Why? If any part of that is an urge to be competitive and not big up opposition line ups then it kinda goes against the spirit of the thing, no?

QFT

Matt Ryan is a horrible pick.

1) It's a peak league and there are still many many QB's better than him
2) He has faced 1, I repeat 1 difficult defense and not done well against it. He has dodged the Giants, Steelers, Ravens, Titans, Cowboys which seem to be the most legit D's other than Tampa. (Yes I'm glossing over Chicago, theyve been beat up all year and are a shell of their former selves).


Those of you who after the Kelly pick decided to not pick a QB until the very end of this thing I applaud you. Your going to end up with some great QB's as long as your sensible (definitely better than Rivers and Ryan).

Assani - dude, what are you doing man?

firstly - I dont get the logic behind the trade...you mightve got a little crap about the Romo pick - but he was still going to lead your nicely built offense very well. Now youre stuck with Matt Ryan - and Im sure you wont be able to trade him away for even a bucket of balls this time. Soooo many QBs left that I would take over Ryan...I just dont get it.

As far as the James Lofton pick - I like it...I was going to pick him in the 20th round or so - but I kindve figured a HOFer wouldnt last that long...so - considering his prime is pre-1986 I was kindve ok with that. Though he did make a PB in 92 or 93 with that great Bills squad - so I guess you could make an arguement that he still had it in him...ad it was just a matter of circumstance. Either way - I like the the Lofton pick.

Im up to pick right now - writeup coming shortly.

Matt Ryan being drafted must mean he is having one of the top 32 "career best" (meaning only take one per QB) seasons in NFL history since 1986, right?

LOL

ROUND 16, PICK 506

LaMARR WOODLEY OLB, DE







LaMarr is currently playing in his 2nd year in the NFL, so before I tell you how great he is right now - let me just give you an idea of where hes coming from.

National awards
2005 Co-MVP of Rose Bowl (split with Vince Young)
2006 Lombardi Award winner
2006 Ted Hendricks Award winner
2006 Chuck Bednarik Award finalist
2006 Lott Trophy quarterfinalist
2006 Bronko Nagurski Trophy watchlist[3]
2006 Outland Trophy watchlist
2006 First Team All-American

Conference honors
2004 All-Big Ten Conference Second Team (coaches) and Honorable Mention (media)
2005 All-Big Ten Conference Honorable Mention (coaches and media)
2006 All-Big Ten Conference First Team (coaches and media, both unanimous)
2006 Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year
2006 Big Ten Defensive Lineman of the Year

With the 506th pick in this draft, Im getting a complete freak of an athlete. LaMarr recorded a 4.5 second 40 yard dash, bench pressed 325 pounds and measured a vertical leap of 29 inches....all this from a guy standing at 6'2" and 266 lbs. Ok - so the guy seems to have all the tools neccessary to become a primetime playa in the "L"...but would it translate in the actual games? Quite frankly - yes....and it has...and it will...even more...and more....and more.

Woodley played DE in small little college you mightve heard of before - I dont know...uhhh....Cornel...but yea - actually he didnt go there - he went to Michigan and played as a Wolverine. Anyway - Steelers needed him at the OLB spot - so he leanred the position quite naturally and excelled at it...and it will lead him to his first of many Pro Bowls to come...and an All Pro Selection this year as well. I dont see why he cant play the DE position on my team - it was his natural position coming into the NFL...though he did learn and excel in his newly found OLB spot - I thnk I could still use him as a DE. Regardless of where he plays on the field - he will have a presence on the field that many OLines will fear - he is a great pass rusher who seems to only be gettiing better.

Good article with some nice quotes from Kevin Greene and others:
"The Steelers in 2008: LaMarr Woodley"

This was said before the start of the 2008 season.


Woodley rarely played in the regular season in his rookie season. He appeared for only 80 of the defense's 933 snaps, yet still managed to register four sacks. He added two more sacks in the playoff loss to Jacksonville, leaving only James Farrior (6.5) and Pro Bowl linebacker James Harrison (8.5) as the only Steelers players with more sacks in 2007.

For the record - I will pencil him in as an OLB for now...though it will highly depnd on who is available to fill out the rest of my front 7. Like Ive said before - I relish the idea of picking versatile players who give me flexibility...and LaMarr gives me that. Though there is a very good chance I will keep him at OLB as a primary every down rusher - I may decide to smack him on the RE depending on who falls to me in the next few rounds.

For arguements sake - if I do keep him at OLB...it will make my 3-4 Defense (emphasis on "4") look pretty damn good. Accompanying LaMar would be the tackling machine himself - Jamie Sharper in the middle, a top tier cover LBer in Donnie Edwards and the ever so versatile and underrated in thsi draft LaVar Arrington. This gives me 4 guys who can run sideline to sideline - make the big hits and most importantly...make the big plays! Ive said it from the begininng, and I will say it again - Im not looking to slow people down with my defense - Im looking to stop them right now, make plays and force turnovers...and LaMarr just adds to that philosophy.

LaMarr is one of the top LBers in the game today - and has compiled 11.5 sacks, 1 INT, 2 FF, 4 FR and 1 TD through 11 games on one of the top defenses in the league this season so far.

