I think they see depth at the offensive line in this draft.
If Mallett really is like Marino like I’ve heard, then I could give it a go. Mallett doesn’t seem to have many of the things Harbaugh has gone on record as saying he wants too see in a QB, “athletic instincts” for one. I don’t mind a pocket passer, but Mallett looks like a hunk of driftwood stuck in the sand when in the pocket.
Even if he goes to another team I hope I’m wrong when I say he reminds me of Ryan Leaf.
Plus, he looks too much like Andris Beidrins for comfort.
So as for the Browns, I generally like the trade down - if Green or Peterson were there, I might not want to - but I don’t think Jones was worth more than a late first, 2nd, 4th, and 1st and 4th next year.
But I don’t like trading a high third back to move from #27 to #21 to snag Phil Taylor. I guess it might be worth it if we knew the Steelers wanted to pick up their nose tackle of the future there with Hampton aging, otherwise I’d rather have just waited at #27 and picked up Marvin Austin or Bowers or Cam Heyward or Wilkerson.
Then again I’m also not a fan of Juaron and the idea of a 2-gap 4-3 with no real edge rushers on this team sounds like the most boring defense ever. They may be able to stop the run, but the QB is going to have all day.
Anyway, I just don’t see the need to trade up one of the highest picks in the third (which seems like a bit much to much up 6 slots in the 20s) to draft a guy who’s as close to a pure 3-4 NT as you get, when the only capable d-lineman on the team already fits that mold. Are they going to start 2 330-340 pound DTs or did they spend a pick a nose that will split time with the only position on the D-line we were okay at anyway?
I guess I can hope that Bowers can play, and the Browns snag him a few picks down in the second, because there is no speed or explosiveness at all on the d-line.
The Bengals, Bills, Niners, or Cardinals are going to be very happy, IMO, when they pick up Andy Dalton in the second round.
Taylor played in the 4-3 in college, so I’m confident he’ll be fine even if he’s built like a NT. I agree that DE is a weakness right now, but even if they don’t address it, they’ll probably be playing in the Nickel most of the time and sending DBs and LBs at the quarterback, so the pass rush should be sufficient. Stopping the run is the bigger concern in my eyes.
Now they just need someone to throw it to him. I thought for sure they’d trade up to get Dalton after Ponder went to the Vikings. Jay Gruden likes Dalton. They might have to trade up to get him before the Bills.
I’m actually happy the Bills didn’t take a QB in the first round. Fitzpatrick isn’t going to turn into Joe Montana, but they have enough other needs that it didn’t make sense to me to reach for one of the other QB prospects at 3. There will be other options at the position via free agency or other drafts (not that I hope they’ll be in a position to get Luck next year).
Yeah, I was surprised the Seahawks passed on him too. Especially to go and pick Carpenter instead. Are they that high on Wallace or do they figure to stink bad enough to have a shot at Luck next year? Kinda’ hard to be that bad, playing in the NFC West; you’ll end up with a few wins by accident.
I also thought the Browns were smart to get a truck load of picks from Atlanta for the #6 spot. They need more players than just Julio Jones. And so I was also scratching my head at trading the 3rd round pick to move up 6 spots for a guy I never heard of. I hope he can play.
I’m very curious to see what the Browns do today. Another DL (I’m thinking Bowers) in the 2nd round?
As a Packer fan, let me just add that I am not at all pleased that Nick Fairly dropped to the Lions.
Wallace is gone. They paid a high price for Charlie Whitehurst last year and it makes sense they’re not giving up on him yet. In fact it’s starting to sound like Hasselbeck won’t be back.
Let me just say that if the Bears don’t concede their 4th round pick to the Ravens like they had agreed, their a bunch of slimy bastards as well as incompetent. They had an agreement, and, through their own fault, they didn’t follow through on it. It’s a shitty thing to do, and if they have a shred of honor, they’d do as they promised. Not that I respect the organization all that much, but if they dont make it right, I hope that no other team trusts them again.
