Peppers says he wants to explore free agency

Are you saying you think we have a good pass rush or even a decent DL?

All I'm saying is that a couple good draft DL picks over the next two years could bring this line back to the top. Something this team hasn't done over the last decade.

you seem to forget we had the #4 ranked defense in the league

Well day one of Senior Bowl week, and the early word is the D-Linemen are abusing the O-Linemen. Unger looking poor. Ziggy Hood and Ron Brace dominating. Raji playing like possibly a top 5 pick.

So to summarize-Samuels, Rinehart, Any old bloke, Thomas, Rookie is probably their ideal starting scenario.I'm wondering what's the deal with Thomas, because not only did he struggle to grasp zone blocking concepts, he also started to struggle with things he is historically strong at, such as one on one pass blocking and pulling to hit the end.

We've seen instances of players who just perform terribly for a year with no real warning signs and then bounce right back the next year, which I think can happen with Thomas, but man, was he awful this season.

Well day one of Senior Bowl week, and the early word is the D-Linemen are abusing the O-Linemen. Unger looking poor. Ziggy Hood and Ron Brace dominating. Raji playing like possibly a top 5 pick.

Hood is a guy to keep an eye on. If we get a 2nd round pick and he's there, I would take him. He may not be Haynesworth but he's good and would be a hell of a lot cheaper. I'll doubt he'd still be there in the 3rd. His stock will probably rise.

You're like me in a sense in you care about character. With that said Rocky Bernard isn't going to fit that criteria either, in fact he might be worse then Haynesworth.

Suspension

On Saturday, August 30, 2008, the National Football League (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NFL) suspended Bernard for the Seahawks' (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seattle_Seahawks) 2008 season opener for violating the league's personal conduct policy. Bernard was arrested in April on investigation of domestic violence. He alledgedly punched his ex-girlfriend in the forehead. He will lose $235,000 in salary for the suspension.[2] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rocky_Bernard#cite_note-1)

Huh, I didn't know about Bernard and his issues. I just thought it was funny how when we were talking about just Haynesworth, people were like no we shouldn't get him, he'll be a bust, he has character issues, etc., etc. But now that we brought Peppers to the picture in our discussions, people were now saying we should get Haynesworth and not Peppers (once again, I'm not advocating getting any of them).

Hood is a guy to keep an eye on. If we get a 2nd round pick and he's there, I would take him. He may not be Haynesworth but he's good and would be a hell of a lot cheaper. I'll doubt he'd still be there in the 3rd. His stock will probably rise.

Yeah, I was talking to this college scout last week, and he was really high on Hood and some center whose name I can't remember). But he had Hood as a 3rd or 4th rounder back then.

He said Malcolm Jenkins was far and away his favorite player in the draft and if by some chance he fell to 13 we had to take him. I disagreed and said we didn't need to spend our 13th pick on a CB, we need line help. He said "you can find linemen later, you won't find Jenkins for a long time"

If it's any consolation, the team he scouts for is pretty awful.

But anyhow, I know nothing of Hood.

Well the latest on Curry is he's skyrocketing to probably being a top 3 pick so that improves the likelihood at this point that we're taking Cushing at 13 (assuming he's there). I really like the idea of adding a young, playmaking OLB but I'm not convinced entirely that Cushing is the right choice that high.

I think the plan for the offensive line is Samuels is the LT until he has to carted off; at LG they really (and so do I) want to see Rinehart take that spot this summer, though I think they'll probably bring back Kendall for cheap if they can regardless, C is kind of a toss up position right now-I don't think they're in love with Rabach but I also get the sense they don't think it's all that important a position relative to others-I think they take a C very late in the draft and have Rabach, Geisinger (if healthy) and the draft pick battle it out in training camp with Jansen and Kendall being long shots. At RG, Thomas probably stays there. RT is the wild card, I think they're really trying to trade into the 2nd round to get an OT there. There are probably 7-8 draft picks who could start at RT right away and who knows when that will happen again.

So to summarize-Samuels, Rinehart, Any old bloke, Thomas, Rookie is probably their ideal starting scenario.

I can't help but be worried that we might not take a truly top OT in this year's draft. For all practical purposes we don't have a RT and Samuels while still very, very good is no spring chicken. A franchise tackle gives us so many options at this point where we can shore up both tackle positions for the foreseeable future.

... I understand OLB is def a need. Also realize it's just my opinion that a franchise OT is the best move but it will be sooooo unfair to JC (and the fans) if the FO fails to significantly upgrade the line. :(

I would just add that w/ Thomas struggling so bad last season and his resurgence as an effective guard questionable, but the near certainty he is retained because of the cap hit) it's all the more important we put a monster at RT.

Also curious as to how Rocky Mac would be effective @ strong side LB when he struggled at weak-side? The official skins site has him listed @ 232 lbs... lighter than Marcus, Fletcher, Blades and even Fincher (who looks the meanest of them all BTW).

Yeah, I was talking to this college scout last week, and he was really high on Hood and some center whose name I can't remember). But he had Hood as a 3rd or 4th rounder back then.

He said Malcolm Jenkins was far and away his favorite player in the draft and if by some chance he fell to 13 we had to take him. I disagreed and said we didn't need to spend our 13th pick on a CB, we need line help. He said "you can find linemen later, you won't find Jenkins for a long time"

If it's any consolation, the team he scouts for is pretty awful.

But anyhow, I know nothing of Hood.

Was it Alex Mack?

Also curious as to how Rocky Mac would be effective @ strong side LB when he struggled at weak-side? The official skins site has him listed @ 232 lbs... lighter than Marcus, Fletcher, Blades and even Fincher (who looks the meanest of them all BTW).I believe that SLB is the easiest position to handle on the entire defense, and while "strong side" would imply that you need a bigger, stronger player there, the fact that you spend a lot of time taking on blocks from the tight end instead of a tackle or guard makes me think that a smaller guy should be able to handle SLB better than WLB.

That, and I think it's somewhat easier, without having curl-flat coverage responsibilities and all.