BravinSeattle

I didn't realize that 2002 was such a bloodbath for DT's. I want to believe that Krumrie could turn Bryant's career around but most likely if you can't make it with the Cards you probably can't make it anywhere.

I think this is going to be an audition for both Evans (To see if he can be a no.1 and replace Moulds) and for Aiken to see if he can actually be a no.2 WR. I would like to see us start Evans and Parrish and see how it goes.

I think its very likely that Mike Williams will be back at RT and will be there through a contract extension. He's not going to move to G and I believe it may have just been an attempt at a wakeup call for him. If that's the case then I can't really see us signing Salaam who's also a RT and I actually think that Gandy has done a job so why sign Pearson? I think we're more likey going to have Gandy and Williams at LT and RT and find a replacement for Williams and Teague. I think Preston has the inside track on the C spot but I think we're likely to draft a G and a T vs. spending the money in free agency.

YEEEESSSSS!!!! 4-12 and top 5 pick in the draft here we come!!!!

I agree with you on Mike Williams. If he restructures then I'd extend him because he knows he's not going to get Orlanda Pace money on the open market if released, not even close. Clements' collapse couldn't have come at a better time either except that I think the Redskins will overpay for him because Greg Williams thinks he's best CB in the NFL. I think we've got a shot at re-signing him since his price will be a lot less than some think after this season is complete. We also kind of lucked out with Edwards as well as we'll likely get him for another year at a discount which means if we can get a stud DT in the draft it would make it a lot easier to let Sam Adams walk. If its my call, Sam stays because he'll be much better with someone who's closer to Pat Williams than Justin Bannan. I think Gandy comes back for another season at LT and I agree with you on the dangers of drafting a LT to solve our problems -- its not gauranteed. I think the only two that could step in a start at LT and help more than hurt are Ferguson and Justice, who I think is going to pass up Winston as the 2nd best OT in the draft. I'm a huge fan of Marcus McNeill of Auburn but he reminds me too much of Mike Williams who may get eaten alive by speed rushers at the NFL level. To me our biggest problem is at OG and C and hopefully Teague can be supplanted by Preston but what really worries me is the play (Or lack of) of Anderson and the age of Villareal. This draft has to hold an OT *AND* OG or else JP is in for another long season. I think its very likely we're going to re-sign Clements and Edwards and keep Mike Williams, all at a lot less than we thought we would when the season began. I also see the whole Eric Moulds situation blowing over way before next season as in he'll start the rest of the way as will Adams. Both will be back I believe as I would guess there cap hits would make it senseless to release them unless they give us no other choice. I think the guys who are going to exit quickly once the season concludes are Teague, Vincent, Posey and Anderson with Milloy having one foot out the door depending on what we do in the draft. If we can somehow "lose out" and finish in the top 4-6 picks we can easily get the young athletic DT we've needed or the the dominating RDE that comes along once every couple of draft or the true LT we've needed for what seems like 10 years now -- with our first pick. Or we can pick up a solid starter at OT, DT, CB, OG, SLB or FS with our second pick and another solid TE or WR to allow us to upgrade those positions by replacing Neufeld and Reed with good picks in the third round or continue to add OL or DL depth. The reality is that no matter how terrible this season was we've got a unique opportunity to begin next season with a young offensive nucleus (Losman, Evans, McGahee and Everett) along with an improved OL (Hopefully if Williams restructures and finally plays up to his potential next to a vastly upgraded interior line). With the heart and soul of our D back (Even at 80%) we should be young (Clements and McGee), improved (If we upgrade DT and S via the draft) and experienced (An Adams being inspired by TKO along with Kelsey, Schoebel, Fletcher and Milloy) enough to be not just a playoff team but a team on the verge of getting to the Super Bowl. Of course all of this is contingent on Mularkey, Donahoe, Clements and Gray all slamming into a mountain in a plane at 300 mph the day before the draft and being replaced by people who don't completely suck.

I think our first pick should be OT only if Ferguson is there (Eric Winston would be a tremendous reach at no.7) or DT unless one of the two stud DEs are available. We could then use our second round pick on the best DT, OL or CB since we're picking so high and with two high picks in the 3rd round I think we can either find a SS or FS or trade up into the 2nd if an impact WR or S drops. As far as TE I think we'll draft depth at the position but Everett should be the answer at the position sooner than later. We've got to shore up OT, DT and CB but I'd be happy if we went for one of those stud DE's with our first pick since this draft is so deep at OL.

That's why beating Carolina AND the Jets really hurt us. We should have started Bryson at QB if we needed to for our last 5 games.

In 2001 there were really only two impact players in the draft -- QB David Carr and DE Julius Peppers -- and if it weren't for a late season victory over Carolina and a another over the Jets we would've had a shot at Peppers. Could you imagine if we would've built this team around Peppers on the DL vs Williams on the OL? Then again we probably would've drafted Harrington with our luck. As it stands the Bills have the 7th overall pick but no worse than 12th (6 teams tied with 4 wins) but the good news is that 1-11 Houston has games left against a 2 win team (@SF) and a 3 win team (@HOU) and the 2-10 49ers have to play Houston. Green Bay could win a game with Detroit and maybe even Baltimore to finish with 4 wins. The two 3 win teams above us look to have only New Orleans "losing out" as I think Tennessee pulls out a W vs. Houston at home giving them 4 wins. That makes our game against the 2-10 Jets a must lose game and could mean the difference in us finally getting over the hump or striving to just reach .500 next year. I'll be watching the Jets games the rest of the year with a rosary in my hand in the hope that they can get a win against Oakland or at Miami which isn't impossible. If that happens we could end up with the 5th through 7th pick in the upcoming draft. As it stands today (With chances for victories in bold) -- 1. Houston 1-11 | @TEN/AZ/JAC/@SF 2. Green Bay 2-10 | DET/@BAL/CHI/SEA 3. San Francisco 2-10 | @SEA/@JAC/@STL/HOU 4. New York Jets 2-10 | OAK/@MIA/NE/BUF 5. New Orleans 3-9 | @ATL/CAR/DET/@TB 6. Tennessee 3-9 | HOU/SEA/@MIA/@JAC 7. Buffalo 4-8 | NE/DEN/@CIN/@NYJ 8. Five teams 4-8 While it sucks to now be playing for draft position its the reality that is starting an inexperienced AB behind a swiss cheese OL. The bad news is RB Reggie Bush will not be available at our pick and neither will QB's Matt Leinart or Vince Young. The good news is that we've got a very outside shot at OT D'Brickshaw Ferguson if GB wins a couple of games, the Jets win a couple, and NO and TEN win one more game. Even if we don't we'll likely have the following players to choose from provided we lose our remaining games: DE Mario Williams 6-6 285 (Is he a LDE or DT?) OT Marcus McNeil 6-8 322 (Could be our answer at LT or could be another Mike Williams) DE Mathias Kiwanuka 6-6 260 (Can we afford to take this guy? Can you afford to pass him up?) DT Rod Wright 6-5 305 (The answer to our run defense woes) This draft is unbelievably deep at OL so we possibly could use our 1st rounder on one of those DL and jump up into the bottom of the 1st round to grab our OT if Ferguson and McNeil are off the board by our pick and Winston's stock continues to drop due to injury. Either way if we lose out the rest of the way we'll have a REAL opportunity to shore up our OL and DL problems.

Considering that it looks like we'll be drafting high enough to use a 2nd round pick to get a decent CB I'm not too worried about replacing Clements. What I am disappointed about is his decline in coverage ability because I had a pipedream that we could tage him and get a 1st round compensation pick for him. It definitely doesn't look like its even a remote possibility at this point.

I was praying for a CB, specifically Bryany McFadden as well as TE Kevin Everett with our first two picks but when we grabbed Parrish I had hopes he would be another Santana Moss. I'm still not convinced either way but it certainly looks like McFadden is a player.

I'm curious as to what our starting OL was myself.

The NFL rushing leader in 2004 averaged 106 yds per game. Willis is averaging 90 per game and he's at 900 yds with SIX games left so if he just hits his 90 yds per game average he'll have 1440 yds for the season. That's just "satisfactory" when Martin won it in 2004 with 1697 and the best back in the NFL (LT) gained only 1335?

I hope this organization realizes we're more than just a player or two away when you factor in the age of some of our key starters and the likelihood that we're going to loose two starters on the OL (Teague and thankfully Williams if he doesn't take a pay cut), one of our CBs, both DT's and our SLB. I think now is the time to commit to playing JP Losman and plays Duke Preston at C among other youth-over-veteran moves in the starting lineup. I'm fine finishing the season at 4-12 and having the 10th pick or higher with a draft that is deep in OL if it means we can end this KNOWING what we have in a small group of young players just as we know what we DON"T have in an aging group of uninspired veterans. I sometimes believe that Takeo is the literal heart and soul of this defense rather than figuratively becuase it seems like everyone has lost the fire that was apparent when he was on the field. I think we've got to use our 1st two picks on the OL and DL rather than take the best player available route no matter how hard it will be to pass up a CB. I'd actually be happy to go one more year with Sam Adams and spend our first two picks on OT and OG in the hopes of just starting a year with 5 solid players across the OL. The only way I don't got that route is if DT Rodrique Wright of Texas is available at our pick. If not then I'd support using our first three picks on OL and could probably be convinced to use our first four. We've got the offensive weapons in a mobile QB, McGahee, Moulds, Evans, Parrish (Who I think could be another Santana Moss) and Everett. It would be nice to see what they could do if our QB had any time at all to go through his progressions.

