#1 pick should be a WR...

[MasterOfPuppets]

Originally Posted by lamberts-lost-tooth

Here is a scenerio you may like GBMelBlount....We are #15 and GreenBay is #16 with Marshawn Lynch as their target....At #20 is the NY Giants who desperataly need a quick RB to balance Brandon Jacobs since Tiki Barber retired....We could trade the #15 slot to the Giants so they could get their Stud RB...and get the Giants #20 and their 2nd round pick in return.
With our First pick we then get Joe Staley (who wouldnt be that much of a reach at the #20 slot)..and then with our TWO 2nd round picks we could get Our WR and a CB ..and OLB Stewart Bradley in the 3rd?
OR...trade back up into the first with the two second rounders and try and get WR Sydney Rice?

didn't the giants just trade for rubin drougns? i think OLB is thier target.

[lamberts-lost-tooth]

Originally Posted by MasterOfPuppets

didn't the giants just trade for rubin drougns? i think OLB is thier target.

They did sign Reuben Droughns...but he is pushing 30....and has had one ...arguably two...good seasons in his career (and his best year was with Denver which seems to pad RB's numbers with their running scheme). He only averaged 3.4 yards last year with 4 TD's .....as a North/South RB is not the answer to Tiki Barber.

You have a legitimate point however..since Arrington is now gone..will the Giants look at Paul Posluszny at #20?

[tony hipchest]

giants could still be a dancing partner but id rather target something on defense that would help us get to the qb (not a cb) who has potential pro bowl talent. im not sure if staley has potential to be a pro bowler or if he is just a player (his 40 time is insane though). i would love d. jarrett to fall to us at 2nd and not have to use 2 2nds to trade up for a wr in such a deep pool...

llt what do you know and whats your thoughts on doug free? pos' dad was a huge giant fan and he has said hed love to be a giant. unfortunately the giants may be just as happy standing pat and taking paul or timmons (whoever falls)

[MasterOfPuppets]

Originally Posted by lamberts-lost-tooth

They did sign Reuben Droughns...but he is pushing 30....and has had one ...arguably two...good seasons in his career (and his best year was with Denver which seems to pad RB's numbers with their running scheme). He only averaged 3.4 yards last year with 4 TD's .....as a North/South RB is not the answer to Tiki Barber.

You have a legitimate point however..since Arrington is now gone..will the Giants look at Paul Posluszny at #20?

i kinda wondered why the giants went after a big lumbering back,to compliment there other big lumbering back.but why bother to pick him up if your going to search for your franchise back in the draft?as tony said,i think the g men stay put and get thier lber at 20.
i wouder if the cowboys would be a dance partner to get hall or revis

[tony hipchest]

Originally Posted by MasterOfPuppets

i kinda wondered why the giants went after a big lumbering back,to compliment there other big lumbering back.but why bother to pick him up if your going to search for your franchise back in the draft?as tony said,i think the g men stay put and get thier lber at 20.
i wouder if the cowboys would be a dance partner to get hall or revis

i posted this in the draft forum. i think we can add the cowboys. it is odd, that teams who really need a 1st round db could also really use a 1st-2nd round wr (except for the saints and pats). giants, dallas, and san diego could all be looking at the same wr or db.

the more i look at the players, mock drafts have us taking, the more i think we need to move down rather than reach to fill a need. (i think perceived cb needs can be filled in a later round). here are our best (and most potential) trading partners:

saints and jets- the #15 has alot of value cause it could probably be for the top cb in this years draft, a player who may have top 10 rankings on alot of teams boards. any team looking for secondary help will like #15 whether they want a cb or a safety. both the jets and saints have shown interrest in high priced patriot cb's who come with tags. rather than pay a ransom (high draft picks) and take on a potential salary disaster, both these teams are better served just to give up those picks and take the best cb on the board with a much lower salary.

san diego- san diego could want to move up for either a safety or a wr and with #15 they could easilly land the 2nd rated one on most teams boards.

giants- while there is last years connection, i think many of the players they target could easilly fall to them whether it be a wr or lb. while i thought they would be a likely dancing partner i now think it would be a longshot and foolish for them to trade with us.

patriots- i dont even think this is a possibility but the trove of football rumor, PFT, seems to think the steelers are gonna swap 15 for 24 just to help them out. patriots dont have a 2nd. the only way this trade could possibly happen is if the steelers swapped their 1st and 2nd for both of the patriots 1sts.

other than these 5 i would think any steelers downward trade would be out of the blue. at this point i think the jets and saints really need to be on the phone w/ colbert before they do something stupid like the seahawks did last year.

