Tag: Alex Wright

2022 NFL draft: DE Alex Wright noted as a steal after preseason

With a preseason under their belts, Wright is one of 10 steals so far from the 2022 NFL draft:

The 2022 NFL draft lacked a lot of excitement for the Cleveland Browns. Instead of drafting with the thirteenth pick in the first round, the team traded that pick, among many others, for QB Deshaun Watson. Instead of wondering which wide receiver or defensive lineman would join a team a year removed from the playoffs, fans were left waiting for Watson’s discipline to finalize.

Then, during the draft, GM Andrew Berry traded down from their second-round selection to add more picks later in the draft, denying fans even more.

Finally, Berry and the Browns got active in the third round with three selections. CB Martin Emerson, DE Alex Wright and WR David Bell added to positions where Cleveland had immediate and long-term needs.

Of the three, Wright was seen as the one with the highest upside but needing the most development coming from lesser competition at UAB. With preseason in the books, Wright is now listed as one of 10 steals in this year’s draft:

Wright already showed throughout preseason that he’s capable of handling a higher level of competition after playing at UAB. Physically, the rookie edge-defender is still developing a plan of attack, particularly as a pass-rusher. But he’s consistently worked his hands when getting after opposing quarterbacks and showed the ability to stack and shed to set the edge. His preseason flashes portend an individual capable of taking over a series.

With Myles Garrett, Jadeveon Clowney and Chase Winovich ahead of him on the depth chart, and fellow rookie Isaiah Thomas competing with him, Wright will still get a chance to grow into a bigger role. In 2022, Wright’s quick adaption to the NFL will allow the Browns to rotate their ends more often and keep them fresher without as much of a drop-off as they had last year.

When the offseason started, defensive end was seen as a need position. At that time, it was Garrett and a lot of question marks. With Clowney returning, the addition of Winovich and draft picks Wright and Thomas looking good in preseason, defensive end is now a position of strength and depth for the team.

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8 biggest questions entering Browns training camp

The 8 biggest questions that need to get answered in Browns training camp

Cleveland Browns training camp kicks off with the rookies reporting on Friday and the full team convening shortly thereafter. The Browns head to Berea for Kevin Stefanski’s third season as head coach with quite a few questions.

The biggest of those is what happens with QB Deshaun Watson, but that’s a greater question than can be answered in training camp. My questions for the Browns deal more with things that can be resolved in training camp and the three preseason games.

Here are the top questions for the Browns to answer on the practice field in training camp.

Browns sign two of their nine draft picks to four year deals

Two of the team’s third-round picks are now locked up for four years. Just seven more to sign with rookie minicamp on Friday:

The Cleveland Browns start rookie minicamp on Friday going through the weekend with OTAs starting a week and a half later. With rookie contracts limited by the wage scale agreed upon in the Collective Bargaining Agreement, it is very rare that many hold out. A lot of teams have already signed a vast majority of their rookie class before their minicamps.

There are only a few details including things like offset language and how the contract is structured that agents can negotiate with teams. The few holdouts in the past few years have been with high selections in the first round and all of them got deals done.

The Browns are likely to get most of their rookie class signed through this weekend. It started with two of their third-round picks inking their deals. Alex Wright and David Bell are now locked into their four-year deals:

A few hours before the NFL releases the full 2022 schedule, seven Cleveland draft picks remain unsigned:

  • CB Martin (MJ) Emerson
  • DT Perrion Winfrey
  • K Cade York
  • RB Jerome Ford
  • WR Michael Woods II
  • DE Isaiah Thomas
  • OL Dawson Deaton

In case you missed it, with the schedule release on the horizon, we took a look at the quarterbacks on the Browns schedule this year that Emerson, Wright, Winfrey and Thomas will try to defend next year.

Alex Wright: What the Browns are getting in their 3rd round DE

Alex Wright: @joshkeatley16 looks at what the Browns are getting in their 3rd round edge:

The Cleveland Browns did not have a first-round selection in the 2022 NFL Draft and despite many fans clamoring for them to trade back in to snag a star, Cleveland made the decision to create no chaos on the first day.

On the second day, Browns fans grew even angrier, because the franchise elected to trade back from their first draft selection, but once they did make a selection they made some noise.

We already covered what the Browns are getting in Martin Emerson and now we move on to who their next selection was. With the 78th selection in the NFL Draft, the Cleveland Browns selected Alex Wright, defensive end from UAB.

Now let’s see what he can do.

With the 78th pick, the Browns select DE Alex Wright

Wright fits the team’s profile at defensive end and ranks high by both PFF and SIS in rushing the pass and more:

The Cleveland Browns have made their second selection of the night, and second in the third round of the NFL draft. Like their first pick, the team added to their defense. With the 78th pick in the 2022 NFL draft, the Browns selected defensive end Alex Wright out of UAB.

Wright, mentioned this morning in a mock draft, is a tall, strong defender with a lot of upside. At almost 6’6″ and 270 pounds, Wright gives the Cleveland defensive line another huge presence. With Myles Garrett on one side and Jadeveon Clowney expected to return on the other, but not yet signed, Wright fits the mold the team prefers at defensive end.

If Clowney does return, Wright will join Chase Winovich and Curtis Weaver in the team’s rotation.

Pro Football Focus ranked Wright very high in several important categories:

Sports Information Systems also rated him quite high as a pass rusher.

In three seasons with the Blazers, Wright had 11.5 sacks including six last year. He also added three forced fumbles, two fumble recoveries and five passes defended.

