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Here's Our Draft Strategy

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Shouright

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Saban's main goal seems to be to create a tough, physical team that no one wants to play. If that's the case, then the players we target in the draft have to exhibit those characteristics if we're ever going to have a team like that. Exemplars that come to mind are Brett Favre, Ray Lewis, Ronnie Lott, Conrad Dobler, Jack Tatum, Dick Butkus, Toniu Fonoti, and Jerome Bettis (obviously there are many more).

Who are the college players who have these characteristics? I think that's what we need to be asking ourselves going into the draft if we're going to create the team Saban wants. The ones I can think of off the top of my head are AJ Hawk and Haloti Ngata.

Running a 4.85 40 at 345 pounds, Ngata may be what I call a "paradigm shift" player in that his style is so "outside the box" that the present way NFL teams play doesn't take a player like him into consideration (other examples are Michael Vick and Marshall Faulk in his prime). He's also got a non-stop motor and a fierce attitude from what I understand.

Who are these college players? Chime in with your knowledge.
 
Excellent, excellent post! I was thinking along the same lines. If you look at this past draft, Ronnie Brown was the most physical player at his respective position and Matt Roth and Channing Crowder certainly ranked pretty high as well. Even Travis Daniels was one of the bigger CB options.

To your list, I'd add the linebacker from Virgina (Brooks) who I think fits exactly what Saban is looking for. Other additions include Williams from North Carolina, perhaps Huff from Texas, Williams from Virginia Tech, Whitworth from LSU, Leinart whose been very durable, McNeil (sp) from Auburn, Nance at wr, Landry at LSU --- just to name a few.

Haloti Nagoti would be a welcomed addition by the way. The guy would demand double teams on every play and, if possible, would make guys like Carter, Taylor and Roth even better.
 
SF Dolphin Fan said:
Excellent, excellent post! I was thinking along the same lines. If you look at this past draft, Ronnie Brown was the most physical player at his respective position and Matt Roth and Channing Crowder certainly ranked pretty high as well. Even Travis Daniels was one of the bigger CB options.

To your list, I'd add the linebacker from Virgina (Brooks) who I think fits exactly what Saban is looking for. Other additions include Williams from North Carolina, perhaps Huff from Texas, Williams from Virginia Tech, Whitworth from LSU, Leinart whose been very durable, McNeil (sp) from Auburn, Nance at wr, Landry at LSU --- just to name a few.

Haloti Nagoti would be a welcomed addition by the way. The guy would demand double teams on every play and, if possible, would make guys like Carter, Taylor and Roth even better.
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as much as i am hearing about Ngata being good i dont know...i still think Saban is on-board the Wright Project people are talking about Vickerson's drive though he got hurt...and carter can play for 3 or 4 more years, JT the same...Roth is young and hopefully he comes around...as sexy as Nagoti might seam...we wont look his way...IMO if Nicky wants another DT he would go mid round for one
 
Ngata has far from a non-stop motor. He has incredible strength and talent, too bad he rarely uses it. He's lazy. I would stay the hell away from him in the 1st round.
 
M. Leinart
R. Bush
B. Quinn
D. Ferguson
A.Hawk
J. Williams
E. Winston
A. Brooks
M. McNeill
L. Landry
M. Huff
D. Bing,
 
PhinSoldia said:
as much as i am hearing about Ngata being good i dont know...i still think Saban is on-board the Wright Project people are talking about Vickerson's drive though he got hurt...and carter can play for 3 or 4 more years, JT the same...Roth is young and hopefully he comes around...as sexy as Nagoti might seam...we wont look his way...IMO if Nicky wants another DT he would go mid round for one
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I think Wright will be our Richard Seymour -- a 310-pound, ultra-quick DE in the 3-4 scheme, which means there's still room for Ngata at NT. Traylor won't be around for long, and Ngata can fill that position for the next 10 years.

The difference would be that you can actually LEAVE NGATA IN on passing downs. Can you imagine having a 345-pound guy BLOWING PAST offensive linemen? Saban says he wants people to hate playing us? Well you could put every QB in the league on the list with Ngata in there.
 
saban's already shown that he likes tons of depth of front (as any good coach should). drafting ngata isn't out of the question at all

right now, we're drafting at #9. let's say we finish anywhere between 6th and 13th. here's my list of what will probably be best available at those spots (no real order):

