[Lotus]

Originally Posted by Dirtbag359

I'm not saying he busted exactly. Well techincally by the standard a lot of people held him to he did but he was still a great player. My point is we've benefited much more from having Samuals during this time then we did from having LaVar. If we can find another Tackle then he'll probably last longer then a linebacker, especially a headhunter like Rey (not that thats a bad thing being a headhunter).

On top of that Rey has slight durability issues (4 on Scouts inc scale with 1 being the best). The two tackles we're looking at most closely, Oher and Smith, scored 1 and 2 respectively. It really is a similar situation except this time we don't have two picks to get both of them (LB and T).

Another similar situation to ours was the 2005 draft at pick 13. The Saints were choosing between Derick Johnson and Jamaal Brown. In the end they took the Tackle who ended up going to the pro bowl. Derrick Johnson has been good but he's not as good a LB as Brown is a Tackle. And I would have thought coming out of the draft that Johnson clearly would have been viewed as the better player, but you live and you learn.

Of course it doesn't always work this way. You got possibly a tie or win by AJ Hawk over D'Brickashaw Fergusion. And last year Jerod Mayo did better then Ryan Clady, though Clady still did very good. However those haven't gone through the time test that Lavar vs Samuals went through.

So when you Lobby this April, lobby for a tackle. They last longer.

Well put. I would add that the needs of the offense appear greater than the needs of the defense.