A what should be dead strategy: Drafting CBs early.

I believe in Finny, McC, and Verner also. However, if Prince is still on the board and Fairley, Bowers, and Peterson are gone.. Prince should be taken.

 

It's not even an issue about where we need the most help on our defense as our whole unit has major issues. It is about taking the best defensive player available when we go to pick at 8. Peterson, Finley, and Bowers will most likely be off of the board when it is time for us to pick. Amukamara becomes the BDPA at that point.

If we add a safety in free agency (Eric Weddle or Melvin Bullet) we already improve our weakest position on our defense. After that the pick either needs to be a big DT (Darius or Paea) or Amukamara. Amukamara is simply a more talented player then either defensive tackle who will be there when we pick.

 

I'm willing to agree that there's a scenario where the Titans would be best off taking a CB. If all the good d-linemen were gone and somehow Peterson was still available at 8, the of course you would have to consider taking him.

 

It comes down to taking the BPA. When you are picking 8th in the draft you expect that guy to be pro-bowl material at some point. If you draft more for need you can get a solid starter but pass on a true stud.

So if Peterson or Amukamara are available and they are the BPA it would be hard to not pull the trigger. Typically there will be a few guys with similar ratings so obviously if a comparable player is there at a position of need fill the need. But we should never pass on a future pro-bowl player just to fill a need.

The best teams in the NFL typically have a roster of which about 90% is not much different talent wise than the average or even poor teams. The difference usually are the real studs. On the Bears defense it is Urlacker and Briggs. On the Steelers it is Palamalu and Harrison. Those kind of guys are difference makers. We need some difference makers. That is what Kearse gave us in 1999. We need a guy at #8 who can be a difference makers for us and it really doesn't matter what position he plays.

Now it would be great if that guy could also be a huge upgrade at a position of need.

 

Im almost starting to feel like we should trade out of our #8 pick. I don't necessarily believe that taking a CB in the 1st round is a bad idea..but i'm not sure how I would feel about taking one so high with the #8 pick.

I for one also believes that a great defense starts from the inside. So a DE/DT are 2 positions I think we should target with our pick..unfortunately all the top tier guys (according to rankings) will probably be gone by the time we pick (bowers, Quinn, Dareus), you have Von Miller as well as an option, but word is he's more suited to play the 3-4.

So where does that leave us? Like someone else mentioned..when you have a top 10 pick your expecting top 10 talent..pro bowl material..but this draft doesn't seem to have a lot of that. Even some of the guys they have in the top 10 are suspect to me. Of course theres no such thing as a sure thing in the draft..but if we cant get a top tier guy with that pick trading down may help us out tremendously. Just a thought

 

In this whole discussion about weaknesses in our defense I'm surprised that LB hasn't come up once. TE's killed us last year because our LB's couldn't cover. Take away big games from the TE's on the Chargers and Dolphins (just to name 2) we probably win those games. Someone like Von Williams, could come in and be a definite game changer for us if we go that route.

 

Actually Prince is the one who reminds me of Rolle. Peterson is bigger and faster than Prince.

Have to agree with the Duke on this one. It doesn't happen often and it might not happen again for a while but we are ok at CB and can get decent players later on in the draft. Asante Samuel was a 4th rd pick. Terrance Mcgee a 3rd rd pick.