us for him not even bothering to look like blocking. Yes, not most important part of WR play, but speaks to the attitude. Watson WILL learn and do everything asked of him. I doubt Pickens would. Question is how long til Watson can be more than a sweep specialist and day 1 MVS replacement as deep threat. Fun thing: We apparently tried to move up to 32 with Vikes for him, which woulda made him the First Round Receiver.

Quay, I feel has a longer road. He sure can stack blocks to free up Campbell day 1, but his tape lacked playmaking. I feel he played the "safety ILB" while Nakobe Dean got a free hand to attack. Maybe he can be dominant on STs while he learn the nuances It took Campbell a while to flourish.

Weird to get maybe the best inside rushing DL with crazy athleticism at 28. Usually those guys go top 15. If we hit, AMAZING value. Wyatt will get a reality check when practicing against our guard group consisting basically of college LTs. Not all of his moves will work, let's hope he finds stuff that does early.

I love love love how we build the OL. We need guards with athleticism to pull and move laterally to open up those sweeps and outside runs for Jones, along with protecting AR. And if they can hack it at OT, even better. Also love the Tom pick for perhaps an ultra-intelligent backup C.

And then we got some badly needed STs help, an edge backup and a pure nose/goalline DT.

I've always felt the interior position are a harder transition then boundary, so ILB unless there simply a 2 dn run plugger have a lot of coverage stuff to learn, I was surprised by the pick, I thought he was a 2nd round player, just look at how this played out though, Q WAlker slot 22, N Dean late 2nd, Quay, by results of the draft was the man in that combo.

I think it's the same for slot receiver, it's a tough mental learning curve, so folks that feel Amari Rodgers might be a bust may see a different player this year, unless the slotty can read coverage leverage how would he know the direction of his route, it's called the Y position for a reason.

we loaded up on backup groomers that should really help our ST's, we could see a huge turn around of that unit in 1 off season.

[Labrev]

along with Rhyan and the others we did well.

Again, this thread is not about whether people liked the draft picks or not.

It's just a fun exercise, asking what picks people would have made if they were the GM (and given what was available at our picks).

[Yoop]

along with Rhyan and the others we did well.

Again, this thread is not about whether people liked the draft picks or not.

It's just a fun exercise, asking what picks people would have made if they were the GM (and given what was available at our picks).

sorry.
what I failed to say is that given my knowledge I would have been hard pressed to change anything except I would have swapped our first rounders, other than that I really can't argue with any of this draft, so it's hard to just switch out players.

[YoHoChecko]

I don't like this exercise because changing one pick therefore changes the way the rest of the draft plays out. But I do like to think about little tinkerings with the results.

For instance, would we rather have Leo Chenal and Jelani Woods at 53 and 59 than take Quay Walker at 22?

So my tinkering would be Wyatt at 22, Watson at 28, Woods at 53, Chenal at 59.

Another option is taking Walker at 22, Watson at 28, Woods at 53, and Travis Jones at 59.

Basically, I think Jelani Woods would be worth the difference between Walker and Chenal or Wyatt and Jones.

But I have less information than the team does AND I think we got a very good collection of players. This is a hallmark of my reactions of Gutey drafts. Gutey and I like a LOT of the same players. I mean a ton of them--I was a Jaire stan; I pounded the table for EQSB; I compared Darnell Savage to Earl Thomas coming out; I loved AJ Dillon; I put Deguara and JRJ on my "5 guys I want the most" list; I put Kylin Hill in almost all my mocks; I'm a massive Christian Watson fan; I thought Kingsley Enegbare fits what we do and was a steal; I nailed Carpenter and Zach Tom to us this year (not the only one, I know).

But he takes them a round or so ahead of where I value them. It leaves my value analysis instincts wanting, and my "add players I love" instincts overjoyed. It's always a little mixed for me. So I look at it like this:

The draft is a great time to lean into hope and optimism. And post-draft is a time to think less about what could be and more about what is. We have had months of hypotheticals. Now we have certainty of what DID happen. So while I'm participating in this thread, I also have mixed feelings about that. We now have a draft class, it's written ins tone now. So I'm ready to roll with what we got, not what I thought I wanted. Years of complaining about drafting Desean Jackson over Jordy Nelson humbled me.

[Labrev]

And post-draft is a time to think less about what could be and more about what is. We have had months of hypotheticals. Now we have certainty of what DID happen. So while I'm participating in this thread, I also have mixed feelings about that.

Yeah I get that, totally.

The appeal of doing this now though is that people's opinions are still fresh (and maybe strongly felt). And there is no benefit of hindsight, whereas in the future, people will forget and/or can claim they were big proponents of the picks we made or other team's rookies that are enjoying success, while also acting like they opposed the players that have not panned out for us or other teams.

And just for fun, it can be revisited again in a few years and you can see how you did.