2011 NFL Draft

[GTripp0012]

Originally Posted by SmootSmack

They played some of their best football against Jacksonville when Orakpo was not playing. Of course, I'm not saying they're a better team without Orakpo. But without him they were more unpredictable. I believe they need someone who can line up on the opposite side of Orakpo and inflict much of the same damage he can.

This was absolutely, 100% my takeaway from the season. Orakpo, in the current defense, may be more of a liability than an asset. But that's not the fault of Orakpo: he's one of the true young pass rushing studs in this league. We could pair him with a guy like Lamarr Woodley and have a much stronger pass rushing unit. Woodley will probably be franchised by the Steelers which means we're looking to the draft to find that guy.

It's just a lone defensive need. We'll need a free safety too at some point, but honestly, if we just wanted to stick Kareem Moore out there again and admit that the defense is a work in progress because Kareem Moore kind of sucks, I think that second pass rusher will go a lot further. Free safety can be addressed when we have more picks. Sure would like to have Nate Allen on this team right now.