NFL 2009

[Meacon Keaton]

McCoy? Wow. I think the earliest I\'ve seen him go in Mocks is the first pick in the second round to St. Louis. Of course, I haven\'t checked them since last weekend.

[Tits McGee]

We are talking about Gerald McCoy correct? I trust Walter Football for the most part but look at a few others too. Either way hope the Bucs F it up so my Panthers can dominate them this year.

[Meacon Keaton]

Ah, no. I was talking about Colt McCoy. Gerald McCoy, I\'ve seen going #2 in pretty much every mock.

[Tits McGee]

It really depends on what the Rams do.. if they are dumb and go Franchise QB or take Suh like he should be taken. Because the Lions will definitely take DT in my opinion, then hopefully work on that Oline.

[TCO]

But should they really burn a #1 pick on a DT? Suh is good, very good in fact, but I'd be very weary of taking a DT first overall, not saying they should pick Clausen, but having a good DT eating up cap space didn't do Washington much good. They'll probably have the #1 pick next year anyway and take Locker so, meh.

[Meacon Keaton]

My argument against that is Spagnolla was an awesome defensive coordinator, and I think he would utilitze Suh much better than Washington utilized Haynesworth. I just don't think any of the quarterbacks in this draft are worth a #1 pick.

[livid]

The best thing that the Rams could do would be to trade down. They just have so many holes they need to fill that just adding one player isn't really going to help them a whole lot.

Though if they can't trade down and they draft anybody but Suh, they're idiots.

[Cactus Drags]

My argument against that is Spagnolla was an awesome defensive coordinator, and I think he would utilitze Suh much better than Washington utilized Haynesworth. I just don't think any of the quarterbacks in this draft are worth a #1 pick.

These days, no one's worth a number one pick. Hell, no one's worth a top ten pick, it's too expensive.

[Meacon Keaton]

Yeah, but if you have it, you have to use it wisely, because no one in their right mind would trade up for a #1 pick unless there was a clear cut, can't-miss guy. Which doesn't exist.

[Vendetta]

Mario Williams says Hello.

[Trey]

I'm pretty sure at the time everyone would've said Reggie Bush was the clear cut #1 and Mario Williams was a workout warrior.

[Meacon Keaton]

Exactly. At the time, everyone went on and on about how the Texans could pass on the hands-down best player, Reggie Bush, for Williams. But it was a sin at the time.

[Evil Chase K]

But should they really burn a #1 pick on a DT? Suh is good, very good in fact, but I'd be very weary of taking a DT first overall, not saying they should pick Clausen, but having a good DT eating up cap space didn't do Washington much good. They'll probably have the #1 pick next year anyway and take Locker so, meh.

I've always believed that you build a franchise up the middle before worrying about the skill positions. QB or DT should be their pick and none of the QBs in the draft should go #1.

[NobBe Nobbs]

Exactly. At the time, everyone went on and on about how the Texans could pass on the hands-down best player, Reggie Bush, for Williams. But it was a sin at the time.

Which all just defeats your point - Williams wasn't a clear-cut #1 pick, Houston took him, he's turned out magnificently, and he's a defensive lineman. Why shouldn't St. Louis follow their example and take Suh?

[Meacon Keaton]

I do think they should take Suh. My original point was that there is no such thing as a "Can't Miss" player. And that if you have the top pick, you go with the smartest option (Suh), as opposed to the flashiest pick (Bradford or Clausen).

EDIT: When I'm at home, I use a proxy to get on EWB, and I just realized that post you quoted of mine was chopped off and didn't have my whole post. The rest of it talked about how people couldn't get over how the Texans passed on the "can't miss" Reggie Bush, and all his flash and flare, for a boring defensive end at #1. And you're right, it's worked out brilliantly for him. Which is why St. Louis should stick to building their core with Suh, as opposed to trying to be flashy and take a "franchise" quarterback.

[Cactus Drags]

Someone help me decide whether the Bears/Martz marriage is going to work out. I mean, it surely can't be worse than Ron "script the entire game and do not deviate from the plan regardless of how many yards you lose each play" Turner, but the impression I generally picked up from Martz was that he was ridiculously far up his own arse and lost the plot somewhat after leaving St. Louis.

[livid]

I think he's probably best-suited to be a coordinator in the league and there's no doubt that he does know what he's doing, scheme-wise but he is pretty stubborn with his system and will generally abandon the run for no apparent reason other than just because he likes passing more than running. I think it could work out but they'll have to add receivers that run better routes though because the entire system is based on timing.

Greg Olsen's fucked though, Martz never uses TEs. Vernon Davis was practically a decoy when Martz was the OC for the 49ers.

[Cactus Drags]

It'll be interesting to see how that works out, I mean isn't Cutler supposed to love throwing to the TE?

[JStarr]

Martz could also be able to make use of Forte much more as a receiver. Not likely that Matt will reach Marshall Faulk levels of production, but it could really help save Cutler from making the stupid downfield throws when the Five Turnstiles let a wicked pass rush fall on Cutler's head.

Never using the TE, eh, the Rams and Lions never really had any. That said, though, even Jon Shitna could throw for 4000 under Martz, and if Cutler gets his ego checked at the door, he could do just as well.

The part about Martz being way up his own ass, yeah, that's probably quite accurate. Lovie needs to seriously watch his back.

[dragonfyre513]

Mart's hiring is going to do a couple things:

1. It'll help Cutler. Cutler is not a run-first, short yardage kind of QB. He wants to air it out. He needs to air it out. And I think Martz's offense has enough vertical attack power in it that it will let Cutler get more comfortable.

2. It will expose the offensive line. Martz likes to send 4 or 5 guys and rely on one-on-one matchups for blocking. I don't think the o-line can handle that. Kreutz can handle it, and I think Williams and Omiyale have promise if the Bears put them in the right spots. But that's only 3 of 5, and Jared Allen eats shit like that for breakfast.

3. It will hinder Matt Forte and Greg Olsen. Martz likes vertical rushers, and that's not Matt Forte. Sure, I think he'll still get some playing time, but I don't think he'll be repeating his rookie year performance. Look for them to try and bring someone like Chester Taylor in or (ugh) push Garrett Wolfe down our throats. And Martz doesn't use receiving TEs. Unless Olsen bulks up and learns to block, he's getting traded. I actually heard one trade rumor of shipping Olsen and a 2nd next year for Boldin, which would be AWESOME.

4. It will expose which receivers can cut it and which ones can't. This is a brand new offense, completely different from and infinitely more complex than what Turner ran this past year. The receivers are going to have to learn everything from scratch. I think Aromashodu and Knox have the talent and the brains to do it, and I think Bennett will come along. I'm not sure about Hester, maybe if they just put him in the slot so he has less stuff to learn. And Iglesias is a moron who had all year to learn Turner's system and couldn't so I can't see how he'll do good in this one.

5. It will make the defense play harder or die. If everything clicks on offense and they start scoring, the defense is going to need to hold up their end of the bargain. And it will be interesting to see if they can. They don't have a secondary besides Peanut. They don't have a pass rush. And Briggs is really their only shining star. Urlacher coming back won't give them a huge push in talent, but maybe that gets the other guys to play harder. If they bring back Tinoisamoa maybe they have a solid enough linebacker core.