Mock Drafts - No Offense Please, It's Offensive

Hopefully we can unload Orton or Royal for another pick and grab the Matthews kid.

I like it! I would be psyched if we revamped our D like this in the upcoming draft. I’d also like Bowers if we end up going 4-3.

TE’s are pretty worthless. Todd Heap sucked for the Ravens today and didn’t contribute at all. Fantasy football stats tell the true worth of a player.

It is a very dependent and non-vital position in the NFL.

I’m glad you think so. Vernon Davis is a beast, and was every bit worthy of his high selection (if he and Cutler were in the draft today, I’d probably be leaning towards Davis). Did you see what he did the last two years – now, imagine if he had a QB (78 catches, 965 yards, and 13 TD’s in 2009 / 56 grabs, 914 yards and 7 TD’s this year – that’s not an impact?). You seriously think that the only TE’s who matter in the NFL are Dallas Clark and Antonio Gates? Uh, no…. fail.

Tony Gonzalez – John Carlson (caught 2 TD’s against the Saints Saturday) – Owen Daniels (when healthy) – Rob Gronkowski (what a year that young man had, and he’s not any where near finished) – Jason Witten (this guy’s middle name is impact) – Dustin Keller (at times) – Chris Cooley (if he was on a different team, who knew how to use him) – Todd Heap (once again, at times) – Visanthe Shianco – Heath Miller – Zach Miller – Brandon Pettigrew – Kellen Winslow – Marcedes Lewis…… all of these guys were drafted at one time (you have to get them somewhere). There are some pretty nice TE’s in free agency, but most of them WILL get resigned by their original team. If one of them gets away, then I’m all for it.

My mock, for instance, had 7 players spent on Defense, and 3 taken for the Offense – I promise you, you will see something like this. Nobody has an all Defensive, or all Offensive draft (unless they have something like 3 picks). I’d say our draft will lean towards the Defensive side of the ball, and I hope it does, but if a talented player like Kyle Rudolph lands to you in the 2nd, and have three 2nd’s in your pocket, you’d be foolish not to entertain it, especially considering you have two more 2nd’s at your disposal. If you’re hoping for an all Defensive draft, I’m warning you, you will be let down.

I like the D-line picks. I think though at some point later in this draft we need to get an o-lineman for depth. I think every draft should include atleast one o-line and one d-line pick somewhere. And I really don’t believe that Matt light leaves the Pats. Mankins might just cause of their falling out with the contract dispute but that team got a whole lot better when he started playing for them again. I expect them to resign him. I really like the Mark Herzlich (sp?) pick. I also think we should stay with the 3-4 D. Dumervile was just hitting his stride in this style

I think too many people underestimate how much a strong front seven dramatically imrpoves the secondary – (does anyone remember the starting lineup the Ravens had going on this year in the backfield, it was atrocious, but the held out because the front seven is full of face-stomping bad-asses).

At this point, I almost don’t care WHO we draft for the front seven in this one – because no matter who I like the front office is going to make up it’s own mind. I just want to see them at least SWING at front seven with all of our early picks (except possibly trading back our #2 if anyone is willing – which is rare). At least then we have a shot. We need to swing on at least 2 D-linemen in the first 3 rounds and at least 1 Linebacker. I wouldn’t be terribly upset at a safety in the first three rounds as long as its an amazing guy who has somehow fell well beyond his projected placement. And we can even toss the late round picks at a couple high-motor/high-talent guys for the front seven that don’t have serious character questionmarks.

As much as I like to work on mock drafts, I feel like the Broncos are just going to go BPA at a place of need, which will be hard to predict because it would require predicting the majority of other team picks. I understand the desire to go D line, D line, D line, but there are so many holes to plug, one draft/FA will not build the right defense.

If we really are rebuilding, taking a 1st round TE like Rudolf in the 2nd round would be awesome for the team. It would fill an area of need with an elite prospect at a steal of a price. Sure, it might not be the largest need, but we will have at least two years of picks to find the right value for a position. Likewise, if we pick Fairley in the 1st, and another 1st round DT like Stephen Paea falls to the 2nd round, we have to take him (or trade out for profit). You don’t sacrifice value in order to fill needs.

What I think a good GM has to avoid is trying to fill needs with players who won’t fill them. I think that’s what you’re doing with the Herzlich pick in the 3rd round. Herzlich has not been the productive player he was before his cancer and I don’t think he projects well into the 3-4. Truth be told, there are not many good ILB in this year’s draft. We shouldn’t pick one in 2011 just to pick one because our LB corps is bad. We should instead spend a pick on another position, maybe a playmaking TE if we can get value. We can always pick up a ILB in 2012.

TE a non-vital position? I’m sure the 49ers are upset that they got the Pro Bowl TE over two mediocre QB’s…A year after drafting Alex Smith 1st overall, how stupid would it have been to take another QB??

I wouldn’t tough Jerrell Powe until the third round. Taking him with essentially an extended first round pick to me is a horrendous choice. I would love Fairley and Crick though, but this draft only addresses one area of our team right now…

Sounding more and more like Ryan Harris and going to walk and not get a new contract. I’m not sure what kind of RT’s are available in FA, so we may have to look to the draft. The team simply cannot go without addressing RT otherwise we’ll have to go back to Beadles at RT with Daniels or Hochstein at LG which was a pathetic lineup this year.

I feel we are lacking 1 starter for a 3-4/4-3 in the trenches, and need some depth as well.

It always starts up front for the offense or the defense.

There are some good RB’s and TE’s we can get who are young and talented in the FA.

I like like the idea of stock piling the line.

We have Doom, Ayers, Bannan (who is a legit starter imo) and a stud rookie coming in, we’ll have a good line – just need solid depth, which we may already have.

We also have areas of other needs, possibly another linebacker and safety/corner.

I think we need to weight in heavily on the defensive side of the ball this draft, and like I said, it all starts up front!

The only thing i’m going to say is that Crick won’t be available by the 46th pick where as their is a chance Powe could be available come the third round. He’s been playing out of position (as a 3-tech) and has had a disappointing season causing him to drop down peoples draft boards but he is a prototypical 1-tech NT.

Since i like the ILB pick, i’d switch Crick with Powe and take Powe 46th overall.

Another idea i’ve been trying to push is picking Sione Fua in the 3rd. He’s small for a NT but like Paea has the strength and motor to play NT.

And how he runs the offense. Some coaches use TE’s a lot, others use them mainly as blockers.