- jimmy williams, CB
- haloti ngata, DT
- eric winston, T
- ahmad brooks, LB
- mathias kiwanuka, DE
- michael huff, S

looking at our needs, as well as using the "tough guy" philosophy mentioned earlier, i see us getting jimmy williams. williams could go anywhere from 4 to 12, but i feel his combine time may be a bit slower than people wanted, letting him drop to us (10-12). and he's a very physical guy who plays the run great, and can play safety in a pinch

i like the elite tackle prospects, but houck is doing a great job with the players we got now, so maybe the franchise tackle isn't wholely necessary. still, it's nice to imagine what houck could do with a guy like winston. and winston fits into that ngata/vick/faulk category as a sort of "outside of the box" player. good speed and athleticism for a tackle. very robert galleryish

as said before, saban likes depth in his front 7 on defense. getting ahmad brooks would not only provide immediate depth, but quite a nice player for the future

we could also use a safety. huff or laron landry would be nice. haven't paid much attention to huff, but i understand he's a very physical guy with playmaking abilities. sounds good to me

so, get one of those guys, or trade up for leinart. those are pretty much the only two options i care about
 
we definatly need to get more physical. Neither side of the ball have alot of heavy hitters (our d has good players, but most of our guys, outside of the rookies, are all undersized and/or aging.)

Hawk or Ngata would be my choice right now.
 
keep in mind, saban doesn't need to find these players in the early rounds. His collegiant coaching should pay off in the later rounds. Vickerson, our 7th round pick, was on the verge of getting playing time for us, thats impressive when you think about it. He'll be back next year more pissed than ever. Saban will get his guys. evry draft pick from ronnie brown til the day saban throws in the towel will more than likely be worth every penny.
 
phsyical? then u should be looking at Bing i believe from USC. read up on him and they said he is one of the hardest hitters in the game right now and comparable to harrison from the NFL. AJ they say is an animal that has that attitude adn fire in him. look at crowder, he is that type of player as is roth. so saban is looking for players that have chips on their shoulders with anger. hell, look at barnes taht we picked up. he is a man with some screws loose in that head of his.
 
shouright said:
Saban's main goal seems to be to create a tough, physical team that no one wants to play. If that's the case, then the players we target in the draft have to exhibit those characteristics if we're ever going to have a team like that. Exemplars that come to mind are Brett Favre, Ray Lewis, Ronnie Lott, Conrad Dobler, Jack Tatum, Dick Butkus, Toniu Fonoti, and Jerome Bettis (obviously there are many more).

Who are the college players who have these characteristics? I think that's what we need to be asking ourselves going into the draft if we're going to create the team Saban wants. The ones I can think of off the top of my head are AJ Hawk and Haloti Ngata.

Running a 4.85 40 at 345 pounds, Ngata may be what I call a "paradigm shift" player in that his style is so "outside the box" that the present way NFL teams play doesn't take a player like him into consideration (other examples are Michael Vick and Marshall Faulk in his prime). He's also got a non-stop motor and a fierce attitude from what I understand.

Who are these college players? Chime in with your knowledge.
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Tough and physical team maybe but I think he'll especially look at guys that are mentally tough. Add to that the fact, we are sorely lacking in that department, I think Saban will be looking for leaders. Look at what the Pats did early on. Vrabel, Harrison, Brady, Koppen. Those are all guys that were brought in not only for their talent but especially for their mental toughness and leadership. That's what I want Saban to look for. Talent and leadership.

The player that stood out all game for me last week was Ellis Hobbs, 3rd round pick out of Iowa. Never backed down and challenged our receivers the whole game. Same goes with Logan Mankins, their 1st round pick, tenacious dude with attitude, who stepped right in and has occupied the LG spot since day 1.
 
Pink_Dove said:
The player that stood out all game for me last week was Ellis Hobbs, 3rd round pick out of Iowa. Never backed down and challenged our receivers the whole game.
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:yell: He's from Iowa State, my favorite college team :) I was pretty mad when the Pats drafted him though. In two years though watch for WR Todd Blythe. I think he'll end up being a 2nd round pick. Big tall guy 6'5" with some speed. Could be a good receiver in the future. Sorry for getting off track.
 
I thought this was a great post but I guess I don't know enough about college football to really throw a name out there. I still imagine we'd go for Landry from LSU or Winston from Miami, depending on where we end up drafting. Winston has been known to be an amazing tackle since his sophomore year, and landry is ranked pretty high on a lot of draft boards and Saban knows his style pretty well. Ngata would be a great help, especailly because I don't think Traylor will return next year.
Huff from Texas is said to be really good too. A quarterback wouldn't hurt.
 
here's an updated 3 round mock for us from a poster at NFL-Fans)

Miami Dolphins- Vince Young QB, Chad Jackson WR, Justin London ILB. Nick Saban knows how rare super athlete QB’s are, and he snags his own. Jackson competes to start opposite Chambers as David Boston is done. London fits a need as an ILB in the 3-4.

I wouldn't complain, but I really want Ngata or Hawk in the 1st and Cutler in the 2nd.
 
I think Leinart would fit perfectly into what Saban wants to do here. He would be the leader he needs on the field. I wouldnt be shocked in the least if Saban made a major trade offer to whoever had the Number One.
 
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