Belton had 18 top-30 visits. That's a lot! Teams were interested in this guy and it wasn't to check on character or injury concerns.
Been said over and over that the consensus is only the media. Especially since it was evident this year when almost everyone agreed it was hard to pin down players outside the top 10.
Josh Jacobs has got to be happy if this is what is in front of him.
Might be a useful Tush Pusher, or whatever they call it.
Re: Pick 54 - Anthony Belton, OT
Posted: 25 Apr 2025 21:06
by YoHoChecko
OMG I'm so stoked.
I saw @Bogey throw him in a little mock, saw that he had a visit and looked him up. Immediately I knew we wanted this guy. He's exactly what we look for. The athletic thresholds + the size and beef we've been looking more into lately.
Put him in the third in my Packers mock contest but put him int he second for us in my bigger mock that I posted in the draft thread pre-draft once I put together how quickly the OL were going to dry out.
He can play tackle in time I'd bet. He could be RG/RT succession plan? It'll be fun to see what they do with him.
Initial quick reaction is, we just got a road grading guard.
Yeah, me too. They clearly are prioritizing the running game post AR. 20 reps though is awful for 336 lbs. even with long arms. Injury?
Just seems at least one round early, and especially with some Edge and CB still on the board.
Re: Pick 54 - Anthony Belton, OT
Posted: 25 Apr 2025 21:20
by YoHoChecko
Guys at 330, he had a short shuttle below 4.7; Better than Bakhtiari's. In same the range as Jenkins
A 3-cone of 7.77, exactly the same as Jenkins; in the range as Bakhtiari.
Shuttle is massive in OL evaluation. Our team, especially, loves it. When we stray from it is when we tend to make our mistakes (Cole Madison, Travis Glover).
Belton has the agility to play OT or OG. He has the strength. He has the size of a power road grader. He's a true developmental OL with elite upside at multiple positions. And our OL depth literally sank our offense in the playoffs last year. Like we could not block when one iOL went out.
This is just so clearly one of OUR Guys. And the value is totally fine. He would not be there in round 3. I don't care where the mock simulators had him. I've been throwing him in round 2 or 3 for us in all my simulated mocks even though they had him ranked in the 130s because I wanted to be realistic.
I promise this is a good pick, player-wise and fit for our organization's metrics.
Now, if you want to quibble with positional value because he may end up inside and he likely doesn't have a starting job and it makes the Morgan pick last year look worse and we have more immediate needs and a couple corners we really like have gone off. That's fine. That we can differ on. But this is a player our team should be expected to value very highly and he really has upside.
Re: Pick 54 - Anthony Belton, OT
Posted: 25 Apr 2025 21:27
by YoHoChecko
Oh and he was EXCELLENT at the Senior Bowl; another thing we always talk about. He lost one rep to a draftable guy (but beat him the next two times) and won all the rest.
I saw @Bogey throw him in a little mock, saw that he had a visit and looked him up. Immediately I knew we wanted this guy. He's exactly what we look for. The athletic thresholds + the size and beef we've been looking more into lately.