dlockz
Hall Of Famer
This is not a post about what I know will happen just my approach as none of us can predict what another team is going to do with any degree of certainty. I will break this down position by position and give my early draft looks. Way too early to say for sure who we should take.
Qb- No need to make any changes here. If we can get a 4th rounder or more for Beck I would definately make that trade. Im sure Parcells would too but Beck has value knowing the system and we are not in a salary cap crunch. I dont see any team offering above a 6th for him so lets groom him to be our backup if pennington gets hurt. Qb's need development so why not take some time on him, its not like its likely we have to use him this year.
Rb- For the most part I think we should stand pat at running back unless a guy fairly late in the draft has fallen a ways. A late round gem might have value if we cannot come to an amicable agreement with Ronnie Brown the free agent year. You never know how negotiations can go and both sides may have differant views of his value. I suspect no decision will be secure until the end of next season unless Brown starts off like 2007.
FB- Polite looks like our best fullback since Konrad but he has bounced around the league for a reason so competition is a good thing. There is one very possible upgrade although I doubt Seattle lets him walk. Leonard Weaver would be a very nice signing at FB. Polite definately needs competition and I would not be opposed to drafting a FB on day 2. I also hope we work with Hilliard in the offseason to develop him as a FB.
TE-This position seemed a fairly strong one last year and the most consitent TD producer of our offense. 11 tds were scored at TE compared to like 4 from the Wr's. Kind of a disturbing statistic to a degree but we are a team in transition. The performance of Fasano and martin were pretty damn good for the most part although Fasano did seem to dissappear ina few games this year. I like Fasano as an all around type guy. i think we need to make up our mind on fasano and see if we can resign him now. Both he and Martin are free agents and we may be smart to draft a young TE late in the draft to develop or maybe Haynos is that guy although not a big Haynos fan. So definately keep eye on TE talent falling later in draft.
Wr- Although I do think overall the talent of our wr group is mediocre, must say thier results were pretty damn good. Ginn, Camirillo and Bess all proved themselved worthy of being NFL receivers and excelled at times.
London is still a major project and will possibly have to fight for a roster spot. Nate Washington would be a good free agent to look at on the cheap , is saddled behind two top wr's and has made some nice catches. Is still only 25 so would be a small investment. I think if we can get a good player in trade at a good bargain like Torry Holt it would be worth looking into. Anquan Boldin is good but Im sure they want a second round pick plus you have to give him that huge raise. Definately draft a physical wide receiver fairly early in draft.
OL- I personally think we criticize our oline way too much. There were key injuries last year and we had alot of new pieces in place. Basically 4 players in new positions. I think more than anything we need to let theses players gell. Carey if he does not break the bank should be resigned. The wild thing is the way we seem to be looking at replacing Satale which would be a dissapointment since he at first seemed to be a suprisingly good draft pick. Im all for keeping Satale, Long, Thomas,Smiley and carey as our starting oline. Thats is the two injured players are healthy and good enough. This would be the first time in a long time we returned the same line two years in a row. Although only technically since Thomas went down game 1. I still believe Lines get better the more they play together. As reserves I would keep Alleman, Murphy and our other host of noname young olinemen to compete with draft picks. i see no reason at all unless you want to replace Satale of going out and spending big money on a lineman. I guess we could look at a player like Ray Willis in free agency.I would also like to see more of Johnson the former starting C.
DL- This is where I think some decisions will definately be made. I think Holiday will be gone and I would go ahead and make that move as soon as possible if thats so. We have Starks, merling and Langford that makes a damn fine rotation. Devlop Wright or Dotson into that rotation. Holiday is a soldi player but seriously we have players ready to step up. he was still damn good last year and very underrated so if we keep him Im sure we wont be dissapointed. Dt is another story. Ferguson was a good Aquisition but he is far from an ideal NT for this team. Ferguson is also not cheap and thats why Dallas sought to trade him. 4 million is his salary for 2009. Would be best to pair him with our future NT. Solai was thought to be that guy but I truly dont see it. i definately think we need to draft a NT day one. Colin cole might be a worthy free agent target but I would definately prefer to draft a guy. We also have raw Joe Cohen that we can work on.
