2011 Season & 2012 Draft

Shanahan is terrible at "Suck for Luck." We need to start losing! /sarc

I accidentally started a new thread about the 2012 draft not seeing this one, I'm just copying and pasting my op from the other thread that got closed down.

I just briefly checked over 5 2012 draft analyst sites, and I gotta say, things are looking very good for the skins. I want to preface with what I'm about to say with I know it is very early, things change, players don't come out, and we also don't know where we are going to draft, but at the same what I saw is still encouraging for the time being.
I'd say that from a drafting perspective, the positions we need to look at are WR, ILB, and QB. I tried to average all the sites I looked at out and it seems like there will be about 4 first round WRs, 3 first round ILBs (and at least one 4-3 olb that we might be able to convert), and 3 first round QBs. On top of that, I'd say corner and interior line would be our next priorities, with DL being a possibility also. It looked like there will be 4 first round corners, two first round guards, and 5 first round 3-4 DL. By my count, that's 10 players we could target, and 11 picks after that would contribute to our team (we'd probably just pick best player available.

If you don't care about why I think these positions are important, stop reading now.

WR-obviously we don't have any bonefide studs, but we do have ok depth. Moss is aging, gaffney is aging, Hankerson is too early to write off as being a number 1, but his zero catches isn't encouraging, and I think next year we will lose cooley. This is a draft pick for the future and the present.

ILB-Fletcher's contract is up and he is a million years old. Rocky's numbers look good, but I don't believe in him, and I don't think the skins FO does either. Our backups haven't done anything to show that they can fill in adequately as starters.

QB-Rex is doing fine now, but he is 31, and who knows how long he will keep up his good job.

CB-Hall, Wilson, Buchanon and possibly Barnes we have. Hall isn't a very technical cover man, he is an athlete and a gambler. He plays extremely hard/wrecklessly and I think this will impact his body quicker than it should. I don't think he will change his style of gambling or going for the big plays, but I think his athletic ability will dwindle soon and his playmaking ability will go with it as his knack for giving up big plays won't. Wilson hasn't done anything to impress me so far, and he's hurt all the time (plus he only has a 3 year deal). Barnes/Westbrook/others I don't think we can rely on to be starters down the road. Buchanon is in his last year with the skins imo.

DL- We are actually pretty good here imo with Jenkins, Coefield, Bowen, and Carriker if we re-sign him, but Jenkins might not recover well from his acl, and Carriker might not re-sign. But even if they do, it is always good to have depth/rotation players at DL. There seem to be about 5 players in the first that could play DL for us. If we don't like anyone at our target positions, and we really like someone at DL, I could see us taking one.

Interior linemen- Our interior line isn't too poor, but it could be better for sure. I honestly don't see shanny drafting any interior linemen, but I view it as a need so I put it there as a last resort option because I think he will take it over safety (laron and otagwe), OT (Williams, Brown), RB (hightower and Helu), TE (davis) and OLB (orakpo/kerrigan). I'd say if there is no DL we like at our spot, and we really like a guard, we'll take him. I think the battle between the 3 positions we might take but aren't a priority will come down to whatever player we are in love with the most (with CB having the slight edge over the other 2 due to shanny's past of not drafting interior o-linemen high, and our DL already being solid)

If I were to draft for us right now, I'd get that Hosley kid from VT. The kid looks just like Revis at Pitt.

In the second round I'd get Kellen Moore. Look at Kurt Warner, and Ryan Fitzpatrick. Both were smart with weak arms. Warner was really accurate and smart, knowing where to throw and into the blitz. Kellen is the same way. The only difference between Kellen and Kurt is height, and passing arm (left for kellen, right for kurt). Kellen IMO is just another great player that's 'too small' or 'does have the big arm' that will get to the pros and dominate.

third round I'd get an ILB like Donta Hightower or a backup DE incase Jarvis takes a while to recover.

If I were to draft for us right now, I'd get that Hosley kid from VT. The kid looks just like Revis at Pitt.

In the second round I'd get Kellen Moore. Look at Kurt Warner, and Ryan Fitzpatrick. Both were smart with weak arms. Warner was really accurate and smart, knowing where to throw and into the blitz. Kellen is the same way. The only difference between Kellen and Kurt is height, and passing arm (left for kellen, right for kurt). Kellen IMO is just another great player that's 'too small' or 'does have the big arm' that will get to the pros and dominate.

third round I'd get an ILB like Donta Hightower or a backup DE incase Jarvis takes a while to recover.

I was pretty young when Kurt was a ram, but from what I remember, and what I was told, he used to have a cannon. I know he changed his game when he was a cardinal, but that came after years of experience.

Not a believer in fitzpatrick yet.

It's time to add Kirk Cousins to the group of first round quarterbacks as well.

It's hard to say if Barkley or Jones will come out (more confident that Jones will than Barkley), but this is such a loaded class of QBs. It's been a long time since we've seen five legit first rounders in a class.

Plus there is some intriguing depth at the position. Guys like Tannehill and Cousins are making cases.

Shanahan is terrible at "Suck for Luck." We need to start losing! /sarc

yep...our only shot at Luck is for Carolina to suck. The way Newton is playing that is probably the only scenario where the #1 pick would be open for buisness. That's how I am looking at it. The skins were never going to finish last in the league...the key is someone who doesn't need Luck finishing last.

If I were to draft for us right now, I'd get that Hosley kid from VT. The kid looks just like Revis at Pitt.

In the second round I'd get Kellen Moore. Look at Kurt Warner, and Ryan Fitzpatrick. Both were smart with weak arms. Warner was really accurate and smart, knowing where to throw and into the blitz. Kellen is the same way. The only difference between Kellen and Kurt is height, and passing arm (left for kellen, right for kurt). Kellen IMO is just another great player that's 'too small' or 'does have the big arm' that will get to the pros and dominate.

third round I'd get an ILB like Donta Hightower or a backup DE incase Jarvis takes a while to recover.

Hosley might be the best CB in VT History and they've had some really good ones. He's a player.

Skins will be looking QB though. Mark it down.

I was pretty young when Kurt was a ram, but from what I remember, and what I was told, he used to have a cannon. I know he changed his game when he was a cardinal, but that came after years of experience.

Not a believer in fitzpatrick yet.

Yeah, Warner of the late '90's had fine arm strength.

yep...our only shot at Luck is for Carolina to suck. The way Newton is playing that is probably the only scenario where the #1 pick would be open for buisness. That's how I am looking at it. The skins were never going to finish last in the league...the key is someone who doesn't need Luck finishing last.Carolina won't be the worst in the league. The Luck sweepstakes will be decided in the Luck Bowl, Week 5, KC vs. Indy @ Indy. Other than this game, I only see 1 other game for either team to even have a 50/50 chance to win.

Rumor is that KC has already sewn a Luck jersey and sent him a playbook. :cheeky-sm