I hope that's after we pick up a couple of WR's in FA.

 

I'm pretty sure on Twitter I just induced a consensus that Matt Barkley is being drafted by the Bills at #8 overall if not before that. Draftek will undoubtedly catch on to that soon.

 

Had he been in the 2012 draft, IMO, Barkley would have went no later than 4th overall. How much are teams going to downgrade him based on his senior slump? The Chiefs should consider him 1st. He should never get past the Cards at 7th. Arians would be an ideal coach for him. The Chiefs have Branden Albert, whom I'm guessing they'll go hard at resigning. I do not see Joeckel as a big need for them.

 

I've said before, if we go WR in the 1st, Allen seems to me like a textbook Ireland choice. Patterson is a lot more exciting, but I just think our boy Jeff isn't as likely to take a juco transfer with one year of Div 1-A under his belt in the 1st round.

 

Well, what I mean is, for some reason nobody bothered to think about the fact that Doug Marrone played Matt Barkley twice in 2011 and 2012 and therefore was likely to have made some comments about him in the pre-game and post-game media sessions. I guess I'm the only guy who thought of that.

Lo and behold in the pre-game media session only about 5 months ago, Marrone absolutely raved about Barkley and insisted that had he entered the 2012 NFL Draft he would have and should have gone ahead of both Andrew Luck and Robert Griffin because he's that good.

 

Interesting about the Bills. I hope they draft him as it increases the odds some real top ten talent makes it to us at 12.

Btw, this mock lost credibility when I saw the second round choices which will not be available by the time those are picked.

 

If Geno and Matt go before us, we gonna get a stud defender at 12.

 

That would be a fantastic draft, but it's not happening. There are guys I might prefer at 12, but I could live with Allen and those next two picks would be amazing.

 

Does Barkley have the arm for cold weather games in Buffalo?

 

If we had that draft after signing Mike Wallace and re-signing Jake Long I'd probably have a heart attack from how amazing of an off-season it was.

 

It would be even more awesomER if we switched that tight end for the other one..:shifty:

 

Cold itself isn't a problem. Cold makes for a hard ball, catching it is different when it's cold than when it's normal temperature. Barkley throws a very catchable football from a touch perspective so he might even be particularly good in the cold.

Wind is a problem. But Buffalo isn't an especially windy stadium I don't think. The old Meadowlands were notorious for some high winds particularly near the end zones. I don't think there ar eany quarterbacks that play particularly well in snow storms if that's what you're getting at. But if you're in those kinds of conditions, give me the accurate quarterback over the strong armed quarterback, because the emphasis should be on completing passes and allowing the receivers to use the advantage of the elements to run after the catch and take advantage of defenders that are slipping on the ground trying to react to them.

 

Buffalo is drafting Matt Barkley at #8 overall, or they're not drafting a QB until later in the Draft.

 

I do like Eifert better, but honestly I'd be pretty ecstatic if either got to that pick. I doubt very much that it happens though.

 

I hope the Cards, or maybe the Chiefs take him then, because I don't want to see Barkley on another AFC East team.

 

The Chiefs won't. The Cardinals are a possibility but not a good one. They used to like physical tangibles at that position when Rod Graves and Ken Whisenhunt were there. They're under new management now but Steve Keim is the new GM and he's been there the whole time, and I think that also means most of the front office staff are still there. My guess is they're still going to fall in love with tangibles and that means Geno Smith, if he's available.

Oakland is a possibility for Matt Barkley. Al Davis' son is still there but it's hard to guess how much influence he exerts on personnel. The last Draft definitely looked very anti-Al Davis. Tony Bergstrom, Miles Burris, Juron Criner, Jack Crawford and Nathan Stupar...just seemed very different from an Al Davis draft. The most Al Davis pick was probably Christo Bilukidi in the 6th round. If the Raiders are now anti-Al Davis and they're tired of being saddled with Carson Palmer, a decision made by previous management...then Matt Barkley could be in play there. They run an offense that is very compatible with what Barkley has been running.

Jacksonville is a slight possibility as well. I think they want to give Blaine Gabbert more of a chance but if they're not kidding themselves, I think they know he's unrecoverable. Gus Bradley was in Seattle when Russell Wilson came in as a physically unimpressive 5'11" guy with arm strength that (for some reason) people questioned, but his leadership and intangibles were off the charts and he took control of the locker room from day one. That was the part of the Russell Wilson experience that impressed upon Bradley the most...the leadership and intangibles. Those are things Matt Barkley has going for him to a large degree...probably more so than any other quarterback in this Draft. When Gus Bradley comes more into contact with Barkley's intangibles, I think it's going to remind him of Russell Wilson, and he could start lobbying for Barkley.

I've said along that I think the hate on Matt Barkley is WAY overdone and that especially when coaching staffs start to get more heavily involved in the evaluation process, you'll start to see Barkley's draft stock re-stabilize itself. I say that because Barkley was never going to be a guy that wowed people with physical tangibles. You have to be a person that likes details in order to be impressed by Barkley. I think coaches can appreciate those fine details. Admittedly, some coaches tend to think along the lines of they can teach anyone anything so please just give me the most physically talented guy you can possibly give me and I'll do the rest. Even so, I think most of the other coaches will appreciate the details in Barkley's game and that's why he'll still go top 10 even though some people were (absurdly) talking about him falling into the 2nd round.

 

Andy Reid has stated that he is very interested in Alex smith.

 

That would be a good fit.

 

I can imagine. I don't think they're going for a QB period at #1 overall. John Dorsey will not go for it.

I think Luke Joeckel is the most likely. I really want to give them Lane Johnson but Joeckel is more in Dorsey's history than Johnson.

 

His arm is fine. Reminds me a lot of Drew Brees with his mechanics and much like Brees his arm isn't great but it's good enough. I thought his o-line really struggled to protect him last year and he got killed.

 

Isn't that tampering? Smith is a 49er now and is signed to be one next year. Kind of find it hard to believe he would say that.

 

I think there may have been a change to the rules about that. Tickles the back of my memory. Either way Greg Jennings was on radio row talking about how many different teams he's been in contact with there so I don't think anyone is paying attention.

 

Maybe, but Greg Jennings is entering FA. Smith as of now is under contract in SF next year. It is possible the rules have changed though.

 

Yeah but I thought he'd been given permission to seek a trade, which would essentially give him the same status as a pending FA.

 

AFAIK Smith is going to ask for his release from SF

 

Last I heard, the niners GM said Smith was in their plans for next season.

 

That sounds like baloney to me. He won't be in their plans at his current salary. You cannot pay a backup QB 7 mill a season. Smith won't agree to a reworked contract. He wants to go where he can start. His salary for 2013 is guaranteed if he is on the roster April 1. If no trade can be worked out, I expect he'll be released before that day.

 

Niners front office released a statement that if they didnt get the right trade they would outright release Smith " out of respect"

That's how you do it.

 

Exactly, Smith won't be on th 49ers next yr, I'd be surprised if they don't just trade him to KC for a 4th rd pick or so.

That said, I still don't believe the bills will take Barkley, it wouldn't surprise me if they take Geno Smith though.

Even still with Fitzy with that huge contract he signed last yr, a Qb may not make much sense for them, in that way they are in a similar boat as the Jest w/Butt Fumble.