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merlin
There's a noticeable advantage to this year's group. Now granted you're usually going to feel better about a draft class right afterwards, but across the board these guys have been flashing from camp into preseason games whereas last year's group was longer on hope.
Everett is far, far better than I thought he was. I thought he was a big RB type dude, and he is with the YAC but he's also got very good hands and body control as a receiver. Him vs Higbee shouldn't even be a thing in his rookie year but it is and he's actually looked better than Tyler in stretches.
WRs are not even a conversation. Kupp kicks every pick they made under Fisher's butt, and that includes the Tavon pick. Because not only is he an actual receiver, but he's also a great fit for the scheme. Reynolds missed a lot of time in camp so didn't hear much about him, but he is already showing that catch radius and big play ability since he's been back whereas Thomas' contributions were restricted to special teams.
Not taking anything away from last year's draft. But it's night and day IMO. This draft looks like the type a new regime needs to reload key positions and get things rolling. And if some of those defensive guys are hits it probably will be.
EDIT: realize I didn't mention Gurley specifically, but he was the headliner of that class. This one looks better thus far and that's even without that first round pick addition, simply due to the strength of its overall additions to the roster.
I like to look at the 2 drafts together. I can't compare them, because (1) 2017 was a much deeper draft year, in fact one of the deepest in a long time, and (2) after Goff,. in 2016 they started in the 4th round. Imagine the 2017 draft without Everett, Kupp, and Johnson.
So I take the 2 together, and try to see how many of the 14 picks combined are making it and looking good. It's a surprisingly good number.
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