[BigHairedAristocrat]

JLC really irked me with his post. Drafting linemen isnt enough-- you have to draft GOOD linemen. JLC cited a few playoff teams and tried to correlate their success with the fact that they drafted linemen high 2-3 times as often as us...

what JLC forgot to mention is that teams that are consistently bad have also drafted 2-3 tims as many linemen as us.

The teams that have been continuously successful nearly every year (New England, Philly, Indy, and Pittsburg) all have 3 things in common:

1) For the most part, they keep their draft picks and they draft well. Most of the time, if they trade a draft pick, its to acquire more draft picks... not a vet player over 28.
2) They rarely make a big splash in free agency and DRAFT WELL. It doesnt matter what position they draft (as JLC implies), its that they use their picks wisely. Players taken in rounds 1-4 generally start or play substantially in their first year. Players taken in later rounds contribute on special teams.
3) They have great quarterbacks and great coaches and keep the same system in tact for years. Just keeping any system in tact is not good enough. it has to be a good system. Same goes for a QB.

We are no where near being in a position to follow in the footsteps of teams like new england, philly, indy, etc. If Vinny uses the next two drafts to focus primarily on the lines, its not going to make this team any better, in the same way it hasnt made detroit any better for two reasons:

1) We don't have a GM who is talented enough to draft quality players, find a franchise quarterback, and select quality coaches.

2) Because our GM is not competent enough to make the correct decisions mentioned above, our owner is not going to be patient enough to stick with any one thing. our owner deludes himself in thinking that things will really get better every 2-4 years with a new man in charge.