NFL Draft or Hey Gazoo!! your presence is requested

I wanted to ask specifically about the Niners, but that seemed selfish. So who’s improved, who screwed up. That includes draft, trades & releases.

As for my thoughts:

I think the 49ers have meade great improvements by releasing Ken Norton Jr. and trading up for Andre Carter. They seem to be really shoring up our defense. I think resigning Stubblefield is a great idea. He and Bryant Young made a great 1-2 punch, and am looking forward to stopping the inside run.

The problem I see: Running Back

I am happy with the first and second round picks.

First round: DT Casey Hampton from Texas
probable NT to replace Joel Steed, allowing Kimo Van Oelhoffen to shift to DT. That’s very good, Kimo is better suited as a DT than a NT. I have very high hopes for Hampton.

Second Round: LB Kendrell Bell from Georgia
Everything I’ve read about this guy makes me very anxious to see him in the black&gold. We lost Levon Kirkland in the off season, Even though Kirk is in the latter stages of his career, he was a leader and I’m sorry to see him go. I’m hoping that this Bell can at least fill part of his shoes.(We also signed Mike Jones from the Rams – Any St Louis fans care to offer up any opinions on this guy? I gotta admit I don’t know a while lot about him, other than his TD saving tackle in the super bowl.)

Also, we signed DB Mike Logan from Jax. Good move, I gotta say that having Brent Alexander as a starter on our club didn’t exactly thrill me.

Our defense is going to be BRUTAL this year. More so than last year now that we can play the 3-4 the way it is supposed to be played, instead of having a DT try to play NT. Better front line, better secondary, LBs – well, the verdict is still out. But even if this Bell turns out to be a bust (which I doubt) Earl Holmes, Jason Gilden, and Joy Porter can still hold their own. If this Bell proves to be a player… Oh man, we are gonna decapitate some offenses this year.

The rest of our picks, I’m not so sure about. Another LB, DL, 2 OL. We’ll have to see on those guys.

We have some new OL also. Namely, we signed Jeff Hartings from Detroit. Losing Dermonti Dawson hurt, but he was injured for most of last year anyway, and this Hartings is going to be a huge step up from Tom Myslinsk.i

We also have an assload of running backs. HBs Bettis, Fuamatu-Ma’afala, Richard Huntly, Amos Zeroue, and FBs Dan Krieder and Jon Whitman. I’d be surprised if we didn’t try to unload Huntley before the season starts. He’s a good, strong, pounding runner – but has fumble problems.

Our WRs are solid (assuming that our problem area is improving…)

Problem Area (surprise, surprise): Kordell, Are you going to do something this year? :mad:

sigh My Redskins did not do as well as I’d hoped.

We needed wideouts, Danny. NOT another CB (does this mean we’ve finally given up on Deion?), and why the HELL do we now have another QB??? Husak was a fine 3rd stringer.

We also needed someone to replace Tre…well, we didn’t get that, did we.

Personally, I would have also gone with Santana Moss over Gardner…Moss would have been a NICE replacement for James Thrash.

sigh I’m not feeling real good about next season…

I haven’t had a chance to take a real good luck at the full draft results yet. (Had a weekend long trivia contest and am still recovering.) But here’s a few thoughts on what I did see:

San Diego Chargers - Looks to me like they made huge strides with this draft. I think Brees will be a better NFL QB than Vick, and with Flutie they can let him learn and don’t have to rush him in. Getting Tim Dwight as part the trade is a huge bonus as well.

Miami Dolphins - I like their first two picks a lot, but they’re both former Badgers so I may be biased. Their secondary is actually going to be even better next year. Wow. A big WR is a plus and a good QB to groom for the future.

Minnesota Vikings - I don’t think there is a better fit between player and team than Bennett with the Vikings.

Carolina Panthers - Weineke in the fourth round is a good pick for them. Yeah, he’s almost 29, but that also means he already has the maturity level of a veteran. I think he’ll do very well.

I’ll look into things a little more tomorrow and let you know my thoughts. Now it’s time for some shut eye. (Only slept 3 1/2 hours from when I woke on Friday morning until midnight on Sunday because of the contest.)

Falcon, as a fellow 'Skin’s fan I have to disagree that they didn’t need another CB. Deion is way past his prime, and Green is on his way out as well. Another young CB in there has the best of both worlds. 2 class A CB’s to learn from and a soon to be great semi-rookie in Bailey to bond and grow with.

We do need Wideouts, but I thought they grabbed at least one. Didn’t they? With Westbrook healthy again and Connell hopefully looking to improve on last seasons ok performance, I think they’ve got something to build on.

And as far as QB, the sooner they can get rid of George the better. Too bad Norv isn’t around to nurture the new QB.

