Questions that might effect the DRAFT

While i'm thinking mostly positive thoughts about '09, can't help but say that lineup looks like a recipe for disaster. Obviously Samuels will come back strong. But Rinehart as a starter when there is no evidence whatsoever he can play at a high level. Remember he played small ball in college and hasn't earned enough confidence to take a snap all year. Rabach is at best an average center. I'd like to think Thomas had a down year and will return strong but the neck injury could be serious so he's a wait and see. And then Heyer. Jeez. One of the worst run blockers i saw all year. Massive upper body covered in baby fat and legs that seem to struggle to hold his own weight, let alone move a DE or DT around. Honestly if this is our lineup next season looks scary.

As to the critics of a top OT @ 13, Samuels won't play forever. Let the young stud take over the RT position w/ the intent of moving to LT in a few years. Give time for Rinehart to develop or draft another franchise RT down the road. Either way a monster at tackle is a position you can build the offense around (aside from QB). Three teams did it last year: drafted OTs in the 1st round and had em start all season (Miami, Denver and I forget the third at present). IMHO we need to stop dickering around w/ "potential talent" or "diamonds in the rough" when it comes to the lines (o-line especially right now). Just grab the top talent and start to build a team around a dominant line.
With some of the talent in this draft it's easy to get distracted. I just hope we don't lose sight of what we need to do. A dominant line would be a beautiful, beautiful thing.

I think that ^^ line wouldn't be much better then the line we had last year.

Dude where's Pete??

When you consider that Pete played well and stayed healthy all year, i'd say he was our best lineman last year.

Why would you want to bring back Thomas who struggled and is having offseason surgery?

A defensive tackle at pick 13? Why?

We need to get younger on the line man. I hate to let Kendall go but he's 35. Thomas has played pretty well and I think if we cut him we'll take a hit. Honestly bro I think we will trade out and get more picks but if we're staying there I'm certain our pick will be on defense D- lineman, or LB.

I would like to see our o-line lineup look like this:

LT Samuels LG Kendall C Rabach RG Thomas RT Rookie

Backups: Jansen, Rinehart, Clark, Rabach.

I like this with a few minor changes.

LT Samuels LG Kendall or Rinehart C Rookie RG Thomas RT Rookie or FA signing

I think it is really foolish to be counting on Kendall OR Rinehardt at LG next year. Kendall is going to be 36 I think, and has arthritic knees. Rinehardt, I actually recall hearing about him getting repeatedly blown up in training camp, and the fact that we were desperate for O-line this year, and he was never even active tells me he has a long way to go. I think we need to draft a starting LG as badly as we need a starting RT. We need quality players, not just bodies. Better have somebody ready to step in for Casey also. Good luck Vinny.

While he's aging Jansen probably plays well on the interior and can be a force at either guard position. Just an idea since he's a guaranteed hold-over but now lacks the lateral agility to be a great RT.

I'm trying, but I can't find any reason to get excited about the Texas-Ohio State match-up. It's like these two teams are running in jell-o.

After reading about the cap, (I must admit that I didn't know too much about it until this year) it's almost certain that most of these guys are going to be back next year as far as the O-line is concerned. If they trade up or trade down, quaility or quantity isn't a big issue with me as long as they see that it's a problem and try to address it with the draft and FA. We shouldn't neglect our defense either. Being able to do both of these things is near impossible in one off season. Next year we'll be posting about how we need a new running back after Clinton Portis collapses from exhaustion.
I like the idea of trading down and getting Robinson. I'm hoping we'll pick up Everrett Brown. I don't care if he's not built for our kind of offense. We'll have to wait and see. As long as they don't trade all of our picks for mercenaries and actually pick someone then I'll be happy.

I'm trying, but I can't find any reason to get excited about the Texas-Ohio State match-up. It's like these two teams are running in jell-o.

I wanted to see how Boone would do against Orakpo. Looked like he was doing alright the last I saw but I lost interest and forgot it was still on.

Do you think we should be drafting lineman from teams that run a west coast offense or do you think that any lineman can be trained to play in it??

After reading about the cap, (I must admit that I didn't know too much about it until this year) it's almost certain that most of these guys are going to be back next year as far as the O-line is concerned. If they trade up or trade down, quaility or quantity isn't a big issue with me as long as they see that it's a problem and try to address it with the draft and FA. We shouldn't neglect our defense either. Being able to do both of these things is near impossible in one off season. Next year we'll be posting about how we need a new running back after Clinton Portis collapses from exhaustion.
I like the idea of trading down and getting Robinson. I'm hoping we'll pick up Everrett Brown. I don't care if he's not built for our kind of offense. We'll have to wait and see. As long as they don't trade all of our picks for mercenaries and actually pick someone then I'll be happy.

Isn't he the DT from FSU?

Isn't he the DT from FSU?

DE from FSU. Yeah.