My final argument for Drafting LaRon Landry
 

My first question is, would you trade the six pick in the draft for Troy Polamalu or Ed Reed? Because those are the types of comparisons Landry is drawing:

"The total package and a great all-around football player who will remind some of Ed Reed." -Scott Wright, NFLcountdown.com

"He'll be better than Roy Williams, no question" - Mel Kiper, ESPN

Troy Polamalu, Ed Reed, Brian Dawkins -- three of the best playmakers in the NFL who all happen to be safeties. Based on his career with the Tigers, Landry is primed to etch his name along with those elite athletes in 2007. -[I]Copyright NFLDraftScout.com, distributed by The Sports Xchange[/I]

Scouting Reports-

LaRon Landry may be the best pure free safety in the nation right now. His coverage skills in center field are virtually second to none, and he hits surprisingly hard for his light size. He's also one of the few safety prospects in recent years who is a total ball hawk, flowing to the ball and the play better than the majority of defenders in the nation. -About Football

Productive safety with a complete game. Instinctive, plays heads-up football and remains disciplined with assignments. Efficient, takes good angles to the action and goes for the knockout blow. Patrols centerfield, displays top sideline-to-sideline range and has a terrific break to the action. Displays speed in a straight-line or laterally. Wraps-up tackling. -scout.com



-There's more I'm sure, but I think you get the idea.



Now, on to the ubiquitous idea that the draft is a crap shoot. We'll let's take a look at the only safties taken in round 1 since 2002.



2002: Roy Williams- #8, Ed Reed- #24



2003- Troy Polamalu- #16



2004- Sean Taylor- #5



2005- none



2006- Michael Huff #7, Donte Whitner #8



I don't know much about the latest two additions to this ridiculously elite list of players, but both Huff and Whitner were key contributors to their teams in their rookie seasons. I would have to do more research, but both seem to be leaning in the "stud" direction, not the "bust" direction. But taking those two off the list for the sake of having more info on last years rookies to determine where they ultimately stand...



hmmmmm.....



Where are the busts? There are none. Elite safties haven't been busting, they've been leading their teams to the Super Bowl (Polamalu) and the playoffs, (Ed Reed, Roy Williams, Sean Taylor). They've been going to Probowls after a couple years in the league, not to Division III coaching staffs.




Based on recent evidence, and scouting reports, LaRon Landry has a bust factor as close to zero as you can possibly hope for in a first round pick. Combine that with our need to play someone by Taylor who is better at coverage, because no one on our roster is a long term solution young or old, and you have the safest and BEST player for the Redskins in the entire draft, save perhaps CJ, who will go first. Landry fills a need, is projecting to be the best player available, and has the lowest risk in terms of bust v. potential. Would you really NOT want to have a Reed/Taylor/Polamalu/Dawkins player playing next to Sean Taylor. Does it seem at all [I]bad[/I]?


To steal the line of someone who disagrees with my wish to add Landry to the fold:

"No, no, no".

And finally, what about the other guys we could pick? -Names like Branch, Okoye, Adams, Carriker. Not one of these players is a sure thing. They each have question marks. Now, obviously there are a lot of us who want to trade down, get another pick or two, and take one of these guys. One or two of these guys, if not all of them, are going to be a really good, or even great football players. Which one? Nobody knows.

Ultimately, the Redskins might be a couple of DL from contending. Because of our lack of players there, we might find it hard to compete. If we draft Landry and don't address the DL, next year very well might not be our year. It's hard to tell. Kind of like picking a draft pick with potential but who has serious holes. We could bust, or we could be a hit.

On the other hand, LaRon Landry is going to be a great player, and he's not going to be available if we trade down more than a spot or two. You know why? I do, too. In his career he's going to help lead the team he's on to the playoffs, and perhaps to the Super Bowl. He's going to have an immediate positive impact to the team that gets him. He will not receive a huge bonus and salary and be unworthy. If I am wrong you can PM me in three years. But I am right, and that's why the team he should be leading is none other than your very own Washington Redskins.


