I have never based my selection for number one on who is worthy of being a number one because I dont think any of them are. I believe there are only 3 positions you draft overall number 1 when you run a 3-4; QB, LOT, pass rushing OLB. Noone in this years draft is the next Carson Palmer, Orlando Pace or Shawne Merriman so that is why my preference is for trading down. But since I find that highly unlikely we must make do with the choices we have. When compared with Chris Long, Glenn Dorsey, Vernon Gholston and Jake Long, Matt Ryan is the best option to help this team long term IMO for all the reasons I've stated previously. The only guy I see as a pssibility for me to be intrigued by is Phillip Merling pending his combine numbers. But right now he seems to be anywhere from 9th to 29th overall so I'll defer to consensus top five picks unless Merling moves up into consideration
What about JT? If we get Briggs I assume we'll trade JT but do you also assume that? It's not clear from that statement
? I dont understand this. Are yuou saying that we're staying in a 4-3 permanently or are you only talking about the 2008 season because if its just 2008 then we may very well end up running a 4-3 but we wont draft for one
There are two players worthy of the #1 pick based upon their college careers and stats: Chris Long and Glenn Dorsey. They are the Carson Palmers and Shawne Merrimans of this draft.
To address your second point/question, I'm saying that all of this projection of Chris Long to OLB comes from the guy's head coach, who is trying to sell him (the guy can play DE and OLB? OMG!) and not from any actual figures or even the position the guy played his entire football career. Throw in a bit of JT love and the OLB thing seems like more and more of a great deal. Show me a season where he put up the kind of numbers he did from the OLB position. I'm not buying it until the results are in. Regardless, Long is certainly special enough to warrant consideration for the #1 pick, especially if he can actually make a transition.
As for your final point, we'll be playing whatever defensive formation that we have the personnel for as long as necessary. If we've got a killer 4-3 unit, with say Dorsey/Long, Vonnie, Wright and Moses/Roth, then why would we screw with that just because Parcells likes a 3-4? What if we can't get a true old school Traylor at NT? What if we can't get the LB corps together to run a 3-4? Going by Sparano's comments, if the best guys in the draft would be best in a 4-3 then we're drafting them and running a 4-3, not the other way around.
Unless the guy is an absolute liar and making up quotes to fit his story only one out of seven front office execs picked Dorsey. Two execs picked Ryan. That comes out to 14% for Dorsey and 28% for Ryan given the sample size of professionals. Considering that noone surpassed 28% in the sample poll and that the writer isnt Stephen Glass I think it validates that Ryan is a legitamate option at number one. Granted we may all disagree on who that number one is and certainly Parcells may go anyway he chooses but I think its hard to argue that Ryan is some sort of insane pick that has no chance of happening
I feel I know Parcells pretty well and how he thinks. But them I'm from New York and we're arrogant by nature
So far Ive been right on Sparano being hired as coach and Zach getting cut. Ive been wrong about Palmer being hired. I think the pick will be Ryan. Could I be wrong? Absolutely. Could I be right? I think so. I have laid out my thought process regarding why I think we'll pick him and am more than happy to hear arguments as to why others should be the choice. So long as everyone is respectful of each other's positions then all is good. Hey its not like I'm predicting we're drafting a kicker with the first
Who are the other GMs? What are their rationales for picking Ryan? Are the two listed the Phillies GM and the other guy whose reasoning is based not upon Ryan being any good, but from a financial standpoint? Because one has his reasoning based only upon the fact that Ryan is the #1 QB, and the other only because of the cost perspective. If there were an article stating that 28% of all 32 GMs picked Ryan as their number 1 overall, then the article would be valid. As is, the sample size is too low, and nothing is known whatsoever about the teams involved. I dare say that based upon a combination of need and availability, San Francisco would be more likely to draft Ryan #1 overall if given the choice than the Colts, Giants, or Patriots. Again, just because a QB is ranked #1 amongst QBs does not mean that he's #1 overall.