CNNSI.com Take on Switch to 3-4

[KYPack]

Lee maybe raw, but he's not that young. I think he's already 25.

He looks so young, I didn't think he was that old.

He's 24, redshirted as a freshman.

Didn't start much 'til his senior year.

This surprised me, and gives me pause from his bio...
"As a starter at Auburn, played the vast majority of snaps in press man coverage, rarely playing "off" or in zone coverage".

He looked like a fish out of water in press cover.

I assumed he played college ball in a "off/zone" system.

He could be too green to ever get hip to our system.

[steve823]

Man..when you have Woodson and Harris..2 of the top corners in the leage IMO on your team how can you not learn and get better? Lee should learn from them

[bobblehead]

If you want to be optimistic think how Nick Collins looked his first year and then look at him now. (both raw 2nd rounders with tools).

If you want to be pessimistic...well, I can't think of a 2nd from TT who flopped at this point. I guess you could compare him to Jennings and say he is way behind the curve.

[Fritz]

I guess it comes down to whether he has the tools or is a tool.

Wist, you are relentlessly pessimistic.

[wist43]

No, what it comes down to is what round was he drafted... 2nd round for a developmental guy like Lee??? Way too high. My only point wrt Lee is they reached for him... a huge reach.

[Waldo]

Do you take superior athletes and bet on your coaching, or take inferior athletes with good technique and bet on their weight room/training dedication and physical ability to improve?

Lee was the physically best CB on the board that had at least played at a high level and had some technique. He lacked the experience to recognize all the tricks of the trade and routes that WRs run that more experienced CB's would know.

[mission]

No, what it comes down to is what round was he drafted... 2nd round for a developmental guy like Lee??? Way too high. My only point wrt Lee is they reached for him... a huge reach.

What second rounders aren't reaches? The numbers on second rounders [eventually] starting in the NFL has gotta be less than 20%...

[CaptainKickass]

Other than his contract status, I'd like to read some of y'alls opinions on why Cole can/can't be a Defensive End in this 3/4 scheme.

[The Shadow]

Cole, to me at least, seems to fit that legendary "just a guy" tag.

[Lurker64]

No, what it comes down to is what round was he drafted... 2nd round for a developmental guy like Lee??? Way too high. My only point wrt Lee is they reached for him... a huge reach.

Past the first round you don't have a lot of guys who "have tremendous upside" and "are ready to play right away." Once you get into the later second round you're left with guys with varying levels of "limited upside" and "aren't ready to play right away." If a guy with huge potential and physical ability actually lasts into the late second round, it's because he's very, very green, since if he was ready to play he would have already been drafted.

It's not necessarily the right idea to "always draft the guy on his potential and coach him up" and it's not necessarily the right idea to "always draft the guy who's ready to play and hope he can be better than we think", the secret is to draft a mix of the two depending on your state of your roster. During the 2008 draft, coming off a 13-3 season, it really seemed as though were were more in need of "guys who can eventually be superstars" than "guys who can play at an average NFL starter's level at his position right away", so the Lee pick really does make sense. The Jermichael Finley pick made sense for similar reasons, he's as green as seasick grass but he's got all kinds of star potential if he gets it together.

There's nothing wrong with drafting a guy and developing him for 2-3 years if that guy has a realistic shot of being very, very good after 2-3 years of good coaching. A number of players in the NFL only "got it together" after a few years on the bench, and turned out to be great. Only complain about the Lee pick if you really think there was somebody who would be better both immediately and longterm available at that position, and really every complaint you can level at the Lee pick can probably be leveled at the Brohm pick doubly so.

If we made one bad pick in the 2nd round last year, it's almost certainly Brohm.

[Rastak]

No, what it comes down to is what round was he drafted... 2nd round for a developmental guy like Lee??? Way too high. My only point wrt Lee is they reached for him... a huge reach.

What second rounders aren't reaches? The numbers on second rounders [eventually] starting in the NFL has gotta be less than 20%...

In 2007 it was 28%


In 2006 counting both 2007 and 2006 starts it was 62%.


In 2005 count all to 2009 it's 66%


I think after 2 or 3 years you'd at least hope your 2nd rounder could start. QB's excluded, as they might still be used as a backup for obvious reasons.



edit:

My research was found at:

http://www.pro-football-reference.com/draft/2006.htm

further edit: Didn't see the OP's saying future starters. Added some content.

[PaCkFan_n_MD]

Looking back at that draft it would have been nice to get Natga. If we only knew one day we would be playing in a 3-4.

[KYPack]

Natga might have been the best guy in that first round.

I was scared about his knee. Hawk seemed like the obvious pick.

Most of the picks make it for a few years bc the contracts.

I really think the only finished products in the draft are the first 10-15 picks. After that, you are projecting and guessing.

[BZnDallas]

wasn't Lee the best available corner left at that time of the draft??... and we already had CWood and Al... not to mention 2-3 other guys that had at least some game experience... i don't think it was a bad pick at all... or a reach... weren't some people saying he could have gone late 1st?... i don't think anybody said he was projected as a third... so we got him with our 3rd 2nd round pick... not to shabby in my eyes... but thats just one mans opinion...

[bobblehead]

Do you take superior athletes and bet on your coaching, or take inferior athletes with good technique and bet on their weight room/training dedication and physical ability to improve?

Lee was the physically best CB on the board that had at least played at a high level and had some technique. He lacked the experience to recognize all the tricks of the trade and routes that WRs run that more experienced CB's would know.

TT seems to do both. It seems to me that with his first pick he takes highly instinctual guys who can improve in the weight room, but after that he takes athletes who "might" become studs or flop. In the 6th/7th he seems to take special teams guys who are football players...guys who will hang around and maybe surprise.