Vernon Gholston DE, Ohio State

[blitzfiftysix]

I'd take either of those guys. Whichever is available when we are selecting. I like the speed and proven talent against the top OT in the NCAA with Gholston. However, something is intriquing about the size of Calais Campbell.

I remember watching Ed "Too Tall" Jones give the Redskins fits back in the day.

Campbell would be that kind of player!

[freddyg12]

there certainly aren't many prototype 4-3 ends that are highly rated the last few years. C. Campbell might be the best of the DEs to play in a 4-3. The Skins may have to continue the strategy of playing a run stopper (Daniels & an eventual replacement) & then bringing in speed as they did this year w/Washington & Wilson on pass downs.

Is it worth it to draft a guy in the 1st solely as a pass rusher? I think so & it appears a lot of GMs do. Teams pass the ball so much more nowdays. The Skins didn't like G. Adams last year, but he had a pretty solid year in Tampa as a pass rush specialist.

[freddyg12]

Guess the question I'm posing in the above post is; Will GW (assume he's HC) et al draft a pass rush specialist early in the draft, or look for a solid "every down" DE a little later. Lawrence Jackson of USC has been mentioned by Smootsmack I think as a guy that they like. He fits the bill of the every down DE but not one of the best pass rushers available.

[That Guy]

i think harvey and campbell are every down des, but not the greatest run stoppers ever. It's easier to learn to stop the run than to learn pass rushing (since the speed might not be there).

i mean, carter took one offseason and magically stopped getting pushed all over the place.

[jdlea]

I'm a fan of what Vernon Gholston has done, but I'm also very high on Quentin Groves. The kid was a beast at Auburn and scout.com has him as their #3 DE available in this year's draft. That means that he could possible fall to us, he's a little smaller at 6'3" 252, but his 4.43 40 is pretty sick.

[WillH]

I am basing my post off of this post from the Big Name Coaches thread:

http://www.redskinswarpath.com/locke...tml#post409691

In this post was a link to this guy who has sources saying GW will be the coach, Springs will stay, Rogers prob wont be healthy much next season, and that GW wants to draft a CB with our first round pick. I felt discussion of who that CB might be fit better in this thread. This kid from Penn State sounds like a possible prospect:

Justin King Scouting Report
Position: CB
School & Year/Status: Penn State - Junior
Height & Weight: 6'0 - 186 lbs.
Ranked #37 on our Top 100 Prospects Board

2008 NFL Draft Prospect - Scouting Report
Justin King is a top notch CB prospect. The 6'0", 186 lbs., junior from Penn St. has the tools to shut down NFL receivers. He went through a few shaky spots this season, but overall has done a great job in coverage. King finished this season as a First Team All Big Ten selection. He totaled 49 tackles and 2 INTs this season, despite the opposition throwing away from him most of the season. King also led the Big Ten this season with 17 passes defended. King has defended top flight college receivers all season, facing Dorien Bryant, James Hardy, Mario Manningham, Arrelious Benn, and Brian Robiskie, with good results. He shows good ball skills in coverage and has blazing speed. King will need to hit the weight room, so he can play press coverage when needed against NFL receivers. Pittsburgh Post Gazette columnist Ron Muselman reported King had 4.3 or better speed in the 40. The thing that makes King an exciting prospect is this is only his second year as a full time CB. Because of injuries, King was forced to play mostly at wide receiver during his freshman year. Corner is one of the toughest positions to play in football and his relative lack of experience shows how good he could be with NFL coaching. An added bonus with King is his experience at both receiver and as a return man at Penn St. Justin King is an excellent corner, with unlimited potential. The shaky end to his year might see him slide to the end of the first round.

His speed instantly makes him an exciting prospect, and at 6'0 he is no shrimp at the CB position (wasn't D. Green like 5'8?). He could possibly help for receiver depth late in the season when WRs are often nicked up, and his return skills is a huge bonus considering Cartwright will most likely be gone. Finally, if he falls to late in the first round he will definitely be there at our 21st pick, and we could possibly trade down a bit, get some extra mid-round picks, and still pick him up. Any thoughts?

[MTRedskinsFan]

Originally Posted by Bill B

Earthquake - either player would be great - I just think DE must be the first round pick this year because Philip Daniels is pretty much uneffective when it comes to rushing the passer and I think as Daniels gets older his ability to stop the run will also go down too. Daniels is 34 now and outside of Carter no DE on the Skins scares any opposing teams offense right now. It was so frustrating to see how much time opposing qb's had because Daniels could not rush the passer.

