I think he’s a casualty of the modern running game. He’s quick but not quick enough to cover the backside gap on cutback runs. That wouldn’t make him undraftable but drops him on the boards for 4-3 teams. I think for 3-4 teams he isn’t regarded as strong enough to warrant a high pick. Having said that though, I would have thought he’d have gone by now. And of course the run-stopping DT doesn’t play as many snaps these days as they used to.
Cool, the 49ers took Chris Borland, who I actually had ranked higher than Brown at ILB. That also means they wont be taking the potato named Shane Skov out of Stanford. It’s good to see them filling in the needs here.
There must be something big. Although, the Patriots using their 1st on a guy with two. ACL tears (one on each knee, thank you) blows my mind, so the red flag on Nix can’t be injury, can it? It has to be his playing style or a legal/drug/discipline problem, but I can’t find anything on the web yet.
Wow, Spencer Long! Another of my guys is gone, but I think he’s overdrafted here because of the medical, but might be a rock.
ETA: Answering the jersey/name question
Myy take on it was that we had to pay the piper for the Super Bowl teams these past few years a bit with all the cap mortgaging they had done. I agree that we need to make some strong moves while Ben is around and that was a big part of Haley’s offensive strategy last year. Keeping him upright and healthy with the quick passing game (which I didn’t think would suit Ben nor our o-line but I’ve changed my tune).
Having Munchak aboard as line coach is expected to make a big difference and they have drafted differently these last two seasons. Lebeau even said outright that Shazier and Tuitt are expected to be on the field early and often. That’s not something you hear from our coaches very often! He also said he thinks people are underestimating some of the cornerbacks already on the roster and he doesn’t feel they need one as badly as has been portrayed.
Let’s hope so…
Last year they showed how they did it. They basically have a hotpress and all the needed materials pre-made and literally create the jersies on the spot. I think the crew for that gets the names even before Goodell.
Could be right, but even as a tweener it’s amazing that the “experts” could be this wrong on a guy. It’s not like any of that is some big secret. I didn’t watch much tape on him because as a projected 3-4 NT he’s not a great fit for the Bears traditional style, but we’re going to need some help at the tilt DT spot and he can do big fat guy things there just fine.
I’m guessing the medical went really bad, he had offseason surgery.
Browns need an ILB pretty badly, with no good second starter, and the only competent starter being pretty old. I thought they’d take Chris Borland here, but they took Christian Kirksey, listed as an OLB. Anyone know anything about him? Maybe he’ll play 3-4 ILB? Because they have 6 pretty good OLBs and only 1 ILB.
The 49ers use a nose tackle in their base defense, but sub him out for nickel. They have used 4th Round picks for those guys, so if Nix is still around tomorrow I could see him going to SF.
I watched a lot of clips early hoping he’d be another Casey Hampton but soon realized he wasn’t a first-round option for us. Stephen White did a nice write-up which made me think he’d go higher but looking now on Twitter some of the draftniks are saying teams are concerned about his injury AND his social media use. I don’t know what to make of that.
There he goes… to the Texans. Their D-Line is scary enough already.
I remember hearing people talk about the social media thing in the run up over the past week. Basically accusing him of wanting to be a star more than a football player, sounds like a stupid reason but I actually buy that some.
Speaking of which the Bears grabbed Will Sutton. Not a guy that I studied. According to the draft boards this was another 1 round reach by Emery. I think I recall hearing someone talk him up as a potential beast as a sleeper, might have been Kiper’s podcast, but I’m not sure a 3rd round pick is a sleeper.
Anyways, I’m glad we’re focusing on the DT positions heavily, very important. If we get Desir in the 4th I’ll feel pretty good about the positions we addressed even if the players chosen feel like poor values based on the media’s perception.
You can’t have Desir, I want Desir. 
Speaking of Desir… I have a buddy at his draft “party” tonight. Friend of sibling or something like that.
Burleson, signed to be the Browns #2 QB, just broke his arm.
I don’t get the Mike Evans Love. He looks slow and stiff to me. Maybe it was just the highlights i saw, but that is all I have on him, and i wasn’t all that impressed. Watkins has a fluidity about him, and I love how he runs and moves. Evans? Not seeing it. He is tall, but that’s it. Weegie Thompson was tall, too. HA!
As for what the Bills paid for Watkins, it makes sense only if EJ Manual is a stud, and I don’t see that. Maybe the Bills really think he is a great QB, and they certainly are spending like he is, but i agree…they gave up a lot for a receiver to match with a QB that to me, the jury is still out on.
Yes, let’s hope. What frustrates me is that Lebeau is in his 70’s, and each year he is coaching is just delaying the inevitable. So, drafting players to develop in his system doesn’t make sense anymore. So, they draft a second number one LB for the second straight year, which is supposed to be the hardest position to learn in Lebeau’s system.
Not a good sign, and not a ringing endorsement of who is on the roster already, regardless of what people have been saying.
Tuitt may have been a good pick, although my friends were all telling me I was crazy when I said the Steelers should have traided up to get Donald from Pitt in the first. "We don’t need a D-lineman! We need a CB and WR! Yeah? Well, now we have a LB and a D-lineman, and I would have rather have Donald.
And what else is Lebeau supposed to say about their DB’s? They suck? Of course not. But they do. And every team with a QB that can go downfield exploits our secondary.
We are going into 2014 with Gay and Taylor as our CB’s? Not good. They signed Devin Smith in January, and he was an UFA for the Cowboys in 2013. What happened to their own 5th round pick from last year? Terry Hawthorn, CB illinois? He was cut. This is what I am talking about with their poor drafting. They cut a 5th rounder, and then sign an UFA from the Cowboys in January. Hawthorne was worked out by the Patriots, but I don’t know where he ended up, if anywhere.
I don’t know. I started looking at each draft pick in the Tomlin/Colbert era, and in the first two seasons they drafted, not one player was left on the roster. I need to finish this, and as part of this, I am going to look at other players taken after the Steelers selected…
I have a feeling it will make me sick.
Another trade back from the 49ers. I’ma gonna need a breakdown of their haul at the end of the day to see exactly what I’m getting. At least I know they’re going to use #100 at the end of the 3rd and not trade it (they can’t).
And the Steelers take
A RB in the 3rd.
WHY???
At least he did it during the OTA’s. The Browns were one of the healthiest teams in the league last year. As a fan of one of the worst, let me add a little “WWWWAaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhh”