I think Oakland and Jacksonville will finish 1-2, take pass rushers. Bucs will finish third and take QB, and we take Cooper.
I think something would have to change on the roster if the Jets were to draft Cooper with Decker, Harvin & Kerley (not to mention WR-like Amaro) around and accounting for significant cap space, probably more than any other position by far.
If we pick the next Ray Guy in the first (hey, it could happen), he is going to have to at least twice as good as Ray Guy or there's going to be a whole lot of anger 'round these parts.
Well that Tanner Purdum is kind of a dick so I'm thinking LS. Seriously, OL and WR are up there. Having said that, if a sack artist were there you'd have to think about it. _
Depending on how the rest of the season and off season go, I could see pass rusher as option in the 1st... They still haven't really found that guy What do people think of Randy Gregory or Shane Ray?
Jets haven't had a solid pass rusher in years, maybe our new Head Coach will look at that position in the draft, but it will be based on who we pick up in Free Agency. A pass rusher no one seems, at least at TGG, to be talking about is Nate Orchard, Utah, I believe he will a high 1st Rd pick when everything settles down next Spring. Orchard seems to be a better fit as 4/3 DE, so it might be difficult to add to the d-line with all our talent.
It's almost hard to fathom the Jets could go defense AGAIN in the first but the board could point us in that direction. I keep reading pass rushers are the strength at the top of draft.
Some further mariota commentary after watching the oregon/Utah game: This game highlighted some of my worries about Mariota, but also showed what a true dual threat qb is capable of. Utah has a fast defensive front 7 yet mariota was able to really force them to respect his legs - though I doubt even with his speed he's gonna be making 60-yard runs in the NFL. He did try to step up into the pocket to make throws-but the oregon o-line was getting overpowered at the LOS which was forcing him to throw on the run a lot. Hard to blame a qb for trying to make plays. That said he had both some really nice throws (one perfectly executed ninja linemen dodge-> deep skinny post stands out in my mind) but there were also a handful of poorly thrown balls. All in all I'd like to see him beating teams a little more through the air rather than with his legs, but against Utah's pass rush I thought he did a pretty nice job. Of course, all this QB analysis could be worthless if we win another game.j
Agree with you guys saying a pass rusher is a need just not sure how much. if a new coach comes in will we stay in a 3-4 or convert to a 4-3? Will we stick with Barnes/Pace and Coples for another year or move on? Most of these questions can't be answered just yet. I'd prefer going Mariota, WR, OL, CB (expecting the most FA upgrades), then OLB. However, it wouldn't surprise me to go defense yet again.