2024 NFL Draft Hype

I love this part of the season and the Cards are undefeated so far in 2024. Looks like Cam Thomas is needing a major turn around for my thoughts on him before SK drafted to have any accuracy. I knew there would be a challenge for him to transition from edge to IDL. He is young and building the muscle mass on his big frame takes time and the extra mass doesn't help his speed on the edge...he is still on the team and it is make or break it year for him in AZ. Your boy was disappointing once his mind moved on from being coach-able. 

I read yesterday that this year's Edge rusher class is very weak

AThe guy was not sold on Turner.  I'll try and find article.If he is there at #15

in a no trade scenario,      That will tell us the same thing, 

I like Turner. But who would sink from low-risk #12 to medium-risk #27/#35? I'm not sure I'd take that risk unless I was a very good team already and needed 1-2 parts to get 100% well.

Also, Turner is not free from criticism. Is he #12 worthy?

I am pretty confident in the first 8 players above (might be different teams but I do believe the top 8 players above are considered in the same tier by teams).   Bears don't have many picks and Monti may need to move up 2 spots with the Bears though the Bears are thought to either pick Odunze or Turner/Verse/Latu.

I agree with your assessment on the consensus top 4 edge guys; however I know Latu is flying up draft boards due to his recent positive medical reports.  In fact I am not so sure Latu has not surpassed Turner to be selected by the Falcons at #8 though there have been rumors Atlanta wouldn't mind a trade down to get additional picks (if true that means they view all the top edge guys pretty equally).   The Falcons would seem to be a natural Cardinals trade partner if the Vikings trade deal happens since Odunze is being mocked a lot to either Bears or Jets.

NOTE: Latu is now -290 to be selected in top 16 whereas 2 weeks ago I thought the Cardinals might have a chance at him @ #23 if Monti did the Vikings trade.
BTW: These seems to be an interesting and plausible bet - CARDINALS - Rome Odunze to be first pick, Darius Robinson to be second pick +8500

MY BELIEF: Cardinals need to get either Byron Murphy (probably in trade up to mid to late teens or J. Newton (could be there at #27 - would be nice to have pick #23 from Vikings to either stick and pick or trade up to #20 [Steelers] to jump ahead of Dolphins looking to replace Christian Wilkins.   My belief is a 3 - technique who is very good at applying pass rush pressure from the interior defensive line makes the job a lot easier for edge guys to be one-on-one vs. OL increasing their effectiveness.   My dream draft would be MHJ - Murphy/Newton in 1st round and then 20 yr old Jonah Ellis, Utah with pick #66.

NOTE: Apparently Newton is slipping due to concern about his foot so #35 would be fantastic if possible.  If somehow Newton could be had at #35, then perfect draft is MHJ- Cooper DeJean at #27 - Newton and then still Jonah Ellis at #66

Some observations/rumors about the draft -

LOTS OF TRADES
Some team sources said they think there could be more trade movement in this year’s draft compared to typical years. They shared they believe this movement could start in the middle of the first round, stretch into late in Round 1, and then continue throughout the second day of the 2024 NFL Draft. The reason for the expected fluidity is teams feeling there is a lack of talent on Day 3 of the draft thanks to the influence of NIL in college football and more players getting paid to stay in school. That has weakened the talent depth of the draft, leaving teams believing that third-day picks have less value. Some sources from playoff teams felt that there is a good chance that the players they would get on Day 3 of the 2024 NFL Draft would have a very hard time making their final 53-man roster, so rather than use the pick on a player who is likely to get cut, they could use the pick to move up in the early rounds. This year’s draft has the potential to be one with a lot of trades, starting on the opening night of the draft.

Some Players will Slide due to Character Concerns and some Over/Under Rated Players per GM's:

While Nabers has some teams rating him ahead of Harrison, one thing going for Harrison is there are teams that have some character concerns with Nabers. Harrison did not come up with character concerns. Sources from multiple teams with top-10 picks said they had character marks for Nabers. That being said, they said the character was not bad enough to cause them to pass on him based on the questions or remove him from their draft board. Thus, Nabers looks like a near lock for the top six of the 2024 NFL Draft.

Another wide receiver who has been hurt by character and makeup concerns is Texas’ Adonai Mitchell. NFL teams found character issues with Mitchell at Texas and from his early years at Georgia. Another factor that has hurt Mitchell is franchises feeling he does a poor job of managing his Type-1 diabetes. Mitchell has a first-round skill set, but if he slides to very late in the first round or to the second round, it will be because of the character issues and concerns with how he manages his diabetes.

Other prospects have had major character issues that have really hurt them with NFL teams. Some NFL sources said their teams had dropped Ohio State defensive tackle Michael Hall Jr., Alabama wide receiver Jermaine Burton and Texas defensive tackle T’Vondre Sweat off their draft boards because of character. All three have early-round skill sets, but each could slide in the 2024 NFL Draft because of character problems.

Every year, there are some prospects that benefit from a lot of media hype and others who don’t receive the attention they deserve. WalterFootball.com surveyed team sources as to which players were being overrated and overhyped, as well as which players they considered underrated

Overrated
Zach Frazier, C, West Virginia
Roger Rosengarten, OT, Washington (Mel Kiper has him as a 1st rounder)
Graham Barton, OL, Duke


Underrated
Keon Coleman, WR, Florida State
Kris Jenkins, DT, Michigan
Sedrick Van Pran-Granger, C, Georgia

I am not sure why people just stopped talking about Keon Coleman. He is an absolute beast. I just wonder if he is kind of seen like N’Keal Harry and it wont translate to NFL. That is the only thing that makes sense to me and I understand if that is the concern.

I would love Graham Barton. I’ve mentioned other places, Walter Football lost credibility with their admiration of Mike Jurecki.

Does either Walter have this right?

Walter Mitchel over at ROTBs has an article wherein he's pleading for the Cards to draft Mi CB Mike Sainristil,due to the fact the Card braintrust has ignored the dire need of a slot CB for the Cards to compete in the NFC West. (For years) He stated he would take the guy tonight at 27.

I went to Walter Cherpinsky's site to see where he had the guy ranked. He was like the 16th ranked CB and was shown as a Rd 3 or 4 pick.

All I can really add is that
Rome Odunze was held in check pretty well in that championship game (basically shut down) against Mi. and Sainristil may have played a big part in that, although he was likely double teamed a lot in that game.

Edit: I see that Zirlein has the guy rated as a 2nd round talent...something tells me that is probably pretty close.