Nick Caserio and David Culley have been talking about wanting to create a ton of competition on the roster. After seeing the dozens of players signed in free agency and the five players they acquired through the draft it's clear there will be plenty of it.
Getting Davis Mills in the third round gives them a quarterback to work with who has all the skills needed to succeed. Yes, he had a small sample size of games in 2020 due to the pandemic-shortened Pac-12 season. But sometimes you buy bananas that are still a tad green and they're ready soon enough. John Harris tells me that with a solid 2021 in college, Mills was looking at possibly being a first rounder next year, so you get the value here.
Nico Collins is fast and big and looks like he's ready to be a Sunday player when you put on the tape. He averaged almost 20 yards per catch the last time he played games in 2019. He'll have time to bang the rust off from an opt-out year and compete with the many other receivers on the roster.
The Texans selected tight end Brevin Jordan in round five. My Miami friends tell me he's a terrific play maker with a mature attitude who will have no problem understanding the amount of work it will take to contribute in the NFL. I have been asking for more Canes around here but that's just a personal thing.
It feels like a state law that we have to have a player from a Texas school taken each year. Enter Garret Wallow, a Horned Frog who will be baptized in the thick linebacking corp at the Houston Methodist Training Center. He was the quarterback of the TCU defense. Obviously it's a big transition to make it at the next level but he'll get a shot.
I did two VanderMock drafts leading up to this week and for the fourth time since I started doing these I guessed a pick right. Roy Lopez, a defensive tackle from Arizona, was taken in round six. Me correctly predicting a pick is kind of like a broken clock being right twice a day, but I'll take it. Lopez will help take on blocks and be disruptive in the backfield. He also made all-conference teams at New Mexico State and in the Pac-12 with the Wildcats.
The hay is in the barn for the 2021 draft. It certainly looks like these picks and the undrafted free agents will get a better off season opportunity to acclimate than last year's crop. With no in-person offseason work in 2020 and no preseason games it was tough to show what they could do. This year's bunch should get many more pre-September reps.
Caserio told us about rookie minicamp possibilities but details have yet to be released. We're less than three months from the start of training camp and there's still much to cross off on the to-do list.
