An Interesting Possibility For Tonight’s Draft

Yesterday was devoted to a rendering of my notes from last fall related to the NFL Draft that will begin this evening.  Today, I want to begin with two teams in the Draft in an interesting situation.  Here is what I think is interesting:

The Broncos (drafting 12^th in Round 1) and the Raiders (drafting #13 in Round 1) both appear to need a QB.

The teams are in the same division – – and the same division with Justin Herbert and Patrick Mahomes.

After the Round 1 pick, the Broncos do not pick again until #76 in Round 3.

After the Round 1 pick, the Raiders do not pick again until #44 in Round 2.

Here is why I say these teams need a QB.

• Broncos’ depth chart at QB this morning is:
  • • Jarrett Stidham
    • Zach Wilson
    • Ben DiNucci
• Raiders’ depth chart at QB this morning is:
  • • Aiden O’Connell
    • Gardner Minshew
    • Anthony Brown, Jr.

If either the Broncos or the Raiders identifies one of those six QBs as their “franchise QB”, I would have to say that the best they could do was to pick the tallest dwarf…

            I do not mean to imply that those two teams only need a QB to become Super Bowl contenders, but they do need an upgrade at the position, and they are a bit low in the first round to have a realistic shot at one of the “top-ranked QBs” for this year.  Yesterday, I listed 7 QBs that I saw who might become decent – – or better than that – – at the QB position in the NFL.  So how will all of this unfold?

• If either the Broncos or the Raiders try to trade-up into a prime drafting slot, I will suspect that the team trading-down will exact a heavy price.
• If the Broncos or Raiders stay where they are and can only pick from the remnants of the QB candidates, do they draft for other team needs and wait until next year?
• If there is only one QB left on the board at Pick #10 that is attractive to both the Broncos and the Raiders, do they get into a bidding war with the Jets at #10 for the chance to move up?

Here is how I see the teams ahead of the Broncos and Raiders in terms of needing/wanting a young QB:

• Four teams clearly need a young QB – – Bears, Commanders, Pats, Vikes
• Two teams might want a young QB – – Giants, Titans.

I plan to watch tonight’s Draft coverage because I think there could be some interesting movement/trading among the teams.  I will also be interested to see how many of the players I identified yesterday get taken in Round 1 (maybe a half-dozen?) and over the weekend I will check to see how many get drafted at all.

Moving on …  I mentioned here before that Reggie Jackson went to high school at one of my high school’s rivals and that he was a terror in at least two sports – – football and baseball.  Obviously, his presence in the Baseball Hall of Fame corroborates his prowess on the diamond.  I ran across some high school stats for Joe Mauer who will enter the Hall of Fame as a first-ballot inductee this summer:

• In his senior year, Mauer’s batting average was .605.
• In his entire high school career, his batting average was over .500 every year.
• His career high school batting average was .557.
• In high school he had 222 at-bats; he hit 43 home runs and struck out 1 time.

Joe Mauer was obviously a terror in high school baseball and his career could easily have been the stuff of novels.

• He was born and raised in St. Paul, Minnesota.
• He was drafted by the hometown Twins.
• He played his entire 15-year MLB career with the hometown Twins.
• And he made it to the Hall of Fame.
• Jack Armstrong – – the All-American Boy – – can welcome Joe Mauer to the table.

Finally, apropos of nothing, I’ll close today with this observation by Ambrose Bierce:

“Peace, n.  In international affairs, a period of cheating between two periods of fighting.”

But don’t get me wrong, I love sports………