Joe is a big fan of CBS and NFL Network analyst Charles Davis. But over the weekend, Joe had to shake his head with his prediction.
Davis has his mock draft/guessing game and there was a show on the NFL Network based on his mock. He has the Bucs taking Michigan edge rusher David Ojabo at No. 27.
There is a hitch here, however. Ojabo blew out his Achilles at Michigan’s Pro Day last month. Doctors claim he can bounce back as quick as Cam Akers did with the Rams, a six-month rehab. Joe thinks that is wishful thinking at best. What Akers did is more a medical miracle than the norm.
During the broadcast on NFL Network, noted Ronde Barber/Bucs hater and Eaglesgirl fetching Colleen Wolfe, who hosted the show, yelped in glee how Davis picked the Bucs to select “David Ojabo to play opposite Shaquille Barrett!”
Apparently, Wolfe needs to be brought up to speed on a couple of items. It seems Wolfe isn’t aware of who the Bucs selected in the first round last year, that would be edge rusher Joe Tryon-Shoyinka. Additionally, someone needs to inform Wolfe that Ojabo likely isn’t playing anywhere this fall as he rehabs his blown Achilles.
Joe really, really doesn’t like this selection (in the first round). The Bucs are trying to win a Super Bowl. Shouldn’t the Bucs be trying to get a guy who can have an impact this year? Otherwise, why not trade the pick for a live body who has already demonstrated he can get on the field?
If this Ojabo somehow fell to the Bucs at No. 60 it would be easier to swallow than at No. 27. Remember, rookie edge rushers rarely have an impact. So with Ojabo highly unlikely to take a snap this year, his rookie year will technically be in 2023 so it would probably not be until 2024 before Ojabo would have any sort of measurable impact with the Bucs.
(Yeah, it is cool to think of Ojabo and JTS and Shaq together terrorizing quarterbacks.)
Joe thinks we have first-hand knowledge of what a blown Achilles can do to a player. O.J. Howard looked like he was going to have a helluva 2020 until he tore his Achilles in the fourth game against the Chargers. When he tried to return last season, he was a shell of his former self.
For Joe, with so much on the line this fall, rolling the dice on a guy in the first round who is damaged goods is way too much of a gamble.
Second round? Maybe.
Third round? Sure.
First round? No.
Drafting a dude with a blown Achilles at No. 27 smells too much like guitar-strummin,’ gun-totin’ Da’Quan Bowers.
Before his Achilles injury, Ojabo was a total gamewrecker. After? Who knows?
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