Memento's Most Wonderful Mock of the Year

[Memento]

Well, playoffs are over. Time to get down to work:

Coaching Firings:

Wade Phillips
Joe Barry

(Wade probably retires after this year, and no, Barry isn't the answer, as @jrry32 pointed out.)

Coach Hirings:

Kris Richard (DC)

(Yeah, Kris Richard is our new defensive coordinator! He's young (40), innovative, and he ran a good D in Seattle. He's currently the defensive backs in Dallas, and he's gotten HC offers, but he's turned them down. He's local (born in California, went to USC), so he may be waiting for the right job.)

Re-sign:

Jalen Ramsey - five years, 84 million.
Andrew Whitworth - one year, 9 million.
Greg Zuerlein -three years, 9 million.
Dante Fowler - franchise tag
Morgan Fox - RFA
Donte Deayon - RFA
Johnny Mundt - ERFA
Nsimba Webster - ERFA
Kendall Blanton - ERFA
Coleman Shelton - ERFA
Marquise Copeland - Practice Squad
Jachai Polite - Practice Squad
Landis Durham - Practice Squad
John Wolford - Practice Squad
Jeff Holland - Practice Squad
Adonis Alexander - Practice Squad
Nate Trewyn - Practice Squad
Ethan Wolf - Practice Squad

(Might as well get the Ramsey signing out of the way this year. Whit coming back is huge, and Zuerlein needs to come back as well. Fowler is a tag-and-trade candidate, and the rest are RFAs, ERFAs, and practice squad members.)

Cut:

Eric Weddle
Clay Matthews
Jamil Demby
Tanzel Smart

(No real surprises...except for Matthews. I don't think that he'll be effective next year with him being another year older. Weddle can't pack his bags soon enough, and Smart and Demby simply can't hack it at the NFL level.)

Release:

Cory Littleton
Michael Brockers
Blake Bortles
Bryce Hager
Jojo Natson
Austin Blythe
Marqui Christian
Mike Thomas
Josh Carraway

(Unfortunately, we can't keep everyone. That means that Littleton goes to another team. Brockers is unfortunately not going to stay either. Christian goes for an opportunity to start, as well as Bortles. The others I'm fine with losing.)

Free Agency:

Emmanuel Ogbah - three years, twelve million.

(Ogbah fits the defensive end position like a glove, and he's only twenty-six. He's struggled with injuries, but when healthy - and next to Aaron Donald - he should prove why the Browns drafted him in the second round.)

Trade:

Rob Havenstein, 2020 sixth, and 2021 sixth to the New York Jets for 2020 third round pick.

(I get that it's a lot of cap room to move Havenstein, and that the trade could be unrealistic, but the Jets literally have nobody at offensive tackle. They have Chuma Edoga - who was hurt - and Connor McGovern - who has been ineffective - as the lone tackles who aren't free agents. That's literally it. They're going to want someone to protect Darnold.)

Dante Fowler to the Baltimore Ravens for 2020 first and 2021 fourth.

(The Ravens might be more apt to trade for help because of Lamar Jackson's rookie contract. Add in that one of their best pass rushers in Judon is a free agent this year, and the need to get a younger player, and I can see the Ravens paying big.)

Robert Woods to the Green Bay Packers for a 2020 first.

(Aaron Rodgers would benefit from another receiver opposite Davante Adams. In return, we get good picks.)

Nickell Robey-Coleman to the Atlanta Falcons for 2020 sixth round pick.

(I know that NRC's value isn't that high. I still want to get rid of his contract to re-sign Ramsey and - eventually - Kupp and JJ3. Getting a pick back is a bonus.)

Draft:

1st (Packers) - Tyler Biadasz, C, Wisconsin.

(The best center in this year's draft. He does everything great, and he's bigger than Allen at 6'3", 321 lbs..)

1st (Ravens) - Mekhi Becton, OT, Louisville.

(Becton is a mountain of a man at 6'7", 340 lbs. He's so light on his feet that he could definitely fit at left tackle in the pros.)

2nd - Brandon Aiyuk, WR, Arizona State.

(Reminds me of a faster Robert Woods, and he's one of my prospect crushes in this draft.)

3rd (Jets) - Darrell Taylor, DE, Tennessee.

(Taylor is an athletic freak who could thrive at the defensive end position in Richard's defense.)

3rd - Leki Fotu, DT, Utah.

(Fotu is huge at 6'5",. 335 lbs., and has better pass rushing skills than given credit for.)

3rd (compensatory) - Luq Barcoo, CB, San Diego State.

(Barcoo leads the nation in passes defensed, and he's a long, fast corner. I have no idea why he's not getting more attention.)

