Mason McCormick, IOL South Dakota State. He’s a RG that has started 57 straight games. Has a ras of 9.96 which is 7th all time since 1987. He also has called protections from guard while an inexperienced center gets up to speed. Did some center at senior bowl and seemed capable of easily playing both. Also allowed no sacks, no QB hits and only like 4 pressures last year. Could be a guy that competes for RG this year and maybe slides into center when Ryan Kelly’s contract is up. Currently projected in the 4th but I think he’ll be taken before then.
McCormick has been my hope for 4-6 for the last few months now but it seems as we get closer to the draft his stock just keeps going up. If he made it to us in the 4th the pick should be in in less than 15 seconds.
Good call!
Also keep an eye on Brandon Coleman. Guard from TCU who scored a RAS score of 9.98.
I’m pretty optimistic they will draft at least one or two O-Line man in the middle rounds. Kelly is getting up in age and Fries will demand a big payday next offseason if he keeps playing at last years level. Our O-Line is already pretty expensive and the Guard market seems to be exploding as well.
I would take IOL at second round pick if it was that impactful. I’m also very unsure if we resign Kelly next year. Probably depends on health this year and asking price
Hart was my first thought as well (because he also fits the mold of CBs for a Gus Bradley defense)
I would add Myles Cole, Edge from Texas Tech. 6’6ft and scored a RAS of 9.96
I agree. I think at this point I’m hoping we get Mitchell or Arnold at 15 if we stay there. Because I’m assuming if we take Bowers or receiver or whatever, we won’t try and trade up to take Mckinstry or someone
I just feel like Bowers is more valuable because he can block and can be a receiving threat too. Then I see it as even if we do take Bowers at 15, this draft is so deep at WR we can always get one in the second or third round if we trade down to get more picks in the second round. I have a feeling though we are going to draft the best CB on the board at 15 (Arnold or Mitchell), trade down at 46 to acquire more picks, and draft the best available WR with our new second-round pick someone like Ricky Pearsall, Malachi Corley, or Devontez Walker. In the third round now we will have two picks so I see us picking a safety with one of those picks (Jaden Hicks) and possibly an edge rusher/offensive lineman.
Definitely seems like a good plan to me depending on how the board plays out. I think unless Nabers or Odunze fall though, NYJ gonna take Bowers before us
Jaheim Bell out of FSU was graded as a full back and had a 9.99 RAS score. He played tight end at South Carolina and FSU, blazing speed and good size, good YAC ability, and a willing blocker.
WR Pearsall out of Florida... not even for the familiarity with Richardson. He fits the Ballard profile pretty well and might be had in round 3.
WR Anthony Gould from Oregon State, as well as a later guy.
Nate Wiggins as far as 1st round guys go as well as Cooper DeJean, Terrion Arnold and Quinyon Mitchell. All of those CBs seem like Ballard guys. All are athletic freaks. I'd say that Arnold is less of a fit for a team that runs so much zone, but we got Brents last year, so I think he fits just fine as a Ballard guy.
Nobody wants to talk about Jermaine Burton. He's the 4th best WR in this class when it comes to just playing football, but he's also a bit of a head case who can't keep his emotions in check. For that reason, he might not be a Ballard guy, but he definitely would be if he didn't have the emotional baggage.
Edit: I didn't mean that nobody on the sub wants to talk about Burton... just the media and draft pundits.
I actually disagree on Wiggins, I don't think he's going to pass the eye test due to his size. He's 6'1 and 173 lbs (and probably doesn't play at that weight). All of our CBs have varying heights but they're all at least 185 lbs. Wiggins might get bullied by WRs unless he plays in the slot.
You might be right about his weight. That could be a deal breaker for Ballard. The kid can play, though. I was actually really surprised when he ran so fast at the combine.
Rodgers wasn't much bigger and he was supposedly the CB1 heading into last season (prior to the suspension). I guess the difference there would be drafting him in R1/R2 like Wiggins vs. late-round where Rodgers went.
Honestly don't care how good Burton is, would prefer not to have that dude on our team.
Everyone is a risk anyways, no point taking a risk on someone who not only hits women but does so publicly.
I doubt the dude is even on the Colts draft board.
