2020 NFL Draft Review in January. Who were you right & wrong about?

[EJay]

Taking a break from the negative doom and gloom threads in the main forum — and also now considering that the 2020 regular season is officially over — let’s take a moment to reflect on the 2020 draft.

Name one player you were right about, one you were wrong about and one that you feel the jury is still out on.

Here’s my list:

I was right about Chase Young. His sack numbers weren’t huge but he became a huge disruptor on Washington’s defense and one of its leaders. He also is among the favorites to win the DROY award.

I was wrong about Justin Herbert. While I’m still not convinced he’s gonna end up as the best or even 2nd best QB from the 2020 class — he performed far better than I ever expected and has shown more than enough for me to conclude that I was wrong about him. He’s a far better player than I ever gave him credit for. And he’s the clear cut OROY award winner.

The jury is still out on Tua Tagavailoa. While he doesn’t have much to work with skill wise and his offensive coordinator didn’t exactly help him to succeed — I was still hoping to see a bit more splash. Perhaps with an offseason to continue to build up strength and review his film — and hopefully add some explosive play makers — we will see what many of us expected.

Let’s see your list of three.

 

[jason37]

Not draft related but I thought Cam Newton was gonna be the MVP

 

[EJay]

^^ OUCH.

In fairness, a lot of people thought he’d perform much better in NE than he did.

 

[Kebo]

I was right about most. I wanted Jonathan Taylor with our third first rounder. He had over 200 yards yesterday and kept us out of the playoffs. I wanted Jeremy Chinn where we took Raekwon. He is in the running for DROY. I wanted Tae Crowder with our last pick and he made the Giants roster and has gotten some playing time. I guess the jury is still out on Tua. I wanted him at 5.

 

[Pete345]

80% of everyone was wrong on Herbert. He was great and showed things Tua will never be able to do.- arm strength, athletic ability scrambling, but his pocket awareness and decision making was excellent for a rookie. And this playing for a bozo in Anthony Lynn.

CeeDee Lamb- wanted the Fins to give ATL a pick to move up 1 spot and draft him. He was great when Dak was QB and will be a star.

 

[ckparrothead]

I mean, it's extremely early to try and declare these things.

But I do think I might have been wrong about Austin Jackson. It's not that I hated him or anything but he's a lot better than I thought, and earlier than I thought. I also may have been wrong about Jalen Hurts and I don't mind saying that.

I'm not going to sit here chest-pounding about any player that everyone thought is a beast, but I will say that having seen guys like Clyde Edwards-Helaire, Antoine Winfield, Alex Highsmith, and Cam Dantzler go out there and acquit themselves really well...that's meaningful to me because not everyone was onto those guys, or people were kind of high on them but not nearly high enough, etc. Those are the guys that always make you particularly proud.

 

[SF Dolphin Fan]

I thought Jefferson from LSU was the best receiver in the draft and that looks like a good early bet.

I thought the tackle from Georgia, Thomas, would be good and so far he has struggled.

 

[SF Dolphin Fan]

Not draft related but I thought Cam Newton was gonna be the MVP

I thought he'd rebound in New England. Not MVP, but certainly a lot better than he has shown.

At this point, not sure if any team takes him as a backup.

 

[SF Dolphin Fan]

I was right about most. I wanted Jonathan Taylor with our third first rounder. He had over 200 yards yesterday and kept us out of the playoffs. I wanted Jeremy Chinn where we took Raekwon. He is in the running for DROY. I wanted Tae Crowder with our last pick and he made the Giants roster and has gotten some playing time. I guess the jury is still out on Tua. I wanted him at 5.

I thought highly of Taylor and the back the Ravens took.

 

[Geordie]

I mean, it's extremely early to try and declare these things.

But I do think I might have been wrong about Austin Jackson. It's not that I hated him or anything but he's a lot better than I thought, and earlier than I thought. I also may have been wrong about Jalen Hurts and I don't mind saying that.

I'm not going to sit here chest-pounding about any player that everyone thought is a beast, but I will say that having seen guys like Clyde Edwards-Helaire, Antoine Winfield, Alex Highsmith, and Cam Dantzler go out there and acquit themselves really well...that's meaningful to me because not everyone was onto those guys, or people were kind of high on them but not nearly high enough, etc. Those are the guys that always make you particularly proud.

I remember one or two of your pods CK, when you were salivating over Highsmith that was a great call. CEH and/or Winfield junior I thought should have been fins instead of the Iggy pick (which for me was the biggest mistake, not for the player but where you picked him and how far along he was in his development, we pass on some talent that could have helped us this year for Noah).

 

[Geordie]

I too think this is a little premature, rookie seasons can be extremely misleading, see RG3 versus Peyton Manning as an obvious example.

