Steve Wyche has a nice summary of where the Falcons stand on a position-by-position basis. A couple thoughts:
1. I'm loathe to consider the notion that the Falcons should spend one of their second round picks on a running back, since they are stocked at the position and have holes elsewhere, but what about taking Michael Bush at that spot, letting him fully heal this year, and then having him and Norwood as a thunder and lightning combo starting in 2008? If Bush is still hanging around in the third round, he would be even more tempting.
2. OT and DE seem like the most likely spots for the Falcons to take a player with the #8 pick. A lot of the talk surrounds LaRon Landry and I like him as a safety, but a great DE or OT is more valuable than a great safety and it's almost certain that one of the top two defensive ends (Gaines Adams and Jammal Anderson) or top two offensive tackles (Joe Thomas and Levi Brown) will be available at #8. Plus, Reggie Nelson could be around in the second round (although that's unlikely) and he was a better college player than Landry. I also would be happy if the team took Alan Branch, who was consistently excellent in college. I'm a believer in the notion that a college team's fans are usually a good indicator as to whether a player is good (if you can filter out the yutzes who think that every one of their team's players are of the highest quality) and Michigan fans are almost universally big fans of Branch. (Leon Hall? Not as much. Ditto for Chad Henne. Keep this in mind if Henne shoots up the charts next spring because of his measurables.)
Meanwhile, David O'Brien has a typically good piece, not so much at the start where he describes how the Braves are learning to win in spite of their stats not matching their record, but at the end when he suggests that Cliff Floyd would be a perfect fit for the team, especially if he can platoon with Matt Diaz (and thus not wear down). This is a reason why I'm not overly worried about the left field production; it's not an especially hard position to fill through a trade. What concerns me more is that Kyle Davies has been shelled in his last two starts, which means that the Braves have three reliable starters right now. Acquiring a quality starter is a very tough task and just about every contender will be looking to do so in the summer.
5 comments:
Surely we can get Bush in the 3rd (and I think it's a good pick there). I'd take Branch in round 2, in a heart beat. An OT/DE, Branch, Bush start to the draft would be fabu. Now, if we could somehow swing Branch and Sidney Rice in round 2. . . well now I'm being greedy.
There's no way that Branch will fall to round two. He couldn't possibly fall past New England, since they would be enamored with the fact that he can play 3-4 end and 4-3 tackle (although I think they are pretty set on DL). Anyway, Branch will be gone by picks 20-25, at the very latest.
Sidney Rice would be very nice, but I have a real aversion to adding any more young receivers at this point, especially with Horn and Finneran joining White and Jenkins.
Horn is unlikely to give us more than 2 years (and I have doubts about a second). One of White and Jenkins is going to be written off at some point, I suspect, barring major turn-arounds this year. I think the odds favoring it happening to at least one of them. We're going to need a WR soon. And we can probably use a good WR now. Whether Rice is that guy remains to be seen, of course.
Sorry Michael, but Landry was a much more productive collegian than Nelson.
Landry had 315 tackles (195 solo) in 52 games (48 starts), 8 sacks, 16 TFL, 12 QB pressures, 2 FF, 22 pass breakups, and 12 INT.
By comparison, Nelson had 182 tackles (125 solo) in 36 games (29 starts), 5 sacks, 9 TFL, 2 FF, and 13 INT.
He's also almost as quick, and much stronger.
If you project out Nelson's stats to account for the games played differential, there is little difference between the two players on paper. Landry has more tackles. Nelson has more ints. Big whoop.
Post a Comment