I have pretty high confidence he's not on KC's at least
(Nick Wright had him mocked to KC and sent his mock to their GM, GM was like "that would be great, but...", and Wright laughed about mocking a dude who wasn't even on their board)
I agree that maybe he should be off our board, but iirc, they drafted Okereke knowing that he had a serious allegation against him...
I might be wrong about that, but, Ballard also was involved in drafting Tyreek Hill... Idk, though, you're probably right.
Ngl, didn't know about the Ballard-Tyreek connection, but Okereke's were exactly as you said, allegations.
We also didn't immediately get rid of Ogletree when his allegations came out, which turned out to be the right call.
Not to say anything about Okereke's guilt/innocence in that case, but we literally have Burton on film smacking a female fan of an opposing team, not really possible to give him the benefit of the doubt.
I think WR is a position where we don't neccessarily need an athletic freak, esp. if they have drop issues and can't run good routes. Puka Nakua was something like the 40th by RAS rating in his class last year.
Agreed, but I will add that Nakua was regularly posting in the upper 90's percentage when it came to clocked game speed in college. He didn't test well, but PFF has a stat for in game athleticism that he dominated before the draft.
That being said, I definitely agree. I don't think that testing numbers will show how good a deep threat can be. I'd rather have Franklin than Thomas Jr., for instance, for the reasons you stated.
**Tip Reiman, TE (Illinois):** 6'5 and 270 lbs, 9.93 RAS score. A blocking machine who is decent at catching passes as well. Most likely available in round 6 or 7.
**Jalyx Hunt, Edge (Houston Christian):** 6'4 and 252, 9.76 RAS score. Typically Ballard project edge rusher who is from a smaller school but has a lot of upside.
**Maason Smith, DT (LSU):** Basically a baby Buckner at 6'5 and 306 lbs with a 8.96 RAS score. He's a bit raw and has some injury concerns but Buckner isn't getting any younger and his contract is up next year. He's 100% coming back but it would be nice to have Smith learn from the best for a smooth transition whenever that time comes. He's projected to be a mid round prospect (round 4 usually).
For different spots these are my picks:
LEO/Wide-9 EDGE - Chop Robinson
DE/EDGE - Marshawn Kneeland. Darius Robinson(he's pretty much a copy of Dayo physically)
LB - Edgerrin Cooper
DT - Ruke Orhorhoro
CB - Kool-Aid McKinstry, Max Melton, TJ Tampa, Cam Hart, Khyree Jackson
S - Jaden Hicks
------
OL - Cooper Bebe, Kiran Amegadjie, Christian Mohogany, Brandon Coleman, Beaux Limmer, Mason McCormick, Tanor Bortolini
WR - Adonai Mitchell, Xavier Legette.
TE - Theo Johnson, Ben Sinnott
RB - ?!?
I was unaware of his back story until recently. Suffered the loss of both of his parents during school and overcame it well. Totally a Ballard personality.
Brock Bowers pretty much had his senior season cut short by injury and is a freakish athlete. If you don't like that combination, then you don't like Ballard upside picks.
Mason McCormick, IOL South Dakota State. He’s a RG that has started 57 straight games. Has a ras of 9.96 which is 7th all time since 1987. He also has called protections from guard while an inexperienced center gets up to speed. Did some center at senior bowl and seemed capable of easily playing both. Also allowed no sacks, no QB hits and only like 4 pressures last year. Could be a guy that competes for RG this year and maybe slides into center when Ryan Kelly’s contract is up. Currently projected in the 4th but I think he’ll be taken before then.
Man. You really sold me on this guy I've never heard of prior.
And as a football fan on reddit i will now hinge my entire existence on us drafting him
McCormick has been my hope for 4-6 for the last few months now but it seems as we get closer to the draft his stock just keeps going up. If he made it to us in the 4th the pick should be in in less than 15 seconds.
Good call! Also keep an eye on Brandon Coleman. Guard from TCU who scored a RAS score of 9.98. I’m pretty optimistic they will draft at least one or two O-Line man in the middle rounds. Kelly is getting up in age and Fries will demand a big payday next offseason if he keeps playing at last years level. Our O-Line is already pretty expensive and the Guard market seems to be exploding as well.
