Mr.TaterSalad

Do the Raiders go on the clock right at 8:00pm when it starts? If so, I would guess the real draft starts around 8:05 or 8:10.

Charlie Campbell has us taking Keldric Faulk in his latest mock. I've had a feeling if they take a DE/Edge it will be Faulk. Id be happy with an Edge/DE in the first, but would prefer an offensive lineman, more specifically a tackle. If they take a DE/Edge, Faulk is not my first or second choice due to his production or lack thereof in college.

In nearly every mock draft I've seen Blake Miller should be available at #17. Blake Miller seems like an absolute road grader, who loves the game of football. A Dan Campbell guy, who will run through walls for the love of the game. Now, mock drafts by analysts aren't a science by any means at all and teams boards look all kinds of different. Most mocks get an incredible amount of pick incorrect. But if there is a strong belief that Blake Miller will be available at pick 17, I see no need to trade up for Proctor and give up additional draft assets when we have so many needs. That's just my uneducated view though.

Here is a place to discuss the draft live, as it happens.

That or as an in addition too. They may change up their defensive scheme and play three safteys and rotate guys in the box and coverage. This would mean they such to a two LB set. O could see all three of Branch, Downs, and Joseph on the field at the same time.

The new 10-1 Congressional map in Virginia might be Trump's biggest self own yet. He's had a lot of self owns, but this one is his perhaps his biggest. He brought this on himself when he demanded that Texas and others states prematurely redraw their district maps for Congress to give Republicans more seats. This is a big time win for Democrats ahead of the midterms. For the record, this is bull**** and it shouldn't be this way at all, I'm any state. All states should fair maps, drawn by independent redistricting commissions. But until Republican states agree to do independent redistricting commissions in their states or until national legislation is passed, this needed to be done in Virginia to help balance out Trump's intentional power grab.

I had McCoy on my short list because he is the best corner in the draft IMO. But if he requires a second surgery, and that's going to keep him out, no thanks. I'll pass on him if that's the case. But Brad might not. Jamo, Levi, Paschal, Rakestraw all had injuries or prior concerns when Brad drafted them with high round picks. So I think if Brad feels McCoy is the best player on his board, at a position of relative need, he might take the risk. He'll get absolutely and rightly roasted if he does draft McCoy and it turns out that he requires a second surgery that keeps him out for at least month or more.

Brad's antenna just went up.

Luckily Willie is still with us and IS still talented as bleep lol. When I saw Willie in concert a few years ago with his son, he was not very good and really showed his age. But it was still cool to see Willie in concert and partake at Pine Knob.

I was looking for data on what percentage of Michigan voters go straight ticket. I couldn't find good, recent data. The data I did find from 2016 showed that over half of voters went straight ticket. I feel like that percentage may be higher now due to increased partisanship, but still not as high as I presumed.

From scouting and analyst reports I've read, McCoy seems like he would be the best CB in the draft were it not for his injury. I've read he has elite-level ball and tracking skills and it seems the dude creates turnovers and interceptions, which we need more of on defense. He has the speed (4.40 40 time), size, and athleticism to keep up with most any WR. He won't get out matched or mowed over in man coverage either, which the Lions like to play. The one knock I read on him was from Draft Buzz who said "Run support engagement runs hot and cold, takes conservative angles at times." We know that the ability to play the run and willingness to engage is one of the more important traits this coaching staff is looking for. I don't think he's bad against the run though or unwilling to come up and make a tackle.

I've had a feeling if they take a DE/Edge it will be Faulk. Hopefully I am waaaaaaay off base and he's not Josh Paschal 2.0. NFL.com's scouting report compares Faulk to Carlos Dunlap. That would be great if he ended up being that type of player.

It's just going to be a partisan race. Most people will vote straight ticket Dem or Republican. If it is a bad year for Republicans, like we think it could and should be, people will plunk for the Democratic ticket, which will include UofM, MSU, and Wayne State boards.

A little backstory here. I was there at the Michigan Democratic Party convention yesterday at Cobo/Huntington Place. At the convention, Democrats had the chance to vote on their parties nominees for the offices of Attorney General, Secretary of State, State Board of Education, and Boards of Regents. The more progressive candidate's won and beat out candidates pushed by the Labor Caucus in some instances and other instances, who the Labor Caucus wanted was the same person that most progressives wanted to win. There were two instances where the progressive choice beat the Labor Caucus choice. One was when Washtenaw County Prosecutor Eli Savit beat out Oakland County Prosecutor Karen McDonald for the Democratic nomination for Michigan Attorney General. Savit is your typical Ann Arbor liberal and has been a reformed-minded prosecutor. The other instance was in the UofM Regents race where, as you mentioned Amir Maklid, beat out the Labor Caucus Choice. In other instances, like the Michigan Secretary of State's race, the choices progressives and labor wanted were aligned, with Garlin Gilchrist winning the SOS nomination. For years, the Michigan Democratic Party convention process was controlled by labor unions, more specifically labor union leadership of the major unions in the state (UAW, LiUNA, Building Trades Council, Carpenters, MEA, and AFT). More specifically than that, it was controlled by the leadership at the Michigan AFL-CIO (of which many unions belong to like the UAW) and it's President Ron Beiber. Ron Beiber doesn't like progressives. Ron Beiber loves Ron Beiber more than anyone else in the world. He also loves playing kingmaker. And for years the Michigan AFL-CIO, Labor Caucus, and Ron were the kingmakers. If you go back to pre-2016 conventions, there would be 3,000, maybe 3,500 people at most that participated in the convention nominating process. That allowed for Ron, union leadership, and the Labor Caucus more broadly to bring 1,500 or so people to a state party convention and control the nomination process and who wins these races. Now that more people, from all walks of life are showing up to the convention, they don't have the votes to run the show like they used to. This upsets Ron very much. Yesterday, there were people from all across the state who came. People from local community Democratic Clubs and Congressional District Clubs, and College Democrats chapters. As well, there were people from activist organizations like local Indivisible Chapters, The People's Coalition, Michigan United, Detroit Action, Ranked Choice Voting Michigan, Mop Up Michigan, DSA, etc. With more local Democrats attending and more people from these types of organizations, they aren't going to follow and do what Labor Caucus says to do. Furthermore, when you nominate uninspiring candidates like Karen McDonald, not everyone in Labor Caucus is going to stick with their team. Some of those people voted for people like Eli Savit as well. So the days of labor controlling the party with a handful of voters is over it appears.