Darren Howard

howard will be a short term fix, if he could stay healthy. id rather go after a prospect a little younger

howard had knee problems but is a team player. he plays inside when asked and once was a terrific pass rushing end. it comes down to how much he has left.

to sign him would still mean using the 2nd round pick on the best defensive end still onthe boards inthe draft

thanks for the link.. i knew the DEs, but that seems to have a good rundown of every other position too. Too bad it doesn't have stats and such though :/

If we sign howard I think it might end up like hugh douglas, where he'd only work on 3rd downs, he'd be useless on counters and against many running plays and he'd be retired in a year.

fiore, vaghn, barrow, harris, springs, noble... those are the injury history guys we've gotten in the last few years. first 3 never played a down, next three had a great 1st seasons and very spotty 2nd seasons (noble never played, harris was awful, and springs was still good, but missed a good amount of playing time). Also once coles got injured he went from a great #1 to an average #1 (kennison level).

Its just a risk I wouldn't take on an older player. If he were 25 it'd be different. Lavar has missed 2 years due to an injury and just now is starting to look like he can be effective again. Daniels missed a year and came back to play the best ball of his career (while slightly out of shape) though, so there's always a chance he could be good. If he's near vet min its much easier to justify it cause if he sucks it up in camp he can be tossed without much thought. He's had 4.5 good years out of 6 though.

I'd want this guy:
http://www.nfl.com/players/playerpage/302065

how many DEs get 80+ tackles in a year?

I can do a positional FA/draft option thing in a bit... I'll need to find a definitive list of FAs first though.

When I did the Free Agents spreadsheet last year, I took the info from ESPN when they put it up. I think that was sometime in mid-February.

I don't know if I'll be able to do it this year, I have a lot on my plate.

I'm starting to hold off on my hopes for FA until we find out who's gonna be gone and who's going to restructure and free up cap space for said FAs. The team has made really good choices with the d-line recently so I have faith they'll get a reliable impact player for a good price. I'm more worried about their ability to get a reliable receiving threat to help out Moss, cuz we all know jacobs is gone and Patten, atleast this past year when on the field, didn't perform the way the team thought he might.

I'm starting to hold off on my hopes for FA until we find out who's gonna be gone and who's going to restructure and free up cap space for said FAs. The team has made really good choices with the d-line recently so I have faith they'll get a reliable impact player for a good price. I'm more worried about their ability to get a reliable receiving threat to help out Moss, cuz we all know jacobs is gone and Patten, atleast this past year when on the field, didn't perform the way the team thought he might.

pattens production wasn't great, but once he left, everyone else's ypg production went downhill fast (i believe it was 80+ less yards per game on average, 30 less from moss an a ton less from RB receptions too, plus his 25ypg).

I'd definately want an upgrade and at least have 1 wr depth in case someone gets hurt. I'm still wondering if brunell not looking for patten was also part of the deal with his yards or if he's just more of a slot guy...

I think we need three thing to be great:

1. A possession reciever.
2. Pass rushing DE
3. Solid Kicker

I 've said this before, but I think we should address the 2nd reciever problem by either taking Koren Robinson, or trading Ramsey for Charles Rogers of the Lions. I'd also add Az Hakim for special teams and a 4th options.

Pass Rushing D-end I think we should draft Daryll Tapp with our first pick. He remind me of Dwight Freeny and would be an execellent component to our D. Howard given his age I wouldn't take him because I think he may be another Bruce Smith.

As for a Kicker I'd take Vanderjek (how ever you spell his name), Or take a fella in the draft with a big leg.

I think we need three thing to be great:

1. A possession reciever.
2. Pass rushing DE
3. Solid Kicker

I 've said this before, but I think we should address the 2nd reciever problem by either taking Koren Robinson, or trading Ramsey for Charles Rogers of the Lions. I'd also add Az Hakim for special teams and a 4th options.

Pass Rushing D-end I think we should draft Daryll Tapp with our first pick. He remind me of Dwight Freeny and would be an execellent component to our D. Howard given his age I wouldn't take him because I think he may be another Bruce Smith.

As for a Kicker I'd take Vanderjek (how ever you spell his name), Or take a fella in the draft with a big leg.

freeney is WAY WAAY faster and slightly stronger than tapp. At the senoir bowl he got pushed around a lot and never got very close to the QB (and he played almost the entire game since MK was out). Vander doesn't kickoff and is definately not a character guy, and for the contract he wants i doubt we'll pursue him. longwell is much younger and he's cheaper without issues. KR i like, rogers already has drug suspensions and has a TERRIBLE contract, so you absolutely would not want to trade for him.

Kyle Vanden Bosch looked great in the probowl,I wonder what his price tags gonna be

Late in the first quarter, Vanden Bosch burst past NFC left offensive tackle Chris Samuels with an up-field move and sacked quarterback Matt Hasselbeck for a 7-yard loss. On the ensuing possession, he disengaged from a block by tight end Alge Crumpler, worked his way inside with a nice counterspin, and then wiggled beyond tackle Orlando Pace to dump Michael Vick for a loss of 5 yards. In the same series, he flushed Vick from the pocket and forced a wayward pass that was nearly intercepted in the end zone, .

He's a deceptive guy," Samuels said. "You don't think he looks that strong or that quick, but he's got plenty of both those [elements] in his game. And he just keeps on coming. I didn't know much about him, but you had to be impressed."

they didn't get a lot of time to scout out bosch's tendencies, but he had double digits sacks, so yeah... bring him in. His price may be too high though.

freeney is WAY WAAY faster and slightly stronger than tapp.
Tapp is also a rookie comming out of college who's play you are only talking about in 1 game. He was a dominating force in the college game and usually players like that make it far in the league