Is Chance Warmack Going Top 5?
 

Coming into the season according to NFL.com, Warmack was graded as the highest prospect in the draft slightly ahead of Joeckel. However, we all know that OG's aren't drafted that high with Iupati, the highest lately at #13.
Iupati is easily the top OG in the NFL and a dominate force for San Fran. Warmack is graded higher probably because Iupati came from Idaho and Warmack played for the national champs, Alabama.

How high will he go, top 5, top 10 or later. Whoever gets this guy will have an OL that is dramatically improved. Where would you take him?

I don't think Iupati is "easily" the top OG in the NFL. While good, I don't think he's even the top, though that's debatable.

I would take Warmack somewhere after Cooper.

Raiders do have an opening at LG with Cooper Carlisle on his way out but its very doubtful a team with so many needs takes a guard with a premium pick. I can see him at 10 to the Titans though.

I really like Fluker too, its so easy to fall for these Bama boys, so many good prospects.

You would have to go back to a John Hannah to find a guard taken anywhere the top 5 and it won't happen this year either. Earliest projection might be Tennessee at #10.

Some of these threads make some huge assumptions, most of which are bogus.

lolwut? No. No, he is not. Iupati is probably top ten, but most certainly is not THE top guy.

As for Womack, no. The days of top 5 guards are dead and gone. He'd have to be the best guard prospect of all time for that to happen now.

Guard in top 5 just does not happen...

i think 7 is his peak draft position

I think he'll be lucky to be top 20. Guards just don't go that high.

Yea remember the hype David DeCastro got last year as the best guard to come our in the last 10 to 15 years and people were talking about him going top 10 last year. What pick did he go at? 23rd to the Steelers. Warmack isn't going in the top 5 and he probably wont go in the top 10. The value just is not there for a player like him at those spots. Look for him to be drafted from 15-25 based on the lack of upper talent this year.

Interior offensive linemen just don't go very high. Recent drafts have been the exception, not the norm. Iupati, the Pouncey's, DeCastro, all were considered some of the best prospects at their respective positions in a while, and only one of them was top 15 (Mike Pouncey).

Every year there is a rumor about one of these talented interior O-linemen going higher, but it never happens. Maurkice Pouncey to Denver, Iupati to Oakland, and now Warmack. They are all talented players, but teams picking top 10 usually have more important needs than interior offensive linemen, who are some of the less important players on a team.

Interior offensive linemen in recent years:

2012
24. G David DeCastro, Steelers
27. G Kevin Zeitler, Bengals

2011
15. C Mike Pouncey, Dolphins
23. G Danny Watkins, Eagles

2010
17. G Mike Iupati, 49ers
18. C Maurkice Pouncey, Steelers

2009
21. C Alex Mack, Browns
28. C Eric Wood, Bills

2008
None (Brandon Albert was viewed as a guard, but ultimately played OT)

2007
29. G Ben Grubbs, Ravens

Again, only one guy went top 15. Looking at the top 5 teams this year, there is, IMO, no justifiable reason to take a guard over a QB, DE, OT, or whatever else it is they need. Passers, pass-protectors, and pass-rushers are the most important and most coveted players early in drafts, not guards.

If you guys take a guard at #7 i'd be very surprised. You can get guard help in the later rounds.

The new salary structure impacts the draft quite a large bit, especially since you look at the top guards in the league and they are all commanding LT money.

Is it a reach? perhaps..... but not as unlikely as it would have been 2 years ago.

Evan Mathis is "easily" the top guard in the NFL, not Iupati. I know it's only one game, but it's kind of funny that you call Iupati the top guard in the league right after he got worked badly against the Falcons.

All you guys keep getting my hopes up he may slide all the way down to 24

I hope the Rams take this dude at 16 and DJ at 22. Talk about monsters at the POA.

Really can't see Fisher taking an OG in rd 1.

Gotta remember in this salary cap era, teams are also looking to save money. Guards are among the lower paid players in the league. That's why they don't typically go very high. Same goes for LB, TE. QB, DE/OLB, OT, CB, DT are what teams are looking for in Round 1. WR, RB, S are borderline... but there are cases where there are exceptions to the norm.

I think that's one possible explanation, but the seemingly more likely is that those positions have so much more value (and thus their higher price tag in FA) that you draft them higher.

I think you're saying the same thing.

I think he goes anywhere from about 11 on, and I can honestly see him being there for the Dallas pick. It's just rare for many Guards to go that high.

I understood yours to mean that teams are cheap and thus use draft picks to acquire talent for less.

I am saying that they want the most impactful talent they can get. The fact that it is cheaper is what drives teams to cut veterans and trade for picks when they can, but ultimately teams draft players at certain positions higher because they have a higher football value.

Umm... yeah, you didn't understand me I guess.

Higher the value of the position, the more they cost. That's where I thought we were talking about the same thing, just from a different point of view. Yours "football value", mine "monetary value". Essentially the same thing, since the 2 go hand in hand. Those are the positions that teams should be looking to fill in Round 1 cause it could save them from paying up for them in FA.

ie. Do you wanna spend $3M a year on your 1st round DE/OLB or pay $10M a year on a DE/OLB in FA? Or do you wanna spend $3M a year on your 1st round OG that you could fill in FA for $4M a year? Those are just random numbers but you get the idea, hopefully.

I don't think he'll go top 5, maybe 7 since Arizona is OL desperate and he's a better prospect than Fisher. I don't think the Titans pass at 10.

I think people have it wrong in one way though. OGs are becoming more valuable, not less.

This is a significantly weaker class at the top there aren't many blue chip prospects so I don't think warmack going 10th to the titans is out of the question. Top 5 is completely out of the question though.

2 Chance Warmack
Alabama, senior
6-2, 322
OG
I'll be honest: I fiddled with Warmack as the draft's No. 1 prospect. Guards rarely come off the board early, but Warmack is a transcendent talent at the position. Alabama's offense was built to mash on the ground, but he can step back and pass block, too.

Read More: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/nfl...#ixzz2IuNOoDFE