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Field Yates picks favorite draft picks

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ben

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Seven rounds, 36 great picks: Yates' favorite selections from the 2025 NFL draft

Jihaad Campbell at No. 31? Will Johnson in Round 2? Cam Skattebo and Elic Ayomanor on Day 3? Field Yates has the best picks in every round.
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two Canes (including X in honorable mention as top undrafted steal):

Damien Martinez, RB, Seattle Seahawks (No. 223)

The strength of this running back class will be a theme for the next few players, as Martinez deserved to go higher based on his tape alone from Oregon State and Miami. He is rugged, powerful and showed very good stamina to hold up and affect the game late in the fourth quarter. While not a huge home run threat or pass catcher, Martinez can chew up tough yards as a depth option behind Kenneth Walker III and Zach Charbonnet.


Xavier Restrepo, WR, Tennessee Titans

I had affinity for Restrepo in the predraft process, though his draft stock plummeted after a 40-yard dash of around 4.8 seconds at Miami's pro day. But what he lacks in top-end physical tools, he makes up for in route running, consistency, play strength and clutch production. Now, he's reuniting with his college quarterback in Tennessee. Ward helped Restrepo become Miami's all-time leading receiver in receptions and yards this past season.
 
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“Showed great stamina”

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gacaneaddict said:
Merritt or Dawson? Also Martinez was good as a pass catcher. I think I remember 1 drop. 17 catches for 204 yards. Am I missing something?
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Yeah I didn’t even get to the part about Martinez being a very good pass catcher

I agree he’s a huge bargain for the Seahawks but Field shoulda stopped there

I despise Marios approach to running back carries

Inevitably some ****head responds “derp it saves them!”

And I just look at the Syracuse game where he was literally unstoppable and think “save them for what exactly?”
 
JHallCanes said:
Yeah I didn’t even get to the part about Martinez being a very good pass catcher

I agree he’s a huge bargain for the Seahawks but Field shoulda stopped there

I despise Marios approach to running back carries

Inevitably some ****head responds “derp it saves them!”

And I just look at the Syracuse game where he was literally unstoppable and think “save them for what exactly?”
Click to expand...
Agree with you that he was eating in the Syracuse game, but he averaged 38 snaps on the year (not including Ball St and FAMU) and had a season high 51 the week before against Wake Forest so not sure if Martinez felt gassed even though he didn't look it
 
gacaneaddict said:
Merritt or Dawson? Also Martinez was good as a pass catcher. I think I remember 1 drop. 17 catches for 204 yards. Am I missing something?
Click to expand...
Martinez was excellent as a receiver out of the backfield. I only remember one drop as well. He seemed very natural and fluid, whereas Fletcher looked more awkward and cumbersome when he was targeted out of the backfield. Im not trying to knock Fletcher, but just using him as a comparison. I thought Martinez was our best running back as a pass catcher since Duke Johnson. But what do I know, all these draft experts say he sucks as a pass catcher and has suspect hands.
 
JHallCanes said:
Yeah I didn’t even get to the part about Martinez being a very good pass catcher

I agree he’s a huge bargain for the Seahawks but Field shoulda stopped there

I despise Marios approach to running back carries

Inevitably some ****head responds “derp it saves them!”

And I just look at the Syracuse game where he was literally unstoppable and think “save them for what exactly?”
Click to expand...
I'm curious if anyone tracks statistics during the game.
 
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Tonio said:
Agree with you that he was eating in the Syracuse game, but he averaged 38 snaps on the year (not including Ball St and FAMU) and had a season high 51 the week before against Wake Forest so not sure if Martinez felt gassed even though he didn't look it
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Yeah don’t get me wrong I’m all for keeping guys fresh

But 10 carries in the most critical game of the season is something that’s just not right, especially up the way we were

I’ll get over it someday though
 
cway313 said:
I'm curious if anyone tracks statistics during the game.
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There was a pre-determined aspect to our offense that drove me nuts

The mystery behind our second quarter struggles was not really a mystery

Tough to criticize an offense as good as ours but maybe we could have rested players at the end of the game and not be in dogfights every week if we had just kept on the gas
 
He is a “bell cow” back… I think he really liked it here and didn’t want to transfer again but the splitting carries wasn’t an idea situation “for him”. It’s a tough spot to be in to have really good young guys and you want to keep them in the fold. But there was a need to satisfy the roster to an extent.

He could’ve put up numbers to make him at least a 2nd rounder easy. Hampton from UNC had 1,600 yards at 5.9 a carry. Dame had 1,000 yards at 5.7 yards a carry. He had the ability and we had the offensive line for him to do better numbers than what Hampton put up.
 
Tonio said:
Agree with you that he was eating in the Syracuse game, but he averaged 38 snaps on the year (not including Ball St and FAMU) and had a season high 51 the week before against Wake Forest so not sure if Martinez felt gassed even though he didn't look it
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Gassed? From 51 snaps?

Definitely not. I will accept a minor injury but not gassed.

The most likely scenario is Dawson and/or Mario’s poor management and need to rotate back and not feeding the hot hand.

That or a possible conclusion that Martinez had a Cam-esque repsonse of “I will only play for X snaps or time to prevent injury”
 
FuriousStyles said:
He is a “bell cow” back… I think he really liked it here and didn’t want to transfer again but the splitting carries wasn’t an idea situation “for him”. It’s a tough spot to be in to have really good young guys and you want to keep them in the fold. But there was a need to satisfy the roster to an extent.

He could’ve put up numbers to make him at least a 2nd rounder easy. Hampton from UNC had 1,600 yards at 5.9 a carry. Dame had 1,000 yards at 5.7 yards a carry. He had the ability and we had the offensive line for him to do better numbers than what Hampton put up.
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Some are in for a rude awakening if Fletcher isn’t much improved. He wasn't good enough for a 50/50 or even a 60/40 split. Martinez averaged almost a full yard more per carry.
 
JHallCanes said:
Yeah I didn’t even get to the part about Martinez being a very good pass catcher

I agree he’s a huge bargain for the Seahawks but Field shoulda stopped there

I despise Marios approach to running back carries

Inevitably some ****head responds “derp it saves them!”

And I just look at the Syracuse game where he was literally unstoppable and think “save them for what exactly?”
Click to expand...
Syracuse couldn't stop him
 
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cway313 said:
Some are in for a rude awakening if Fletcher isn’t much improved. He wasn't good enough for a 50/50 or even a 60/40 split. Martinez averaged almost a full yard more per carry.
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And it took Martinez a bit to get comfortable in our offense

Could argue by the end of the season other than Cam he was our best player on offense
 
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