Flame away.

Re: My final argument for Drafting LaRon Landry
 

I didn't know LaRon Landry's agent was a skins fan!

Re: My final argument for Drafting LaRon Landry
 

He's definitely a player, maybe best defensive player available in this draft, and lord knows our secondary needs all the help it can get, If Gaines is gone I say pull the trigger on Landry.

Re: My final argument for Drafting LaRon Landry
 

No, I would not trade my #6 for TP or ER. Trade down and more picks. IMO LL has a good upside, it's just the last move I would make.

First order would be DE/DT. If any good safeties left back in the latter end of the draft....maybe.

Re: My final argument for Drafting LaRon Landry
 

I just realized something. If TB can't move and CJ gets taken before them, do you think they'd take Landry. It doesn't seem too far fetched. We haven't seen him top 5 in any mock drafts.

Re: My final argument for Drafting LaRon Landry
 

ed reed never went to s super bowl and landry will be great in the burgandy and gold

Re: My final argument for Drafting LaRon Landry
 

[quote=TenandSix:Unacceptable;299859]I just realized something. If TB can't move and CJ gets taken before them, do you think they'd take Landry. It doesn't seem too far fetched. We haven't seen him top 5 in any mock drafts.[/quote]

they might, especially if adams is also gone.

Re: My final argument for Drafting LaRon Landry
 

Good post. But does the fact that there haven't been any recent safety busts mean that one is due? Just kidding. Nice research.

Re: My final argument for Drafting LaRon Landry
 

i think the scouting report you copied was the same one from 2004 when Sean Taylor came out. someone is always the next Lott, Reed, etc. a great secondary looks rather ordinary with no defensive line

Re: My final argument for Drafting LaRon Landry
 

[quote=dmek25;299868]i think the scouting report you copied was the same one from 2004 when Sean Taylor came out. someone is always the next Lott, Reed, etc. a great secondary looks rather ordinary with no defensive line[/quote]

why by golly george.....i think he's got it

Re: My final argument for Drafting LaRon Landry
 

Unfortunately, from what I hear Landry is a very real possibility. Not unfortunately because I don't think he'll be good. I think he'll be great, just like Calvin Johnson. However, like CJ, I don't think Landry alone makes our team infinitely better. Not without getting help on the D-line.

Re: My final argument for Drafting LaRon Landry
 

[quote=SmootSmack;299879]Unfortunately, from what I hear Landry is a very real possibility. Not unfortunately because I don't think he'll be good. I think he'll be great, just like Calvin Johnson. However, like CJ, I don't think Landry alone makes our team infinitely better. Not without getting help on the D-line.[/quote]


unless we find a late round draft gem on d line and sign ian scott already god

Re: My final argument for Drafting LaRon Landry
 

laron landry is a beast but i think dline is a much more glaring need for us

Re: My final argument for Drafting LaRon Landry
 

[quote=EARTHQUAKE2689;299862]ed reed never went to s super bowl and landry will be great in the burgandy and gold[/quote]

Fixed. Sorry and Thanks.

Re: My final argument for Drafting LaRon Landry
 

[quote=dmek25;299868]i think the scouting report you copied was the same one from 2004 when Sean Taylor came out. someone is always the next Lott, Reed, etc. a great secondary looks rather ordinary with no defensive line[/quote]

Could you and like-minded people like you wait a year for that DL help? I realize adding LL doesn't mean SB next year. But can you ponder him and ST roaming the middle of the field once we do get a DL? Just because our DL sucks next year doesn't mean they have to suck forever. Adding one DL to this team gives us decent DL, decent LB's, and decent secondary. That sounds pretty pedestrian to me if we're getting all "win now" about it. It is a virtual guarantee that LL shores us up in the secondary big time for the foreseeable future. Next years packages would be designed around what could potentially be an elite secondary. If you really look back to last year and ask Gregg Williams what hurt us more, DL or secondary, what do you think he would say? I think you might be surprised that he would tell you this unequivocally: Secondary. Go ahead, ask him. Kinda hard to stuff the run with five guys in the box.

