strengths of this Draft line up nicely for Rams

If you read Breer's MMQB this week, among other things, there is discussion about the depth and strength of the Draft being on the defensive line, offensive line and safety, with skill positions being thin and pretty weak.

THE BEST POSITION

Right now we’re all talking about Murray. But the scouts have been talking about the defensive line group and have been for quite some time. So when I ask what jumps out about this draft class to them, all four of our panelists gave the same answer.

“The depth of the D-line class, it’s an easy answer,” Beddingfield said. “It’s rare that you have that many players, players that can play in multiple defenses, that can play on all three downs. It’s a premium position, everyone’s looking for them, and this draft has a lot of them. It’s the numbers. More than the elite guys, there are just a lot of starting-caliber defensive linemen. A good group of players that can step right in.”

Ohio State’s Nick Bosa has been, and should remain at the top of the class because of his combination of talent and refinement (McShay said of Bosa’s use of his hands: “It’s martial arts almost, I don’t know how else to describe it”). Alabama’s Quinnen Williams is right there with him. And then there’s one other player right there.

“[Mississippi State’s Jeffrey] Simmons would make it three if he didn’t have the injury and the character stuff,” said McShay. “If not for the ACL,” Jeremiah affirmed, “Simmons is in that mix.”

Simmons, you may remember, was caught on video punching a woman during his senior year in high school. In the time since, his coaches at Mississippi State have sworn by him to scouts. But more recently, in training for the combine, he tore his ACL, which makes him as complicated a prospect as there is in this class.

Another thing that won’t help Simmons is the depth Beddingfield referenced. McShay says he heard Michigan’s Rashan Gary will run in the 4.5s at 280 pounds. Light-ish Houston DT Ed Oliver has game-wrecking potential. And three Clemson defensive linemen could go in the first round. Then there’s Mississippi State’s other DL, Montez Sweat, Florida’s Jachai Polite and … so on and so on.

“I’ve been doing this 20 years, and this the strongest I’ve seen top-to-bottom, in terms of d-tackles and edge guys,” McShay said.

THE NEXT GRONK?

Three of our four panelists raised Rob Gronkowski’s name when discussing Iowa’s T.J. Hockenson, and they did it in a “I’m not saying, I’m just saying” sort of way.

“I think Hockenson’s the cleanest player in the draft,” Jeremiah said. “There’s nothing that you’d want from that position that he doesn’t have. He has all of it. We just saw the value of in-line, ‘Y’ tight end in the playoffs. I’m not saying he’s Gronk. But he’s dominant in the run game, and it’s hard to find that without sacrificing athleticism. … To me, as a draft pick, he’s right in the middle of the fairway.”

He, his Iowa teammate Noah Fant (who’s more on a H-back type) and Alabama’s Irv Smith could land in the first round. What’s more, there’s depth into the second and third rounds at a position (with guys like Stanford’s Kaden Smith, BC’s Tommy Sweeney and Texas A&M’s Jace Sternberger) that has been weak in the draft over the last few years.

“There are some guys that give you the ability to stretch the field,” Clinkscales said. “There are other guys that give you the versatility to line up and power the ball down the field, because they’re really good blockers, true Y guys. I think you’ll have a chance to get better pretty quickly at the tight end position.”

Beddingfield added, “Teams are gonna get a first-round caliber defensive lineman in the second round. And when teams value their board, they’ll see second-round caliber tight ends in the third round. There’s gonna be good value in that position.”

SAFETIES TOO

Like tight end, safety has been a position that’s had a rough class or three this decade, but starting with the 2017 class, headlined by Jamal Adams and Malik Hooker, we’ve seen a resurgence at that spot. And this class is no different.

There’s no Adams or Hooker. But there are good players everywhere. McShay says he has 14 guys with grades in the first four rounds, whereas the average for the three years prior to this one was 11. And what jumps out about them is how they’re built for the 2019 game.

“It’s a different group,” Beddingfield said. “They’ve evolved into the cover corner position in the NFL, because of how the passing game works, so you need guys who have coverage ability and can tackle. It’s the safety who can do it all. It’s a nice group of athletes that are coming.”

Among the top guys: Mississippi State’s Jonathan Abram, Delaware’s Nasir Adderly, Washington’s Taylor Rapp and Alabama’s Deionte Thompson. And I’ll add that a lot of the hard-core football people I respect love the heady, tough Rapp.

The depth at the position should be there, too, right into Day 3 of the draft, with guys like Boston College’s Will Harris, Kentucky’s Mike Edwards, Miami’s Jaquan Johnson and Utah’s Marquise Blair standing as potential values.

OFFENSIVE LINE HELP IS ON THE WAY

Jeremiah was the one guy who didn’t limit his answer to the above question—what stands out most about the class?—to the defensive line.

“You have premier big guys on defense, and the depth of big guys on offense, those two things jump out right away,” he said.

There’s no Anthony Munoz or Walter Jones or even Taylor Lewan type left tackle in the group. But there are a lot of interior linemen and swing tackles that could start on Day 1. “In the second round,” Jeremiah says, “I could see four of the Top 10 picks being interior linemen.”

That’s good, too, since the NFL is so hard up for offensive linemen that in the span of a week of free agency last year, Nate Solder became the highest paid tackle in NFL history, Andrew Norwell the highest paid guard, and Ryan Jensen the highest paid center. Getting a good starter on second- and third-round deals will, by comparison, feel like stealing.

WHAT’S NOT GOOD ABOUT THE CLASS?

In three words: The skill positions.

“It’s a pretty average year at wide receiver,” Clinkscales said. “You have to find a guy that fits the style and the mold that you’re looking for. You can probably say the same at running back this year, given that maybe the best running back coming out is a guy that really didn’t start at his school, the kid from Alabama. Those are the two obvious positions.”

Jeremiah happens to love that Alabama running back—Josh Jacobs.

“So I do have the one running back high, but after that, you might as well wait on them, because a guy in the second round’s not going to be different than a guy in the fourth,” he said. “The receivers, there two are freaks in their own way. Even after the lisfranc [injury], [Oklahoma’s] Marquise Brown’s tape is so good, I couldn’t move him down. And [Ole Miss’] DK Metcalf is the other freak, in a different way.”

If you have Twitter, you saw last week that it’s in a very un-receiver-like way. He’s more of an Incredible Hulk-style freak.

Which can bring us right back to where we started: whether Murray can look a little more Hulk-ish on Thursday than the scouts who went through Oklahoma thought he was back in the fall. More than you think could be riding on it.