But aside from all the arguments that could stem from the above, isn’t Shottenheimer famous for his dedication to the running game? Let’s hope Davis has a good, injury free year.

soulmurk -

There weren’t any GREAT CB’s in the draft. Deion’s gone, I agree, but Darryl is still one of the best CBs in the game.

As for the QB…I agree we need to get rid of George. But WHY pick up another 3rd stringer? George is here for the year. We all know that. We have Dilfer as a backup, who, while not spectacular, is at least better than George. Don’t really see the need.

We picked up Gardner and one other wideout. I still maintain Santana Moss would have been a better pick. Right now our ONLY punt returner is Deion. Whee. And right now, our WR’s SUCK. Westbrook will be out for the year by game 3, we let Fryar go, Thrash left, Centers (top receiver last year) is gone…

And we STILL need someone to replace Tre Johnson.

I like what my Seahawks did.

But I actually think that Holmgren really thought that Terrell and Robinson would both be on the board after we traded down with the 9ers. Robinson doesn’t sound like the kind of guy that Mike would choose out of the two. The Bears just threw us a curve by taking Terrell, over Deuce like everyone expected.

Here were my teams picks:

Koren Robinson - WR - NCState
Kind of a project guy. Randy Moss like, great upside and physical skills but could also very easily make an easy exit from the NFL because his work ethic is highly questioned. (Can anyone say Jerry Rice?)

Steve Hutchinson - OG - Michigan
Great value for the 17th pick. Offensive line is not our most glaring problem, but with the departure of Pete Kendell and the value at 17, fantastic pick. Plus, everyone says he is one MEAN SON OF A BITCH!

Ken Lucas - CB - Mississippi
This one kind of surprised me. Why would we take this Lucas guy when Fred Smoot, projected first rounder, was still on the board in round 2? Oh, well. In Mike I trust!

Heath Evans - FB - Auburn
This one was also a head scratcher. We tried to unload Watters becasuse we have too many people in the backfield. Then why the hell do we pick another one? The only answer. . .Watters might have to pack his bags soon. Otherwise I don’t get it. We filled 3 needs with our first three picks, but nothing to improve our horrid defense. Yes, we had a very active offseason, but guys like Kirkland and Randle aren’t going to last forever.

Other Picks:Orland Huff LB, Chris Fuller S, Floyd “Pork Chop” Womack OL, Alex Banister WR, Josh Booty QB, Harold Blackman CB, Dennis Norman OT, and Kris Kocurek DT.
::::We had a lot of picks:::::

Speaking as an Atlanta Falcons fan:

I am cautiously optimistic about the Michael Vick deal; however, my gut tells me that they will somehow find a way to completely ruin the poor kid.

And I still have absolutely no idea why they took a tight end with their second round pick! I am now completely convinced that Dan Reeves has some sort of infatuation with the tight end position (so to speak ;))

Maybe his Freudian slip is showing, I don’t know. At any rate, Go Team!!

What makes you say that? Just because Robert “I Have Another Owie” Smith retired leaving Doug Chapman and Moe Williams as the running backs?

We’ll scrape the cheese off of him and he’ll be just fine.

(Completely unrelated thought coming…)

The Twins play the Yankees this coming Mon/Tues/Wed. I can imagine a banner I’d like to see:

“Payroll? We don’t need no stinkin’ payroll!”

(Don’t forget that Kleinsasser kid!) Bennett is a speed back drafted by a speed team. This one will work out well, so long as Bennett can learn to catch the screen a little better.

stuffinb - the Niners draft looks okay. I wonder why they waited until the third round to grab a running back though. Who’s the projected starter at RB out there now?

They’re hoping to start the guy they just drafted though there is still speculation that Garrison Hearst may be able to contribute. Our Mini Camp is this friday, and we should hear more after that.

What really gets me is that here in the heart of the Bay Area most of the Niners moves have unimpressed the sports writers. I think most of the Niners defensive problems came from the lack of a pass rush, and a weekened ability against the run after Junior Bryant went down. The secondary was much improved in the second half of the season. Their goal was to shore up the defense first, then the OL, then RB. Though once the Raiders signed Garner I thought RB should have been a bigger priority.

Yeah, me too. I was surprised they let him go in the first place. Hearst seems to be quite a risky prospect (unless they know something the rest of us don’t), and any rookie is going to be a question mark.

Maybe they can work out a trade for one of the RB’s in Denver’s stable!

It was really his own fault. His production in the last five games, true to predicition, fell off sharply renewing questions of his durability and size. I thought Terry Jackson would drop down 15lbs and try for the position. but I haven’t seen any stories on it.

First off… If that Kleinsasser pick would have paid off I would have looked like a genius. Of course it didn’t and should be a good topic on draft day for a long time.

