After dwelling on it overnight, I am still as happy now as I was when I went to bed. I see three very good football players - all three had R1 value. The Brown pick was solid - best back in the draft and fits the scheme perfectly. All these people complaining about not trading down or not taking Edwards, well, that's their lookout, suffice to say that if the guy - Brown - is your #1 player, then you take him. And as for not trading, you can't trade if no-one wants to play ball.
Roth is a brilliant pick. He'll play some end, some DT and some OLB. He is Miami's Mike Vrabel, a poor man's David Pollack. He has the intensity, the hands, the relentless, the speed and the desire to be a very good player in this system.
Crowder is a top 15 talent who fell yo us because of the knees. But not only did the former Miami doctor, now the Gator Dr give him the all clear, he also got the all cleear from one of the premier knee surgeons in the world who sent a letter to all 32 teams saying he was fine.
The letter:
"The patient has had three anterior cruciate ligament reconstructions on the right knee, and a right partial medial meniscectomy. He has had one anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction on his left knee. The current grafts in place are both autografts to bone, patellar tendon bone, and with these grafts, he has had three years without any problems. He currently participates in all sorts of activities without any swelling present in either knee, or any instability episodes. He played last season with no bracing on either knee and without any problems. Both knees are stable at this time with no evidence of any degenerative changes.
“There is no reason why this young man cannot continue to play football, even at the highest level with the current status of his knees. He has played collegiate football at a competitive university for two years without any problems in his knees. He has excellent strength of both legs. I feel confident that the patient is not at any increased risk of having additional ACL tears. He is released at this time for all football activities."
If he can stay healthy, he'll be a Pro Bowler at worst and both he and Roth will be ST demons. Really solid first day for us, especially when you look at the AFC East and see that Pats reach at 1 for Mankins, the Jets take a kicker, etc.
There seems to be a lot of people complaining why we took an end and a LB.....clearly you haven't seen the age on our squad.
I'm looking at Fred Gibson, maybe Elton Brown, Antajj Hawthorne, David Green, maybe Shazor, Sean Considine at the start of 4, but don't rule out a trade for picks as teams have a night to re-stack their boards.
Overall, no matter what the Florida papers, with their anti Saban mentality, because he's shutting them out, say. This has been a great day 1. 45 minutes till day 2 and hopefully we can add some talent.
