BTB Community Mock '14: KC, Cincinnati and San Diego Play Off Of Each Other

With the departure of Tyson Jackson to Atlanta, the Chiefs have a void to fill at the 5 tech. A mountain of a man, standing 6'6 and weighting 310 lbs, to put it simply, Hageman is a freak. Along with his athletic ability, he is seen a bit as an inspirational character, thanks to his very rough upbringing. Hageman has stayed clean at his time in Minnesota, earning 3rd-Team All-American honors and being voted team captain in 2013.
Hageman managed to show off his athletic ability back in February posting very good numbers of his explosive lower body, with a 35.5 vertical jump, 114 inch broad jump, and a 7.87 three cone. 
Hageman is coming off a good year in 2013 with 38 tackles, 2 sacks, an interception, and a team leading 13 tackles for loss. He was often the main and sometimes only focus of teams offenses throughout the season. He has a good first step for a man of his stature, allowing him to quickly get up field a cause chaos in the backfield. While showing off "quick twitch" ability, consistency and technique have held him back from being truly great.
Projecting best as a 5 tech in the NFL, Hageman would be a great fit for an already great defense. While a bit raw, the Chiefs should be able to bring out the best in him, allowing him to become an impactful 5 tech. Hageman is your classic boom or bust pick, at this point in the draft the risk is well worth it.

The Bengals are a team with several needs as they try to move forward from their recent run of making the playoffs and not making much noise in them. Cincinnati has a desperate need at the cornerback position and stays in-state with the incredibly speedy Roby. He can play tight man and mirror his opponent all over the field; which is necessary in a division with Josh Gordon.

The Chargers top 4 needs appear to be:

1.       CB

2.       DT

3.       OLB

4.       WR

Since I am serving as the General Manager, I will say a few words as to my opinion of the Role the GM should play in the Draft.  The GM's job is to be the facilitator for the Draft room team and he should have a philosophy that drives his vision of what it takes to win it all.  For me that philosophy is as follows:

1.       Championships are won first and foremost with dominate interior play, and that interior is built from the inside out.

2.       Positional priority is built around that philosophy that you build from inside out, with the one exception being the Quarterback.

3.       The value of the 22 positions in my opinion are: QB, LT/DT, LG/DT, C/LE, RG/RE, LG/CB, WR/CB, WR/MLB, TE/SLB, SLOT WR/WLB, FS/SS, RB

4.       The draft pick will be a combination of highest draft position, Position priority, and need. Anyone who thinks BPA is the end-all/be-all is just not thinking clearly. Suppose you have a young Payton Manning and the top rated player on the board is Andrew Luck but the 2^nd rated player is JJ Watt. Would anyone pick Luck over Watt since you already have Payton Manning?

5.       Have a large number of defensive interior players that can be rotated to keep them fresh in the 4^th quarter.

6.       You have to be able to...run the ball and protect the passer (Offensive Line), then stop the run, and sack the passer (Defensive Line). This means the offensive line should be slightly favored over the defensive line.

The GM hires people who he can rely on to know more about their specialty or job than he does and then rely on them to fight for their position. The key people are the scouts and the Director of Scouting, the position coaches, the head coach, the director of player personnel, and possible others from the front office.

The scouts put together the draft board and then the draft room team will fight for their guys based upon "scheme fit", positional priority and needs until consensus is reached.

Now having said all that,  the order of the Chargers needs was CB, DT, OLB, and WR, and the way this draft unfolded had  Kyle Fuller as the highest rated Corner left at 27^th BPA, it had Timmy Jernigan as the 19^th BPA rated on the board for the DT position, it had  Kyle Van Noy as the 44^th BPA for the OLB position and Brandon Cooks as the 20^th BPA for the WR position.

Jernigan was the 19^th BPA, and even though CB was listed as the biggest need, the fact that as the GM my philosophy is to build the team by starting in the trenches and the DT is one of the highest priorities in that priority because it is from the inside-out in the trenches, the choice became clear to pick Jernigan.