Assume the top CB's and WR's are gone...

who do we pick then?

It appears that the Cardinals are going to trade for Travis Henry. If so, they will probably draft the top cb still on the board. In which case, the draft would then look something like this:

1. San Francisco 49ers: Aaron Rodgers (jr.), QB, California.
2. Miami Dolphins: Ronnie Brown, RB, Auburn
3. Cleveland Browns: Alex Smith (jr.), QB, Utah
4. Chicago Bears: Braylon Edwards, WR, Michigan
5. Tampa Bay Buccaneers: Carnell Williams, RB, Auburn
6. Tennessee Titans: Antrel Rolle, CB, Miami
7. Minnesota Vikings (from Oakland): Mike Williams (jr.), WR, USC
8. Arizona Cardinals: Adam "Pac-Man" Jones (jr.), CB, West Virginia

9. Washington Redskins:

Do we then take either Johnson or Merriman or try and trade down for a CB or WR?

If we CAN'T trade out of the 9th spot, who do we pick?

Either way, I am betting that the top two CB's and top two WR's are off the board when we pick.

At 9, I think that Johnson is this year's Sean Taylor/Kellen Winslow (potentially great player slipping b/c of other teams' needs).

On the other hand, I think Merriman is this year's Mike Mamula. I am simply not sold on him - I watched several of the Terps games and, IMHO, he just didn't seem to stand out enough to warrant such high marks. I never saw him dominate at the college level. Also, much of his rising status is attributable to his great workout performances. Sound familiar?

To me the dilemma will be to take Johnson or not. If he is there, I bet some team would be willing to jump up and take him if the price was right. However, if he can play the middle, I say we stay at 9 and take him unless we get a really good offer to move down a few (I know there is a whole other thread on Johnson - not meaning to start a duplicate).

Otherwise, if Johnson is not available, trade down in hopes of picking up a 2nd rounder and grab Carlos Rogers out of Auburn then grab a WR in Round 2 or later.

:twocents:

If this is the case we MUST trade down. I think Derrick Johnson is one of the, if not hte best player in this draft. However; I dont think we should take the risk of moving him. Merriman I think is not worth the #9 draft pick; in fact the only guy who would warrent the 9 pick if all those guys have gone, is Johnson. Therefore I think we have to trade down.

If we are stuck @ #9 in this secnerio; I'd take Troy Williamson WR from South Carolina. Johnson is defintley a better football player, but I just think after playing outside linebacker, its a risk on weather or not he would be able to do well inside. But trade down would be my preffered method.

I agree. Trade down.

Ideally I'd like to see them trade down far enough to get a second rounder, draft a DE in the first, WR in the second, and address the CB position in the third (or get a blocking TE or bolster the o-line in the 3rd if no decent CBs are left).

If they stick at 9, in this scenario, I'd go Williamson.

Another option I could live with would be trading down to get Carlos Rogers instead of a DE in the first, and then going WR in the second.

I don't have Espn Insider but I just saw a link that Minnesotta may actually be targeting Williamson instead of Williams which would be awesome because Minnesotta is one of the main teams believed to be interested in Mike Williams.

we stay at 9 and take carlos rogers, he's the best cb in the draft, in my opinion. we take a wr or de with our next pick.

Draft Merriman people! The only WR we should be interested in drafting is Matt Jones. He's the only WR coming out who has that 'something extra'. :oink:

I am liking Merriman the more I see of him. Right now, I really think that provided we don't blow it with our first pick, there are a lot of nearly "sure things" in the draft at most defensive positions.