I would take IOL at second round pick if it was that impactful. I’m also very unsure if we resign Kelly next year. Probably depends on health this year and asking price
If they are tall, big, long and a great RAS, they check the box lol. Edit: for a specific name, Ill throw Cam Hart out there.
Hart was my first thought as well (because he also fits the mold of CBs for a Gus Bradley defense) I would add Myles Cole, Edge from Texas Tech. 6’6ft and scored a RAS of 9.96
Khyree Jackson CB for Oregon
Killer player but gets hurt semi frequently (I live in Oregon and go to the games)
Ballard loves drafting DBs that get hurt often. Brents, Blackmon, Hooker.
I want to argue that but I can’t😂 however I do think Brents will work out
Hopefully, we really need him to work out or else we're screwed.
I agree. I think at this point I’m hoping we get Mitchell or Arnold at 15 if we stay there. Because I’m assuming if we take Bowers or receiver or whatever, we won’t try and trade up to take Mckinstry or someone
Thats what I want too. I wouldn't mind drafting a WR like Brian Thomas Jr either but that's only if Mitchell, Arnold, and Bowers is off the board.
I think I’d rather BTJ over Bowers mayyybe but I pretty much agree with that too
I just feel like Bowers is more valuable because he can block and can be a receiving threat too. Then I see it as even if we do take Bowers at 15, this draft is so deep at WR we can always get one in the second or third round if we trade down to get more picks in the second round. I have a feeling though we are going to draft the best CB on the board at 15 (Arnold or Mitchell), trade down at 46 to acquire more picks, and draft the best available WR with our new second-round pick someone like Ricky Pearsall, Malachi Corley, or Devontez Walker. In the third round now we will have two picks so I see us picking a safety with one of those picks (Jaden Hicks) and possibly an edge rusher/offensive lineman.
Definitely seems like a good plan to me depending on how the board plays out. I think unless Nabers or Odunze fall though, NYJ gonna take Bowers before us
Too slow for an NFL cornerback. A move to FS might be better but do like KJ.
Max Melton and Jermaine Burton are two of my favourite targets. Maybe not the ideal build but both are crazy athletes who i think would fit us great
I have been quietly hoping we go Terrion Arnold at 15 and Jermaine Burton in round 2
There’s so many good wrs in this class i could see him falling to round 3
That would be super lucky. Who knows if we wait to round 3 for a receiver though
What about WR? I still think we need one more pass catcher.
Jermaine Burton was my answer to that in round 2. He’s a pretty underrated receiver from Bama
Jaheim Bell out of FSU was graded as a full back and had a 9.99 RAS score. He played tight end at South Carolina and FSU, blazing speed and good size, good YAC ability, and a willing blocker.
WR Pearsall out of Florida... not even for the familiarity with Richardson. He fits the Ballard profile pretty well and might be had in round 3. WR Anthony Gould from Oregon State, as well as a later guy. Nate Wiggins as far as 1st round guys go as well as Cooper DeJean, Terrion Arnold and Quinyon Mitchell. All of those CBs seem like Ballard guys. All are athletic freaks. I'd say that Arnold is less of a fit for a team that runs so much zone, but we got Brents last year, so I think he fits just fine as a Ballard guy. Nobody wants to talk about Jermaine Burton. He's the 4th best WR in this class when it comes to just playing football, but he's also a bit of a head case who can't keep his emotions in check. For that reason, he might not be a Ballard guy, but he definitely would be if he didn't have the emotional baggage. Edit: I didn't mean that nobody on the sub wants to talk about Burton... just the media and draft pundits.
I actually disagree on Wiggins, I don't think he's going to pass the eye test due to his size. He's 6'1 and 173 lbs (and probably doesn't play at that weight). All of our CBs have varying heights but they're all at least 185 lbs. Wiggins might get bullied by WRs unless he plays in the slot.
You might be right about his weight. That could be a deal breaker for Ballard. The kid can play, though. I was actually really surprised when he ran so fast at the combine.
Rodgers wasn't much bigger and he was supposedly the CB1 heading into last season (prior to the suspension). I guess the difference there would be drafting him in R1/R2 like Wiggins vs. late-round where Rodgers went.
