Should the Redskins consider LSU Safety Laron Landry with the 6th overall pick

sean taylor was a sure thing
chris samuels was a sure thing
champ bailey was a sure thing

there are only a few sure things and landry is one of them, he is the second best player in this draft and best defensive player.....his knock for not being stout in the run game is listed as his only weakness, and even so hes not a pussy in the run game, he tackles extremely well. yeah he cant take on a full back but we dont need him to do things like that, we need a coverage safety more than a run stopping safety.....hell if you wanted a run stopper why get rid of archeletta. landry has put on 15 pounds since his last football game and still ran a 4.38......he is a sure thing pal.

i love seasn taylor, but what exactly was he a sure thing about? to me, he looked like the next coming of ronnie lott. so far, he is average at best. and wasnt lavar arrington, tim couch, ryan leaf, to name a few, sure things?

While it would put a strain on our depth at the LB position, I wish it were so that Lemar Marshall could still play at SS the position he had some experience at playing in college. I don't know that his speed, or cover skills are adaquate enough. While it may seem far-fetched, it's just a thought.

From reports I've heard, we intend to use Pierson Prioleau as our starting SS, and at 188lbs. I wonder. Taylor and Marshall would give us two 230 lb. plus safeties, formidable in the run game just wonder if Marshall has enough speed, or just be another AA. It would allow Rocky the opportunity to start on the weak side, as well as get our best defensive players on the field at the same time.

While it would put a strain on our depth at the LB position, I wish it were so that Lemar Marshall could still play at SS the position he had some experience at playing in college. I don't know that his speed, or cover skills are adaquate enough. While it may seem far-fetched, it's just a thought.

From reports I've heard, we intend to use Pierson Prioleau as our starting SS, and at 188lbs. I wonder. Taylor and Marshall would give us two 230 lb. plus safeties, formidable in the run game just wonder if Marshall has enough speed, or just be another AA. It would allow Rocky the opportunity to start on the weak side, as well as get our best defensive players on the field at the same time.

They would be a fearsome duo against the run, no doubt. But we had enough problems in pass protection last year. Lemar struggled at MLB this past season. We traded a draft pick to move up to get Rocky, who improved throughout the year. I think Lemar needs to compete with him for a starting job at OLB. Hopefully Marcus comes back from his hip surgery okay....

They would be a fearsome duo against the run, no doubt. But we had enough problems in pass protection last year. Lemar struggled at MLB this past season. We traded a draft pick to move up to get Rocky, who improved throughout the year. I think Lemar needs to compete with him for a starting job at OLB. Hopefully Marcus comes back from his hip surgery okay....


You're probably right. I offered it up soley as hypothetical to see what others might think. My major concern with that suggestion would be Marshall's ability (or lack thereof) in coverage.

You're probably right. I offered it up soley as hypothetical to see what others might think. My major concern with that suggestion would be Marshall's ability (or lack thereof) in coverage.

Yeah, it would be fun to watch them knock some heads against a run-heavy team and/or short passes over the middle. But as you said, Marshall would probably struggle in a big way in coverage.

why do you say thatI guess the short answer would be that Prioleau is not an unknown at this point in his career. He's going to run, he's going to cover, he's going to hit, and he's going to play disiplined football.

Sean Taylor is a huge unknown. The only sure thing about him is that when he's on the field, heads are gonna roll. Mentally, he's not always there, and I'm not sure that he's even got the attention span to EVER be an elite safety. Some games like Carolina and New Orleans, he played very well. But most games, he was out of position, consistently trailing the play, biting on any fake, and just playing the game with a high school mentality. That's not coaching, that's on the player. I'm not sure we are ever going to get him to play smart because I'm not sure you can teach football smarts. But at least we can get him to play his assignments, thats a bare minimum.

Adding Laron Landry would be a gross waste of his talent, simply because of the nature of the guy he'd be playing next to. If Sean Taylor continues to bite on every play fake a QB can offer, our pass coverage will remain horrible. Landry (or anyone for that matter) is not good enough to make up for a giant hole in our pass coverage.

On the contrary, if Taylor does step up his game and plays disciplined, we really don't gain anything by having a great second safety. The scheme will almost surely hide Landry's athleticism. The second safety doesn't have a big role in any defense, and ours is no exception.

Finally, if we don't draft some DL help this year, we push our rebuilding back a whole year. Already, the next year we can expect to have a competant DL is 2008, and if we dont draft a guy this year, that gets pushed back to 2009. Delaying the rebuilding of the defense to add an enforcer is never a good plan.

The building blocks of our defense are:
Andre Carter, Rocky McIntosh, Carlos Rogers, and Sean Taylor.

Most teams have more than 4 guys on their defense who will be with the team down the road. We dont. Due to this, we MUST be smart and use our limited draft picks at key positions. If we look to replace any of those guys, we will certainly set our rebuilding back a few years.

A Landry pick would be great value for any team lacking a competant safety, but unless you make the argument that Sean Taylor will never be a competant safety, it's hard to justify the Landry pick. Even so, DL help is paramount, so it's hard to justify it anyway.

That was the long answer.

While it would put a strain on our depth at the LB position, I wish it were so that Lemar Marshall could still play at SS the position he had some experience at playing in college. I don't know that his speed, or cover skills are adaquate enough. While it may seem far-fetched, it's just a thought.

From reports I've heard, we intend to use Pierson Prioleau as our starting SS, and at 188lbs. I wonder. Taylor and Marshall would give us two 230 lb. plus safeties, formidable in the run game just wonder if Marshall has enough speed, or just be another AA. It would allow Rocky the opportunity to start on the weak side, as well as get our best defensive players on the field at the same time.It's certainly an interesting idea, but my evaluation of Marshall has led me to the conclusion that he's no longer fit to cover consistenly from the MLB position, and making him a safety would probably be a diaster.

One thing I would like to see this year (depending on who we draft) is some 3-4 packages with Fletcher and Marshall/Rocky in the middle and Washington and Carter or somebody on the outside. Wynn, Saleve'a, and Griffin would man the 3 man DL. I think that could be a very interesting wrinkle in our defense.

But all wrinkles aside, this is the perfect year to shore up the DT situation, be it with Okoye, or Branch/Harrell if we have to trade down. It's a position that could be a problem area as early as 2008, so we need to address it right now in the hopes that the guy we take can grow in the system in one season and be ready to start next year.

If we can orchestrate a trade down, I would hope that we could get some DE help in later rounds. But with Daniels and Wynn apparently on board for one more season, we can hold off a year on DE as long as we promise to address it next year.

I think that Taylor regressed a little last season due to lack of stability at the SS position. Prioleau gets hurt, AA gets benched, Vincent comes out of nowhere... When Ryan Clark was back there putting Sean in the right spots he was much better at not biting on fakes and staying in position. In '05 you rarely saw #21 behind the play.

Bringing in Landry would be bad for Taylor. Taylor is not a leader/mentor. On the contrary, he needs one. Prioleau will be able to fill that role. As would Springs if he moved over. I'm sure Taylor felt like he was alone on an island all of last season. The SS position needs to be filled by a smart vet who can pass cover well.

I agree that D-line is a must. I just get really nervous on draft day because Gibbs is not afraid to trade away the next year's picks. I hope they don't trade away next year's 2nd or 3rd rounder again just to shore up the d-line this year. It seems like we're playing it a little more conservative this offseason, however...