Mel Kiper Mock
 

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Mel Kiper Jr. says S Johnathan Abram is one of the best 15-20 pure football players in this draft. <br><br>He’s projecting the Chiefs to draft Abram, who he calls NFL ready, in the first round.</p>&mdash; Brooke Pryor (@bepryor) <a href="https://twitter.com/bepryor/status/1097928549670047744?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 19, 2019</a></blockquote>
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He has us taking Abram in the first.

Thoughts?

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Updated safety ranks:<br><br>1 Rapp<br>2 Abram<br>3 Thompson<br>4 Adderley<br>5 Gardner-Johnson<br>6 Thornhill<br>Hooker</p>&mdash; Matt Miller (@nfldraftscout) <a href="https://twitter.com/nfldraftscout/status/1097929622853955585?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 19, 2019</a></blockquote>
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Has Kiper ever been right about a Chief's pick?

Abram plays out over his skis quite a bit, IMO.

He'll hit guys, but like your boy Bush, I feel like he plays just a little too far towards the aggressive side of the range. If it's Abrams in the 1st or Gardner Johnson in the 2nd, I'd take the latter every time. He's just more fluid in coverage, IMO. Not as aggressive but more well-rounded.

I'm just not big on my safety being a big hitter. If he can do that, great, but give me a guy that is elite in the secondary.

I recognize the value of a guy like Berry reading and exploding into the box on running plays. And if you get that along with a guy who's at least solid in coverage, that can work. That's Landon Collins.

But like you, I prefer have a rangier guy like Earl Thomas who can read that running play and may not blow someone the hell up, but he'll get in there and do his job on running downs while being a bigger asset in coverage.

I'm gonna go 60-40 towards coverage skills when evaluating safeties and I think Abrams is more like a 40-60 towards the run.

Yep, pretty much.

I also feel like those guys are a hell of a lot easier to find than the Earl Thomas type, so i'm not spending a first rounder on that type of guy.

Just sign Earl and draft one in the 3rd.

I kind of gave up on Abrams as a possibility in the 1st because it seemed like everybody was starting to settle on him being a 2nd rounder.

I guess I was wrong and if he is indeed seen as a 1st round prospect, I’d be ok with that pick. He’s a perfect fit for what Spags looks for in a SS.

This.

I'd rather have Adderly or Savage, both of whom are better in coverage than Abram.

I’ve soured on Abram since his Bowl game. He played out of the slot a ton, and mainly blitzed. His coverage skills are limited. I think guys like Adderly, Gardner-Johnson, Savage Jr., and even Rapp offer more range with plenty of physicality.

Adderly and Savage Jr. are my personal favourites at safety, and I don’t mind Amani Hooker if we can get him in R3. Not a fan of Thompson. Risk-taker and not terribly impactful considering the talent surrounding him at Alabama.

Heres the thing though guys, drafting in the backass end of the first round, it's going to be really hard to find guys that don't have some of these knocks on them.

The knock on Adderley is competition. There's no holes in his game, he just played at Delaware.

Well, the argument there would be that there's no holes in his game when he's playing …….well whoever Deleware plays.

How will that be when he plays (insert NFL team or player)?

I think he'll be interesting to see how he tests at the combine.

Great point

Adderley stepped right in at the Senior Bowl and looked like the guy everybody has seen on tape. Always a good sign.

Exactly.

I like that kid a lot.

Hmm. Abram is my #1 Safety in this draft. I stopped thinking he'd be there about 3 mocks ago.

I have

1. Abram
2. Thompson
3. Adderley
4. Thornhill
5. Hooker
6. Rapp

Apparently I see things much differently than Miller

1. Adderley
2. Thompson
3. Gardner-Johnson
4. Abram
5. Rapp
6. Hooker
7. Savage

Since everybody is throwing theirs out there

1. Adderley
2. Thompson
3. Abram
4. Rapp
5. Gardner-Johnson
6. Savage
7. Hooker

this is where im at

Here's mine

1. Dance
2. Blanket
3. First
4. Pin

Veach : Delaware : Adderley

I don’t think we are drafting a safety high this year. I think we go after one of these guys...(hopefully not Joyner though. Don’t give that guy big money).

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Seriously... Thomas, Mathieu, Ha Ha, Joyner, Collins, Amos, Boston, Iloka, Vaccaro... there are players to be had for a team that wants to upgrade S talent.</p>&mdash; Seth Keysor (@RealMNchiefsfan) <a href="https://twitter.com/RealMNchiefsfan/status/1099833272073445377?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 25, 2019</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

It just depends on how the board falls. If a CB falls that should be the pick. If not, Safety can get you decent value. Plus if you look at our roster, we are pretty bare at both safety positions. They can stand to draft one even if they sign one.

We need more than one.

1. Abram
2. Gardner-Johnson (a lot of Ron Parker here....before he turned shitty)
3. Adderley
4. Rapp
5. Hooker
6. Thompson
7. Savage

This is where I have 'em right now

I think Mississippi State's Johnathan Abram is a heat seeking missile. He will definitely hurt someone but that could just as easily be on his own team. If he can control that aggressiveness, he probably would be a pretty good player because he really seems to like to hit.

For the Chiefs, I'd like one of the top 3 CBs to fall in the first round. If not, I'd like Nasir Adderley in the 1st round. If KC gets a CB in 1st, I like Chauncey Gardner-Johnson or Amani Hooker in the 2nd round. If Chiefs get a Safety in 1st, I hope CB Joejuan Williams is available in the 2nd round.

Washington's Taylor Rapp seems to play as the last defender. Stats show he had 58 tackles this year but I've watched several games and he just always seems to be several yards deep of the play even on goal line stands. Football media seems to like him, but I just never seem to see him involved in the tackle.

The more I watch Alabama's Deionte Thompson, not sure about his cover skills.

This. Sign one AND draft one.

Funny you mention Parker; that's who I kinda see in Gardner-Johnson as well. Like you said, the good version of Parker who was a willing tackler, just not very good at it.

There's such a big difference between the player Parker was (a guy who would try to hit guys and slow them down rather than bring them down) and the player Parker became (a guy who wasn't even willing to try to hit them and let blockers/ballcarriers dictate the play).

It's a Peters v. Nelson thing. Peters just wouldn't try, Nelson would try and sometimes fail. But the try/fail thing at least slows the ballcarrier down and makes him start reacting rather than pushing the play himself. It makes the guy cognizent that a hit MIGHT be coming from over there. It's just a big big difference.

I don't mind some of my secondary players being mediocre to poor tacklers here and there, but what I do mind is them being unwilling tacklers. CGJ is a willing tackler, he's just not always great at it. I can live with that provided that he's the asset in coverage that I think he'll become.

I give CGJ a bit of a pass because his prior staff was a total abortion and I saw improvement in 2018. Can't be stated nearly enough how bad shark ****er was.

I think he can be a solid long term player in the secondary.