Re: My final argument for Drafting LaRon Landry
 

Don't you people understand that Sean Taylor Landry, Ed Reed you could have all those guys, but they can't cover recievers for ever. There's something called spreading your talent on multiple levels in the nfl. On defense everything is connected. A lot of times cover safeties are only as good as the pass rush, other times you get coverage sacks from good safety play. But loading up at only one of the spots is just dumb.

Re: My final argument for Drafting LaRon Landry
 

[quote=skins009;299893]Don't you people understand that Sean Taylor Landry, Ed Reed you could have all those guys, but they can't cover recievers for ever. There's something called spreading your talent on multiple levels in the nfl. On defense everything is connected. A lot of times cover safeties are only as good as the pass rush, other times you get coverage sacks from good safety play. But loading up at only one of the spots is just dumb.[/quote]

great point but we could find a late rd gem at d line or vis versa for that matter as long as i dont hear johnson, anderson, branch, or peterson and carriker on draft day i will be happy

Re: My final argument for Drafting LaRon Landry
 

at this point i dont know what they are going to do with #6 pick. but the more i look at it if we cant trade the pick i think we should pick the best defense player available. if its a d-lineman or safety will either really be able to step in and make our defense that much better. did mario williams make the texans defense any better? in my opinion i think we need a DT over a DE. if we had big body that cpould clog the running lanes and force a double on him that would free up carter on the edge and help our linebackers. from what i have heard branch is falling and not worthy or the #6. so if we keep the pick i would be happy with either okoye or landry. we havent heard much on these guys visiting redskins park so maybe we are leaning to one of these two

Re: My final argument for Drafting LaRon Landry
 

[quote=redskins5044;299897]at this point i dont know what they are going to do with #6 pick. but the more i look at it if we cant trade the pick i think we should pick the best defense player available. if its a d-lineman or safety with either really be able to step in and make our defense that much better. did mario williams make the texans defense any better? in my opinion i think we need a DT over a DE. if we had big body that cpould clog the running lanes and force a double on him that would free up carter on the edge and help our linebackers. from what i have heard branch is falling and not worthy or the #6. so if we keep the pick i would be happy with either okoye or landry. we havent heard much on these guys visiting redskins park so maybe we are leaning to one of these two[/quote]


hopefully landry

Re: My final argument for Drafting LaRon Landry
 

[quote]i think the scouting report you copied was the same one from 2004 when Sean Taylor came out. someone is always the next Lott, Reed, etc. a great secondary looks rather ordinary with no defensive line[/quote]
How well, minus one year, has our defense played with virtually no defensive line? Pretty well. Greg Williams depends on his corners to allow other players to attack the quarterback. While I'm not opposed to defensive linemen, I don't think we're handcuffed to any. I will have a huge grin on my face come draft day the second I hear Landry or Okoye called. I think, in my eyes, Landry has a slight edge.

Re: My final argument for Drafting LaRon Landry
 

[quote=dmek25;299868]i think the scouting report you copied was the same one from 2004 when Sean Taylor came out. someone is always the next Lott, Reed, etc. a great secondary looks rather ordinary with no defensive line[/quote]

and vice versa.....remeber when we had ryan clarke how good our dline looked then....i think we were 3 and 9 in defenses with a lesser line than we have right now.

Re: My final argument for Drafting LaRon Landry
 

From a cap perspective, I'm still not sold on investing that much money in two safeties. Seems like for all the elite safeties you mentioned - Polamalu, Reed, Dawkins - those teams have been able to get by complimenting them with lesser players. Even Taylor was at his most effective playing with Ryan Clark.

You need one athletic safety in the NFL today to cover tight ends and blitz while still being able to drop back in coverage, but do you really need two? Especially when your team has major needs up front? It'd be nice, but is it really a luxury we can afford at this point?

