2006 DL Draft Depth

http://www.footballsfuture.com/2006/prospects/jesse_mahelona.html

Also won the "Nice Guy Award". Gibbs type of guy, looks to go in the second round so we might have a shot at him.

i was hoping that darryl tapp from vt would be available when we picked. he has a non-stop motor and good all around skills

One thing that is interesting to me is that there seems to be some noise from the defensive guys(both players and coaches) that they think the DL is fine. Comments like "we don't need much" and "the line has been doing real well" lead me to believe they are happier with the DL than fans are. The DL with Griffin is seriously a good line. Not a great pass rushing and sack type line but a good pocket collapsing line. I wonder if Williams just likes his DL to be good run stoppers and decent pocket collapsers? A one trick pony pass rusher may not fit too well in our scheme. For example: it seems to me that a guy like Freeney, who is awesome by the way, would probably be only amarginal upgrade for the scheme here. He isn't particularly strong against the run so they'd have to back him uo with a LB which would negate a lot of his upgrade since a lot of his worth is in being good enough to rush the passer that they can drop LB back into coverage rather blitzing them.

i agree. that is why i dont think we should go after robert mathis, because he is solely a pass rusher. if we draft a DE, they have to be able to stop the run. also, our FO has to realize the age of our DE's. wynn is 31 and daniels is 32. sooner or later we are going to have to get some young talent in there. maybe not as high as the 2nd round, but who knows

http://www.footballsfuture.com/2006/prospects/darryl_tapp.html

he is a character guy i think gibbs and williams would love to have

i was hoping that darryl tapp from vt would be available when we picked. he has a non-stop motor and good all around skillsI like the way Tapp plays but I'm not sure if he has the size.

I agree with that, but I also think we could use some depth on the DL. Mahelona would be a Griffin-type of player and a great talent if he slips to #2. Good run stopper and pass rusher.

I'd love Tapp but I have a feeling that he won't there for us to pick.

do we know what pick we have in the 2nd round?

One thing that is interesting to me is that there seems to be some noise from the defensive guys(both players and coaches) that they think the DL is fine. Comments like "we don't need much" and "the line has been doing real well" lead me to believe they are happier with the DL than fans are. The DL with Griffin is seriously a good line. Not a great pass rushing and sack type line but a good pocket collapsing line. I wonder if Williams just likes his DL to be good run stoppers and decent pocket collapsers? A one trick pony pass rusher may not fit too well in our scheme. For example: it seems to me that a guy like Freeney, who is awesome by the way, would probably be only amarginal upgrade for the scheme here. He isn't particularly strong against the run so they'd have to back him uo with a LB which would negate a lot of his upgrade since a lot of his worth is in being good enough to rush the passer that they can drop LB back into coverage rather blitzing them.

I feel the exact same way. I'm happy with the line as is. I wouldn't change a thing about Daniels, Griffin, or Salave'a. Collectively, they are tremendous bargains when you consider what we're paying them.

Wynn could stand to be upgraded, but he plays the run really well. I don't want a pass rusher who is weak against the run. We went that direction when we signed Bruce Smith. Before he got all old and busted, he was rushing the passer pretty well, but was getting killed against the run. That's no good. If we're going to upgrade Wynn, the new guy needs to be a good pass rusher and good run stopper. And that's damn expensive on the free agent market. If we thought we could get such a player in the draft though, I'd be all for it.