[lamberts-lost-tooth]

Originally Posted by tony hipchest

giants could still be a dancing partner but id rather target something on defense that would help us get to the qb (not a cb) who has potential pro bowl talent. im not sure if staley has potential to be a pro bowler or if he is just a player (his 40 time is insane though). i would love d. jarrett to fall to us at 2nd and not have to use 2 2nds to trade up for a wr in such a deep pool...

llt what do you know and whats your thoughts on doug free? pos' dad was a huge giant fan and he has said hed love to be a giant. unfortunately the giants may be just as happy standing pat and taking paul or timmons (whoever falls)

I Like Doug Free 6'6 324 lbs...he is a four year starter at offensive tackle...never missed a game due to injury. ...extremely athletic (former high school tight end..nicknamed ?Doug Freak? by his teammates).... He has a great work ethic ...outstanding character and has a ?mean streak? on the field... but he needs to work on being more physical and finishing blocks as a run blocker....He needs to be stronger at the point of attack...and increase his strength...struggled in the bowl game....what is scary is that he reminds me a little of a smarter, more athletic Max Starks in regards to his strength and tendency to stand a little tall. I think with two years of coaching and conditioning he could be our answer at left tackle...and may cut his teeth at right tackle before that!!

[lamberts-lost-tooth]

Originally Posted by MasterOfPuppets

i kinda wondered why the giants went after a big lumbering back,to compliment there other big lumbering back.but why bother to pick him up if your going to search for your franchise back in the draft?as tony said,i think the g men stay put and get thier lber at 20.
i wouder if the cowboys would be a dance partner to get hall or revis

I thought maybe they would use Droughns as a Verron Haynes type of back to work into a Lynch/Jacobs rotation...(Like Verron did with Parker and Bettis)

[MasterOfPuppets]

Originally Posted by tony hipchest

i posted this in the draft forum. i think we can add the cowboys. it is odd, that teams who really need a 1st round db could also really use a 1st-2nd round wr (except for the saints and pats). giants, dallas, and san diego could all be looking at the same wr or db.

very valid points! i wonder if chicago could go on that list? considering the briggs problems.they may want a crack at timmons or poz. they have an early pick in 2.

[MasterOfPuppets]

Originally Posted by lamberts-lost-tooth

I thought maybe they would use Droughns as a Verron Haynes type of back to work into a Lynch/Jacobs rotation...(Like Verron did with Parker and Bettis)

hell,i forgot about lynch. if he makes it past buffalo,he sure won'y get by green bay at 16.i guess anythings possible.

[MasterOfPuppets]

http://steelers.scout.com/2/636262.html



Willie Reid By Ryan Wilson
SteelCityInsider.com
Posted Apr 17, 2007

With the Big Day less than two weeks away, Ryan Wilson has more thoughts on prospective Steelers, the fallacy of mock drafts, the return of Willie Reid and even gets all serious in trying to solve the league's image problem.

So, let's just say not everybody was crazy about my First Round for Dummies column where I named my top four players heading into the draft. Apparently -- and I missed the memo -- Patrick Willis is overrated. I'm fine with that assessment; as I've written countless times, I don't watch enough college football to form any real opinions on potential NFL prospects. And while I usually know something about every player that eventually gets drafted, it's based primarily on other peoples' observations. My point: for me, the draft -- and the days and weeks leading up to it -- is kinda like Christmas Day: every pick is a present, and depending on who gave it to you, it has the potential to be really good or really bad.
So when people disagree with me on draft-related issues, I generally tend to listen. And when those with more knowledge than me pimp a player like Michigan middle linebacker David Harris, I'm all ears. I didn't write about it Sunday because I was only looking at potential first-round picks, but I had heard good things about Harris while doing my pre-draft homework ... and yes, "pre-draft homework" is a euphemism for "listening to Mike Mayock." During the NFL Network's Draft Preview show, Mayock shared these nuggets on Harris:


