Perfect matches: Handpicking players for certain teams in the 2017 NFL Draft
Some players just seem destined for certain teams. Tom Brady is a prime example. Can you imagine him on any other team than the Patriots? The same goes for the likes of Emmitt Smith, Derrick Brooks or Reggie Wayne, for instance.
Welcome to the Yardbarker roundtable, where we're throwing the rules of the NFL Draft out the window and playing matchmaker instead. We sought to find the absolute perfect professional homes for a few soon-to-be NFLers, asking our panelsts:
Don't think about draft order. If you could handpick one player in the draft and match him with the perfect team, who would it be and which team would you place him with?
Mike Tunison: Christian McCaffrey and the Patriots. Even if the Pats had a first-round pick, McCaffrey wouldn't fall that far, plus New England already signed Rex Burkhead, but c'mon. It's so on-brand for them, it has to happen.
Shiloh Carder: I would like to see Patrick Mahomes in Houston with the Texans. He may not turn into anything, but I loved watching Mahomes play in college and Houston needs a quarterback. He'd get a shot, and a Texas kid who played high school, college and in the NFL in the Lone Star State would be pretty sweet.
David Matthews: As a great tackler with a mean streak, Reuben Foster has AFC North written all over him. The Bengals at No. 9 makes some sense, but, who are we kidding? Reuben Foster belongs on the Ravens. But, given his positive drug test due to a diluted sample, he might slip all the way to the Steelers at No. 30 and frustrate the rest of the league for the next decade.
Sam Greszes: I've said that the Bears were a patchwork team that seems to be held together with duck tape and mustard. There's a certain player in this draft who would be able to fill a lot of those holes on both sides of the ball: Michigan's Jabrill Peppers. He was the most dynamic player in college football last year, and it wasn't close in my opinion. Putting him on the Bears would give them much-needed flexibility on the defensive side of the ball and even allow for some trick plays on the offensive side. If the Bears are going to crash and burn this year, Jabrill Peppers would at least make the crash fun to watch.
Daniel Tran: The Pittsburgh Steelers love hard-hitting linebackers. Reuben Foster is a hard-hitting linebacker. This is a perfect partnership that make Turk and J.D. from "Scrubs" look like Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton. The Steelers lost inside linebacker Lawrence Timmons and need someone to pair with Ryan Shazier in the middle. Foster made a name for himself with his bone-crushing tackles and explosive speed. If anyone fits the bill of a Steeler linebacker in this draft, it's Foster.
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