Starting Front Seven Right Now

[Lurker64]

Re: Starting Front Seven Right Now

BJ Raji, hopefully. But I'm nearly certain that it will come from the draft, even if it's not Raji.

Yeah, I'm fond of Raji and all, but from a certain perspective it's kind of an odd thing to spend a top 10 pick on a backup. In terms of "guys who are active on game day" we really need to fill 3 spots relevant to the NT: The starting NT, the primary backup NT, and a guy who can play both DE and DT. Now Pickett is going to be the starting NT barring something weird happening, and *IF* (and it's a big if) Harrell can stay healthy he can be the guy who can switch between DE and DT, so we just need a backup NT.

Now Pickett is going to be the guy in at Nose in all of the important running downs, so the Backup NT doesn't really need to be a superstar. I can very easily see Thompson taking a guy in the later rounds to groom and develop and be the backup NT (Brace, Hill, Taylor, somebody like that). Then if we really don't think that Pickett is long for the world at starting NT, take somebody from the incredible bounty of defensive tackles in next year's draft: McCoy, Suh, Cody, Austin, Oghobaase. With how deep Tackle is going to be next year, you wonder why none of those guys came out...

[Waldo]

One guy I think that would be a great pick at NT is Dorell Scott out of Clemson. He dominated his sophomore and junior years, then had a bad start to '08 finally finishing good in the last month, but he got the inconsistent label. It killed his draft stock (3rd-4th, physically though he has first round talent). He's got the power and frame, a little light (310) but he's more of one of those guys that works hard to keep off the weight to stay more athletic. Unlike Brace and Taylor however, he's got feet and can move well. Brace and Taylor are big fat slugs, which typically transitions poorly to the pro game.

[packrulz]

its not a bad looking starting 7

but we have no depth what so ever on the line. we need to draft or sign at least 3 d linemen . i have no faith in harrell, and will not until he can prove that he can stay healthy

we could use a couple more lb's too

I don't have much confidence in Jenkins either, TT almost has to look pretty hard at signing a FA like Canty so they have some depth, then Jenkins & Jolly could fight it out for a starting spot.