57 Mocks Munched! Suh Consensus No. 1, Bradford for Skins

[Trample the Elderly]

Originally Posted by djnemo65

I love how people prescribe trading down as the solution to everything, as if it's easy to do that. People in general don't like to trade up into the top 5 picks. It rarely happens, and not because the teams in the top 5 don't want to trade down.

I tend to agree with Jamf, it is so rare that a team has an opportunity to secure a franchise quarterback that, when the opportunity arrises, it has to be taken. Superstar QB play is the common thread linking the great teams of the past 10 years, and really through most of the history of the league. Arguments about the weakness of the line, about someone like Bradford getting pummeled like Campbell was this year, demonstrate a fundamental misunderstanding about what it means to rebuild. You don't draft a QB when you are close, you take one when you have a lot of building left to do; and hopefully, you have the luxury, as we will likely have, of having a veteran to carry the load for a year or two while the kid gets ready, time that will also be spent solidifying the line presumably. As Mel Kiper says, you can't do it all in one draft, and it will likely take us at least two years to restock our offensive front after the draft neglect it has endured the last several years.

Moreover, I would argue that while it is necessary to have a functioning line, drafting elite players is not at all necessary to be successful. Having a dominant QB on the other hand is. Of the dominant teams in the league this year - Colts, Chargers, Saints, and Vikings let's say, the bye teams - how many sport a premium left tackle? The Colts scored all over the league with a 6th round pick anchoring the blind side. The Saints lost Jammal Brown and plugged in a fourth round guy. The Chargers go to war with Marcus McNeill, a second rounder. Only the Vikings have a Mercedes-type guy in McKinney, and even he wasn't chosen in the top 5. The QB's? Two were type five picks, the third is statistically the greatest QB in the history of the league, the last an unusual late bloomer who was only let go because of injury and the emergence of the aforementioned top fiver. This is not to say that it's necessary to draft a QB highly, but rather that obtaining an elite QB has to be the top priority of a team with championship aspirations, and taking one in the top 5 is the easiest way to get one.

Now, if Bradford (or even Clausen who I don't have a good feeling about) turns out to be a bust, all this is moot. You could write a response about guys like Alex Smith and Jamarcus Russell and what they cost their franchise. That's up to the front office to determine. But if you think there's a chance the kid might be elite, you have to roll the dice and pick him. A great LT can get you to 10-6, but you are going to need a superstar QB to go all the way, and I think we all agree that that should be the goal.

I heard this same argument last year when people told me I was stupid for wanting to use the number one on Mack, Oher, or Loadholt. Well that's a reach Tramp! Those guys aren't worth that high of a pick. Those guys are starting this year. They're not getting schooled up like Rinehart. Two of the teams that drafted these guys, one in the first and the other in the second I believe in Loadholt's case, are in the playoffs (Ravens & Vikings). Oher has played RT and LT this year. Those teams had decent lineman already. We've got a bunch of effing bums. 75% of the offensive linemen on our roster right now are going to hit the bricks as soon as Shanny starts looking at film.

I want the next Chris Samuals at LT for the next ten years, not a FA for the next year. Chris was the third pick in the first, not a deal they found in the fifth or some UDFA from Maryland. I'll eat my words if they draft some wonderboy and we go to the playoffs. I don't see that going down. I see some poor kid eating turf as the NFC East uses him like toilet paper.

[53Fan]

Originally Posted by Trample the Elderly

I heard this same argument last year when people told me I was stupid for wanting to use the number one on Mack, Oher, or Loadholt. Well that's a reach Tramp! Those guys aren't worth that high of a pick. Those guys are starting this year. They're not getting schooled up like Rinehart. Two of the teams that drafted these guys, one in the first and the other in the second I believe in Loadholt's case, are in the playoffs (Ravens & Vikings). Oher has played RT and LT this year. Those teams had decent lineman already. We've got a bunch of effing bums. 75% of the offensive linemen on our roster right now are going to hit the bricks as soon as Shanny starts looking at film.

I want the next Chris Samuals at LT for the next ten years, not a FA for the next year. Chris was the third pick in the first, not a deal they found in the fifth or some UDFA from Maryland. I'll eat my words if they draft some wonderboy and we go to the playoffs. I don't see that going down. I see some poor kid eating turf as the NFC East uses him like toilet paper.

Tramp is back with a vengeance! I found what GTripp said very interesting. If you're going to draft a QB that high, you're basically saying you think he's the best who will come out in the next 3 years. If not, why draft him? If I thought as highly as some do of Clausen or Bradford I would want to draft QB first myself. JMO, while they are both very talented, I think they have as much potential to be busts as they do of being great. With Locker available next year, I would rather draft OT in the first and someone like LeFevour later. JC may work out pretty well with a decent line and someone like LeFevour, or whoever, could turnout to be a steal. If not, we should have a pretty good pick next year. I think it's easier to get an OT with the 4th pick who will be what you think he is, than a QB. At least in this draft. I know there are no sure things, but I hope the coaches don't gamble with this pick.

[Zorn on the 4th of July]

Originally Posted by Trample the Elderly

Two of the teams that drafted these guys, one in the first and the other in the second I believe in Loadholt's case, are in the playoffs (Ravens & Vikings). Oher has played RT and LT this year. Those teams had decent lineman already. We've got a bunch of effing bums. 75% of the offensive linemen on our roster right now are going to hit the bricks as soon as Shanny starts looking at film.

I want the next Chris Samuals at LT for the next ten years, not a FA for the next year. Chris was the third pick in the first, not a deal they found in the fifth or some UDFA from Maryland. I'll eat my words if they draft some wonderboy and we go to the playoffs. I don't see that going down. I see some poor kid eating turf as the NFC East uses him like toilet paper.

There's a middle ground between gambling on developing UDFAs and using a high draft pick on O-linemen, and that is addressing the O-line by using free agency to pick up pro o-linemen (and not necessarily "veteran" O-linemen).

You may point out that the Redskins have been burned by free agency in the past, but the problem was we were gving cushy deals to high-mileage guys. Well, this year there are some OL free agents who are young and low-mileage (from winning programs like New Orleans and New England), and we can avoid having a super-young OL and chalking 2010 up to a rebuilding year.

The 2010 schedule is too good to pass up, and the Cowboys, Eagles, and Giants are all fairly weak teams. We can always "rebuild" in 2011. By being smart, we CAN have it both ways: a young, talented team that can compete immediately.

Also: everybody please stop using the Vikings as an example for anything. They are a freak team with 3 of the best offensive weapons on the field at the same time: Peterson, Rice and Harvin.