LB-actually a pretty solid LB corp that worked pretty well together and used a good balance of player strength and weakness all year. Definately need to look to future because most likely most of our starting LB corp will be gone in another year. Keepers Roth, Porter, Crowder and newcomer Wake. Akin was good at times but there needs to be a decision made between him and Torbor. Seems like Akin would be kept over Torbor since he took the job from him last year. So based on his contract Torbor should go. I still would like to work with Quinton Moses, he did make a few plays last year in very limited play. Charlie Anderson was also somewhat dissapointing since Roth took his job from him but is relatively cheap.
I definately see us drafting an OLB fairly early and maybe an inside guy later on. Would love to see Walden develop but Wake may mean an end to him. Also give my props out to Kersaw who has been with 7 teams in 2 years that is impressive lol. This is the one spot I would not mind spending money on a Terrel Suggs or possible a Dansby for the opposite spot to Porter but I predict these guys will want the farm.
Db- The most glaring weakness is youth in our secondary, no young talent in development. Not one starter under 30 and 3 starters at free agent. there are two corners I would actually make a run at in free agency. Bryant McFadden and Dunta Robinson to be one of my starters opposite Will Allen. Goodman played well at times but was also burnt like a candle quite a bit also. if goodman want to come back low budget fine but his history does not merit a big contract. Bell played great at safety but he also has a checkerd injury history so proceed with caution on extension.
there are some solid options in free agency to place beside Bell. Sanders, Landry and Jim Leonard. i see us looking for at least one free agent S and hopefully a CB. I do think Culver may be able to lock down one of our safety spots while we draft a guy. We are all still waiting for Allen to at least crack the lineup, much less be the next troy P. babers and billingsly at least have some raw tools that maybe we can develop. Joey Thomas needs to go away. Michael Lehan may also be back but big deal.
Special teams- No big needs as far as skill positions but Im all for bringing in competition to Carpenter and Fields. They are very good at some things and not so good at others. Fields can be quite iffy directional and carpenter is not strong on kickoffs. We definately could use a Kaseem Osgood on special teams and need to look at upgrading our return men unless somehow Ginn might do some of that.
My draft would go something like this now. I would prefer to trade our first round pick for a second rounder and more but we shall see.
1-Louis Delmas S or Brian Cushing LB
2-Hakeem Nicks Wr
2-Ron Brace DT
3-Asher Allen CB
4- OLB
5-OL
6-CB
7-S
Qb- No need to make any changes here. If we can get a 4th rounder or more for Beck I would definately make that trade. Im sure Parcells would too but Beck has value knowing the system and we are not in a salary cap crunch. I dont see any team offering above a 6th for him so lets groom him to be our backup if pennington gets hurt. Qb's need development so why not take some time on him, its not like its likely we have to use him this year.
Rb- For the most part I think we should stand pat at running back unless a guy fairly late in the draft has fallen a ways. A late round gem might have value if we cannot come to an amicable agreement with Ronnie Brown the free agent year. You never know how negotiations can go and both sides may have differant views of his value. I suspect no decision will be secure until the end of next season unless Brown starts off like 2007.
FB- Polite looks like our best fullback since Konrad but he has bounced around the league for a reason so competition is a good thing. There is one very possible upgrade although I doubt Seattle lets him walk. Leonard Weaver would be a very nice signing at FB. Polite definately needs competition and I would not be opposed to drafting a FB on day 2. I also hope we work with Hilliard in the offseason to develop him as a FB.
TE-This position seemed a fairly strong one last year and the most consitent TD producer of our offense. 11 tds were scored at TE compared to like 4 from the Wr's. Kind of a disturbing statistic to a degree but we are a team in transition. The performance of Fasano and martin were pretty damn good for the most part although Fasano did seem to dissappear ina few games this year. I like Fasano as an all around type guy. i think we need to make up our mind on fasano and see if we can resign him now. Both he and Martin are free agents and we may be smart to draft a young TE late in the draft to develop or maybe Haynos is that guy although not a big Haynos fan. So definately keep eye on TE talent falling later in draft.
Wr- Although I do think overall the talent of our wr group is mediocre, must say thier results were pretty damn good. Ginn, Camirillo and Bess all proved themselved worthy of being NFL receivers and excelled at times.
London is still a major project and will possibly have to fight for a roster spot. Nate Washington would be a good free agent to look at on the cheap , is saddled behind two top wr's and has made some nice catches. Is still only 25 so would be a small investment. I think if we can get a good player in trade at a good bargain like Torry Holt it would be worth looking into. Anquan Boldin is good but Im sure they want a second round pick plus you have to give him that huge raise. Definately draft a physical wide receiver fairly early in draft.