4th - Charles Snowden, OLB, Virginia.

(Snowden could fit as a WILL because while he's abnormally-tall for a linebacker (6'7"), he's still fast enough to cover tight ends.)

6th (Falcons) - Jeremy Chinn, SS, Southern Illinois.

(Chinn's a solid strong safety who actually reminds me of Rapp.)

7th - Sewo Olonilua, RB, TCU.

(An athletic freak and a huge back (6'3", 240 lbs.), Olonilua is my biggest prospect crush.)

 

[Riverumbbq]

What I like :
1) The tag & trade of Fowler
2) All the trades with the exception of Robert Woods. I believe Cooks may be gone in 2021, so replacing two of our top three WR's within 2 seasons has me somewhat concerned.

Biadasz would certainly settle the score at Center, although i'm rather ambivalent towards using a first round draft pick and giving up on the investments already made at this position with guys like Corbett, Allen, Shelton, Trewyn & Kolone still competing. I can see a later round pick being added to the competition, but taking Biadasz this early only confirms a Snead/Kromer failure here imo.
I'd likely be going after Penn State's Yetur Gross-Matos with that #1 should we be successful with the tag & trade, but then again, I also wish to keep our hybrid 3-4, with or without Wade Phillips. Then you can skip on the oft-injured Ogbah. If not Matos, then go for an OT.

With Ogbah already in tow, doubtful i'd double down at DE with Taylor in the 3'rd, not with Copeland & Fox still on your roster.
With Littleton departing, who are your starting ILB's, or if you have us moving to a traditional 4-3 Base D, who are your starting W,M & SLB's ?

 

[jrry32]

Memento, I like quite a few of the players you have us drafting (although, I think Becton is way too high in the first), but those trades are not going to happen. We're not getting a first for Woods. At best, we could get a third imo. For Fowler, we're not getting above a 2nd. Frank Clark and Dee Ford, both of whom had more of a track record than Dante, went for 2nds last year. Clowney only garnered a 3rd during the season (but he couldn't be re-signed at that time, so I think that was a bit below what he would have gotten during the off-season).

EDIT: I now see that Clark was traded for a 1st, future 2nd, and swap of 3rds. My mistake. That all said, Clark had a much stronger track record than Fowler. So I'd say a 2nd or 3rd round pick sounds reasonable.

 

[Dieter the Brock]

This mock gave me anxiety

 

[Memento]

What I like :
1) The tag & trade of Fowler
2) All the trades with the exception of Robert Woods. I believe Cooks may be gone in 2021, so replacing two of our top three WR's within 2 seasons has me somewhat concerned.

Biadasz would certainly settle the score at Center, although i'm rather ambivalent towards using a first round draft pick and giving up on the investments already made at this position with guys like Corbett, Allen, Shelton, Trewyn & Kolone still competing. I can see a later round pick being added to the competition, but taking Biadasz this early only confirms a Snead/Kromer failure here imo.
I'd likely be going after Penn State's Yetur Gross-Matos with that #1 should we be successful with the tag & trade, but then again, I also wish to keep our hybrid 3-4, with or without Wade Phillips. Then you can skip on the oft-injured Ogbah. If not Matos, then go for an OT.

With Ogbah already in tow, doubtful i'd double down at DE with Taylor in the 3'rd, not with Copeland & Fox still on your roster.
With Littleton departing, who are your starting ILB's, or if you have us moving to a traditional 4-3 Base D, who are your starting W,M & SLB's ?

I have faith in Reynolds, actually. He's beyond stepped up last season and this one. I think he could turn into a good wideout, which gives me more incentive to move Woods, who could be an excellent trade chip. Our wideouts are the deepest in football.

As for Biadasz, I'd rather McSnead admit a mistake than go into next season without a solid plan at the second most important position on the offensive line. Allen isn't the answer. Corbett is a possibility, but he struggled at center in Cleveland.

I'm not keeping the hybrid 3-4. I'm moving toward more of a Seattle defense...except, I see Richard adapting to man-coverage corners. Ogbah is often-injured, true, but definitely talented. Taylor is a necessity because all of our current outside linebackers that I'm planning on keeping (Okoronkwo, Polite, Holland, etc.) are more LEO, with the exception of maybe Okoronkwo. Ebukam fits at SAM.

Fox and Copeland are depth, and Copeland is more of a 3-tech in a 4-3.

Starters at middle linebacker are a mix between Howard, Kiser, and Young. I know it's not perfect, but you can't fix every hole (even though I'm damn well going to try, lawl.) Definitely planning on moving to a 4-3 under, so that our current system works.

