What should we draft?

[The Goat]

Originally Posted by Dirtbag359

If anything I'd expect the team to draft an OLB. I personally expect the team to cut Marcus and the FA market seems to have more possibilities at MLB instead of OLB, with John Vilma being the biggest name. Plus I don't know if we could afford Bart Scott or god forbid Terrell Suggs but then again never count Snyder out of a chance to make some noise.

To the rest of you, Jansen isn't going anywhere. We're going to face a lot of difficult decisions this offseason with Griffin, Washington, and Springs all facing a possible 1/3 chance of getting cut along with possible contract extensions coming up for Campbell and Rogers.

On top of that Jansen is on the books next year for around $3 million. His release fee is slightly over $6 million (thanks again to our cap guys). However in the meantime I would like to see the team find a RT within the first 3 rounds. Personally I wouldn't be surprised to see them trade back again especially with the cap crunch coming up. A good young pure Center late in the draft would also be nice. I personally couldn't believe how often we passed up Steve Justice last year.

I'm definitely not a salary cap expert but the Jansen scenario looks pretty clear just like you point out, you dirtbag . Here's what I'd like to add: we should not assume Jansen is useless to the team beyond this season. He cannot continue at the tackle position but I think there is real opportunity for him to serve as a starting/solid backup guard and possibly center. Please hear me out - I'm not a Jansen fan and think it's almost embarrassing we're paying truckloads of cash to a guy who probably wouldn't start for any other franchise (at right tackle). But let's be honest, lateral mobility is our biggest complaint on him. As a guard/center he won't have to chase guys on the outside. He can continue to smash people in the run game and his pass-blocking will improve by default on the inside. That's the case I'm making.

That said, RT has to be the top priority in next year's draft. The FO should nut up and just decide to land the top talent available - I'm f'ing sick of looking for "value-picks" like Golston and Monty (on d) and Rinehart. Top talent for a franchise fucking tackle, thank you.

After o-line I think linebacker and d-line have to be priorities. Maybe Blades and Fincher will make a nice surprise Sunday, but I suspect what we'll see is a glaring weakness.

[skinsnut]

Originally Posted by The Goat

we should not assume Jansen is useless to the team beyond this season. He cannot continue at the tackle position but I think there is real opportunity for him to serve as a starting/solid backup guard and possibly center. Please hear me out - I'm not a Jansen fan and think it's almost embarrassing we're paying truckloads of cash to a guy who probably wouldn't start for any other franchise (at right tackle). But let's be honest, lateral mobility is our biggest complaint on him. As a guard/center he won't have to chase guys on the outside. He can continue to smash people in the run game and his pass-blocking will improve by default on the inside. That's the case I'm making.

This, my friend is a very good point.
Remember in preseason, they were using Jansen as a backup center?
They weren't using him at guard so much.
Mobility is sometimes more a factor at guard then Tackle because of all the pulling and usually those guys need to be HUGE...Jansen is not HUGE....which explains why Center would be a good role for him.
It is true that Rabach hasn't done well this year at center and Jansen has stunk at RT in pass protection, but we aint that far off.
Heyer is not a great run blocker, which is why he is a backup considering we are still technically a running team....so, if we drafted an OT in the first round, you could see the rookie starting, Heyer backing up, Jansen either taking over Center or restructuring his contract to become backup center.
Jansen is a WAY better run blocker than Rabach...in fact his run blocking skills are quite good...I just dont see us cutting a guy like that.