G-Dawg Falcons offseason - my turn...

[g-dawg]

(02-02-2011 07:53 PM)TonyGraziani Wrote:  Resignings/FA- issues I have are:
-letting Blalock AND Dahl go. Let one guy go, and you open up competition for his spot. Let both guys go, and lose a good bit of that cohesiveness and now make that a position of need and give jobs to players that didn't fully compete for them.

I HEAR YOU ON THIS AND, AT ONE POINT, HAVE THOUGHT THE SAME THING. HOWEVER, HERE IS MY THING HERE - NEITHER BLALOCK NOR DAHL ARE VERY IMPRESSIVE. IF WE DRAFT SHERROD, THEN WE ARE STILL MAINTAINING SAM BAKER AS A STARTER, JUST KICK SLIDING HIM OVER AT A POSITION FOR WHICH HE IS MORE IDEALLY SUITED. WE HAVE THREE OTHER POTENTIAL OFFENSIVE GUARDS IN MIKE JOHNSON, JOE HAWLEY AND JOSE' VALDEZ - GOOD PROSPECTS ALL. WHAT IS THE POINT IN HAVING TREMENDOUS DEPTH IF ITS NEVER USED. I THINK THE O-LINE WOULD BE BETTER IN 2011 - NOT WORSE.

LT-DEREK SHERROD (BACKUP: SAM BAKER)
LG-SAM BAKER (BACKUP: JOE HAWLEY)
OC-TODD MCCLURE (BACKUP: JOE HAWLEY)
RG-MIKE JOHNSON (BACKUP: JOSE' VALDEZ)
RT-TYSON CLABO (BACKUP: GARRETT REYNOLDS)

-signing Jones. I'm not 100% sold on him, and as that picture SEEMS to show, he has a bit of a problem catching/holding onto the ball. Wouldn't be completely against it though.

WELL, THE KNOCK ON JONES IS HIS HANDS - NO ARGUMENTS FROM ME THERE. BUT HE IS JUST REALLY COMING INTO HIS OWN AND HIS HANDS ARE NOT HORRIBLE - CAN BE WORKED ON - LOOK AT WHAT RODDY DID, HIS HANDS WERE AWFUL HIS FIRST THREE YEARS IN LEAGUE - JONES GIVES US STRENGTH, SPEED, MATCH-UP PROBLEMS FOR DEFENSE.

-replacing Snelling with Thomas. Now that they are placed together in this scenario, I think they are extremely similar. Thomas is simply Snelling 1.5, and making a move for such a similar player with not considerable improvement talent-wise IMO is not worth it. I would resign Snelling for less.

I DISAGREE. THOMAS IS SHIFTIER, FASTER, AND HAS PROVEN HIS ABILITY TO MAKE PLAYS. SNELLING IS MORE OF A PLODDER WHO GETS TOUGH YARDS AND HAS SOME PASSCATCHING ABILITY.

Love the Kiwi signing a lot, looks like just what we need.

Draft- not a fan of the LT pick in the 1st round, but I see where you are coming from. Love the Herzlich and the Romeus picks. Sound a lot like Moore in the sense of looking at the ability shown prior to injury(or illness) and hoping they return to that level.
I FIRMLY BELIEVE THAT THE FALCONS PASSING OFFENSE IS NOT WHAT IT CAN BE DUE TO LACK OF PASS PROTECTION. FALCONS O-LINE HAS GOTTEN A LOT OF ACCOLADES DUE TO LACK OF SACKS GIVEN UP - BUT, ANY GOOD FALCONS FANS WHO WATCH THE GAMES KNOW THIS IS PRODUCT OF DINK/DUNK PASSING GAME AND MATT RYAN THROWING THE BALL AWAY MORE THAN ANY OTHER QB IN THE NFL. WE NEED AN UPGRADE HERE - DESPERATELY. THOSE THAT WANT THE FALCONS TO "GO VERTICAL" IN PASSING GAME, WELL -TO GET THERE, WE NEED MUCH, MUCH BETTER PASS BLOCKING.

