Alright boys, this offseason has been shit and I barely even care about what happens next season, but that's not going to stop me from enjoying the draft. We're just about 30 hours from go-time, so in accordance with recent history that means it's time to put up a "short board" of sorts for the first based on who realistically will be there.
For the purposes of this let's assume the following are gone:
-Top 4 QB's
-Top 3 WR's (Brian Thomas Jr. is available) plus Bowers
-Alt, Fashanu, Fuaga, Fautanu, Latham
-Turner, Murphy, Verse
-Mitchell, Arnold
That's 18 names off the list, so I want to see a top 14 to take us to the end of round one.
For me I'm going:
1. Jackson Powers-Johnson
2. Graham Barton
3. Brian Thomas Jr.
4. Laiatu Latu
5. Amarius Mims
6. Tyler Guyton
7. Johnny Newton
8. Darius Robinson
9. Zach Frazier
10. Jordan Morgan
11. Adonai Mitchell
12. Kingsley Suamataia
13. Michael Penix Jr. (why not?)
14. Cooper Beebe
I'm leaving off a bunch of CB's (Wiggins, DeJean, McKinstry) who would arguably be the BPA but there's no god damn way I'm taking a CB in the first when we have two literal Pro Bowlers in their 20's on the roster, with both of them likely to be on large extensions in a year or two.
1. Brian Thomas Jr.
2. Jackson Powers-Johnson (I feel like this is one that's going to fall to the second and we will all point and laugh at each other but I don't know the medical issues, and I can't pretend to judge them)
3. Graham Barton
4. Amarius Mims (Fuck it, I'm swinging for the fence if I'm going OT)
5. Johnny Newton (I'm higher on him than most but damn an impact interior D-lineman would be a really good thing)
6. Zach Frazier (Again, dude just looks like a bad ass center to me)
7. Adonai Mitchell
8. Tyler Guyton
9. Kingsley Suamataia (These two are close in my book and may even flip these OT's)
10. Latu (Neck injury, seen this before, everything else is awesome)
11. Jordan Morgan (Safe, boring but solid)
12. Darius Robinson (I like him but he just feels like a long term mediocre starting D-lineman for us)
13. Chop Robinson (Feels like your typical high second round DE to me, but that's where I am on the list, raw but explosive, more boom or bust)
14. Xavier Worthy (Dude is really good, with or without a historic 40, if he was 180 pounds I'd have him much higher)