Important to remember that last year with the lockout, the draft happened before free agency started. This year it will be back to normal with free agency in March and the draft a month later. It's easy to try to make a mock draft now and fill every hole but come April that won't be the case for Tannenbaum and company. Which brings me to my next point. Everyone would love Courtney Upshaw in green and white but I don't think there's any chance he lasts until 16. To me, the no brainer of the offseason is to throw a boatload of cash at Cliff Avril. He'll be an unrestricted free agent, and at 26 years old would add the kind of youth and explosive pass rushing ability the defense needs. After that, substitute Malcolm Floyd with Whitney Mercilus and I'd be thrilled with WW's mock he posted a few days ago, although I have a feeling come April, Zeitler and Reynold's rounds will be switched.
I don't know about that. For some reason I feel confident that Upshaw will be there at 16 for us to grab or at least more likely to be there than Floyd. The teams that may go OLB and take Upshaw are Dal (but I think they will go OL or secondary), Ari (who also needs OL, but could go with a WR or a ILB in Kuechly) or Buffalo (once again maybe OL or WR). On the other hand, Minny, Was, or STL I think will likely take Blackmon. I see Jeffrey gone in the 6-10 range, leaving Floyd who may be snagged up by the Cards, Bills or Eagles. I do agree that FA will be key, but at a different position: the OL. I do not feel 100% confident in a rookie protecting Sanchez. I would feel better having suring up the OL with a vet and letting a rookie rush the passer and catch the passes (2 jobs I feel that are much easier for a rookie). I would go OL in the 3rd and hopefully the pick will not have to play right away and can learn the system a little before playing.
Upshaw will most likely be there at 16 at it currently stands now, and if he isnt i would be fine with Nick Perry or Whitney Mercilus. I doubt the Jets go receiver in the first, im wishfully expecting Braylon Edwards back as we need to do everything to make Sanchez as comfortable as possible.
I think the most important position to go after in FA is safety. There are a few safeties hitting the market that could complete the secondary. I just don't think that there are any safeties in this draft that will really give us what we are looking for (although some of you think that Rambo could, I've barely seen him play so I cant form my own opinion on him). Once a safety is signed, then Tanny should try and make that move for Cliff Avril (if there's enough cap space). Dustin Keller and him are friends so hopefully he can lure him here. Two moves like this would allow for a ton of flexibility going into the draft. With OL and WR the only huge needs, and maybe RB, Tanny would be able to fill the wholes this team has with a little bit more ease...
The San Diego Chargers are not likely to give wide receiver Vincent Jackson the franchise tag if they are unable to sign him, according to the U-T San Diego. Jackson, 28, had the franchise tag placed on him by the Chargers last offseason, resulting in a one-year contract worth around $11 million. If the team decides to place the franchise tag on Jackson for the 2012 season, it would cost around $13 million. Sources told the newspaper that the team probably would not devote that much money to a single receiver for a one-year deal. The newspaper reported that the Chargers will likely begin negotiating with Jackson in February. If they do not place the franchise tag on him, Jackson will become a free agent. In his seventh season in the league, Jackson caught 60 passes for 1,106 yards and nine touchdowns. A year after missing significant time due to a contract dispute, Jackson played and started in all 16 games.
Oh yeah, and when everybody in this draft forum says "sign a FA RT", can they please say who they are talking about? Kareem Mckenzie isn't really an upgrade, he's going to be 33 next season and his play is only decreasing... he may be a decent option for a year, but thats not what this line needs. It needs a player that can hold down the right side of the line for the next five years. So if you have other FA RT's in mind, I would really appreciate (and Im sure most would) being specific and letting people know who that player is.