The Browns have one more selection currently scheduled for Friday night, the 99th selection acquired as a compensatory pick when Kwesi Adofo-Mensah was hired as the Minnesota Vikings general manager. The team has three selections in the fourth round on Saturday as well.

The perfect (slight hyperbole) day 2 Browns mock draft does exist

The Browns have three picks on day two of the NFL draft and this mock draft is close to perfection for those picks:

The NFL draft had a chaotic first night. It fits the chaotic offseason that has been seen all over the NFL this year including a number of trades, a couple of veteran receivers on the move and only one quarterback taken in the first round.

The AFC North had a few pieces of those significant moves. Pittsburgh selected the only quarterback, Baltimore seemingly upset their franchise quarterback and Cincinnati seemed to select a replacement for one of their best, young defenders after franchise tagging him.

The Cleveland Browns get to be involved as night two rolls around. After trading their first-round pick, which exchanged hands again on Thursday, Andrew Berry and company currently have a selection in the second round and two in the third round.

While mock drafts can be mocked (pun intended) quite often, they are a fun way to think about scenarios, learn about players and get hopes up of how things can go for a team or players. This day two mock draft is as close to perfect from top to bottom as possible. While it may not have the exact players you want, the three selections add together to put Cleveland in a great situation:

Indianapolis Colts’ final 2022 NFL mock draft

Our final mock draft for the Colts ahead of the 2022 NFL draft.

With the 2022 NFL draft set to begin Thursday night, the excitement is building for all 32 teams, including the Indianapolis Colts to add fantastic young talent to its roster.

There are sure to be many surprise trades, shocking selections and moves that will keep fans locked in throughout the weekend to see just how their favorite teams have improved.

With that hype spreading throughout the league, we will be attempting a final prediction of the upcoming draft using The Draft Network’s mock draft simulator. This mock will cover all picks that the Colts currently hold as of this writing.

We’ve looked at many scenarios and outcomes in previous mocks, including ones targeting quarterbacks and others trading back to add more picks, which seems to be a favorite move of Colts GM Chris Ballard in recent years. In this mock, however, we will attempt to simply predict the selections as they currently stand on the board.

With that, we will start the mock with Indianapolis’ first selection on Day 2 in the second round at No. 42 overall.

SKOL Search: Predicting the Vikings 2022 NFL draft class

It’s time to lock in the draft class predictions.

On Monday, I wrote about what I would do with the Vikings draft class. It went a different direction than I was expecting, but it ended up looking really good.

For this mock draft, there isn’t a lot we can surmise from Kwesi Adofo-Mensah. However, I can confidently predict he will do three things

  1. Target premium positions with premium picks
  2. Maximize the market
  3. Select younger players with premium picks

This is strictly projection based on how the organizations Adofo-Mensah previously worked for operated. It is something that I feel confident in because of his background and belief in analytics and data.

This mock draft will be made with those things in mind. But also keep this in mind, there can be selections that happen outside of these parameters based on how the board falls and if the talent value is too good to pass up.

After two months of focusing on exploring different possibilities, it’s time to predict. Here is my best projection for how the Vikings will draft this upcoming weekend using The Draft Network’s Mock Draft Simulator.

Ravens use best player available strategy in latest full 2022 7-round mock draft

The Ravens use the best player available strategy in our latest seven-round mock draft

The Baltimore Ravens will have ample opportunities to add talent to their roster over 2022 draft weekend. They will start the festivities with 10 draft picks, including nine in the first four rounds. That makes for a treasure trove of selections, and plenty of options as to what they could do with them.

One of the strategies that Baltimore has employed over the course of their franchise history is selecting the best players available, regardless of need. Recent examples of this include cornerback Marlon Humphrey and running back J.K. Dobbins, both picks that have turned out extremely well for the franchise.

Below we look at a full Ravens 2022 seven-round mock draft where the team uses the best player available strategy.

Texans should consider UAB edge rusher Alex Wright in the 2022 NFL draft

The Houston Texans should take a look at former UAB defensive end Alex Wright if they need to prepare for the future along the edge.

The Houston Texans need to prepare for the future at edge rusher, and they have many chances to do so in the 2022 NFL draft.

While Oregon defensive end Kayvon Thibodeaux, Florida State defensive end Jermaine Johnson, and Georgia defensive end Travon Walker figure to garner attention for one of Houston’s twin first-round selections, the Texans can still build for the future at the position later on in the draft.

One edge defender in the draft who had the highest pass rush win rate among eligible 2022 draft class members is former UAB defensive end Alex Wright, who is one of Pro Football Focus’ Ben Linsey’s “guys” heading into the draft.

Wright has pretty much everything an NFL team would want in a developmental edge prospect who will likely come off the board somewhere in the third to fourth round range. 

The size and length are there for Wright to be an every-down player at 6-foot-5 and 274 pounds with 34-inch arms. His production across the past three seasons at UAB was also impressive, albeit against less-than-stellar competition. Wright’s 19.9% pressure rate in 2021 ranked first among FBS edge rushers in this year’s draft class.

Linsey freely admits that Wright won’t “immediately step in as a high-end starter,” but the beauty is Houston doesn’t need him to.

Defensive end Jonathan Greenard led the Texans last season with 8.0 sacks and figures to be the Texans’ lead edge rusher in 2022 as well. Greenard is entering the third year of his four-year rookie contract. Whether Houston decides to move on from Greenard or extend him, it would behoove them to add a defensive end who can develop behind the scenes with no pressure.

Even if Houston picks a top-5 edge rusher on day one of the draft, by 2024, Houston could have a formidable tandem with the top-5 edge rusher and a more developed Wright.

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