Morning Numpties! Maybe it’s the obscene amount of pollen in the air since we killed all the bugs; maybe it’s the excellent night of playoff hockey last night (except Vegas blew our parlay… insert shame lady from GoT); or, and just hear me out for a minute, maybe it’s because we’re only one more day from the culmination of Howie Season, but I’ve got a spring in my step today Philly Phaithful.
So, let’s talk about the draft, bay bee! And, of course, be sure to catch the latest flagship episode of the pod dropping tomorrow, where we have a bit of a roundtable discussion about what we hope and dream the Birds do on Thursday night and into the later rounds of the draft. But, mostly because we need something to prime the pump, I thought I’d go into a bit of detail about the different options sitting in front of Howie Roseman at 32.
Option 1: Draft Best Player Available
Option 2: Draft Based on Positional Need
Option 3: Trade Up
Option 4: Trade Back
Now, I’m sure many of you will accuse me of trolling here, but I think there are only 2 options for Howie and the World Champs. If there is someone there at 32 that they have a FIRST ROUND GRADE on, they should make the pick. I implicitly trust Howie and his staff when it comes to grading prospects, so if they only have 15-20 guys graded as a first rounder and one of them is there at 32 (or striking distance with a trade) then they obviously should pull the trigger. But, and here is where the trolling comes in, if there’s not a player they have graded available, I would 100% trade out of the first round to acquire picks in this draft to try and find depth.
This team lost a chunk of depth and very few starters thus far in the offseason. They need to cheaply and effectively resupply the coffers of the defense (and to a lesser extent, the offense too), and the best way to accomplish this is by trading back and picking up some more ammo in the middle rounds. Why is this feasible? Several quarterbacks are borderline picks, but if there’s one position teams will pick too early, it’s QB. A guy like Jaxson Dart is going to most likely be there around 32, and a team may be willing to give up some day 2 depth picks to get him at the end of the first round and have that 5th year option on a QB at an affordable price. Hopefully the rest of the league screws up again and leaves Howie a beauty at 32, but if not, don’t be surprised if you watch 4 hours of coverage and are left without a pick.
Check out the show tomorrow for more, and come see us at FanExpo Philadelphia May 17th and 18th at the Pennsylvania Convention Center in Center City!