NFL 2011 Draft Thread

Damn, if Bowers comes back strong from the injury, TB's d-line will be scary....

Claiborne, McCoy, Bowers

*Legion* wrote:

Niners take Kaepernick! YAY!

I hope this means the Alex Smith experiment is over...

Gumbie wrote:
*Legion* wrote:

Niners take Kaepernick! YAY!

Are you a Niners fan now? :|

I was raised a 49ers fan. I stopped when The Female Doggo and The Female Doggo's Moron Husband took over the team from Eddie D.

Now with The Female Doggo's Moron Husband no longer doing the day-to-day operations, and the team signing Harbaugh and drafting my boy Kaepernick, there's something for me to cheer for.

I mean, it's still hard given that the team president's name is still York (Jed York, Female Doggo's and Female Doggo's Moron Husband's son), but at least he seeks his advice from Uncle Eddie.

And after all, they're NFC. I couldn't cheer for another AFC team but an NFC team is OK.

Leroyog wrote:

Damn, if Bowers comes back strong from the injury, TB's d-line will be scary....

Claiborne, McCoy, Bowers

Big if, but yeah, if Clayborn and Bowers turn out, that will be simply devastating. I would bet it won't happen, but I'd like to believe it'll happen. Also, whatever CB, S, OT, and G they take later in the draft will all be all-Pro. And I'll get a magic pony.

Mallett to New England.

Mallett just smoked himself into a perfect situation

*Legion* wrote:

Niners take Kaepernick! YAY!

My Internet's been all out afternoon, so I take it Kaepernick's already filed a restraining order against you?

RE: Ponder to Minny...

Vikings draft Ponder & Detroit gets Fairley alongside Suh. We’ve regressed as a society when we’re throwing Christians to the Lions again.

/wishes he'd come up with that

I feel a little bit better about Jacksonville's move up for Gabbert, as my get-a-QB scenarios would have pretty much all failed to play out.

Ponder didn't last to #16, although it's possible he might have if Jacksonville didn't trade up for Gabbert, allowing him to slide to Minnesota... but it's clear that my evaluation of him wasn't abnormally high after all. I think he might have been in play for Miami if he was there at #15.

Kaepernick didn't last to #49.

I had pegged Atlanta as a trade-down partner to get Kaepernick or Ponder (which would have been only Kaepernick in reality) late in the 1st round, but Atlanta's trade-up desires were much more aggressive. So I don't think there would have been any realistic trade-down scenario from the #16 spot.

As we saw with New Orleans, a trade from round 2 back up into the bottom of round 1 would have cost next year's 1st round pick.

So, OK. Fine. Targeting a QB in this draft cost this year's 2nd round pick. Never my favorite thing but not a future-mortgaging move.

*Legion* wrote:

So, OK. Fine. Targeting a QB in this draft cost this year's 2nd round pick. Never my favorite thing but not a future-mortgaging move.

Expensive but not Herschel Walker, Ricky Williams, or Julio Jones expensive

kaostheory wrote:
*Legion* wrote:

So, OK. Fine. Targeting a QB in this draft cost this year's 2nd round pick. Never my favorite thing but not a future-mortgaging move.

Expensive but not Herschel Walker, Ricky Williams, or Julio Jones expensive :D

How it warms my Buccaneers-fan heart to see Julio Jones thrown in with those other two.

Leroyog wrote:

Damn, if Bowers comes back strong from the injury, TB's d-line will be scary....

Claiborne, McCoy, Bowers

The local radio station here talked about Bowers a lot today, and the information they had from medical people was that his knee is bone on bone, and microfracture surgery is in his future. They also got an email from someone close with an NFL team doctor that said he wouldn't be able to practice regularly for his entire career. His knee wouldn't be able to take a practice Thursday followed by a game on Sunday. Unfortunately, it sounds like its very unlikely that Bowers is ever healthy enough to be an NFL player.

Day 2 draft thoughts:

* Kaepernick! I'm ready to drive up there and march in a pride parade now.

* Remember when I said Danny Woodhead's roster spot was far from assured? New England taking two running backs back-to-back - Shane Vereen in round 2 followed by Stevan Ridley in round 3 - says I might be right.