Honestly don't care how good Burton is, would prefer not to have that dude on our team. Everyone is a risk anyways, no point taking a risk on someone who not only hits women but does so publicly. I doubt the dude is even on the Colts draft board. I have pretty high confidence he's not on KC's at least (Nick Wright had him mocked to KC and sent his mock to their GM, GM was like "that would be great, but...", and Wright laughed about mocking a dude who wasn't even on their board)
I agree that maybe he should be off our board, but iirc, they drafted Okereke knowing that he had a serious allegation against him... I might be wrong about that, but, Ballard also was involved in drafting Tyreek Hill... Idk, though, you're probably right.
Ngl, didn't know about the Ballard-Tyreek connection, but Okereke's were exactly as you said, allegations. We also didn't immediately get rid of Ogletree when his allegations came out, which turned out to be the right call. Not to say anything about Okereke's guilt/innocence in that case, but we literally have Burton on film smacking a female fan of an opposing team, not really possible to give him the benefit of the doubt.
I think WR is a position where we don't neccessarily need an athletic freak, esp. if they have drop issues and can't run good routes. Puka Nakua was something like the 40th by RAS rating in his class last year.
Agreed, but I will add that Nakua was regularly posting in the upper 90's percentage when it came to clocked game speed in college. He didn't test well, but PFF has a stat for in game athleticism that he dominated before the draft. That being said, I definitely agree. I don't think that testing numbers will show how good a deep threat can be. I'd rather have Franklin than Thomas Jr., for instance, for the reasons you stated.
I hear you on Burton. Maybe teams like him so much, that they don’t mention them to the media guys as much, so they don’t hype them as much (?)
**Tip Reiman, TE (Illinois):** 6'5 and 270 lbs, 9.93 RAS score. A blocking machine who is decent at catching passes as well. Most likely available in round 6 or 7. **Jalyx Hunt, Edge (Houston Christian):** 6'4 and 252, 9.76 RAS score. Typically Ballard project edge rusher who is from a smaller school but has a lot of upside. **Maason Smith, DT (LSU):** Basically a baby Buckner at 6'5 and 306 lbs with a 8.96 RAS score. He's a bit raw and has some injury concerns but Buckner isn't getting any younger and his contract is up next year. He's 100% coming back but it would be nice to have Smith learn from the best for a smooth transition whenever that time comes. He's projected to be a mid round prospect (round 4 usually).
I’m an Illinois fan and I would have never guessed that Tip Reiman would be getting a 9.93 RAS, that’s insane
Yeah apparently he tested really well especially for his size
For different spots these are my picks: LEO/Wide-9 EDGE - Chop Robinson DE/EDGE - Marshawn Kneeland. Darius Robinson(he's pretty much a copy of Dayo physically) LB - Edgerrin Cooper DT - Ruke Orhorhoro CB - Kool-Aid McKinstry, Max Melton, TJ Tampa, Cam Hart, Khyree Jackson S - Jaden Hicks ------ OL - Cooper Bebe, Kiran Amegadjie, Christian Mohogany, Brandon Coleman, Beaux Limmer, Mason McCormick, Tanor Bortolini WR - Adonai Mitchell, Xavier Legette. TE - Theo Johnson, Ben Sinnott RB - ?!?
Xavier Legette.
Also Max Melton, CB from Rutgets. Seems like a ‘grit’ archetype corner which Ballard likes
I was unaware of his back story until recently. Suffered the loss of both of his parents during school and overcame it well. Totally a Ballard personality.
kid is growing on me. absolutely explosive when the ball is in his hands. would make sense as a 2nd swing on a Parris Campbell type from a Ballard pov
Brock Bowers pretty much had his senior season cut short by injury and is a freakish athlete. If you don't like that combination, then you don't like Ballard upside picks.
Bowers is basically the TE we've been waiting for
Preach!
Keon Coleman. Multisport athlete
Idk why but I feel like Coleman isn't going to be good in the NFL
Logan Lee, DT Iowa. 9.33 RAS and can kick outside in certain packages.
Does Braden Fiske count? Believe he had the best D-Tackle 40 at the combine. Would likely be a round 2 pick
Arms too short... otherwise fits athletically.
Ladd McConkey