Should the Redskins consider LSU Safety Laron Landry with the 6th overall pick

[TenandSix:Unacceptable]

Originally Posted by GTripp0012

Good post. Very well said.

Value is relative to your team, and players have different values to each team. But one leaguewide rule of thumb is that EVERY position on the D Line is more valuable than the second safety.

I guess the arguement can be made that Landry will be a better player than Sean Taylor, and I would agree with that, but Landry + Taylor really isn't a whole lot different than Taylor + Prioleau. Ultimately the entire state of our safeties comes back to how much discipline ST wants to play with. Landry or not, its going to be a good situation if Taylor plays smart, and a bad one if he is a giant hole in coverage a la last year. Landry wont make a huge impact either way, ESPECIALLY AS A ROOKIE.

Any D Lineman is more valuable than Landry.

I have always believed that the game of football is won in the trenches. All signs point to us adding DL help considering it's importance and our obvious deficiency in that area. That is clearly our most pressing need and the conventional wisdom as well. All I am saying is, hold off, just one more year. And here's why.

The opportunity to draft Landry is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity which very well could be a watershed moment for the game of football. Adding Landry could potentially give us a legitimate secondary no matter who is playing cornerback for the next ten years, something hitherto unheard of in football lore. Not only that, but God only knows what would be the devastating impact of two potential Hall of Fame safeties playing together side by side in their primes. They can blitz, they can cover, they can hit, they can run, they can wreak havoc all over the field and keep opposing OC's and players guessing for a decade. Not only that but I strongly believe that ST is the heart and soul of the entire team. If he can live up to his unlimited potential, he could become the defensive player of the year. But you know what? He's bored. Having someone by his side who challenges him, pushes him, even outclasses him at times, would serve as a constant reminder to him of how hard it is to be the best. They would feed off each other, and trust me, so would the entire team, no, scratch that, the entire Redskins' nation. The positive energy that would be unleashed by combining these freaks of the game would alter the cosmos so much that opposing teams would have no choice but to succumb to their inevitable defeat when faced with Us.

And if all that doesn't happen and it is a total flop, that's fine too. I don't see another SB coming around the bend unless JC or someone else becomes the franchise QB we've been sorely lacking. We have plenty of time to draft DL while JC develops. Think about it, if he turns out to be a flop we'll have to wait even longer to even hope to do the thing that all teams hope to do and that is win the Super Bowl. Trust me, it ain't happening if we don't get a QB.

We will in all likelihood never know what a Taylor/Landry combination would do to the game of football. I just don't think putting the DL blinders on and not at least pondering the potential impact of fielding the best safety duo in the history of football is the only plan, Stan.

[holcknowsbest]

i have been saying this stuff since the nfl combine. i cant believe after all we here about gaines adams not impressing the coaching staff and not know enough about jamal anderson, that we wouldnt select a gu like landry who is a sure thing. branch is lazy and who wants a guy with so many negative reports anyways, all thats good about him is his size. well laron laundry can play either safety position and played corner at lsu for two years also so his cover skills are extremely good. Landry is a great pick for the simple fact that the DL and secondary go hand and hand. the famous clitche that rogers used last year because he sucked in coverage was "show me a pass rush and i will show you good coverage". well this is true but you show me a freakish secondary like we will have when healthy next year and i will show you a pass rush garunteed. having 4 or 5 guys in your secondary that can cover all or most recievers that can be put out there lets your front 7 or 6 be so creative. remember all the crazy blitzs that we used to run and get pressure on the quarterback? yeah well just imagine that when we have the sickest secondary in the league. gregg williams will be allowed to come up with some crazy schemes which will only benefit guys on the front line like carter, daniels, griff, and salavea. good dts are everywhere in the draft too so it makes more sense not to draft one at 6....thats what laron landry brings to the table.....STABILITY IN THE SECONDARY!!!! almost unheard of in the nfl.. hes a great pick at 6 and a sure thing unlike the dline man avialble.

[freddyg12]

One of the scouting reports I read said that he wasn't very stout in the run game. I know he's accomplished as a cover safety, but remember that BOTH are run D & pass D sucked last year. Fletcher should help the run D, but it still needs great improvement. In short, we need balance, that's why I think we'll take a D linemen.

