Vernon Gholston DE, Ohio State

If we draft a receiver with the 1st pick, that would be a terrible start to the 08 season.
DE is a must!!!

What, you don't trust Cerrato to pick another receiver? How can you doubt him, after seeing how Rod Garnder and Taylor Jacobs turned out!

Johnny Dingle (ha ha ha...I cant get over that name) might be worth a look if he falls to the mid to late rounds.

"Dingle finishes [this season] with 48 tackles (19 for loss) and nine sacks"

Edit: There is also Derrick Harvey who may be a good option for our first round pick.

2008 NFL Draft Prospect - Scouting Report
Harvey surprised many when he decided not to enter the 2007 NFL draft. He led the Gators with 11 sacks -- the fifth-highest single-season total in school history -- and capped the season off with a three-sack effort in Florida's rout of Ohio State in the BCS national championship game. He also had another tackle and recovered a fumble against the Buckeyes to earn defensive MVP honors. He was projected as a first-round pick by some analysts.
Harvey, however, felt he needed another season to develop -- he didn't begin playing football until his junior year of high school -- and started an extensive offseason training program that paid dividends this past season. He overcame being the focus of opposing offensive lines to amass 49 tackles -- 31 solo -- with 17 tackles for loss and 8.5 sacks, which were both team-best totals. He earned second-team All-Southeastern Conference honors.
Harvey is simply a beast as a pass rusher, with his speed equal to his strength. He is known for getting great jumps off the ball and his technique is exceptional. He puts the heat on offensive linemen and virtually demands to be double-teamed. While his ability to get in the backfield draws the most raves, he's also solid against the run. He projects as a lock first-round selection and will likely be a top-20 pick.


Derrick Harvey Scouting Report - 2008 NFL Draft Prospect (http://www.fftoolbox.com/nfl_draft/profile_display.cfm?Prospect_ID=1308)


It sounds like the guy is willing to put in the work to be a good player.

YES
i am a huge OSU fan (dont ask me why cause I Dont Know haha)
anyways game after game i was left thinking man Gohlston is a BEAST
check this out
stops a Decent Size Running Back wth just his ARM
YouTube - Gholston Clothesline Tackle (http://youtube.com/watch?v=0AyWLtterFA)

or this one where he powers straight through the Wolverines
YouTube - Vernon Gholston (http://youtube.com/watch?v=Yot9ClPvZDg)

Johnny Dingle (ha ha ha...I cant get over that name) might be worth a look if he falls to the mid to late rounds.

"Dingle finishes [this season] with 48 tackles (19 for loss) and nine sacks"

Edit: There is also Derrick Harvey who may be a good option for our first round pick.

2008 NFL Draft Prospect - Scouting Report
Harvey surprised many when he decided not to enter the 2007 NFL draft. He led the Gators with 11 sacks -- the fifth-highest single-season total in school history -- and capped the season off with a three-sack effort in Florida's rout of Ohio State in the BCS national championship game. He also had another tackle and recovered a fumble against the Buckeyes to earn defensive MVP honors. He was projected as a first-round pick by some analysts.
Harvey, however, felt he needed another season to develop -- he didn't begin playing football until his junior year of high school -- and started an extensive offseason training program that paid dividends this past season. He overcame being the focus of opposing offensive lines to amass 49 tackles -- 31 solo -- with 17 tackles for loss and 8.5 sacks, which were both team-best totals. He earned second-team All-Southeastern Conference honors.
Harvey is simply a beast as a pass rusher, with his speed equal to his strength. He is known for getting great jumps off the ball and his technique is exceptional. He puts the heat on offensive linemen and virtually demands to be double-teamed. While his ability to get in the backfield draws the most raves, he's also solid against the run. He projects as a lock first-round selection and will likely be a top-20 pick.


Derrick Harvey Scouting Report - 2008 NFL Draft Prospect (http://www.fftoolbox.com/nfl_draft/profile_display.cfm?Prospect_ID=1308)


It sounds like the guy is willing to put in the work to be a good player.

Isn't Harvey projected as more of an outside LB?

see, if we go WR, the WR HAS TO BE BETTER THAN MOSS, or else its a wasted pick, since our depth is fine.

DE, or the other hand, is manned by a 34 year old who was never great to begin with, and the depth behind him isn't good at all.

i'm mainly seeing calais campbell or derick harvey on the mocks (DE), followed by WR (limas sweed (6'5"), malcolm kelly (6'4"), and dj hall (6'2")), followed by kenny phillips, miami safety.

i really don't think sweed's proven enough. dj hall is probably the best of those three (though he'll probably go up after combines, and sweed may drop). I like kelly more than sweed too, but he's definitely not my first choice of the players that'll be available (though he MIGHT be able to be a reasonable, but not great, #1).

**WR's are still really volatile right now, with bowman listed between 1st-4th rounds, hall between high 1st and 3rd rounds, etc. that won't clear up till combine and workout numbers get posted.

I like phillips as a tackler. didn't seem to get many ints though, and that's another 1st rounder on a safety (though we've hit pro-bowl/HoF possibilities on the last two, so it's not exactly a matt millen situation).

campbell (DE) would be an upgrade over daniels, but he doesn't really blow me away. hopefully i'm wrong though, since that seems to be the popular pick.

derrick harvey, on the other hand, is a very solid pick and i think (at this point) i'd be happier with him than the other guys i'd listed (and he's local, from greensbelt MD).

gholston, though, is an absolute beast, and there's no arguing it. he deserves to be a top 5 player, and is clearly the best DE of the draft. I see no way that he ends up in a redskins uniform.

if the rest of the mentioned players are there (depending on more research and workouts etc), I'd go:

harvey (DE)
phillips (S)
dj hall (WR) (who some have ranked as a 1st rounder and some as a 3rd... getting him in the 3rd would possibly be the draft's best value pick this year).

and not worry about the rest, since they really aren't going to make a huge difference in the W/L column.

I'd take either of those guys. Whichever is available when we are selecting. I like the speed and proven talent against the top OT in the NCAA with Gholston. However, something is intriquing about the size of Calais Campbell.

I remember watching Ed "Too Tall" Jones give the Redskins fits back in the day.

Campbell would be that kind of player!

there certainly aren't many prototype 4-3 ends that are highly rated the last few years. C. Campbell might be the best of the DEs to play in a 4-3. The Skins may have to continue the strategy of playing a run stopper (Daniels & an eventual replacement) & then bringing in speed as they did this year w/Washington & Wilson on pass downs.

Is it worth it to draft a guy in the 1st solely as a pass rusher? I think so & it appears a lot of GMs do. Teams pass the ball so much more nowdays. The Skins didn't like G. Adams last year, but he had a pretty solid year in Tampa as a pass rush specialist.

Guess the question I'm posing in the above post is; Will GW (assume he's HC) et al draft a pass rush specialist early in the draft, or look for a solid "every down" DE a little later. Lawrence Jackson of USC has been mentioned by Smootsmack I think as a guy that they like. He fits the bill of the every down DE but not one of the best pass rushers available.

i think harvey and campbell are every down des, but not the greatest run stoppers ever. It's easier to learn to stop the run than to learn pass rushing (since the speed might not be there).

i mean, carter took one offseason and magically stopped getting pushed all over the place.

I'm a fan of what Vernon Gholston has done, but I'm also very high on Quentin Groves. The kid was a beast at Auburn and scout.com has him as their #3 DE available in this year's draft. That means that he could possible fall to us, he's a little smaller at 6'3" 252, but his 4.43 40 is pretty sick.