I do anticipate a TE in this draft, for sure. I think they really want a 3rd guy with some size since the Hill experiment failed. As for Desean, don't want either. Bad attitude/give me the ball attitude, lack of size and large price tag are just not appealing.
So you don't think down-field blocking by WRs is vital to our success? I would guess that we run more screens than the league average. And we certainly throw to Arian a ton and that is included, even if it is not a screen pass. We are not the Eagles that throw it 75% of the time, therefore we need WRs that can block. If we are "going for broke", I'd rather have V.Jackson or Wayne anyway -- but I don't think we're going to spend that much in free agency. We'll sign a decent WR and draft one in the first two rounds.
I think it's time to start putting a little more stock into down-field pass catching. Walter and Jones have been poor options when we need to convert 3rd and long, and OD hasn't been the same since his injury two years ago. We've had all our eggs in Johnson's basket for too long. He needs a sidekick on the opposite sideline.
well it's not so much getting a WR because he is a good blockers, but rather have a guy who is willing and can be a decent blocker. I don't think desean is either of those. The texans can get a guy with size and downfield pass catching ability and I'm sure that is going to be a priority this offseason.
The solution to that is to avoid the 3rd and long situation alltogether. No team is successful the majority of the time with 3rd and longs.
Very true. Gotta get a guy that can stretch the field. But I don't want a guy who's going to provide nothing in the blocking game and have attitude problems to boot. Desean Jackson is not built for this offense. He needs a very heavy passing team. And I'd bet money that the Texans won't even talk to him because of that and his price tag.
My priorities: My offseason is predicated on letting Mario go and resigning Myers and Arian. 1) Sign a veteran WR in FA. You could go aging veteran like Reggie Wayne or shoot for a stud like Bowe or Colston. 2) Sign a veteran CB. Doesn't need to be a star. Just a competent starter. Draft: 1) Best available playmaker outside of WR if you signed one. This could be a TE that is electric, a beast CB or safety, a hell raising linebacker, etc. I would ONLY take WR, OL and DL off the board for this pick. If the best PLAYMAKER on the board is TE, draft him. QB? Draft him. etc, etc, etc. After your first round pick go best available at the following positions (in order of importance) OLB, CB, OL, TE, MLB.
i'm not in favor of desean jackson but it would solve both your wr depth and return game. that makes it intriguing.
I could see drafting a big play TE, but only if we don't think we can get Dreessen back. And even then, not during the first 1-2 round. OD is our starter under a long term contract. It would be senseless to blow a top pick on a depth player. I can't see a "playmaker" QB working in this offense. Remember, Schaub may leave (hell, he may even retire if his foot is that jacked up), but Kubiak isn't going anywhere. I trust him to get good value on any QBs we pick up, be they draft or FA. Who were you thinking would be available, anyway? There's just not going to be much left on the board to reach for after the top 3 or 4 guys go. This is a really shallow QB draft. So while picking up somebody in the mid-rounds as Schaub insurance (whether he is too hurt or walks in FA) isn't a crazy idea, Leinart and Yates are both coming back, so, I can't see us carrying 4 QBs into the season. If Schaub craps out, we roll-on with our current guys and start looking for a new franchise QB next year. This is a draft where we really do have the luxury of taking the "best available" player, but we also need to make sure they're 1) going to work in Kubiak's system and 2) not going to be riding pine behind a good player for 2-3 years. I think it would be smart to draft players that we think we will need to start next year (we have a ton of FAs coming up in 2013), most of whom I believe are in the secondary and on the OL.
Thats easy to say for Jackson ... But Philly has a long history of "not paying folks"....Arguably Jackson was the engine to that high powered Philly offense...McCoy is the more important , because of the need for a balanced attack... But there's no denying that when Desean was focused, they were a different team.... Foster on the other hand plays for a fair team owner , so his situation was a "I'll do my part" and we'll see approach... We all know most WR's are prima donnas... It goes with the territory...especially if you're an underpaid prima donna....
I'm 99.9% sure any talk of an upper tier FA WR is moot. Even if Mario leaves. I think any outside FAs, regardless of position, brought in will be small dollar backups for depth.
I think the TE question really hinges on how highly they rate Dwayne Allen. He definitely falls in the prototype uber-athletic big TE mold that took the league by storm this year. and if he rates higher than whatever WRs are left on the board, its a fair bet. lets be honest, any WR who falls to our spot is going to have some warts. I agree with the "best available" approach. but keep in mind all of the depth we have coming back from injury as well. every level of our team lost a player to significant time or IR. our "best available" move might be to package some picks to move up and get that missing piece.
I see our draft strategy being this... we have zero "urgent" needs (at least needs that can be addressed right now via the draft) except for a WR/KR, so, once we get that taken care of... we can trade back all we want and stockpile picks. We can sit back and hoard assets (lol morey) setting ourselves up for the rebuild that will happen in 3-4 years once our current core has aged (mostly offense). We are sitting in the cat-bird's seat this time around. Let's take advantage of it.
I couldn't disagree more. Good teams generally have a core of players who mature physically, mentally and financially together. It's expensive - and in some cases too expensive - to keep good teams together. Already we're seeing this with Mario, who's all of freaking 26. The key is to continue drafting well - that's how you maintain success over longer periods of time. Ask the Colts. I will be super-duper PO'ed if the Texans wastes resources - plural - on a resource; moreso if said resource is a WR. They have a system now on both sides of the ball. Yes, better players make the system better - but they've proven, by winning without Foster and/or Johnson and/or Schaub, that the system is critical. They should have no trouble finding pieces that fit the system that don't require additional resources beyond the draft slot or a FA contract.
After we get a WR, I want to see us get a Safety and a Tackle. Hopefully all the while we're trading back. We are in no hurry to overspend or covet a player. We've got all the pieces we need to win right now. What we need to do is prepare for the future. Glover Quin and Duane Brown are FAs in 2013, I want to see us draft their possible replacements.
No doubt, but Winston is a FA the year after that (2014) and we have little in the way of OT depth. Plus you never know what Brown might command on the open market. Better safe than sorry. Taking the best available WR/S/OT in the first 3 rounds would be just fine with me.