Memento, I like quite a few of the players you have us drafting (although, I think Becton is way too high in the first), but those trades are not going to happen. We're not getting a first for Woods. At best, we could get a third imo. For Fowler, we're not getting above a 2nd. Frank Clark and Dee Ford, both of whom had more of a track record than Dante, went for 2nds last year. Clowney only garnered a 3rd during the season (but he couldn't be re-signed at that time, so I think that was a bit below what he would have gotten during the off-season).

EDIT: I now see that Clark was traded for a 1st, future 2nd, and swap of 3rds. My mistake. That all said, Clark had a much stronger track record than Fowler. So I'd say a 2nd or 3rd round pick sounds reasonable.

Becton has a good possibility of going in the first round. He's a Cordy Glenn type with vines for arms, and he's like a dancing bear. He's more of a finesse player in the running game, but honestly, he can play left tackle.

I would want to hear which players you like, though.

The trades...I was afraid of that. I'm guessing that the Havenstein trade is unrealistic as well? I still think the Jets would be a good place for him, and it opens up the right tackle slot, so I'm still willing to trade him. I'm probably going to keep Woods then (even though I seriously love Aiyuk), but Fowler could definitely be a tag-and-trade, even if we get a second. If it's a second, though, teams other than the Ravens will line up because pass-rushers are at a premium.

Thank you so much for the advice. I'll use it in a future mock.

This mock gave me anxiety

Be honest: what don't you like? I'm a big girl; I can take critique.

 

[Riverumbbq]

Corbett is a possibility, but he struggled at center in Cleveland.

I have faith in Reynolds, actually. He's beyond stepped up last season and this one. I think he could turn into a good wideout, which gives me more incentive to move Woods, who could be an excellent trade chip. Our wideouts are the deepest in football.

Corbett had a total of 14 offensive snaps in 2018 and all of 1 in 2019 before he was traded to us, and I don't believe all of those were at Center, he never even had the opportunity to struggle as the most snaps he ever had was 4 in any single game, and that being in week 2 of 2018, his rookie season.

Reynolds is entering his contract year, so he along with Cooks could be history following the 2020 season, that's a lot of change for what you admit to being one of the deepest in football, ... not sure i'd want to mess with that. jmo.

 

[jrry32]

I would want to hear which players you like, though.

Biadasz, Aiyuk, and Fotu, particularly.

 

[dieterbrock]

I would at least put the transition tag on Littleton to see if possible to match offer.

 

[JonRam99]

A Ravens 2020 1st is like a high-second (assuming they win the SB which I think is likely) so such a trade sounds plausible to me. I like getting a HOSS at Center--that's the biggest hole we have in our offense, and it wrecked so many of TGII's and DH's runs. With no run game, play action was worthless. Getting a HOSS Center in the draft would be ideal. To do so we need to do creative things to move up, and I like the tag-and-trade of Fowler for this need. I think this the most critical need this offseason. I don't much about the pick, but most Wisconson kids are good picks (i.e. Travis Frederick).

I really don't like the Woods trade for a 1st round OT, since we may have Whit & Note at the LT position, and Evans and Edwards with another camp may turn out well, and Corbett with his first camp might be a really important swing piece. OT's are such a crapshoot, and I really don't like our snake-bit history drafting them. If Havenstein gets healthy & returns to form we may decide to keep him around / restructure vs. trading for a bag of peanuts.

Without a plan to replace Littleton, I'd almost trade Woods for a 1st round stud LB. I'd almost do both - keep CL & trade Woods for a stud LB (maybe we can restructure Goff / Gurley / Cooks to keep CL??). We seem OK at OLB / DE, with Obo, Ebu, Fox, etc. but we have a serious hole up the middle & have for a long time now. Patrick & the LB we traded MP for might work out with a good camp but there's no guarantee that they'll turn into pro-bowl candidates by September. To me this is our 2nd biggest need on this team. After this BPA is always good.

Plugging up the hole in the middle of our D needs both a stud LB aaand someone at NT. With Donald being multi-teamed every snap, either Gaines needs to become the guy who plugs that hole or we need to draft someone else -- SJD isn't cutting the mustard. This hole might be our 3rd pick or a nice F/A pick-up, but it's gotta be addressed too.

 

[1maGoh]

I like drafting a big ass RB. Maybe bigger though. More plow-ish. Like Bettis, crossed with Brandon Jacobs, a freight train, and the boulder from Indiana Jones. Where's that guy?

Think Brockers wants to play RB? I want a RB that makes opponents physically weep after the first series from his sheer size alone. Who is 92 on the Cardinals? Maybe he wants to play RB.

 

[Elmgrovegnome]

You lost me at trading Woods. This would be a disastrous move