Overall, good job man! THANKS SO MUCH!

THANKS GRAZ - SEE MY RESPONSES ABOVE IN ALL CAPS.

[TonyGraziani]

(02-02-2011 08:09 PM)g-dawg Wrote:  THANKS GRAZ - SEE MY RESPONSES ABOVE IN ALL CAPS.

No prob. I agree, if all these OL draft picks never see the field then what's the point? And I guess I wanna "have my cake and eat it too" in the sense of drafting a top OT but using our 1st rounder on a skill player/pass rusher. I prefer TDW's signing of Matt Light to drafting Sherrod(or any of these OTs in the first) but either way it needs to be addressed/improved.

Jones could improve as you said, and if we went the FA route I would take him over Floyd(not 100% sure about all the FA WRs). But at the same time, I wouldn't want us to fall into a Fred Miller/Dwight Smith/Dexter Jackson/Deion Branch trap where a relatively mediocre guy shows up and out in the playoffs and cashes in on a big payday with another team, then proceeds to do nothing after the ink dries. Not that I think that Jones will bust necessarily, but it could happen(as with any FA really).

I was saying Thomas is better than Snelling, but not by enough or in enough different ways for me to consider him a major upgrade. We can agree to disagree on that, and I wouldn't be mad if he came here, especially with a chip on his shoulder to beat the Aints

[ggp]

G-Dawg,

I follow your logic and I think that this could work. I don't like the Jones choice for free agency. He has the reputation of dropping too many passes and he is little too far in his years to expect much more from him.

I think we need to search for another WR and definitely go after Bailey. Experience and savvy play are what separate him from the pack. He is 33 years old and I don't think that he will be getting huge offers. Remember that this is a very deep CB draft.

[papachaz]

overall not a bad lineup. i don't like a couple of things here, while i do think we need another WR, i'm not sold on Jones or Floyd. Picking one up via FA would be more certain than a draft choice though, so i don't disagree with the thought.

Pierre Thomas - not sure this would be that much better than just keeping Snelling. Hasn't PT been kind of injury prone? also, like said above by someone already, doesn't give us the 'scat back' we so desperately need.

A lot of people are all on the Herzlich kid. I'm not sure I'd want to go with someone with health issues, nothing against him as a player. But we've had a LOT of health problems with draftees the last few years.

The others I like. As much as i've liked watching Palmer come in as TE, the more i see/hear/read about Kendricks, the more i'd be ok with getting him.

[Sporkdevil]

Not a fan. Kiwi is supposed to improve our pass rush? Let Snelling go and take a much injured, and SAINTS PLAYER?!?! in Pierre Thomas?

And no way we take a LT with our first round pick. You just don't give up on a 1st round LT after 3 years, especially when they haven't been all bad. Baker has been inconsistent. Yeah, I've said he sucks before, but he came around at the end of this year. I just don't see it. We have bigger problems than an inconsistent LT.

Rest of draft... I just want to ignore. Signing an injury riddled guy to play across from Abe is not going to fix our defense. I do like Herz, and then realized you didn't mention Nicholas. Depends on the CBA, but Blalock and Nicholas should get some sort of restricted FA, and both are seriously needed right now.

[ggp]

(02-02-2011 10:29 PM)Sporkdevil Wrote:  Not a fan. Kiwi is supposed to improve our pass rush? Let Snelling go and take a much injured, and SAINTS PLAYER?!?! in Pierre Thomas?

And no way we take a LT with our first round pick. You just don't give up on a 1st round LT after 3 years, especially when they haven't been all bad. Baker has been inconsistent. Yeah, I've said he sucks before, but he came around at the end of this year. I just don't see it. We have bigger problems than an inconsistent LT.

Rest of draft... I just want to ignore. Signing an injury riddled guy to play across from Abe is not going to fix our defense. I do like Herz, and then realized you didn't mention Nicholas. Depends on the CBA, but Blalock and Nicholas should get some sort of restricted FA, and both are seriously needed right now.