Might be the best hitter in the entire linebacking class;
Textbook tackler;
Has had a tremendous off-season, but on tape all he sees is Harris hitting people and securing tackles;
Likes him early in the second round.
And then I came across this in Sunday's Denver Post:

"He's strong, has great fluidity in the hips and is probably the best form tackler of the inside linebackers in this draft," said Mike Mayock, a draft analyst for the NFL Network. "He's a very good, not great inside linebacker who I think would be a nice safe pick for a team picking between 25 and 32 in the first round."
The concern is whether Harris would be ready to play on third down as a rookie. But after posting the fastest 10-yard and 20-yard times among all inside linebackers at the NFL scouting combine, Harris may have convinced the Broncos of his athleticism.

Harris sounds intriguing -- but it also sounds he's not worth the 15th overall pick and won't be around when the Pittsburgh Steelers select again at 46. And I'm sure a lot of people feel the same away about Willis ? And Anthony Spencer.
I mention the Purdue defensive end here because of Jim Wexell's column from Monday, and the subsequent news that the Steelers finally brought Spencer in for a visit. I didn't list Spencer as one of my four favorite first-rounders, but honestly, that had a lot to do with him kinda falling off the radar the last month or so. That said, if Roger Goodell called his name as the Steelers' first-round pick, I'd be fine with it. One of the great things about the Internet is the access to information. It's also one of the worst things about the Internet.

Everybody -- and I mean everybody -- has a mock draft. Three or four years ago, you could count the number of "legitimate" mock drafts on one hand. Now, you can spend hours perusing thousands of mock drafts that all have one thing in common: after the first few picks, they're invariably wrong. And there's nothing wrong with that; it is entertainment, after all. But I know -- at least for me -- I'm subconsciously swayed by what I read. Remember last year? Raise your hand if you were convinced Darnell Bing and Ko Simpson probably would be long gone by the time the Steelers finally got around to making their second pick in the draft (remember, Pittsburgh traded out of the second round and had two third-rounders).

Every mock draft I saw had both of these guys being off the board in the second round ? and they both ended up as fourth-round picks. And Bing, who ran a slow 40 time at his Pro Day, was moved to linebacker. And remember Penn State cornerback Alan Zemaitis? Most mock draft sites had him as a likely second-rounder and like Bing and Simpson, he lasted until the fourth.

Yeah, I'll be surprised if the Steelers take Spencer at 1.15, but only because I've been conditioned to think that way. But here's something to keep in mind: Mayock said this about Spencer: "The Ravens would love him because of his versatility." That's all I need to know.


*******
This is great news:
Reid has fully recovered from a foot injury that sidelined him last season and should be able to work his way into the wide receiver rotation, something that will keep him active on game days.
Not only does this solve the Steelers' punt-return problem, it also means I don't have to think things like, "hey, maybe Pittsburgh should think about drafting Ted Ginn because he's a great return guy." Yes, I admit it, I had those thoughts, but they were fleeting. And it's hard to blame me -- did you see the cast of characters the Steelers paraded out for punts last season? Anyway, I welcome Reid's return. He solves a special teams issue and I also hope he can be in the mix for the third or fourth wide receiver job. I know he's raw, but in the five training camp practices I saw, he didn't drop a pass during 7-on-7 and 11-on-11 drills. Now, I have no idea if he can run routes, beat press coverage, or find the soft spots in a zone, but he can catch, and that alone should move him ahead of Cedrick Wilson on the depth chart.
I checked my notes from training camp, and here's what I wrote while watching Reid field punts:

Reid again showed a knack for making players miss and then reaching full speed in a matter of steps. And just so you know, some people think Reid is actually faster than Holmes.
Glad you're back, Willie.
By the way, Mayock rates Ginn as his No. 2 wideout behind Calvin Johnson, but primarily because he is such a great return guy. Mayock admits that Ginn has a long way to go as a pass catcher and cited this interesting statistic: 80 percent of Ginn's routes were either crossing patterns, hitches or go