[EARTHQUAKE2689]

Originally Posted by GTripp0012

I would be much more worried about Sean Taylor being a factor in coverage this year then I would be about Prioleau and Stoutmire at that other safety.

why do you say that

[dmek25]

the one thing that most forget is that there is no such thing as a sure thing. we need us some defensive linemen

[holcknowsbest]

sean taylor was a sure thing
chris samuels was a sure thing
champ bailey was a sure thing

there are only a few sure things and landry is one of them, he is the second best player in this draft and best defensive player.....his knock for not being stout in the run game is listed as his only weakness, and even so hes not a pussy in the run game, he tackles extremely well. yeah he cant take on a full back but we dont need him to do things like that, we need a coverage safety more than a run stopping safety.....hell if you wanted a run stopper why get rid of archeletta. landry has put on 15 pounds since his last football game and still ran a 4.38......he is a sure thing pal.

[dmek25]

i love seasn taylor, but what exactly was he a sure thing about? to me, he looked like the next coming of ronnie lott. so far, he is average at best. and wasnt lavar arrington, tim couch, ryan leaf, to name a few, sure things?

[Longtimefan]

While it would put a strain on our depth at the LB position, I wish it were so that Lemar Marshall could still play at SS the position he had some experience at playing in college. I don't know that his speed, or cover skills are adaquate enough. While it may seem far-fetched, it's just a thought.

From reports I've heard, we intend to use Pierson Prioleau as our starting SS, and at 188lbs. I wonder. Taylor and Marshall would give us two 230 lb. plus safeties, formidable in the run game just wonder if Marshall has enough speed, or just be another AA. It would allow Rocky the opportunity to start on the weak side, as well as get our best defensive players on the field at the same time.

[GMScud]

Originally Posted by Longtimefan

While it would put a strain on our depth at the LB position, I wish it were so that Lemar Marshall could still play at SS the position he had some experience at playing in college. I don't know that his speed, or cover skills are adaquate enough. While it may seem far-fetched, it's just a thought.

From reports I've heard, we intend to use Pierson Prioleau as our starting SS, and at 188lbs. I wonder. Taylor and Marshall would give us two 230 lb. plus safeties, formidable in the run game just wonder if Marshall has enough speed, or just be another AA. It would allow Rocky the opportunity to start on the weak side, as well as get our best defensive players on the field at the same time.

They would be a fearsome duo against the run, no doubt. But we had enough problems in pass protection last year. Lemar struggled at MLB this past season. We traded a draft pick to move up to get Rocky, who improved throughout the year. I think Lemar needs to compete with him for a starting job at OLB. Hopefully Marcus comes back from his hip surgery okay....

[Longtimefan]

Originally Posted by GMScud

They would be a fearsome duo against the run, no doubt. But we had enough problems in pass protection last year. Lemar struggled at MLB this past season. We traded a draft pick to move up to get Rocky, who improved throughout the year. I think Lemar needs to compete with him for a starting job at OLB. Hopefully Marcus comes back from his hip surgery okay....

You're probably right. I offered it up soley as hypothetical to see what others might think. My major concern with that suggestion would be Marshall's ability (or lack thereof) in coverage.

[GMScud]

Originally Posted by Longtimefan

You're probably right. I offered it up soley as hypothetical to see what others might think. My major concern with that suggestion would be Marshall's ability (or lack thereof) in coverage.

Yeah, it would be fun to watch them knock some heads against a run-heavy team and/or short passes over the middle. But as you said, Marshall would probably struggle in a big way in coverage.

[GTripp0012]

Originally Posted by EARTHQUAKE2689

why do you say that

I guess the short answer would be that Prioleau is not an unknown at this point in his career. He's going to run, he's going to cover, he's going to hit, and he's going to play disiplined football.