OL- I personally think we criticize our oline way too much. There were key injuries last year and we had alot of new pieces in place. Basically 4 players in new positions. I think more than anything we need to let theses players gell. Carey if he does not break the bank should be resigned. The wild thing is the way we seem to be looking at replacing Satale which would be a dissapointment since he at first seemed to be a suprisingly good draft pick. Im all for keeping Satale, Long, Thomas,Smiley and carey as our starting oline. Thats is the two injured players are healthy and good enough. This would be the first time in a long time we returned the same line two years in a row. Although only technically since Thomas went down game 1. I still believe Lines get better the more they play together. As reserves I would keep Alleman, Murphy and our other host of noname young olinemen to compete with draft picks. i see no reason at all unless you want to replace Satale of going out and spending big money on a lineman. I guess we could look at a player like Ray Willis in free agency.I would also like to see more of Johnson the former starting C.
DL- This is where I think some decisions will definately be made. I think Holiday will be gone and I would go ahead and make that move as soon as possible if thats so. We have Starks, merling and Langford that makes a damn fine rotation. Devlop Wright or Dotson into that rotation. Holiday is a soldi player but seriously we have players ready to step up. he was still damn good last year and very underrated so if we keep him Im sure we wont be dissapointed. Dt is another story. Ferguson was a good Aquisition but he is far from an ideal NT for this team. Ferguson is also not cheap and thats why Dallas sought to trade him. 4 million is his salary for 2009. Would be best to pair him with our future NT. Solai was thought to be that guy but I truly dont see it. i definately think we need to draft a NT day one. Colin cole might be a worthy free agent target but I would definately prefer to draft a guy. We also have raw Joe Cohen that we can work on.
LB-actually a pretty solid LB corp that worked pretty well together and used a good balance of player strength and weakness all year. Definately need to look to future because most likely most of our starting LB corp will be gone in another year. Keepers Roth, Porter, Crowder and newcomer Wake. Akin was good at times but there needs to be a decision made between him and Torbor. Seems like Akin would be kept over Torbor since he took the job from him last year. So based on his contract Torbor should go. I still would like to work with Quinton Moses, he did make a few plays last year in very limited play. Charlie Anderson was also somewhat dissapointing since Roth took his job from him but is relatively cheap.
I definately see us drafting an OLB fairly early and maybe an inside guy later on. Would love to see Walden develop but Wake may mean an end to him. Also give my props out to Kersaw who has been with 7 teams in 2 years that is impressive lol. This is the one spot I would not mind spending money on a Terrel Suggs or possible a Dansby for the opposite spot to Porter but I predict these guys will want the farm.
Db- The most glaring weakness is youth in our secondary, no young talent in development. Not one starter under 30 and 3 starters at free agent. there are two corners I would actually make a run at in free agency. Bryant McFadden and Dunta Robinson to be one of my starters opposite Will Allen. Goodman played well at times but was also burnt like a candle quite a bit also. if goodman want to come back low budget fine but his history does not merit a big contract. Bell played great at safety but he also has a checkerd injury history so proceed with caution on extension.
there are some solid options in free agency to place beside Bell. Sanders, Landry and Jim Leonard. i see us looking for at least one free agent S and hopefully a CB. I do think Culver may be able to lock down one of our safety spots while we draft a guy. We are all still waiting for Allen to at least crack the lineup, much less be the next troy P. babers and billingsly at least have some raw tools that maybe we can develop. Joey Thomas needs to go away. Michael Lehan may also be back but big deal.
Special teams- No big needs as far as skill positions but Im all for bringing in competition to Carpenter and Fields. They are very good at some things and not so good at others. Fields can be quite iffy directional and carpenter is not strong on kickoffs. We definately could use a Kaseem Osgood on special teams and need to look at upgrading our return men unless somehow Ginn might do some of that.
My draft would go something like this now. I would prefer to trade our first round pick for a second rounder and more but we shall see.
1-Louis Delmas S or Brian Cushing LB
2-Hakeem Nicks Wr
2-Ron Brace DT
3-Asher Allen CB
4- OLB
5-OL
6-CB
7-S
