[BrudLee]

Originally Posted by lifetimeskin

Let me preface this by saying that my research is limited!

I your #2 draft pick is not starting, then it was a weak pick. There are 22 starting positions on offense and defense, and at best you can fill them up with 5-10 #1 picks. The skins have 5 (Ramsay, Gardner, Samuels, Arrington, Taylor) they have drafted, I am sure we have traded for others, like Springs, Upshaw, Wynn, (Candidate?). This is about 8-9 First Rounders on the team.

The skins have 5 (Jensen, Raymer, Smoot, Betts, Jacobs) players they drafted in the 2nd round. They have acquired 3 others (Griffin, Washington, Portis). For a total of 8 second rounders. That is a total of 17 players in the 1st and 2nd. Of those 17, 12-13 are starters. That would still leavel 9-10 open positions.

By looking at our drafts for the 1st and 2nd rounds the last five years, and what player's we've been able to retain, I would say that out of a standard possible 10 players drafted, we have been able to retain 3 top notch players (Arrington, Samuels, and Jensen), the jury is still out on four of them (Ramsay, Smoot, Jacobs, and Taylor), with 2 seemingly servicable players (Betts and Gardner). The only player we haven't retained is Champ.

If out of the the bottom 6 we get 4 more top notch players, I think we have done extremely well in the draft...I think that is a possiblity with Ramsay, Smoot, Jacbos and Taylor....

Sorry for the long writeup!

It would appear that the voice of reason uses a fancy font!

He's absolutely right. We can't expect to have all of our top draft picks, plus all of our free agent acquisitions, plus the players we've traded for all start. It would be a thirty man lineup. Players like Jacobs and Betts may be quality players, but who are they going to knock out of the lineup? As for the idea that we should have addressed defensive line needs, examination of the 2002 draft doesn't show any starters drafted after Betts, much less Bauman and Russell.