I agree there is not much to get excited about in FA. I just think we are more likely to get better production from a WR and OLB considering the learning from college to pros in those positions is not as big as an OTs would be. That one year that McKenzie or someone else may provide should be enough for some OL to learn the position. I just wish Vlad was not a waste
Not trying to be a dick at all, but your threat title struck me with a "no shit" though at first glance lol. Avril is an interesting option. He place some LB in school but I'm not sure how well he would work in space in our D. he has the pass rushing ability though. He's probly about to get paid big time after an 11 sack season with 6 forced fumbles to his credit. Not sure if we have the cap space for him or not.
A great FA signing I think that would help this team a ton would be Robert Meachem. He has nice size at 6'2 and has enough speed to strectch the field and is still pretty young. I would really like him to be signed and think it would give Tanny a little leeway going into the draft... Oh yeah, bring Joe Lombardi with him I dont think this team needs to bring in a HUGE FA signing like we've seen in the past. We just need to address a few positions with solid players- Safety- Reggie Nelson, Micheal Griffin or Dashon Goldson WR- Robert Meachem and possibly Braylon TE- John Carlson To me, this is ideal. The safety position tremendously helped, WR is addressed in a very good way and Mulligan is gone. Bringing in a tackle like Levi Brown would be really nice too, but Im not sure if there's enough cap room to do that.
Colston isnt going to stretch the field, has pretty bad injury problems and is going to command a decent paycheck. Looking at Meachem you can easily say its because of the system and Brees, but the kid does have talent. He has good hands and can stretch the field. He can great big plays which is something the Jets lack. He probably wont get a huge contract which is huge when looking at the Jets this offseason.
This would be awesome, but I honestly dont think we have enough money at all. Cliff Avril had a very good year and will get paid...
Ive been saying sign a guard, ideally Grubbs or Carl Nicks (both can hit the open market. Then move Slauson to RT, a position he played in college. Then finally a year after move Slauson into RG when Moore retires, and either promote Vlad to RT or go get someone then. Because after seeing FA RTs well there arent any good options. I think our best, hell only bet is to get a guard and go with Slauson, and make sure as shit we either sign or draft a dual threat TE that we can line up on that right side as needed so he can either block, and continually draw (or slow down) potential pass rushers by forcing them to be prepaired to cover
Isnt there a reason why Slauson moved to guard in the NFL? If I had to guess, based on why many college tackles move to guard, its because he isnt athletic enough to play tackle and didnt have the ability to block NFL caliber passrushers. It seems like a good fit in a sense, but Im not sure if it would work.
He played guard in college too. I believe he played LG RG and RT. We signed him as a general backup, I think Faneca got hurt, we plugged him in @ lg and the rest was history. He might not be a great RT, but can he really be worse than shithead ?
This slauson theory is intriging. I mean Hunter allowed pass rushers to beat him to the inside and outside. I dont think slauson would be as easy to beat to the inside, but would have as much trouble, if not more on outside pass rushes. But if u stick a TE/RB over there to help chip i think you can mask that. I think Slauson is significantly better when it comes to the fundamentals and technicalities of blocking. And its true i dont think he could do much worse. Regardless i dont see any scenario where Hunter will be the starter next year (unless the new starter gets injured).
Is Slauson really not as athletic as hunter though ? I mean theyre both literally almost the exact same height weight. And his Combine measurables were very comparable to D'Brickashaws as well. (obviously this is pretty irrelevant since its been a long time since then) The guy literally has played everywhere on the line in college, and even plugged in pretty decent @ center for us. While I dont think I want him @ RT for the long haul, I just dont see any scenario that ends up better than Slauson @ RT this year. Unless we get crazy lucky w/ the draft (or Ducasse)
we have a 2nd round pick? or did we give up our 3rd? BTW i think we NEED upshaw trade somebody like holmes and move up 3 or 4 spots and get him. otherwise i like marvin mcnutt alot hes a big guy who has delt with a bad qb in collage so he wont be a baby like holmes when he dont get the ball. Then we need 2 big sigings this FA a RT and a FS keep jimmy as SS MY 2 BIG signings LaRon Landry & Ben Grubbs