One last quote from the man himself, LaMarr Woodley:

Offense:
QB Donovan McNabb
RB Edgerrin James
WR Randy Moss
WR Brandon Marshall
TE Jeremy SHockey

RT Willie Anderson
C Olin Kreutz
LT Tarik Glenn

Defense:
DE Wayne Martin

LB LaVar Arrington
LB Donnie Edwards
LB Jamie Sharper
LB LaMarr Woodley

CB Dre Bly
CB Nate Clements
SS Rodney Harrison

woodley was one guy we were considering when we took june, but didn't think he'd fit in our system, nice pick imo (opinions on the june pick?)

as for ryan, hate hate hate the pick. then again, people hated it when i took him in the 11th in the keeper this year, but that's completely different obviously

I don't think Bobbo holds back good comments. I think he holds back some of the lesser nice ones. I know I have a few times(especially when the thread turned into a hate-fest).

I don't know much about woodley but why not take a talented player at this point. Looks alright IMO.

Also, if anyone hasn't read it yet, the Peter King article on Derrick Brooks in SI's december 1 issue(the one with oklahoma on the cover after they beat TT). Its an extremely solid article about one of the best players in the league.

OT: I hadn't read the article yet as I get SI delivered to my apartment and I was obviously home for thanksgiving. So by the time I got into that SI the new one came out. But I had a party this Saturday night and I keep my SI in my bathroom(ldo) and obviously someone stole my new SI. I made an announcement that if you needed to steal it that bad I was willing to give the person 10 bucks as well because they must be that desperate, culprit didn't show himself. Either way, it let me read that awesome King article on Brooks, go read it, now!

I also have a subsrciption to SI, though no one has stole mine (yet) I do keep my in the bathroon as well (ldo).

It was a very good read btw - but I still dont get how the little Erin Andrews article only got a little picture of her...shes the GOAT sideline reporter.

Lamarr is absolutely a 3-4 OLB. As much press as he got at Michigan, he really wasn't anything close to dominant until his senior year. He really played well at LB in his first couple years, and then struggled initially with the transition to DE. He ended up having a great senior year, but if he struggled that much with the transition in college, it's hard to expect him not to struggle as a DE in the NFL. That's why he was projected by everyone as a 3-4 OLB going into the draft.

I think taking players this season and hoping to get them after the season goes against the spirit of the draft. I'm not sure how others feel and I won't mention it again if I'm alone. Either way, I don't think there's anyway Ryan will be in any shape to play a second season in January or February.

I knew Ryan was exactly who you were thinking of though.

I agree with this. I'm not a scout either, but Ryan's for real.

Woodley is a 3-4 OLB there is no question about it.

I'm on vacation. I don't have much computer access. Taking TE Steve Jordan. I really wanted Wesley Walls and I PMed both Vix and Needle my list so I didn't try to slow things down.

I was hoping to grab Cato June with my next pick, I still need a good cover Linebacker, and those are beginning to dwindle a little bit.

I love me some Lamarr Woodley. I've been watching him play for close to 8 years, he went to high school in the same conference as my high school, so I saw him play for 2 years there, then 4 at Michigan, and now 2 in the NFL. I'll admit he was extremely dominant in high school (national player of the year I think), but didn't improve a ton in college til his senior year. He's definitely rounding into a good NFL player, but his speed is his greatest asset and he's not great at busting through blocks, so I definitely think he's much more suited for a 3-4 OLB spot than a 4-3 DE spot.

I am really kinda surprised at the lack of depth at 4-3 OLB in this draft. Just not many good players left, and my only regret from the start of this draft is playing a 4-3 and not a 3-4. I feel like Zach Thomas loses a lot of his effectiveness in a 4-3, and I can still run it effectively, but a ton of the LB talent from the late 80s/early 90s seemed to be playing in a 3-4.

I think arguing Lofton's peak was pre-86 is slightly absurd. There's some embarrassing things on youtube of Lionel Washington trying to cover him in 1990.

Oh yeah, and Shark Doctor, please edit out undrafted QB in the pic in your writeup

I had you capone.

it's actually rhe opposite of competitive, ive praised the picks willingly that i thought were good (bc i like positive reinforcement myself). i just didn't want to criticize anyone or any pick that harshly, since it seems when doing so non productive arguments have blown up in my face.

so, again, there were a couple recent picks i thought were bad, but they weren't uber bad, and my only weighing in would be "this pick is bad for this reason". etc.

What makes Walls so much better than Heap? They look like pretty similar players to me.

exactly. past few days it was a mini hate-fest filled with bickering over a specific rule and it really detracted... we seem to be back on the right track so i'll resume criticizing picks i dont like =)

I also think that holding back the criticism is bad for discussion, we're all big boys here. I know I would rather hear constructive criticism of a pick rather than nothing at all.

That anger tirade going on actually made me get away from the thread for a day or two and thats when I didn't say anything bad about the picks. It was bad enough. Whether thats right or wrong I didn't feel like getting involved in an already angry thread.

im pretty sure costanza was eyeing walls - walls was a great pick, so underrated. good at everything.

fwiw way back when jeff and i grabbed christensen, the other TE i really wanted was walls... we kept pushing the envelop with christensen bc i felt walls was ever so close to christensen in value. the guys drafted in between (shockey, heap, winslow jr - perhaps more but position order just says those guys!) are not close to walls in value. imo atleast.

if he slipped a little further, out of principle we were going to get him and just run max protect alot

really wanted both everson and wesley walls