Anyone want to take a stab at a quick 2nd round mock?
I want Bowers or Little for the browns. I’d want Marvin Austin too, except it’d be kind of silly to stack up at DT so much with no DEs and WRs.
Listening to the Chargers brass on the radio, they all admitted that they had Jordan rated about equal with Liuget; but they think that Corey is the better run-stuffer and more complete, while Jordan is more of a pass-rush specialist. And playing in the AFC West with Oakland and KC’s running games, we needed a guy to help stuff the run (who, hopefully, will also open things up for English and Phillips).
I can tell you that most Charger fans were hoping for Jordan, but that’s probably more due to Pac-10 homerism than anything else. Liuget just wasn’t a known commodity to a lot of people out here.
Thanks. Shows how much attention I pay to Seattle. Giving up the equivalent of an end 2nd round pick is indeed quite a lot. I just don’t see the value though and wonder if the Seahawks are indulging in a sunk cost fallacy. The fans at the time seemed happy about it, though. Whitehurst’s college career is not much to get excited over: From his final year at Clemson. (his Junior year, was bad, his sophomore year was quite good.)
11 games, 227/338 (67.2%), 2474 yds, 224.9 yd/G, 7.3 yd/A, 11 TD, 10 INT, 20 Sacks. The completion percentage is nice, I guess.
DYAR and DVOA both hate him, lumping him in with the Favre’s and Grossman’s of the world. His sack rate is much lower than Hasselbeck’s, FWIW. Big sample size problem though. I just don’t see why you wouldn’t upgrade if you could, and I thought that Dalton would be a nifty upgrade.
Hey, maybe he’s the next Matt Schaub; I just don’t see it. But clearly Seattle’s front office does, and that’s why they do this for a living and I don’t.
Come to me, Ras-I Dowling, come to me. Be a Texan.
Rahim Moore, Aaron Williams, or Akeem Ayers wouldn’t be too bad either. Doubt any of those will still be there when the Texans come up to pick. Zierlein and Granato were going on this morning about Jabaal Sheard being a possibility too, though I don’t see how they can avoid a DB pick in the 2nd round. I’m also not thrilled about a guy described as:
Justin Houston would be interesting, as they still could use a pass rusher, assuming they can get pass the whole failed drug test thing. Large SackSEER rating, FWIW.
PFT’s second round mock has the Browns getting Bowers and Little with their 2 2nd rounders. I would be pretty happy if that went down.
Wouldn’t mind Brooks at DE either, I guess he fits what we’re looking for at DE.
My pet peeve of the draft is fans, and even analysts who really should know better, talking about teams “trading down.” Before the draft a GM might think that there is no one likely to be available at their draft spot that the team needs who warrants being picked that high, and will sacrifice quality for quantity of draft picks.
This does not happen during the draft. I’m sure Minnesota didn’t feel that they needed to pull the trigger on Christian Ponder at #12, but they couldn’t call 31 other teams and try to negotiate a deal to move down. Teams don’t trade down - other teams trade up. Cleveland, when they got on the clock at pick #6, didn’t pick up the phone and happen to call Atlanta first and start horse-trading. Atlanta saw their opportunity and called Cleveland and made an offer. Maybe they negotiated for a minute or two, but I’ll bet the original offer was pretty close to what Cleveland ended up with.
That said, you just know tonight you’re going to hear “Team X really likes player Y, but he’ll be available ten picks from now. They should trade down.” GAH!
Yeah, I hate that too. People talk about it as if “trade down” is a checkbox on your draft card and you can just do it at will. I’m sure every team will listen to offers for every pick - they just don’t come through often.
I’d rather the Bengals focus on safety (Morris) and offensive line for their picks tonight and sign an FA vet QB rather than waste a pick on Dalton. Or alternatively, maybe the AJ Green pick and the promise to release Ocho-Doucho will be enough to lure Palmer back (along with having a new o-coordinator, something they should have changed three years ago).