end of jan. try.....

for what it's worth and that's not much, here goes............

1a. matt elam SS fla. 5-10 202 4.53.................... 1b. kenny vaccaro FS tex. 6-1 218 4.49

2. brandon jenkins OLB fla.st. 6-3 260 4.69................. i'm with huge snack on this guy. he was hurt last year and could be a steal. he's got the size,speed and resume'.

3. jon bostic ILB fla. 6-1 246 4.73.......... solid player against the run and pass.

4a. kejon barner RB ore. 5-9 188 4.39 has shown ability to run inside too and handle the pounding. quick through the hole, homerun threat. ...................4b. stephan taylor RB stan. 5-9 216 4.57 feature back possibility. built well for his hgt.

5. hugh thornton OG/OT ill. 6-3 313 5.18....... position flexible. has played LT,RT and LG. he's got long arms and a similar player to kelvin beachum with LG expierience.

6. cory fuller WR v.t. 6-2 197 4.43......... track speed,taller, was held back some from V.T.'s passing attack. could be a steal this far into the draft.

7. joe madsen C/G wvu 6-4 301 5.25........ has been very solid in morgantown and held his own well at the Sr. bowl at both positions. a better version of legursky.

7.(comp) quanterus smith OLB w.kent. 6-5 248 4.74........... under the radar guy that beat alabama's fluker to the tune of 5 sacks. he get's after the qb well. a hidden gem we seem to find.

ok guys and gals have at it.

 

i would be happy with that. maybe swap a lb or olineman for a dlineman

 

Not too bad, except that I don't think that safety is a first round need, only because the position is truly 3 rounds deep. Personally think that (pre-combine, when everything can change) that Jenkins and Bostick are 1 round too early, and Smith is two rounds too late.
Same positions, different order:
1) ILB- Minter (preferred) Te'o or Ogletree
2) Safety- Reid (preferred) Rambo, or Jefferson
3) OLB- Jenkins (preferred), Lemonier, or Thomas
4) RB- Lattimore (preferred) Barner, or Taylor
The rest I'll give to you, although I don't know if we'll be taking two OLBs.

 

Looks pretty good, but I really believe the Steelers will draft a quarterback somewhere in this draft.

 

I like it. Not a huge Barner fan but he does bring somethign valuable to the table - speed!

 

I like your positions you picked Mac, this is where the needs are.
These players you mentioned, MUST BE ABLE TO SEE THE FIELD IMMEDIATLEY.
What are their mental make up? Are their any head cases, drug problems with these guys?
Do they want to work to improve their ability? Will they come into camp in shape?

 

i think with more and more teams going to the 3-4 , stockpiling some of these OLB'ers is a good thing for down the road.

 

i don't know about that, we still run the 3-4 as good if not better then any team in the league. remember we always had the next star waiting in the wings to take over at OLB. same at ILB. we just seemed to have missed on those spots lately or let it go to long before we reloaded it.

carter and worilds were not of the class we usually had waiting to take over.

foote was not that stud in the middle to take over, he is part of the guys on their way out and sly was not it and we had nobody else ready. we need to hit on a couple young guys and not wait until they are to old to remain without that next guy ready. that has pushed us behind more then anything.

what we have to pay starters kind of hurts us in having good replacements ready. nobody behind our starters has stepped up and we keep them on. mundy is a good example. he was never going to take over, so now we are up against the wall at safety. we brought him back to often. we kept sly to long.

unless worilds take a major jump this year, we will be in the same boat with that position. i don't think taking two OLB's in this draft is to many this year while worilds is still here. one early and a under the radar guy like smith late, keeps the pipeline full for the time when we need to replace an older player or underpreforming player.

 

i think our scouting department isn't as good as in those days either. they are not finding players like they used to. we have one complete draft since MT's been here without one starter out of it. you can't completely whiff and expect to maintain excellence.

 

we have 12 starters out of the last 50 draft picks. that's also expecting adams and DD and sanders becoming starters next year. i'm not sure of the league average, but that seems low. many are role players more then star playmakers too. it would be nice to hit on a handful this year.

 

WE need PLAYMAKERS not SAFE PLAYERS. Here is hoping they find
these type of ball players. I concur with you Mac,our scouting dept.
is just not finding these hidden gems no more. Like the Lloyd, Silverback
Donnie Shell type player. We need to find them.

 

I agree with the idea we need playmakers. I would love to see Tavon Austin in the second round if he's there. I know about the whole big receiver thing but with the uncertainty of E. Sanders future with the team and how we have seen our WR corp. go from strength to weakness in a hurry, he is someone we should consider. He is a PLAYMAKER and would fill alot of holes,PR,KR WR and just be an all around weapon for us. We could bring Plax back for a year and maybe take a flyer on a late round pick with size. I'm looking at about a 5yr window with Ben and I think we need to be aggressive and take some chances in fielding the most dynamic team possible.

Ideally I'd like to see us trade back in the first round still manage to select the best possible safety or pass rusher available. Hopefully the trade will net us another second or third round pick. I like the second and third round depth and talent in this draft. Please, no more first round DL not with the style we ask them to play.

 

there are 20 teams that play a 4-3 and 12 that play a 3-4. while we may fight for picks a bit more than we used to, switching to a 4-3 would gain us no value. 4-3 teams are starting to take the tweener picks high and find ways to use them. teams are playing less in base defenses where positions matter more, and playing more in rush and cover defenses. maybe DL needs to create an all new defense. who knows maybe find a way to make the 4-4 compatible with modern football

 

the 4-4 part was hyperbole. DL was ahead of the curve with his implementation of the 3-4. we have guys playing solidly that obviously could play at a high level in a 4-3 or some sort of hybrid system. i would love to see some new wrinkles in our defense. maybe shifting woodley to end with ziggy as 3 instead of a 5, actually that not that much different than some of what we do. would love to see something truly innovative and fresh.

 

"4a. kejon barner RB ore. 5-9 188 4.39 has shown ability to run inside too and handle the pounding. quick through the hole, homerun threat."

Barner could be good - I am from Oregon so I watched him annihilate the competition. I certainly think he is better than Rainey. He is similar to Lamichael James (49ers).

 

if jenkins preforms well at the combine he could move up to rd.1 very easily and i'd have no problem if we took him.

if e.j. manuel is there in the 2nd or 3rd, he may be hard to pass on too. i know most don't want a qb that high but he could be a guy for the future that brings alot to the table to build off of. he will take a few years to develop, but we have openings at the spot.