During Wednesday’s mock draft special on ESPN, Mortenson revealed his sources have told him that the Panthers are locked in on Alabama QB Bryce Young and not Stroud with the top pick. “What I’m hearing is that Mel [Kiper] and Todd [McShay] are going to have to change their mock drafts and that Bryce Young is the pick,” Mortenson said. “Yes, connecting Frank Reich to C.J. Stroud in terms of the prototype of guys that he’s worked with in the past [makes sense], but [the Panthers] love Bryce Young. … I think the Panthers are on Bryce Young from the start and will stick with him when it’s time to turn in that card.”
This would be a gift from God to have the Panthers take Young at #1. Texans would be dodging a bullet.
Here is a secret, every time you open your mouth on this subject you just look more and more foolish.
I don't think he does this often. My understanding is that it was a dare by his girlfriend or something and now people ask him to demonstrate it. But I also think he does the same with eating a banana through a peel. I think he's just interested in being social media famous in those regards, or something odd that I don't get. Now that I've dropped weird, random Will Levis facts, I'll hang up and listen. Jinx @zeeshan2 .
Nobody is really talking about Richardson as a possibility for the Texans, but I heard an interesting point about him on the Ringer NFL Draft Podcast. They pointed out that you could actually make an argument Richardson has the highest floor of any QB in the draft due to his ability to dominate on the ground. His first year (or even two) you can create an offense with a lot of designed QB runs and RPOs while he eases into being a complete NFL passer. They also seem to all agree that, after really deep diving into his tape, Richardson is much further along as a QB than most people give him credit for. I think it’s unlikely he’s there at 4, but taking Anderson at 2 and then trying to trade back up for Richardson would be a very interesting option.
Good lord no. His floor is MUCH lower because he is so inaccurate. Running doesn’t always last, need to be able to throw it accurately too. And read defenses, and anticipate. And goodness, trade back up?! As in more draft assets for him? I would rather spend the multiple firsts on Caleb Williams next year rather than on anyone in this class. I want Bryce young at #2 without having to waste more picks. None of the other QBs deserve #2 much less multiple firsts goodness y’all, blinded by muscles and underwear Olympics. best case, will Anderson is JJ watt. We get him at 2. Then what?
I’m not saying I would do it. And they weren’t saying Richardson has the highest floor long term. They meant that next season Richardson might very well have the highest floor due to his elite trait (running ability) that can easily translate. Trading back up isn’t something I would do personally. But I think a lot of us are going to be shocked at what happens in this draft. It’s largely considered to be a fairly weak draft in terms of elite talent, so NFL teams are going to have drastically different boards than each other. There will be lots of trades and tons of surprising picks in the first round. Edit: I think the inaccuracy label could wind up being so lazy for Richardson. I’ve read/listened to several draft analysts who have watched all of his tape and almost all of them have said that he’s much more accurate than he’s made out to be on “draft Twitter”. I’m not gonna claim to have watched his tape that thoroughly, but these are legit trusted draft analysts saying that he’s much further along than he’s getting credit for.
They may be correct but with a 53% completion rate, 17 TDs and 9 ints, there is a ton of work to do on making him a serviceable passer in the NFL. If Texans don’t get the QB they want at 2 and he is there when they have another pick then maybe take him but like someone said I wouldn’t trade any draft capital for him. In my opinion, Hooker is a better QB if he can get completely healthy from his knee surgery.
Those charts are silly. The data being used to generate those charts are whatever your perceived opinionated ability of that prospect is. Both Stroud and Young sat behind the most dominant offensive lines in college football. In addition they had extravagantly gifted receivers to throw to. Seriously Stroud had Olave, Wilson, Fleming, JXN, Harrison Jr to throw too in the last two years.
