i totally agree with the overview. however, i gave a B+ because all these guys would have been MUCH higher pics if the draft wasnt so deep. thats a plus, not a minus.
we got first round talent at 3 different spots where they normally wouldnt be. i also agree that both turner and james will be starting opening day, however, it will be shelly smith next to jawon james and turner next to albert. turner played left tackle and is used to that side. he and albert are going to be a wicked pair and a wall on tannys blind side.
people seem to be under the impression that shelly is a 9 year vet that never could break into a line. FAR, FAR from the truth. he has been with two teams before us and his first only a short time. his second, he got to start a few games out of in jury on the line. he has had no real tutoring from coaches as someone being groomed to start and in a full camp, with a staff bringing him in to start, benton will get him up to speed.
LANDRY? he is going to knock someone off in camp i think gibson is long gone and landry will be the instant slot guy. mathews has had his time and needs to move on. hickey is purging this wr crew [over due] and mathews isnt going to be around. especially if benn is what he was last year. landry, at some point in the next couple years will be a full time starter. and no, its got NOTHING to do with wallace. wallace is the last of the teams problems right now. the money is his only issue [and having someone who can hit him deep] and if we are winning, he will re structure.
LYNCH is the TE we have needed. probably the best blocking TE in this draft. and his pass catching ability is under rated. he wasnt asked to do a lot of it in his college offense, but when he was, he produced. everytime we went into double te sets, we didnt have anyone who could block so it wasnt hard to figure what to do. cover clay and bull doze the other te. not anymore.
i also think jordan tripp is going to be a starter either by end of camp or a couple games into the season. philip wheeler? not a stretch for that to happen.
LOOK, hickey didnt get the luxery of having a KUZILLION HIGH DRAFT PICS like ray farmer did. rays team already had the o-line and lb's. he got to choose the icing on the cake players. we were not in that position. we were not the rams with a billion pics. sure those guys looked great, what would they have done with our team and our small handful of pics and an o-line that HAD to be completely rebuilt?
i dont think they shine so much. i am sure there were other players besides those hickey chose that he wanted but were already gone. same as all the other teams. but researching hard, in half a dozen draft mags and books, these players were well chosen and all fit our scheme to a tee and share the traits of being tough sob's and leaders. exellent blockers with great feet who never quit.
its what we needed, not only new players but a new mind set. it was obvious they had a plan and they stuck to it and came away with on on paper, a very good draft. i was heated at the james pic when it was first announced but when i went back and looked, i was reminded we run a zbs and james is a perfect zbs ot. there wasnt a tackle left with his feet and mirror ability in sight after we picked who fit the scheme. this wasnt panic, this was not taking the bait to trade out and taking the player at the position we had to have. he will be a great asset to this team.
you NEVER KNOW what will happen in a draft and hickey knows that. if he would have gambled and lost james, the o-line plan would have gone to hell. then you start doing what ireland did with the line for so long, forcing the wrong guys for the scheme. keeping big power scheme guys in the line that was being coached as zbs. people think a corn fed is a corn fed, like ireland, but not so. lineman for the zbs have to have a different skill set, have to be more athletic. that left out martin, clabo and ritchie incognito. thanks to hickey, we have those players now and we will finally have a cohesive unit.
jarvis landry WILL be a pro bowl wr sooner than later. he reminds me a lot of mark clayton and the overviewers comparison to hines ward is right in there due to his blocking.