I've done a number of campaigns in the south and if I had to move anywhere I'd either stay here in Baton Rouge, LA (hurricanes weaken by the time they get here), Memphis, TN, Asheville, NC, Athens or Savannah, GA or Natchez or Jackson, MS. All great places.

I think we're probably going to grab the best CB, DT, or OL available at our pick but I think the draft is deep enough we can go OL in the 2nd round unless McNeil of Auburn slips -- but he won't. I'd be really happy with CB Jimmy Williams (VTU), DT Rodrique Wright (TEX), or OG Max Jean-Gilles (GA) although even with Everett on the roster it would be really tough to pass up TE's Lewis or Pope.

Actually, yes. Weird.

Oh my god -- this is the funniest thing I've ever seen.

Not as a specific team but who would you build your team around?

With those picks I think we'll be able to address the real needs of this team -- OL, DT, and a replacement for Clements at CB. But if there is a chance we can jump up and get an impact player on the DL or at (gulp) QB then I'd be willing to wheel and deal. Still can't decide between Leinart or Young at this point though I'm leaning toward Young. I'd like to see what Lienart would do with out all that talent around him.

Since our needs are at DT and OL here were the choices -- 59 - DT Justin Babineaux : Not starting and undersized in ATL. 64 - OT Adam Terry : 3rd on the depth chart in Baltimore. 79 - OG Evan Mathis : Backs up both G positions with CAR. 81 - C Richie Incognito : Not on STL's depth chart?? That's all that was available. Seeing as how almost everyone believed that Reed was going to the Reed of 2004 not 2003 this year Parrish was the right pick as was Everett. If both of those players are healthy we would be a much different team. Maybe not 7-0 or 6-1 but I could see us being 5-2 since both would've opened up the offense and holes for Willis to run through. There simply weren't any players on the OL or DL that would've made the impact that these two WOULD'VE made if they were on the field. I could argue for drafting DE Justin Tuck but not at our pick in the 2nd -- the Giants reached a bit for him. An offense run by Losman with Moulds, Evans, Reed, Parrish, Everett and McGahee would've had a lot of potential but it never got on the field.

With Parrish and Everett healthy and on the field I'm not too worried about the offense because I'm not as concerned about JP as others might be. I still feel like he can be an NFL QB and be successfull. My worries on offense continue to be on the offensive line. I think the main priority on defense has got to be to re-sign Clements or we're going to forced to use another 1st round pick on a CB rather than a stud DT (Rodrique Wright of Texas?) or a FS or SS which would allow us to jettison a huge chunk of capspace and get younger in the secondary.

I'm hot and cold on Leinart. I'm sold however on Vince Young -- its as if they combined Michael Vick's wheels, Barry Sanders' hips and Steve McNair's arm. He's doing a lot more with less vs Leinart. We'll see I guess.

Arizona has Warner on the roster & McCown is putting up numbers but they also can spare a no.1 WR. It looks like Baltimore has given up on Boller and he looked like he had regressed before the injury - what can they offer though? SD doesn't need a RB - so what does Miami have to offer? As far as the Jets is this even possible cap-wise? I think TB believes they can win with Chris Simms handing the ball off to Cadillac Williams and that defense so I didn't include them. If I'm Carolina I'm in the running for Rivers to see if I can bring the kid back home and reap a PR windfall. Or do they trade Brees instead?

...that absolutely sucked. Just getting power back here in Lousiana. Thank God my job has me based in Baton Rouge and not New Orleans. Just now seeing the footage of the devestation there now. Its unbelievable.

I actually haven't seen any poll near that number as far as disapproval of Pres. Bush's handling of Social Security. I think the lowest approval number I've seen is in the 30's. I really don't agree with you giving me all the credit for the failure of Bush to get support to destroy the program. I think its equal parts Bush's failure to actually outline a plan until now and the organization I work for's 35 state effort to provide push back using facts. Again, while I'd like to take credit not only cannot I not take take credit I clearly never have : Rather than insult people who post here and distort what they say you could have an actual informed, factual debate on an issue. I think this board would be a better place if more of that happened here.