As for picking a Dlineman, yeah its no guarantee. Dline has the highest bust factor of any position. But does that mean we should never draft a dlineman in the first round again? At some point we are going to have to try and bring in someone who can make plays up there. Otherwise we are going to see a lot of the same problems next season.

Re: My final argument for Drafting LaRon Landry
 

i have been saying landry all the way back since i saw his combine numbers. i put those together with what i saw on the field and this guy is a flat out stud! plus hes put on 15 pounds over his listed weight of 203 at the beginning of the college season....this guy played corner as a freshman in similar attacking scheme at lsu, he understands coverage as much as anyone that we have right now.....hes a sure thing folks.....ut oh here come all the guys with "nothing is a sure thing"

Re: My final argument for Drafting LaRon Landry
 

Well they may have found a diamond in the rough in Golston, but I don't think he's enough. If we could trade down and get a D-lineman and then someone like maybe Michael Griffin, that'd be cool

Re: My final argument for Drafting LaRon Landry
 

[quote=SmootSmack;299936]Well they may have found a diamond in the rough in Golston, but I don't think he's enough. If we could trade down and get a D-lineman and then someone like maybe Michael Griffin, that'd be cool[/quote]


it would but i like landry too much i want him lsu fan go tigers man they might suck next year

Re: My final argument for Drafting LaRon Landry
 

And instead of a draft cap, we can give him this...

[IMG]http://www.pennersinc.com/stores/penners/catalog/716x%20Charcoal%20Straw.jpg[/IMG]

Re: My final argument for Drafting LaRon Landry
 

How will another safety help stop the run? We were giving up ridiculous rushing yardage last year.

Re: My final argument for Drafting LaRon Landry
 

[QUOTE=GhettoDogAllStars;299949]How will another safety help stop the run? We were giving up ridiculous rushing yardage last year.[/QUOTE]

I think the idea is that it's similar to a "coverage sack" The defensive line just needs the secondary to hold the receivers a little bit longer

Re: My final argument for Drafting LaRon Landry
 

Good post Ten and Six, but to answer your question, I would NOT trade the 6th pick for Reed/Polamalu. I would be confident in my ability to pick a dominant player on the DL, and I would make my selection without hesitation.

Re: My final argument for Drafting LaRon Landry
 

[quote=TenandSix:Unacceptable;299892]Could you and like-minded people like you wait a year for that DL help? I realize adding LL doesn't mean SB next year. But can you ponder him and ST roaming the middle of the field once we do get a DL? Just because our DL sucks next year doesn't mean they have to suck forever. Adding one DL to this team gives us decent DL, decent LB's, and decent secondary. That sounds pretty pedestrian to me if we're getting all "win now" about it. It is a virtual guarantee that LL shores us up in the secondary big time for the foreseeable future. Next years packages would be designed around what could potentially be an elite secondary. If you really look back to last year and ask Gregg Williams what hurt us more, DL or secondary, what do you think he would say? I think you might be surprised that he would tell you this unequivocally: Secondary. Go ahead, ask him. Kinda hard to stuff the run with five guys in the box.[/quote]The reason we can't wait any longer for DL help is that we should have addressed the DL in 2004. That was 4 drafts ago. It was overdue in 2005, and way overdue last year.

If we pass on DL help now that it, for all intents and purposes, is already too late as is, what's to keep us from passing on it again next year when another good DB prospect comes out? At what point do you just decide to get the defense on the road to recovery and stop looking at DBs? Is there any guarentee theres going to be a DL prospect better than Okoye next year?

I think GW may very well be forced to scheme around the strength of his secondary next year...but only because we haven't addressed the DL early in the last 3 drafts. He really doesn't have a choice.

Time to stop the bleeding.

Re: My final argument for Drafting LaRon Landry
 

[quote=djnemo65;299934]From a cap perspective, I'm still not sold on investing that much money in two safeties. Seems like for all the elite safeties you mentioned - Polamalu, Reed, Dawkins - those teams have been able to get by complimenting them with lesser players. Even Taylor was at his most effective playing with Ryan Clark.

