If Jeanty, T-McMillan and Will Johnson are on the board at #9, who are you taking?
With WR $ getting dangerously close to QB $ it's going to be beneficial to take a WR almost every yr just for cap reasons. We really don't know what we have in Miller he has shown flashes when healthy which he has not been much. Upgrading the RB position would be easier on day 2 than getting someone better than Olave and Shaheed on day 2.
I would go with Tet over Jeanty due to the fact that Jeanty would split snaps with AK and maybe Miller. Tet would play almost every snap and be the big contested pass catcher we have been missing since Thomas got hurt and was never the same. Plus if Tet becomes what I think he will we have him for 5 yrs on a rookie deal before he commands big $
This also plays into what kind of contract Olave wants when it's time to negotiate versus what the team is willing to pay for someone with his concussion history. I'm sure some desperate team would be willing to overpay him; I just hope it's not us.
Having a true #1 WR and Olave as a #2 WR may also benefit him in the long run.
I've always been a WR guy to the point, I posted that entire thread about how to potentially project what attributes, etc would predict WR performance in the NFL. I just bumped the thread to post the leaders from the 2024 season.
This year, I've been on the Jeanty train because the NFL is shifting back to a balanced/running league away from the pass dominated league of the last decade or more. I still think Jeanty is the best player/option in the draft, however T-Mac is a guy we should entertain at 9 IF he's there. I've started to shift my thoughts based on a couple things mentioned above, and my preference towards projecting WRs. WR 2nd contracts are coming in right behind QB contracts so hitting on a legit WR1 in the draft is important. After compiling the numbers from the 2024 season, out of the Top 10 WR Reception Leaders, 8 were drafted in the 1st Round. What's interesting is that 13/25 Top 25 WR Reception leaders were drafted in the 1st Round while 13/25 Top 25 WR Yards/Game Leaders were drafted in the 1st Round. The difference is 8/10 Top Reception Leaders were drafted in the 1st Round and 5/10 Yards/Game Leaders were drafted in the 1st Round. That tells me, you get your high volume WR1 in the 1st Round and you get your Big Play/Shot Play guy later in the the draft. The WR1 and Big Play guy, can be the same guy.
I pretty much have the PFN Mock Draft Simulator memorized for how a Jeanty at 1.9 draft goes, I'll start doing a few taking T-Mac at 1.9 if he's there and see how it falls.
Someone posted in a thread about adding enough weapons to make Olave the 4th option, essentially allowing him to operate in space. If we draft T-Mac and make he's WR1, I'd like to add additional weapons to allow Olave to be the guy operating in space to reduce some of the hits he takes.
My counter to my own thought process goes with the strengths theory about improving your strengths and mitigating/managing your weaknesses. One argument against drafting Jeanty is that we already have AK, Miller, and CEH. AK is going into his age 30 season, Miller and CEH haven't shown to stay healthy. So although we have 3-4 RBs if you consider Velus Jones Jr. a RB, then adding Jeanty may not make sense, but if you consider adding Jeanty now makes our strength even stronger, then it makes sense. The quickest way to become a team with an identity is to add Jeanty and we instantly become a force at RB with a 1-2 punch of Jeanty/AK with Miller mixed in as the direct backup to Jeanty and CEH/VJJr backups to AK.