And the final day of the NFL draft is here for the real junkies …
• Two big names who at points over the past year were mocked in the first round that are still available: Ohio State OT Dawand Jones and Georgia CB Kelee Ringo. Both are still there for character reasons, and there’s boom or bust potential with each.
On the former, Jones’s handling of the pre-draft process has done a sizable amount of damage. The peak for him came at the Senior Bowl—when he checked in at 6’8”, 375 pounds and with a record 89.5” wingspan. On the first day of practices, the mountain of a right tackle blew up on social media. He then claimed an injury and shut it down the rest of the week. At his pro day, he declined to weigh in and wasn’t around much to support his teammates, which raised questions on the weight he’d gained, and how seriously he was taking the de facto interview.
He'll go at some point today, but he cost himself draft position and, as a result, money, too.
Jordan Prather/USA TODAY Sports
On the latter, Ringo’s weight has fluctuated (there were scouts who said he was out of shape visiting Georgia camp last summer), his tape wasn’t great last year, and he’s got a very reserved disposition at a position where teams are looking for a little more edge. He hasn’t shown the high-end potential that Jones has, but with his athletic profile, some believe the ceiling is very, very high.
• The Titans had an interesting vetting process with Will Levis—they had the Kentucky quarterback put together cutups of his worst turnovers, and bring them on his visit. Once he got there, they asked him to talk them through the thought process and decision making on the negative plays. They wanted to see if he could articulate it, because, as they saw it, that would show if he could correct it.
He did well there. He hit it off with Mike Vrabel. And now he’s a Titan.
• The Broncos surprised a lot of people in taking Oklahoma WR Marvin Mims in a trade up into the bottom of the second round—and it did elicit a call or two on their veteran receivers on Friday night. But at this point, I think it’d take a 2024 first for Jerry Jeudy, a 2024 second for Courtland Sutton and teams have been very reluctant to deal next year’s picks away. In the here and now, Mims gives Denver depth at a position where they’ve had a million injury problems, and a replacement for the time being for rehabbing vertical threat KJ Hamler.
• Why are teams reluctant to trade 2024 picks away? The class looks much stronger than this year, and that starts at the top. The potential top six picks in next year’s draft—USC QB Caleb Williams, UNC QB Drake Maye, Ohio State WR Marvin Harrison Jr., Alabama OLB Dallas Turner, Penn State OT Olu Fashanu, and Georgia TE Brock Bowers—might be the first six picks in this year’s draft, had they been eligible (or at least that’s what one GM said to me earlier this week).
• The Vikings have a couple trade pieces, too, in Za’Darius Smith and Dalvin Cook. The problem with both is each will require a contract adjustment to be moved and an adjusted contract needs to sit for a day before it can be traded—meaning, at this point, those trades would have to be for 2024 picks. On Cook, the Dolphins had talks with the Vikings about dealing for him in March, but it didn’t get done, and they took Devon Achane in third round last night, seemingly taking them out of the running for Cook, who is due $11 million this year.
• On Smith, a trade would probably happen with the Vikings taking on some of his $12.5 million to buy a pick back from the other team. And, again, 2024 picks are hard to come by right now.