I like your thinking Bill. What I can't wrap my little ole mind around is the concept that a corner would be our first rounder. It only makes sense if there is an absolute shutdown mofo out there who somehow falls to us (I don't think King fits the description). I say this because Springs has proven reliable since he changed his training/conditioning; Smoot is a gutsy sob and Rogers should be back sometime next season. Also, Torrence looked better throughout the season - kid's got wheels like few guys in the game so why can't GW and Grey just coach him up a bit? So yeah, I like DE or o-line for the first pick (depending on the very best player available to us between those two positions). If JJ is gone than we damn well better invest in some talent at tackle, and we need talent at guard in case RT or Kendell go down, and we need a DE, and we need to big threat at WR, and... wait a minute. Do we have enough picks?

[GTripp0012]

The main issue with a guy like Gholston at 265 pounds is not that he's any worse of a player because he's light in the ass. The best pass rushers in this league are grossly undersized. The issue is when you look at the defensive line as a unit, and as a unit it's small, then you've created a monster weakness for offensive coordinators to exploit.

Look no further than the Raiders for proof of this. The Raiders DL in 06 was on the small side, but mostly it was just good. Warren Sapp reports to camp as a 270 lb DT the next season, and all of a sudden teams have no reason to ever throw the ball against the Raiders.

The Raiders pass defense was still pretty good this season, but it did not matter because they were so terrible against the run. And like us, their LBs are pretty darn good.

The main point is that we are already playing with one 260 lb DE (who admittedly has improved against the run), and it would be beneficial not to have to play with a second.

Gholston is probably a better player than Andre Carter would ever be, but you couldn't have defensive success with Gholston and Carter at the ends. It would have to be one or the other.

With Calais Campbell, that wouldn't be an issue. Even at 280, Campbell is probably a much better pass rusher than a run stopper. But you can line him up at LE, and not give the opposition a clear weakness on the DL. The other thing that move does is allows Carter to continue to play the RE, and not have to be the main pass rushing threat.

I want to be clear here: I'm not advocating the use of the selection on a guy who can stop the run and not rush the passer. We need a guy who can rush the passer off that left end, and one who can be the primary pass rushing threat. Think Mario Williams. The key is to not create a glaring weakness that we would have to compensate for schematically.

[That Guy]

well, campbell did have 84 total tackles in 06... ghoulston and harvey were closer to 50 each.

[T.O.Killa]

I like Campbell, and I think he may be there, but lets see what happens at the combine. Remember Alan Branch.

[Veretax]

He won't fall to us, and if he did, I see him falling to the 2nd like Alan Branch did. He's not the type of player we need on Dline.

[redskins159]

Gholston will be gone by pick 15 at the least. We might get Campbell in the first round or maybe luck out by getting someone like Groves or Chris Ellis in the second round. I wouldnt be the least bit surprised if we drafted a WR, RT, or CB with the first round pick. Each of these positions are stacked in the draft. We actually have decent depth at defensive line. Golston, Montgomery and Chris Wilson played well when they were in the line up. The offense was the weak link last year so I say draft o-line or WR if we dont get Chad Johnson.

[redskins159]

Gholston should be a great player for many years but the last thing we need is another undersized DE. Carter is small and quick but can play the run...I am not so sure Gholston can pass rush and play the run effectively. If he cant and we draft him he might only be used on passing downs. Id rather have a end that can play any down. We can get a great DE without necessarily using a 1st round pick. Everyone keeps using the name Umenyiora... a second round pick. Julius Peppers was a number 1 overall pick and how many sacks did he have last year, How about Jammal Anderson? How remember Kenard Lang? who we picked over Warren Sapp, or Courtney Brown. There have been more 1st round busts at DE than pro bowlers.

[mooby]

I wouldn't be opposed to taking Gholston or Campbell with our first draft pick, but I"m not a fan of trading picks to move up. I wouldn't be opposed to taking a defensive end in the later rounds too because some teams are able to find good pass rushers in the later rounds of the draft. I was a big fan of Elvis Dumervil when he was in college and now he's a great pass rusher for the Broncos even though he was drafted in the fourth.

I also think we need to look at all our needs here and pick the best player available that fits one of our needs in the first round, whether it's wide receiver or defensive end.

[Skinsfanmania]

Originally Posted by Coff

What, you don't trust Cerrato to pick another receiver? How can you doubt him, after seeing how Rod Garnder and Taylor Jacobs turned out!

Cerrato wasn't even here when we drafted Rod Gardner, as that was Marty's year with the skins. Taylor Jacobs had Spurriers finger prints all over it as he was a Gator.

Cerrato hasn't taken a receiver early in the draft, however I'd like to see a DL taken early in the draft and would love Gholston or Campbell, however an impact DT would be nice as well.

Then again, maybe we could get Albert Haynsworth in FA and draft a DE.