You need one athletic safety in the NFL today to cover tight ends and blitz while still being able to drop back in coverage, but do you really need two? Especially when your team has major needs up front? It'd be nice, but is it really a luxury we can afford at this point?[/quote]Exactly. It's overkill.

Re: My final argument for Drafting LaRon Landry
 

Is Patrick Kearney still available?

Re: My final argument for Drafting LaRon Landry
 

[QUOTE=angryssg;299960]Is Patrick Kearney still available?[/QUOTE]

No, he signed with Seattle

Re: My final argument for Drafting LaRon Landry
 

[quote=SmootSmack;299962]No, he signed with Seattle[/quote]

Oh well.

Re: My final argument for Drafting LaRon Landry
 

I do not like the idea of the Skins drafting for need. So many people are calling for drafting a d-lineman because the team will implode if we don't get one this year, it concerns me that the Skins will reach for someone not desrving of the 6 th pick. IF we keep # 6 pick we need to draft an elite player like Landry.
Not a single defensive lineman in this draft seems to be an elite player. There are a couple that come close but none of them are in the "can't miss" status like Landry.

Re: My final argument for Drafting LaRon Landry
 

[QUOTE=Defensewins;299997]I do not like the idea of the Skins drafting for need. So many people are calling for drafting a d-lineman because the team will implode if we don't get one this year, it concerns me that the Skins will reach for someone not desrving of the 6 th pick. IF we keep # 6 pick we need to draft an elite player like Landry.
Not a single defensive lineman in this draft seems to be an elite player. There are a couple that come close but none of them are in the "can't miss" status like Landry.[/QUOTE]

But there is no such thing as a can't miss dlineman. They bust out 50 percent of the time. Still, at some point you have to roll the dice and try and bring a stud in. Teams are doing such a good job of keeping their best de's and tackles off the market, it's not really possible anymore to get much more than an adequate dline through free agency. We overachieved for 2 seasons with Griffin and some bums before finally being exposed last year. I just don't think we can let this go any longer.

Also, since when was a prodigious 19 year old with unlimited potential and a great work ethic and attitude not elite? I'd call that once in a lifetime.

Re: My final argument for Drafting LaRon Landry
 

[quote=Defensewins;299997]I do not like the idea of the Skins drafting for need. So many people are calling for drafting a d-lineman because the team will implode if we don't get one this year, it concerns me that the Skins will reach for someone not desrving of the 6 th pick. IF we keep # 6 pick we need to draft an elite player like Landry.
Not a single defensive lineman in this draft seems to be an elite player. There are a couple that come close but none of them are in the "can't miss" status like Landry.[/quote]

I do not get this whole can't miss thing. They aren't proven until they have done it in the NFL. People take what they say on NFL Network to heart.

Re: My final argument for Drafting LaRon Landry
 

One last thing....

I think drafting a dlineman is a lot like drafting a qb. The failure rate is incredibly high but what are you going to do? Wait for Manning to go on waivers? You have to either try to get someone who can play, like we did with Campbell, or try your luck with the Kitna's, Brooks', and Collins' of the world. The last teams to win doing that were the Bucs and Ravens, who also happened to have two of the greatest defenses of all time.

Re: My final argument for Drafting LaRon Landry
 

[QUOTE=Defensewins;299997]I do not like the idea of the Skins drafting for need. So many people are calling for drafting a d-lineman because the team will implode if we don't get one this year, it concerns me that the Skins will reach for someone not desrving of the 6 th pick. IF we keep # 6 pick we need to draft an elite player like Landry.
Not a single defensive lineman in this draft seems to be an elite player. There are a couple that come close but none of them are in the "can't miss" status like Landry.[/QUOTE]

Well, the term can't miss is over used, but Okoye and Gaines Adams are as "can't miss" as you can get on the DL. Both will be game changing players, and we need those positions filled more than we need a safety.

Re: My final argument for Drafting LaRon Landry
 

Da Skins!