daiboy

Right lets see what we have here at the minute and where we can improve as this off season continues. Having stayed on the outside looking in here for 2 years I finally joined this year and posted this week so please bear with me if I retread ground people have already gone over etc. The offence was the real problem last year but why? Lets be honest, the o-line hasn’t been addressed in years, we suffered more injuries than most teams suffer in a decade, we haven’t had a QB franchise since Kelly left and our number one RB was suspended for four games for being a tool. However, we signed two top quality guards, one of which who may progress to centre, we signed a centre who didn’t do too badly in retrospect with ever changing personnel next to him and if it wasn’t for the injuries which decimated the line who knows how strong they could have been. Now let us look at the bad points. Obviously OT needs to be addressed and Bell is still learning. We have signed Green who does look decent enough and still has some gas left in the tank. I think we forget when it comes to free agency EVERYONE is signing peoples CAST OFFS. Looking at the highlight reel posted on here he looks decent enough which certainly an improvement. People moan about our inactivity and then moan about our choices when we do go in for someone. I think we are set in the backfield with Lynch and Jackson though I do laugh when people say about trading Lynch. He’s still only 23 and Jackson is over 30. They are a perfect foil for each other, differing in running styles and with Gailey saying how he wants to work primarily through the running game I think its safe to say they are gonna see a lot more work. We definitely need help in the receiver position with Evans being our only recognised ‘starter’. We have Hardy who certainly has all the tools to make it but as we all know that’s not enough. Is he going to make the step up or will he be another Bills flop. We have Johnson who everyone here seems to love though I haven’t seen enough of him to make a judgement. Either way it’s a position we need to address. On the defensive side of the ball we have more problems but it really isn’t as bad as we are making out according to some. We are switching defensive schemes, to a 3-4 but we have to think this will benefit some people on the roster especially Maybin. We have 2 middle linebackers who can probably do a job there in Poz and Mitchell and two outside linebackers in Schobel and Maybin who we think will be better served in this revamped defence. We have secondary that looks as strong as most units. The defensive line is a worry but they are pulling in people like Jimmy Kennedy to help Stroud, Williams and Johnson. Ok then, where do we go from here? We have a need at tackle but by all accounts this draft is very deep in tackle talent. I can see why you would want to pick up a LT with the #9 pick but you have to think are you getting value for your money here. Nix was seen talking to Okung this week at his pro day. Okung is undisputedly the number one tackle in the draft and everyone after him has question marks. Baluga has short arms, Davis has attitude problems etc etc. Okung has no such problems. So does Nix trade up to get him and go for broke or do we trade back for more picks and pick up a serviceable no name later in the draft? Our need at receiver. Do we draft Bryant with our #9 pick or trade back up pick him up later in the first if he drops that far or maybe we get Golden Tate? What about QB? I have seen stories where we are thinking of trading up with the Lions to get Bradford, I have seen stories where trade back for more picks and we get Tebow. Nose Tackle, we seem to think Dan Williams is a reach for #9 but won’t be there at #41. Also we seem to be drafting McClain in some mocks. All in all its obvious we have a lot of needs and not enough picks to fill them immediately. However, I agree that we are not too far from challenging. Things aren’t really that bad. Good secondary, a linebacker corp that’s supposedly going to be a lot better due to the change in formation and a line that they are working to fix. I think it will surprise people this year. On the offence the line isn’t as bad as people think and with help in the draft and in FA it will be a lot better. We need some more targets but more importantly we need someone to throw the damn ball. The fact is the draft throws up very little in the way of ‘certs’. This year I think there are four, Suh, Berry, Okung and McCoy and after them you’re always taking a chance. My choice would be to trade our #9 pick for a couple of seconds and a third hopefully, pick up a couple of OT’s later in the draft like Charles Brown, select Tebow ( I know this will be hated by some sectors but there you go) and pick up Cam Thomas at NT. We can get a bust at #9, especially us, so why not move back and spread the chances a bit?

But using that logic we are improving the team whether it be a bad team or not. In those terms if we continue to gain 4-5 starters every year then we will continue to improve. Thats something we havent done for a long time.

I am a regular reader but not a regular poster here so please excuse me if I am merely repeating a regularly made point. I dont believe what I hear sometimes on here. Prior to last years draft if someone had said you will have 3 immediate starters, one of which will be a probowler this year, as well as 2 guys who will play a number of games for us you would have bitten their hand off. No matter what you say last years draft was a success. We can always say "we missed out on cushing, orakpo and harvin". Well THEY ALL passed on Byrd. Another probowler! I hope they are all being taken to task. I am not going to get into whether Maybin will be a great player or not here as its irrelevant as its purely conjecture so I'll deal with what we KNOW. We drafted 3 immediate starters. Thats a good draft!

What's the latest news on his injury does anyone know? Also as a side issue I have read this forum for a while now and I have to bring up one point. The consensus for last years draft always seems to be bad. "we cant draft", "we have to draft better" etc etc. To be honest I think last years draft has been better than most peoples. I agree that we should have picked Orakpo or Cushing instead or Maybin but on the whole I dont think you can complain. Wood, Levitre and Byrd have been beyond anything I could hope for in their first years seeing where in the draft we landed them and Nelson for a fourth rounder has performed more than adequately. I know there's a big downer on this franchise at the minute but I dont think we are far off the mark anymore. Strengthen up at tackle, QB and D line and we're as good as most.