2012 NFL Off-Season Thread

[Cavemold]

Demaryius Thomas says what we really all knew about Tebow. The young WR claims he won't miss him due to how he played at times. What made me chuckle was how some players got irked at the whole Tebow Time nonsense and Thomas says , "Without the defense , there wouldn't be Tebow Time."

http://espn.go.com/nfl/story/_/id/78...miss-tim-tebow

Yet the defense was on tebow side . Sour grapes

[worstblogever]

Since it's almost a given that the Washington Redskins will be drafting Robert Griffin III #2 overall in the draft, word is the Dallas Cowboys are already planning their defense around stopping QBs like him, and Michael Vick, specifically.

Meanwhile, speaking of the #2 pick... that's the last pick in the draft that "draft experts" seem to be able to agree on. Word on the Vikings and the Browns having teams move up to the #3 and #4 picks has people baffled. Most think teams are looking to move up for Matt Kalil, Ryan Tannehill, Justin Blackmon, or Trent Richardson, but whether Minnesota and Cleveland stay put and draft those players or not... and if they do, which ones they take has a lot of people guessing.

[SUPERECWFAN1]

Since it's almost a given that the Washington Redskins will be drafting Robert Griffin III #2 overall in the draft, word is the Dallas Cowboys are already planning their defense around stopping QBs like him, and Michael Vick, specifically.

Meanwhile, speaking of the #2 pick... that's the last pick in the draft that "draft experts" seem to be able to agree on. Word on the Vikings and the Browns having teams move up to the #3 and #4 picks has people baffled. Most think teams are looking to move up for Matt Kalil, Ryan Tannehill, Justin Blackmon, or Trent Richardson, but whether Minnesota and Cleveland stay put and draft those players or not... and if they do, which ones they take has a lot of people guessing.

I know the Vikings are thinking Kalil but they should look at the investment in Chris Ponder last season. Ponder needs a WR. Harvin is ...ok. He's a good #2 and averages 12 yards a catch and is a slot guy. They draft Blackmon and they are telling Christian Ponder... were giving you the best WR weapon to pair with Harvin and AD . The Vikings have 5 draft picks in the next 135 picks. They can draft a OL with 2 of those and go defense the rest of the way. But they need a playmaking WR. They haven't had a pure great WR since Chris Carter. They haven't had a tandem that could create mismatches since Moss/Carter in the late 90's.

Yes Kalil is the best OL in this draft. But they need offensive explosiveness to help Peterson out. They get Blackmon and they get scary.

[FirestormTheNuclearMan]

I saw the new NIke jerseys for the Titans, and noticed their are no names on the back.

[Nick Soapdish]

I know the Vikings are thinking Kalil but they should look at the investment in Chris Ponder last season. Ponder needs a WR. Harvin is ...ok. He's a good #2 and averages 12 yards a catch and is a slot guy. They draft Blackmon and they are telling Christian Ponder... were giving you the best WR weapon to pair with Harvin and AD . The Vikings have 5 draft picks in the next 135 picks. They can draft a OL with 2 of those and go defense the rest of the way. But they need a playmaking WR. They haven't had a pure great WR since Chris Carter. They haven't had a tandem that could create mismatches since Moss/Carter in the late 90's.

Yes Kalil is the best OL in this draft. But they need offensive explosiveness to help Peterson out. They get Blackmon and they get scary.

Receiver might be the deepest position in the draft this year. There are several receivers that could be around in the 3rd and 4th round (such as Marvin Jones, Quick, Streeter and Broyles). After Mike Adams (probably available for our 2nd round pick), there isn't much at LT.

[finfangfool]

Kalil is, by all expert accounts (keeping in mind experts aren't exactly 100% on these things), the kind of talent that comes along once every 5 years. He's a stud that will hold down that side of the line for the next 10 years for them. Blackmon on the other hand, he's simply the highest rated WR in a draft (as Nick pointed out) that's full of them. He's no Carter or Moss, hell he's not even an AJ Green or Julio Jones of '11. He's just the guy with the highest grade this year. No guarantee he performs better than the #2 WR, or the #4 WR (who they'd be drafting early in the 2nd round). AP's hurt, and they're probably in the back of the pack this year. If they're going to rebuild, they need to do it on the lines. Kalil's the guy to do that.

[Nick Soapdish]

Kalil is, by all expert accounts (keeping in mind experts aren't exactly 100% on these things), the kind of talent that comes along once every 5 years. He's a stud that will hold down that side of the line for the next 10 years for them. Blackmon on the other hand, he's simply the highest rated WR in a draft (as Nick pointed out) that's full of them. He's no Carter or Moss, hell he's not even an AJ Green or Julio Jones of '11. He's just the guy with the highest grade this year. No guarantee he performs better than the #2 WR, or the #4 WR (who they'd be drafting early in the 2nd round). AP's hurt, and they're probably in the back of the pack this year. If they're going to rebuild, they need to do it on the lines. Kalil's the guy to do that.

From what I've heard, Kalil has stellar technique, but just needs to bulk up a bit. So he won't be awesome for us this year, but next year or the year after, he'll be an all-Pro.

