2024 post-draft sentiment

[Navybuc]

I don’t think we were the Falcons and wasted away picks and looked like morons. But we also weren’t the Eagles who seem to school teams on trading back and piling up picks and just crushing it with more depth on defense. Like any draft, it’s a wait and see how these guys turn out. From a strategic standpoint and filling our needs, I think it was successful.

[Jonny]

This is the type of draft you'd put together if your roster didn't have a ton of holes.

We came into this draft with more question marks on the roster than we've had in a very long time. Quite a few guys we moved on from with no real solution in sight. Just guys who haven't shown much but will be handed a role whether they are ready or not. A number of spots with incumbents who we should be trying to replace but don't have a choice because of various reasons.

Coming into the draft, the major needs were C, G, EDGE, ILB, CB, DE. Coming out of the draft, C was addressed beautifully. EDGE, maybe depending on where Braswell is in his development. Maybe a 6th round pick can earn a starting job at G but I doubt it.

We HOPE Logan Hall doesn't have a 3rd straight year of regression. We HOPE Zyon McCollum can replace Carlton Davis and we also HOPE he or Dean don't get injured because we don't have anyone else at corner who can play outside. We HOPE KJ Britt improves in his contract year or we HOPE Sirvocea Dennis does something. We HOPE LG gets figured out. We HOPE Cody Mauch improves at a position he's not really a fit for. Just a lot more questions now than you'd expect coming out of the draft.

We know it's not realistic that all draft picks make the final 53. So hopefully the UDFA period yields one of those hidden gems. But again that's a HOPE.

This post resonates with my thoughts pretty well.

After Barton, it felt like our front office either got cute or got flat footed with their selections.

Is Braswell truly a selection that brings versatility to an edge group already consisting of straight-line speed athletes without bend or technique?

Did McMillan make sense in 3rd round when many had him projected to go anywhere between 4th, to later rounds (most common) to undrafted? Fine, if they fell in love with him and decided he possessed a 3rd round grade. But with his body type he will never offer a #1 or #2 WR upside. He is purely a #3WR at best, with his thin frame and average speed, and we will have to draft another WR this upcoming draft to replace Godwin. And then we need to draft one more to replace Evans. Wtf.

I would have rather loved a Tez Walker or a Javon Baker with our 3rd round pick #1/#2 WR upside after a season or two. Or go the pure slot route with a Malik Washington or Joshua Cephus type with later round picks where you get a #3 WR precision route running separator type right away.

Did not mind not getting ILB. We rolled with Devin White for 5 years through his ups and downs. Even JJ Russell, our 3rd string seemed to have a very good game playing the position in being really good at the fundamentals in both run defense and pass coverage.

Despise the Falcons for getting two bad asses on interior D-line in Orrhorroro and Dorlus. We are relying too much on the health and improvement of Vea and Kancey. Behind them we have pretty much practice squad bodies. We are unable to rollout a solid 3-4 defensive front on any given play where every person on the field looks like at least a mid to low level "starter". Instead we have rotational players as our starting OLBs, an amazing NT, a high ceiling starting caliber DE and a body. How we came out to this draft without filling a gaping hole here is beyond me and this, combined with what we did with a different position, is by far the biggest issue I have with this draft.

The last position I am not happy about is CB. McCollum still looked below average almost every game last season. He simply wasn't a complete disaster, but still bad. We are putting too much stock into his growth. Also too much stock in Dean's health. I think we all know Dean wont be a Buc for 2025 season. I would have loved Bucs went with a IDL or true outside CB with their 2nd rd pick instead of rotational edge player in Braswell. I know we signed Hall and Thomas. But both are on a 1 year deal. If they play good enough, they may not even be affordable to keep around after this season.

As Boots puts it, our draft strategy was as if we were a 13-4 team with many quality starters, adding depth.

[Miller4Prez64]

I wanted to upgrade the center position and then add talent at WR and RB so I’m glad the team adressed those needs. I would have liked a corner, but apparently Tykee Smith might play inside too. All in all, I’m satisfied with what we did considering we weren’t picking in the top 25. I think Barton is a huge win for this team, I think he will be snapping the ball to our QB for a good while.