But I think I got Chase Young, way wrong, I was not sold on him at all and questioned his effort level. The reality is he's the next great DE in the league !

I was pretty high on Herbert, even though I was and still remain a Tua man, I wouldn't take a do-over. But I did see a lot of what Herbert has shown this year in him, I think though his sophomore season is key to where he goes, he stood still at Oregon, you can't do that in the NFL, their coaching hire will be key to his development.

I also liked a lot this last WR class a lot. I called Chase Claypool and Peoples-Jones outside of the obvious guys, and they've been excellent. Been a bit disappointed with Jeudy I was high on him, but expected a little more from him. After Jefferson's combine my opinion raised on him but I still thought he was a poor man's Jeudy, I was wrong there. Ceedee Lamb has had his flashes but can't judge him this year based on the issues at QB. Others I liked were Gandy-Golden, not even heard his name this year, Shenault, had a good last game and shown flashes, but may be another that slightly underperformed my expectations despite the QB problem there and Aiyuk, who looks like he will be a star. I loved Raegor and he's looked great at times this year, although that mess at QB in PHI isn't helping his development. I wasn't as high as a lot of folks on Ruggs, who had an up and down year for me.

I was very high on the RBs, thought this was a great class and I think that was right with CEH, Taylor, Dobbins and Swift all having decent to good rookie seasons. We really should have picked up one of these guys plus one of the WRs.

Chaisson was another favourite of mine and he's been good especially late on with the Jags. Like most everyone else I drunk the cool aid on Simmons and Okudah and they've had poor years, perhaps that can be blamed on the coaching situations with Zona not knowing how to use Simmonds while Okudah was caught in the disaster that was Mike Patricia there.

I did like all those tackles and a big fan of Cesar Ruiz, I';ve not really followed the progress of any of them though so not sure if I was right or wrong.

I think on the whole last year was a good draft for talent and a lot of these rookies have sparkled despite having a pretty awful introduction to the NFL with no pre-season and all the restrictions Covid has brought with it.

 

[EJay]

I mean, it's extremely early to try and declare these things.

But I do think I might have been wrong about Austin Jackson. It's not that I hated him or anything but he's a lot better than I thought, and earlier than I thought. I also may have been wrong about Jalen Hurts and I don't mind saying that.

I'm not going to sit here chest-pounding about any player that everyone thought is a beast, but I will say that having seen guys like Clyde Edwards-Helaire, Antoine Winfield, Alex Highsmith, and Cam Dantzler go out there and acquit themselves really well...that's meaningful to me because not everyone was onto those guys, or people were kind of high on them but not nearly high enough, etc. Those are the guys that always make you particularly proud.

Yeah, you were on CEH from the get go and was right about him being one of the first RB’s off the board. I was certainly wrong about that.

Although I do feel like my belief in JK Dobbins and Jonathan Taylor has been justified as well.

 

[rickd13]

I mean, it's extremely early to try and declare these things.

But I do think I might have been wrong about Austin Jackson. It's not that I hated him or anything but he's a lot better than I thought, and earlier than I thought. I also may have been wrong about Jalen Hurts and I don't mind saying that.

I'm not going to sit here chest-pounding about any player that everyone thought is a beast, but I will say that having seen guys like Clyde Edwards-Helaire, Antoine Winfield, Alex Highsmith, and Cam Dantzler go out there and acquit themselves really well...that's meaningful to me because not everyone was onto those guys, or people were kind of high on them but not nearly high enough, etc. Those are the guys that always make you particularly proud.

I wasn't all that impressed by Clyde Edwards- Helaire. He has decent vision and balance but he is SLOW. I just don't see special with him. And for as much acclaim as he got in college for catching the ball out of the backfield, he didn't impress me doing that in the NFL. I like almost all the backs taken after him a lot more. Swift, Taylor, Dobbins, and Antonio Gibson all look like better backs to me so far.

 

[ckparrothead]

I remember one or two of your pods CK, when you were salivating over Highsmith that was a great call. CEH and/or Winfield junior I thought should have been fins instead of the Iggy pick (which for me was the biggest mistake, not for the player but where you picked him and how far along he was in his development, we pass on some talent that could have helped us this year for Noah).

Oh for sure on CEH or Winfield. I didn’t dislike the Igbo pick one but, but it’s a simple fact that’s where I’d have taken CEH or Winfield because I think they’re special. Given this team’s needs I would’ve gone with CEH.

 

[ckparrothead]

Wow I didn’t realize there was still disagreement about CEH. He had 1100 yards and 5 TDs in 13 games, led his team in rushing, led his team in yards per carry, and is a big part of why the Chiefs are squeaking out these wins. But ok.