I disagree. I think that Baker has been OK as a LT, but not reliable enough to leave alone. We sacrifice an additional receiver too many times because we have to put Svitek out there to help Baker. Not too many teams have to do that.

I like Baker and I think that he belongs at RT. I know that Clabo is terrific, but let's face it, Jerry Jones is going to go after him with a huge contract. TD will want to keep him, but as a Belichick disciple, will let him go if the price is too high. If we can draft an upgrade at LT, Baker can easily move to RT and we will not see a drop off at all. Maybe Baker is a future probowl RT.

Of course, if Clabo goes, Blalock will have to stay. We can not afford that much upheaval along the OL. The rookie LT will need an experienced hand to his right. I like the following OL

LT: Sherrod/Svitek
LG: Blalock/Johnson
OC: McClure/Hawley
RG: Valdez/Johnson
RT: Baker/Reynolds

[g-dawg]

(02-02-2011 10:29 PM)Sporkdevil Wrote:  Not a fan. Kiwi is supposed to improve our pass rush? Let Snelling go and take a much injured, and SAINTS PLAYER?!?! in Pierre Thomas?

And no way we take a LT with our first round pick. You just don't give up on a 1st round LT after 3 years, especially when they haven't been all bad. Baker has been inconsistent. Yeah, I've said he sucks before, but he came around at the end of this year. I just don't see it. We have bigger problems than an inconsistent LT.

Rest of draft... I just want to ignore. Signing an injury riddled guy to play across from Abe is not going to fix our defense. I do like Herz, and then realized you didn't mention Nicholas. Depends on the CBA, but Blalock and Nicholas should get some sort of restricted FA, and both are seriously needed right now.

well Spork, we will just agree to disagree....

Pierre Thomas - what is this "often injured" crap? He had NEVER been injured that I recall until this year. If I'm wrong, then I will admit it but please tell me Spork, other than his injury this year, when has Pierre Thomas been injured? I'm not married to Pierre Thomas and I don't have to have him but he is not what you are saying he is...

With regards to DE, what exactly is your solution there Spork? Draft a DE in 1st round? If so, who? Kerrigan, Jordan, Quinn and Bowers will all be gone. Ray Edwards is a decent alternative but will be more expensive thank Kiwanuka. That is about it. Please give me your plan here. When healthy, Kiwanuka is exactly the type of player that we need and rushes the passer better than Edwards. Kiwi had 4 sacks in 3 games in 2010 before hurting his neck. he can rush the passer - no issues there.

With regards to the O-Line and Sam Baker - he(Baker) never looks bad when he plays the worst pass rushing teams in the league - but everytime we go up against the likes of DeMarcus Ware, Will Smith, or any pass rusher with speed, Sam Baker gets absolutely destroyed. Bottom-line, he just cannot stone passrushers and Matt Ryan rarely has a clean pocket to throw from - this must change. The fact that he "looks good for a few weeks" is beside the point. Three years in, Sam Baker "is what he is" and "what he is" is a substandard pass blocker.

I just forgot about Nicholas - he would be an obvious re-sign. Herzlich would be a rotational linebacker and backup(for now).

[ggp]

I'd also suggest that we not draft Romeus. He received a lot of hype, as a junior. But, he was never a consistently successful pass rusher, even when he was healthy. Personally, we can put that pick to better use by drafting a RB. Someone like Cooper (U of Miami) would be a good choice.

[g-dawg]

(02-02-2011 10:46 PM)ggp Wrote:  I'd also suggest that we not draft Romeus. He received a lot of hype, as a junior. But, he was never a consistently successful pass rusher, even when he was healthy. Personally, we can put that pick to better use by drafting a RB. Someone like Cooper (U of Miami) would be a good choice.

Romeus Stats prior to 2010

2007: 11.5 sacks
2008: 15.5 sacks
2009: 11.5 sacks

sounds fairly consistent to me, ggp....

[Zodiac]

Love it especially 2-4.

I k now where you heard about #4 at