Anyway, I 'd like to see Bennett succeed but I don’t think he has the shiftiness that Robert Smith had. He kind of reminds me of a Travis Jervey.

Rysdad…What were the odds in Vegas against Denny taking 2 defensive guys much less 5??

Umm, sorry to burst your bubble, but Connell’s gone as well. He’s a Saint now.

Gazoo, what’s your take on the Steelers off season cuts/trades and their draft picks? I am optimistic, but I can never tell if my bias is showing. I’d like your objective opinion – you’ve shown yourself to be pretty knowledgeable.

Yeah, Gazoo…I’d be interested in your evaluation of the Redskins draft as well…

Hmm, well, they haven’t been as active in the market as I would have thought. They’ve signed a few of their own free agents but not much else. They lost Dawson, but I think he’s a mere shell of his former dominating self unfortunately.

Defensively, they should be just as good as last year if not better. That’s never been a problem for them.

Offensively, they need to get some receivers (I don’t think they’re as solid there as you seem to think, and apparently the front office doesn’t either as they’re looking at bringing Yancey “I Single-Handedly Got the Packers and the Colts Into the Playoffs With One Drop” Thigpen back). Of course, it’s hard to tell the talent there when the QB has plummetted so far so fast. Maybe they should just sign that high school kid that won the QB competition on Bettis’ TV Show!

Not sure why they drafted only one offensive skill player and that was with their last pick.

Do they have any room under the cap? They really do have some talent at RB and should try to trade one of Huntley, Bettis, Maafala for a decent QB or superstar receiver or just to clear some cap room in order to grab one in free agency (a tight end that can run faster Shelly Winters, unlike Bruener, wouldn’t hurt either). Until they do, they’re going to have to win too many games on the defensive side of the ball. That means they end up in the 8-8 or 9-7 region. IMHO.

First, the good news. I think they drafted very well. They grabbed both of their top two picks at points that many of the experts (well, Me and Mel Kiper anyway) thought they’d already be gone. They picked up 2 WRs, which is a good thing (see below), and a very talented CB which they need (See below).

Now, the bad news…

As I said last season, Snyder mortgaged the Redskins future for one shot at the Championship and it blew up in his face. They lost at least 4 WRs already this offseason. Look at all the money saving cuts - Centers, Connell, Thrash, Johnson, Sellers, Sims, Heck… Deion probably won’t play, which is good, but they’ll still be paying him. Fryar retired, which is good, but they’re looking at resigning him!

They needed another corner because of the demise of Sanders and the aging of Green. Green can still play, but for how much longer?

They picked up Kevin Lockett from the Chiefs at WR, but he’s nothing special. And lookee here, their new kicker is…Brett Conway??? Isn’t that who they started last season with? WTF??!!

It’s going to be a very long season for the 'Skins I’m afraid.

re: Dawson – Yeah, I am sorry to see him go, but his time has come. A great player and I look forward to his HOF induction. I’m hoping Jeff Hartings will do well.

re: receivers – I disagree. Obviously, we don’t have an intimidating crew or any real deep threats, but that has never been our passing style since Swann and Stallworth. In the recent past (when we’ve had a passing game :rolleyes: ) our success has come form a medium range, solid handed squad. Despite their immaturity and blunders, I still think Burris and Edwards can be our starters. Even if not, Hines Ward (and to a lesser extent, Bobby Shaw) impressed the hell out of me last year. I really like Hines. Anyway, my point is that we aren’t going to be a primarily passing team. What we need is a short/medium passing game established to take some of the pressure off of Bettis. Last year, the league could safely assume he was coming 90% of the time. He still ran for 1350 yards. If defenses know we can throw the ball as well, you’ll see his average spike up a yard per carry. I have mixed feelings about Yancey. Loved him as a Steeler, but he has stunk up the league pretty bad since he left.

re: Running backs – Huntly was told to not even bother showing up to camp. We need to see if anyone is going to offer anything for him.

re: the cap – I think they have a little bit of room. Not much, though.

re: Bruener – :mad: I love that guy! No, he has no wheels, but when was that a requirement for a tight end? He is a fantastic blocker and has great hands. That’s all I need out of my TE. Another interesting thing to watch is that our new OC is a former TE coach. I hope Bruener gets a more prominent role in the offense (something I’ve been bitching about for 2 years now).

re: trading for a QB or a receiver – They’ve already committed to Kerdell this year, so a superstar receiver will do us no good until he starts producing. I don’t like the idea of losing proven players for someone that very well might not be a fit this year. Is there anyone outside of Pgh. that thinks Stewart still has a decent career in him? I doubt it. Godammit, I want a real QB!! :mad: