ESPN McShay and Kiper Mock Draft 2.0 (1 Viewer)

[CaliSaint4Life]

I am not a fan of either draft projections. Floyd does not fit the scheme, and even if you project him to DE, he becomes a "luxury" (read bad) pick because we have Jordan and Hicks in the 5-tech role. We can draft for depth there later.

With Ansah, there are people here who like him and will find my opinion to be unpopular. But I do not think he's a 3-4 rush linebacker. He played as a 3-4 OLB and DT in college but his natural position seems to be a DE in an even front. BYU ran somehat of a hybrid scheme with 3-4 concepts. It is interesting because McShay is projecting him to DE in the 3-4, and that is definitely not the best place for him to be. The latter would limit his effectiveness. But I also think he's too heavy to play the 3-4 OLB role.

The more I see Ansah, the more I think he's a strongside 4-3 DE. Looks like the prototypical guy for that role. At first I couldn't see him as a 5-tech, but honestly, I think he could totally pull it off. He's 270lbs and can add another 10 pounds to his frame and probably gain explosion. The thing about him is that he really isn't in football shape yet. He's only played for 2 year and I've seen multiple scouting reports that talk about how he fatigues during the game. After a couple seasons of NFL strength and conditioning, he's be around 280lbs when he fills out and that's too big for 3-4 OLB, but could work at 5-tech perfectly. He's such a confusing prospect b/c there is an actual debate within the scouting community as to whether he's a 5-tech or a strongside OLB, two drastically different positions.

I think if we drafted him, he's definitely be standing up as an OLB and it would tell me that the FO has faith that Wilson/Galette could man the weakside.

 

[NOFALCONS10]

I am not a fan of either draft projections. Floyd does not fit the scheme, and even if you project him to DE, he becomes a "luxury" (read bad) pick because we have Jordan and Hicks in the 5-tech role. We can draft for depth there later.

With Ansah, there are people here who like him and will find my opinion to be unpopular. But I do not think he's a 3-4 rush linebacker. He played as a 3-4 OLB and DT in college but his natural position seems to be a DE in an even front. BYU ran somehat of a hybrid scheme with 3-4 concepts. It is interesting because McShay is projecting him to DE in the 3-4, and that is definitely not the best place for him to be. The latter would limit his effectiveness. But I also think he's too heavy to play the 3-4 OLB role.

Was Willie Mcginnest too heavy?

Willie McGinest, OLB at NFL.com

Ansah is almost the exact same size and looks faster in pursuit standing up than Mcginnest ever did.


Ahmad Brooks and Lamarr Woodley also are in the 270lb range.
And while I agree that Ansah can't play 5-tech, Mcshay seems to be projecting him at a number of positions:

New Orleans could be interested in the scheme versatility Ansah provides. He can play the 5-technique and rush the quarterback off the edge, and while he's not a pure speed rusher Ansah has shown the ability to use speed-to-power moves to track down the quarterback from the perimeter.

 

[CaliSaint4Life]

I think with what the Falcons want out of the TE position, a first round pick is simply a waste. The amount of available TE's in free agency that can run routes and catch passes are plentiful. I feel that we need to stop attempting to sign those "high profile" DEs who played along side elite talent to make them look better than they are (Ray Edwards). I swear, outside of John Abraham we haven't had a legit DE in what feels like 15 years. For some odd reason the Falcons cannot draft defense. Offensively, we find players that are great for us (Matt Ryan, Julio Jones, Roddy White), but when it comes to defense we just completely **** the bed. The Falcons need to put this entire draft stock into defense. Get as many bodies in here as possible.

I tend to think that Gonz will hurt a lot more than people are leading on. He absolutely tortures defenses and I don't think that's easily replaced. He was Ryan's safety blanket and in my opinion, the best player on the team. It's extremely hard to defend a pass against him because he attacks the ball when it's in the air (Jimmy Graham needs to learn this), and once he gets his hands on the ball, it won't get knocked out. Also, he finds holes in a zone as good as any player I've ever seen. I'm pretty sure that most of the passes Ryan completed to him were not part of the route design. I think he's the engine that made that offense go an the Falcons FO knows this and are begging him to come back for another year (which is really smart IMO). I think your a different team without him and I look forward to him retiring.....forever.

 

[SaintBrad]

I tend to think that Gonz will hurt a lot more than people are leading on. He absolutely tortures defenses and I don't think that's easily replaced. He was Ryan's safety blanket and in my opinion, the best player on the team. It's extremely hard to defend a pass against him because he attacks the ball when it's in the air (Jimmy Graham needs to learn this), and once he gets his hands on the ball, it won't get knocked out. Also, he finds holes in a zone as good as any player I've ever seen. I'm pretty sure that most of the passes Ryan completed to him were not part of the route design. I think he's the engine that made that offense go an the Falcons FO knows this and are begging him to come back for another year (which is really smart IMO). I think your a different team without him and I look forward to him retiring.....forever.

Thing is, your both correct. Your not replacing gonzo with a draft pick at all. In the last 15 years we've had gronk and gonzo. Graham can almost be named there if he shored up his hands and attacked the ball in the air.

The next best thing is a good pass catching TE which can be found later in the draft.

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[Wicket6]

Ansah played as a 3-4 OLB in college....

well this is just flat out not true

 

[2009ring]

Well I see now that Mel "if I make 300 mock drafts with people in different positions I can honestly say during the draft that I picked this player to go here" Kyper is at it again.

 

[Pookie]

No one is talking about him, but I think we should consider cordarrelle patterson if he fell to 15 depending on which defensive players are available.

 

[USAF HART]

I tend to think that Gonz will hurt a lot more than people are leading on. He absolutely tortures defenses and I don't think that's easily replaced. He was Ryan's safety blanket and in my opinion, the best player on the team. It's extremely hard to defend a pass against him because he attacks the ball when it's in the air (Jimmy Graham needs to learn this), and once he gets his hands on the ball, it won't get knocked out. Also, he finds holes in a zone as good as any player I've ever seen. I'm pretty sure that most of the passes Ryan completed to him were not part of the route design. I think he's the engine that made that offense go an the Falcons FO knows this and are begging him to come back for another year (which is really smart IMO). I think your a different team without him and I look forward to him retiring.....forever.

It's hard to argue that Tony brought our passing game to another level. However, I still think even with a guy like Jared Cook, or Martellus Bennett, the Falcons could get near the same type of production. Also, with Tony out of the picture, Matt can start focusing on utilizing the other WR's on our team instead of just Roddy and Julio. Harry Douglas is a GREAT slot receiver but has been overlooked because of Gonzalez.

 

[NOFALCONS10]

well this is just flat out not true

They needed him mostly on the line but he stood up a lot at DE on early downs, then moved inside to DT on passing downs.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GEe0b0bqmAI

 

[CaliSaint4Life]

It's hard to argue that Tony brought our passing game to another level. However, I still think even with a guy like Jared Cook, or Martellus Bennett, the Falcons could get near the same type of production. Also, with Tony out of the picture, Matt can start focusing on utilizing the other WR's on our team instead of just Roddy and Julio. Harry Douglas is a GREAT slot receiver but has been overlooked because of Gonzalez.

I think you can get another productive pass catching TE but I don't think that's what makes Gonz special. Like I said before, it his strong hands and ability to fix a broken play and be a safety blanket for Ryan. I just think that something that comes with being the greatest TE of all time, and that's what made him special. I just know that when Ryan needs a big play, everyone knows he's going to Gonz and he still makes the play. That's impossible to replace. You know your team better than me, but that's what my eyes tell me.

With all that said, I do tend to think defense may be a better direction for you guy considering all that resources you have invested in your offense - so I agree with you on that. My point about Gonz is simply that once he's gone, what he give you can never be replaced.

 

[Wicket6]

They needed him mostly on the line but he stood up a lot at DE on early downs, then moved inside to DT on passing downs.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GEe0b0bqmAI

he started standing up a ton but there are defensive tackles who played more in coverage than ansah did. Since he doesnt understand football yet he basically got the bobby boucher playbook and they just told him to sack a lot

 

[Hercule]

If the mod has to edit the op, couldn't they at least keep the Saints write up in there?

 

[Miker1975]

Please no DT in first round!..

We have been burnt a couple of times by first round DT...

 

[sa1nt4life]

Failcons are weak on both lines. You lose up front, you lose. They had a lucky season with a weak schedule and us being paralyzed... They should have been 1-and-done in the playoffs yet again, but the Seachickens choked worse than the Clowns. So long as Mike Smith is the HC, the Failcons will be pretenders.

Sorry but i disagree. You guys all think the Falcons suck so much yet every year they get "lucky" and win most of the games they should. A win = a win, doesn't matter if its 52-0 or 21-17, it counts as the same thing. I dislike them as much as every other Saint fan but the fact is they have a pretty talented team. The Seahawks were getting killed and made a valiant comeback, I wouldn't say they choked, yes they screwed up with the kick but it was a close game. Its ok to admit that your rival team has some talent and is a above average team, if you can't after going 13-3 then you have a problem. Do I think they are that good? No, I'd say they are a more a 10-6 or 11-5 range, but some of the things said about how horrible they really are is silly. Nobody wins 13 games by accident, no one.

I think with what the Falcons want out of the TE position, a first round pick is simply a waste. The amount of available TE's in free agency that can run routes and catch passes are plentiful. I feel that we need to stop attempting to sign those "high profile" DEs who played along side elite talent to make them look better than they are (Ray Edwards). I swear, outside of John Abraham we haven't had a legit DE in what feels like 15 years. For some odd reason the Falcons cannot draft defense. Offensively, we find players that are great for us (Matt Ryan, Julio Jones, Roddy White), but when it comes to defense we just completely **** the bed. The Falcons need to put this entire draft stock into defense. Get as many bodies in here as possible.

Well both teams can agree on that. I think for you guys if Eifert is there that is a good pick but also picking a pass rusher will greatly help you. I guess it boils down to what potential your guys behind John Abraham have on the defensive line. And I guess its not much so I see why you'd want the pass rusher.

 

[bornnraisedwhodat]

Kiper's draft is ridiculous. I think he is really out of touch with team needs, and makes mocks for the shock factor. He is terrible at predicting picks.

I usually dont like to criticize people's mocks...but i wonder if even watches tape anymore.

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