Quote:
Originally Posted by 70Chip
Can someone explain to me, in the context of what we all observed last year, why we need to draft a defensive tackle? Won't opposing teams just coninue to run over Carter and Holdman? If he is rookie of the year he might, might get 10 sacks. Defensive tackle is not the problem. If Greg Williams thinks it is, then he is the problem.
I'm not saying that we couldn't improve there, but we couldn't possibly improve there as much as we could at DE, CB, or LB which were all terribly suspect last season. This is something that Casserly would have done.
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I know DTs aren't the sexiest players on the field - they are lucky to get more than 4 sacks in a season, they rarely intercept passes, and they had a spectacular season if they have 70+ tackles. BUT, defenses start with great lines and lines are anchored by good DTs. I could care less about how many sacks a DT gets. I want a guy who draws double teams and frees up the DEs to do their work and stuffs the run up the gut. The ONLY guy on our line to draw double teams last season was Carter.
Our DTs are awful or injury prone. We got NO push up the middle, allowing perfect pockets to form for opposing QBs and rushers to run all over us (not just to the left). Griffin is the only player who can be counted on when healthy, and that is a rarity. Golston is a great player
for a 6th round pick, but if you are going to bank on his development then you are setting yourself up for disappointment. Salave'a has been injury prone the past two seasons and has never been more than an overachieving mediocre DT. And it's pretty hard to evaluate Montgomery when he doesn't see the field. So, I like Branch at #6.
But because, as you noted, we have so many holes, trading down to get more picks (if possible) is the best thing. I'd like to see us fill two holes on defense. But because I doubt we'll be able to trade down at #6, I want Branch.