Sean Taylor is a huge unknown. The only sure thing about him is that when he's on the field, heads are gonna roll. Mentally, he's not always there, and I'm not sure that he's even got the attention span to EVER be an elite safety. Some games like Carolina and New Orleans, he played very well. But most games, he was out of position, consistently trailing the play, biting on any fake, and just playing the game with a high school mentality. That's not coaching, that's on the player. I'm not sure we are ever going to get him to play smart because I'm not sure you can teach football smarts. But at least we can get him to play his assignments, thats a bare minimum.

Adding Laron Landry would be a gross waste of his talent, simply because of the nature of the guy he'd be playing next to. If Sean Taylor continues to bite on every play fake a QB can offer, our pass coverage will remain horrible. Landry (or anyone for that matter) is not good enough to make up for a giant hole in our pass coverage.

On the contrary, if Taylor does step up his game and plays disciplined, we really don't gain anything by having a great second safety. The scheme will almost surely hide Landry's athleticism. The second safety doesn't have a big role in any defense, and ours is no exception.

Finally, if we don't draft some DL help this year, we push our rebuilding back a whole year. Already, the next year we can expect to have a competant DL is 2008, and if we dont draft a guy this year, that gets pushed back to 2009. Delaying the rebuilding of the defense to add an enforcer is never a good plan.

The building blocks of our defense are:
Andre Carter, Rocky McIntosh, Carlos Rogers, and Sean Taylor.

Most teams have more than 4 guys on their defense who will be with the team down the road. We dont. Due to this, we MUST be smart and use our limited draft picks at key positions. If we look to replace any of those guys, we will certainly set our rebuilding back a few years.

A Landry pick would be great value for any team lacking a competant safety, but unless you make the argument that Sean Taylor will never be a competant safety, it's hard to justify the Landry pick. Even so, DL help is paramount, so it's hard to justify it anyway.

That was the long answer.

[GTripp0012]

Originally Posted by Longtimefan

While it would put a strain on our depth at the LB position, I wish it were so that Lemar Marshall could still play at SS the position he had some experience at playing in college. I don't know that his speed, or cover skills are adaquate enough. While it may seem far-fetched, it's just a thought.

From reports I've heard, we intend to use Pierson Prioleau as our starting SS, and at 188lbs. I wonder. Taylor and Marshall would give us two 230 lb. plus safeties, formidable in the run game just wonder if Marshall has enough speed, or just be another AA. It would allow Rocky the opportunity to start on the weak side, as well as get our best defensive players on the field at the same time.

It's certainly an interesting idea, but my evaluation of Marshall has led me to the conclusion that he's no longer fit to cover consistenly from the MLB position, and making him a safety would probably be a diaster.

One thing I would like to see this year (depending on who we draft) is some 3-4 packages with Fletcher and Marshall/Rocky in the middle and Washington and Carter or somebody on the outside. Wynn, Saleve'a, and Griffin would man the 3 man DL. I think that could be a very interesting wrinkle in our defense.

But all wrinkles aside, this is the perfect year to shore up the DT situation, be it with Okoye, or Branch/Harrell if we have to trade down. It's a position that could be a problem area as early as 2008, so we need to address it right now in the hopes that the guy we take can grow in the system in one season and be ready to start next year.

If we can orchestrate a trade down, I would hope that we could get some DE help in later rounds. But with Daniels and Wynn apparently on board for one more season, we can hold off a year on DE as long as we promise to address it next year.

[GMScud]

I think that Taylor regressed a little last season due to lack of stability at the SS position. Prioleau gets hurt, AA gets benched, Vincent comes out of nowhere... When Ryan Clark was back there putting Sean in the right spots he was much better at not biting on fakes and staying in position. In '05 you rarely saw #21 behind the play.

Bringing in Landry would be bad for Taylor. Taylor is not a leader/mentor. On the contrary, he needs one. Prioleau will be able to fill that role. As would Springs if he moved over. I'm sure Taylor felt like he was alone on an island all of last season. The SS position needs to be filled by a smart vet who can pass cover well.

[skinsy]

I agree that D-line is a must. I just get really nervous on draft day because Gibbs is not afraid to trade away the next year's picks. I hope they don't trade away next year's 2nd or 3rd rounder again just to shore up the d-line this year. It seems like we're playing it a little more conservative this offseason, however...