* Speaking of New England, Ryan Mallett gets to sit behind a soon-to-be 34-year-old Tom Brady. Definitely a pick with an eye towards the future.

* Ted Thompson is intent on improving the offensive structure around Aaron Rodgers. WR Randall Cobb fits their offense, and RB Alex Green gives them an interior runner that none of their other guys really are.

* Baltimore filled two big offensive needs - a vertical receiver in Torrey Smith, and a tackle in Jah Reid to man the spot opposite of Oher (because, you know, Jared Gaither has pretty much injured his way out of town).

* Will Rackley to the Jags is classic Gene Smith: mining the small-school prospects for overlooked diamonds in the rough. I agree with his assessment that he was the last of his tier of interior linemen left on the board - it was a big step down after him.

* Guess which team drafted the player with the fastest Combine 40 time? I'll give you only one guess...

*Legion* wrote:

* Guess which team drafted the player with the fastest Combine 40 time? I'll give you only one guess...

Haha. Seriously? I didn't notice that. They just can't help but be themselves from time to time during the draft.

... Just looked at Van Dyke. Dude was a backup his entire college career.

garion333 wrote:
*Legion* wrote:

* Guess which team drafted the player with the fastest Combine 40 time? I'll give you only one guess...

Haha. Seriously? I didn't notice that. They just can't help but be themselves from time to time during the draft.

... Just looked at Van Dyke. Dude was a backup his entire college career.

Hey now.. "We don’t run from speed, We run TO speed" Now refill my flagon of Kool-Aid!

I'm surprised the chiefs are getting more love for their draft so far. Every pick seems to have been met with approval from most sources, and I think they added the exact kind of pieces on defense I was hoping for. The OL they got in round 2 looks to be able to come right in and start, and comes off as a leader in the Will Shields mold.

I didn't come into the draft with too many expectations. But I think they hit home runs in the first three rounds. Now we just have to hope that they find a few gems the rest of the way.

I will admit, though, that Baldwin in the first round might have been a reach, but he seems like a perfect fit for Haley, and the Chiefs need a #2 WR really, really bad. I had some hopes of them finding a way to grab Titus Young, but that just seemed like it was going to be near impossible without giving up too much.

But the rest of their picks all seemed to be reaching forward and really good value.

I am loving more and more the Ravens selection of Torrey Smith. All I knew about his was he stretches the field and has return ability, but apparently he's actually a pretty humble guy, which is huge for a receiver (for me). I'm glad they were able to draft him as opposed to the other Maryland receiver the Ravens were linked to a few drafts ago.

Well, the draft is done, and my rating of Tampa's draft is "I have absolutely no idea, ask me in two years". I would really appreciate it if somebody would let me know whether I should be excited about the future.

MilkmanDanimal wrote:

Well, the draft is done, and my rating of Tampa's draft is "I have absolutely no idea, ask me in two years". I would really appreciate it if somebody would let me know whether I should be excited about the future.

Yes!

Clayborn is one of those "one-year wonder" pass rushers - he was a 3-year starter but had only 4 sacks in his first two years, before having 11.5 last year. He has the medical issue with the Erb's Palsy, which restricts the range of motion of his right arm. At this point, he's more measurables than production - his senior year was productive but even that was less than expected.

Bowers is, of course, a major medical issue. But as much as I enjoyed teasing Milkman over it, true pass-rushers are so rare that I don't mind taking a risk on his knee. But the prognosis on his knee is bad if what's been put out there is to be believed.

Mason Foster is a try-hard productive college player with limited physical upside. With all of the LBs that are free agents, Foster is a guy who can step in and replace one of them in the starting lineup pretty quickly.

Luke Stocker is an in-line tight end, a good compliment to Winslow for 2-TE sets.

Ahmad Black is another one of those try-hard productive guys with limited measurables - very limited in Black's case. Definitely a cover-2 safety and not a guy to have as a 1-high center field type.

Allen Bradford is a big 240+ tailback. Extremely similar to LaGarrette Blount (or fellow former Trojan, LenDale White). Apparently there will be no "thunder and lightning" in Tampa's backfield - it's going to be thunder and more thunder

Anthony Gaitor is an undersized sleeper Cover 2 corner. Too small to challenge anyone in man coverage but good short zone.

