I’ve been doing this a lot in my mock drafts lately because Fano keeps falling to me, people seem to think pretty highly of him, and he allegedly can play multiple spots, including center if you listen to some analysts. If they can’t get a trade down offer that works and he is clearly the best guy on their board, I could see it happening. It would be pretty rare for a 1st round OL to not be a starter year 1, but long term it probably makes more sense than reaching on a safety or other less valuable position.
OT makes sense to draft for the same reason drafting a WR makes sense in the first. Although I would argue that WR is probably a more pressing immediate need
Failing to extend O'Neill would be a bad decision and ignore what we know about positional aging curves and how the market values OTs. Good teams keep very good OTs, they don't send them packing.
There is a void of (public) information about what the deuce happened last year with Darrisaw, his roster status and internal communication--though there is enough to know it was handled abominably. As always, there is a big difference between "being healthy" in the sense that there is no further recommended medical intervention, and being able to thrive on Sundays. No-one knows now what Darrisaw can do going forward, and no-one can know until around Hallowe'en, at the earliest.
So, drafting an OT makes complete sense. After all, in the summer of 2046 Zack Martin (drafted as an OT) will deservedly be in Canton, and Ezra Cleveland will be quietly fishing on Lake Pend Oreille while some folks still suggest he should be playing OT, not OG, in the NFL. Having another good OL on the team is a feature, not a bug.
Dexter Lawrence trade would only be smart if the rest of the roster was great and they were one piece away.
Trading for Lawrence would be a KAM move. This is not KAMs team anymore. And that's a good thing.
That might be unfair to KAM, which is saying something.
I’ve been doing this a lot in my mock drafts lately because Fano keeps falling to me, people seem to think pretty highly of him, and he allegedly can play multiple spots, including center if you listen to some analysts. If they can’t get a trade down offer that works and he is clearly the best guy on their board, I could see it happening. It would be pretty rare for a 1st round OL to not be a starter year 1, but long term it probably makes more sense than reaching on a safety or other less valuable position.
OT makes sense to draft for the same reason drafting a WR makes sense in the first. Although I would argue that WR is probably a more pressing immediate need
Failing to extend O'Neill would be a bad decision and ignore what we know about positional aging curves and how the market values OTs. Good teams keep very good OTs, they don't send them packing.
There is a void of (public) information about what the deuce happened last year with Darrisaw, his roster status and internal communication--though there is enough to know it was handled abominably. As always, there is a big difference between "being healthy" in the sense that there is no further recommended medical intervention, and being able to thrive on Sundays. No-one knows now what Darrisaw can do going forward, and no-one can know until around Hallowe'en, at the earliest.
So, drafting an OT makes complete sense. After all, in the summer of 2046 Zack Martin (drafted as an OT) will deservedly be in Canton, and Ezra Cleveland will be quietly fishing on Lake Pend Oreille while some folks still suggest he should be playing OT, not OG, in the NFL. Having another good OL on the team is a feature, not a bug.