Another way to look at it is that receivers seem to be easier to find and more system-dependent. You'll often see #1 receivers get away in free agency, but that doesn't seem to be the case for top offensive linemen. The best example of that I can think of is Hutchinson and he was a guard who did get a franchise tag, but the Vikes stuck a poison pill in the contract.

[Paradox]

FirestormTheNuclearMan worries about anonymity:

I saw the new NIke jerseys for the Titans, and noticed their are no names on the back.

I'm going to take a reasonable shot that it's "...yet."

[SUPERECWFAN1]

Kalil is, by all expert accounts (keeping in mind experts aren't exactly 100% on these things), the kind of talent that comes along once every 5 years. He's a stud that will hold down that side of the line for the next 10 years for them. Blackmon on the other hand, he's simply the highest rated WR in a draft (as Nick pointed out) that's full of them. He's no Carter or Moss, hell he's not even an AJ Green or Julio Jones of '11. He's just the guy with the highest grade this year. No guarantee he performs better than the #2 WR, or the #4 WR (who they'd be drafting early in the 2nd round). AP's hurt, and they're probably in the back of the pack this year. If they're going to rebuild, they need to do it on the lines. Kalil's the guy to do that.

Well if your going by some views the NFL OT rankings is worse than the WR class this year. But according to the Lindy's Pro Football Draft book I have handy the WR Class is ranked at C level. The OT class for this year is ranked at a B- . So what do I do ? I take the roll of the dice and think .... what benefits my team more ? My passing offense in 2011 ranked 28th. Thats not good at all. Meanwhile my running game ranked at 4th.

What does the Vikings need more ? They need Blackmon. A guy who according to the NFLDraftscout.com , piece in the magazine is ranked as the 2nd top ranked player on their board.

[sHayden]

Kalil is, by all expert accounts (keeping in mind experts aren't exactly 100% on these things), the kind of talent that comes along once every 5 years. He's a stud that will hold down that side of the line for the next 10 years for them. Blackmon on the other hand, he's simply the highest rated WR in a draft (as Nick pointed out) that's full of them. He's no Carter or Moss, hell he's not even an AJ Green or Julio Jones of '11. He's just the guy with the highest grade this year. No guarantee he performs better than the #2 WR, or the #4 WR (who they'd be drafting early in the 2nd round). AP's hurt, and they're probably in the back of the pack this year. If they're going to rebuild, they need to do it on the lines. Kalil's the guy to do that.

And WR's are like RB's these days, unless they are really special there is no need to take one in the 1st round.

[worstblogever]

And WR's are like RB's these days, unless they are really special there is no need to take one in the 1st round.

Yeah, since the Lions had their run of WR picks, people are a bit more hesitant to take them in the Top 5. RBs, these days, are also considered a bit of a risk, and durability being what it is, most feel like it's better to snag a quality one later in the draft.

For every Mike Williams, there's a Calvin Johnson, though. WRs don't pay off as well as Top 5 OL.

Then again, Arizona did pass on Adrian Peterson to take Levi Brown...

[Paradox]

worstblogever ranks 'em high:

For every Mike Williams, there's a Calvin Johnson, though.

If you say so. If I said so, it'd more likely be about 10 Mike Williams for every Calvin Johnson.

[worstblogever]

If you say so. If I said so, it'd more likely be about 10 Mike Williams for every Calvin Johnson.

Heh. Gotta agree, Megatron is a rare specimen. Him, Andre Johnson, and Larry Fitzgerald are about the three times I've seen Top 10 WRs pan out. There are a more guys who have been misses, though.

[Cavemold]

http://espn.go.com/blog/chicago/bear...-5-0-nfc-north

Todd Mcshay mock draft for the NFC north

[SUPERECWFAN1]

Yeah, since the Lions had their run of WR picks, people are a bit more hesitant to take them in the Top 5. RBs, these days, are also considered a bit of a risk, and durability being what it is, most feel like it's better to snag a quality one later in the draft.

For every Mike Williams, there's a Calvin Johnson, though. WRs don't pay off as well as Top 5 OL.

Then again, Arizona did pass on Adrian Peterson to take Levi Brown...

The Lions debacle with WR's isn't the norm however. Its rare a team drafts so many in a decade. But in the Lions defense , its a crapshoot. Charles Rogers could have been great for them but couldn't stay healthy. Roy Williams was decent for them. He wasn't a star . But in his 4 seasons....

262 receptions - 3,884 yards 29 TDs (55 Games)

Ok its not star numbers. He averaged basically 55-60 receptions , 800+ yards a season. A lot was basically trying to play with a lot of QB's in and out during his time. The the Lions also traded him and bent Jerry Jones over the table and f-cked him good. So if anything ...the Roy Williams pick worked for them. It paid off great when they unloaded him after 4 seasons.


I think the biggest pure outright bust at WR for the Lions was Mike Williams. Guy showed up out of shape , ran the wrong routes in games and was outta the league within 2-3 seasons. He just washed out . Rogers did as well ....but injuries took him out.