Daniel Hardy, I don't know much about, but apparently he's kind of an H-back style TE.

*Legion* wrote:

Bowers is, of course, a major medical issue. But as much as I enjoyed teasing Milkman over it, true pass-rushers are so rare that I don't mind taking a risk on his knee. But the prognosis on his knee is bad if what's been put out there is to be believed.

I think Bowers was a great choice where they drafted him. Raheem Morris was very forthcoming about his medical condition and they believed he was worth a shot when he fell to them. If it ends up that he is limited in practice and brought in on third downs only, he can still be a great pick value-wise.

Bowers played through pain before and he clearly wants to play. People have done it before. It's a better pick than someone who is iffy on football and has no medical issues in some ways. Even if he only lasts three years of limited play, he's probably worth a pick because he's such a good rusher.

But it's hard to be excited about someone with so many question marks. But it's hard to deny his talent. It's all about the medical. So, the two kind of balance each other out.

garion333 wrote:

Bowers played through pain before and he clearly wants to play.

The problem is that at some point, it'll stop being about pain and start being about damage. That was Torry Holt's knee at the end of his career.

What's scary is that this is his starting position. Should he ever injure that knee, then it's probably all over.

Even if he only lasts three years of limited play, he's probably worth a pick because he's such a good rusher.

Late 2nd round isn't too bad of a place to gamble. Though I think I would have had a hard time passing on Stephen Paea. Even on a team that's drafted three DTs in the past two years. Gerald McCoy and Brian Price are both more along the lines of 3-technique guys. I would have liked Paea and McCoy with Price rotating in to spell McCoy or to replace Paea on passing 3rd downs, and Roy Miller rotating with Paea at the nose spot to keep him fresh.

I like DTs that control the line of scrimmage, and I like having a healthy rotation to keep them fresh. Especially on a Tampa 2 defense where you have fast, undersized linebackers.

I didn't think of it in terms of passing on someone like Paea. They probably could've also found a better Cb at that point too. Hell, they could've found a decent RT too.

But Bowers is a gamble and with his talent I think it was totally worth it. Even if he never plays a down, I equate it to the gamble the Ravens took with Sergio Kindle. If you can get him on the field, then it is well worth it, if you can't, well, at least you tried.

Obviously it wasn't the safest pick and as such, it is what it is.

garion333 wrote:

I didn't think of it in terms of passing on someone like Paea.

I didn't either, in the moment. The draft moves so fast that it's hard to put your head in the "head space" of each of the teams as they whiz by. The teams themselves only have to think of things from their own perspective.

Of course now with the draft over and the lock-out reinstated, this thread's going to look like an Old West ghost town in a week or two.

Rat Boy wrote:

Of course now with the draft over and the lock-out reinstated, this thread's going to look like an Old West ghost town in a week or two.

Don't worry, I can burn a lot of time:

A) Wondering about Bowers' knee.
B) Man-crushing on Josh Freeman.

Those two alone are like five pages' worth of posts, easy.

Rat Boy wrote:

Of course now with the draft over and the lock-out reinstated, this thread's going to look like an Old West ghost town in a week or two.

On the plus side, it'll give the nerds in the IRC channel a chance to settle down Handegg, phaw!

Both the Bears and Colts seem to have drafted what they needed.

MilkmanDanimal wrote:
Rat Boy wrote:

Of course now with the draft over and the lock-out reinstated, this thread's going to look like an Old West ghost town in a week or two.

Don't worry, I can burn a lot of time:

A) Wondering about Bowers' knee.
B) Man-crushing on Josh Freeman.

Those two alone are like five pages' worth of posts, easy.

Lets find some common ground, and talk about how Gerald McCoy's eyes are so dreamy.

Loved the Prince Amukamara pick by the Giants, even though they probably should have went O-line at that point. But I have to scratch my head as to why they picked up a defensive tackle with the 2nd pick. Although it does improve the DT position, the Giants already incorporate their ends to jump to the middle through different defensive schemes, I really thought their O-line and LB core were more pressing issues.