Voice of the Hawkeyes Board

Those pre-Draft meetings are always extremely confusing. Sometimes they indicate genuine interest, and sometimes they're basically used as smokescreens to fool other teams. With O'Keefe now in Miami, I think all three of those teams would be good situations for McNutt to step into.

Yeah I really don't get that whole draft process at all. But I noticed last year the only Pro Day Jason Garrett from The Cowboys went to was USC's and Dallas drafted Tyron Smith from USC. So I guess these meetings must at least mean something..........Right?

Sometimes they do mean something, but sometimes teams already know what they're going to do, so they'll coordinate these meetings in order to fool the other teams in the league. Some teams know they won't draft a certain player, but they'll still have him visit just so other teams think they're interested.

If the Vikings had even an average LT, Blackmon would be in the mix for the 3rd pick. However, Charlie Johnson was one of, if not the worst, starting LT in the league. Because of this, they have to take Kalil at that spot, and he will be their starting LT for the next 10 years, and most likely a top 5 LT in the league. Their line has been pathetic, and it has to be improved to give Ponder a shot at being an NFL qb. I have serious doubts that Ponder will be the answer for the Vikings, but they reached for him last year so now they are stuck with him.

Spielman has been talking about Claiborne being a possibility, but that is nothing more than a smoke screen to get a team to make a trade with them. If they get Kalil and mcnutt with their 1st and 3rd picks along with a decent CB with their 2nd pick, I would call that a win for them. If Stephen hill, Alshon Jefferey or Kendall Wright are still on the board when they make their 2nd round pick, McNutt might not be the pick with their 3rd pick.

Since Adrian Peterson is my favorite NFL player, I hope they are able to surround him with some talent. It sucks watching a gifted player like Peterson on such a bad team.

I have to agree with most of your assessment other than Kalil being a top-5 NFL LT, I haven't really seen him play much so I don't know how good he is as a player, but I do know that a lot of people talk about him only being a little better than Riley Reiff and neither as a "Jake Long" type player. I've always been under the impression that the true core of a team is at the OL and DL and if your set there, than you start building outwards from there. Ponder may be a serviceable QB at this level, but you're right we'll never know unless he has some protection.

Any draft analyst who thinks they should take Claiborne is an idiot in my mind, sure Claiborne is a very good college player and has a lot of potential to get even better, but if you can't protect your QB or run-block for AP, you can't score points and even the best defenses nowadays are giving up 30+ points to some of the best offenses.

Those are fighting words! Definitely not a Bengals fan!

I was thinking along the lines of AJ Green already being there, and McNutt being able to grow up with Green and Dalton and improve together.

Really? Could've sworn you were all about those Bengals!

I guess I can see what you're saying, and that could end up being a pretty good situation for him as you say. I guess I think the Bengals are one of those teams that always needs help "somewhere."

I think you mean the pro football team in Ohio that's actually won NFL championships before.

It'll be interesting to see what the Bengals do this year. In the past 10 years or so, it seems like every good season they've had that's caused some optimism has been followed by a total debacle of a season. If they can keep winning at least seven games a year while Dalton continues to develop and they upgrade the roster around him, they'll be headed in the right direction.

Whelp, that settles it, they better stay the heck away from McNutt!

Dalton was easily the second best rookie QB last year behind Newton. And that was with his only proven WR out for the season. He's been VERY impressive and has exceeded my expectations.

This year, the Bengals need to get younger on the o line, secondary, and running back. Get those in the draft and the Bengals could win the division (always hard)

All of that said, as a lifelong Bengals fan I've learned to be slightly pessimistic. Todd said it very well, the Bengals are still the Bengals so you never know how a season will go.

This one is for Fish.