Tuesday Morning Crumbs

Rafael,

I know I’ve given you grief before about your incessant and shameless promotion for a TE, but I just don’t see it as a priority for day 1 (Rounds 1-3). Actually, I don’t see it as a FA or draft priority, but I’ll concede the H-back argument.

Your poll is a good guide for our thirst of knowledge and the consensus of need.

Fighter:
And I’m in Rafael’s boat, I’ll repeat my previous claim: Is it good to have a Fantasy Football player at TE and 2 just good in blocking duties TE’s? With all the 2 TE’s sets we’re seeing on the games wouldn’t be better to have a coupple of players that can catch the ball and block with an above average level and another depth player that’s a main blocker?

Parcells won’t change, he won’t take a FB to the field for all of the snaps, here in Dallas he only made that when Campbell went down the year before this one and still gave lots of playing time to Brett Pierce. Parcells has found success with 2 TE’s sets throughout his career, but you can also have better than just a Fantasy Football player.

Do you have a Fantasy Football team?

I just happen to think that a depth chart that has this names: Witten, Fasano and Pierce; is much more intriguing and successfull than this: Witten, Campbell and Pierce.

Chandus and Rafael,

I am a Notre Dame fan as well as a Cowboy fan, and I have shamelessly promoted Irish players in the past. Yet I don’t see Fassano here either. Dallas has a pass receiving threat at that position, and unless Parcells tries to find a gem in the later rounds, I don’t see us drafting a TE. .. Lawrence Vickers is a solid blocking FB, with good rushing skills. He could be a late first day pick or an early second day selection. .. I can see us taking Jonathan Scott in the second round. But don’t be suprised if Jerry is trapping his audience into believing that Dallas won’t draft a OT in round #1 either. They will be players for D’ Brickshaw Ferguson. If the price is right, they may move up into the top 5.

EricR:
I’d be alot happier with a player like Fred Beasly or Jonathan Wells at FB, in order they are 6-0 and 246, and 6-1 and 252. Vickers is 5-11 and 239 and hasn’t played FB in a consistent enough basis for me to be all over him. BTW, both of the guys I mentioned can also catch the ball as they have comparable numbers receiving.

Fighter 15 and EricR,

Mills is a second day pick. He’s rated as a fifth or sixth rounder, at best.

Please explain why he would be a bad pick at that point.

This team wants a power running attack. It has only two quality TEs and no quality FB. It’s operating with no margin for error. Are you ready to go 12 games next season with Brett Pierce getting 80% of the offensive snaps? Or Lousaka Polite getting the same? Cause that’s what will happen if Campbell or Witten get hurt.

They’re going to acquire another TE and probably a FB in addition to that if they can find one.

Geez, man, you point out a guy who might pop as a serious second day option and people get their hackles up.

Guys I have been thinking a lot about this idea of drafting a TE. At first blush the thought really didn’t grab me at all.

Then I started thinking about how predictable and one dimensional having Campbell in the game was. Defenses knew we weren’t going to throw to him so they put their best coverage LB over Witten and anticipated the run on Campbell’s side. It was about like having an undersized tackle eligible, except we barely ever threw to him.

It’s all about creating matchups against the defense. Most NFC teams and all the teams in the NFC East run 4-3 defenses, and most only have 1 LB of the 3 onthe field that is really good in coverage. Put another TE like Witten on the field at the same time and you force the defense into a tough decision: either give up a lot of size against the run by putting a DB on the 2nd TE, or put the 2nd best coverage LB on him and hope the Cowboys don’t pass to him. If we got a big, fast, pass catcher there is a good chance that either him or Witten is going to have either a run or pass mismatch against the defense on nearly every play. I’d put in a FB on the 2 TE set too, split TG out wide and leave that CB on an island against him and the other CB will either have to shadow the FB (another mismatch) or come out of the game.

That would do more good for the offense than drafting another WR, IMHO.

I think you will see another TE added during draft day. Sterling, if there is another guy like Witten out there by all means add him. He is good and only getting better. Cooley certainly adds a lot to the DC offense…….funny we beat the play calling of Al Saunders but lost twice to Joe Gibbs play calling(I know we won the first one but for two plays…..but it still counted)

I think it be about value in the draft……and it will of course all change after the FA period……..I mean if signed an Arrington or a Peterson somehow……..i doubt we are still chasing an OLB on the first pick…….

Can Davis learn to play his position? or is he done. I thought his mistakes were getting caught staring in the backfield and playing too close to the line of scrimmage……for a first year starter………who is still learning that can be fixed. For that matter Roy and Davis both need to work on their coverage but that does not mean they cannot.

Newman, Henry and Glenn…….Williams and Davis……Bierault possibly……..I ain’t sure we are going to add an FS. I still think BP wants more sacks……and not from the Safety position.

I know the Bledsoe haters are out there……..but do you know the rushing yards Julius Jones, Marion Barber would have had behind the Offensive Line of Seattle??? And oh yeah…….Bledsoe would have been just fine back there. Tackle is darn near as important as QB itself.

Jon:
At least in my eyes, Keith Davis looks alot more like a Strong Safety than what he looks like as a Free Safety. I think that his instincts in coverage were the ones haunting him, and all of us along the way, and you can’t coach those.

Sterling:
I’ve a better one, put Barber with 2 TE’s that can also catch the ball and you have 5 guys that can make a team pay for stacking the line.

A second-day TE would be OK, but of all the positional needs of this team TE might be the most solid.

Most 5-7 round guys are “reaches” and special teams guys. CB, S, and TE can all be found, but it’ll be a bunch of Nate Jones and Brett Pierce types.

Give me more Ratliff & Pettiti types…that’s all I’m saying. How ’bout some of those gems?

The Slay thread had my ears up and got me looking at the Tech safety.

Hey Rafael, 235lbs is awfully little to block effectively for Jones and MBIII.
Another 15lbs and now we’re talking.

Sterling, you’re right about having an effective halfback/TE/FB. Think Chris Cooley, Richie Anderson, etc… As long as our guy can seal lanes inside in between the guards, and catch the ball wide in the flat with a little wiggle in his step… he’ll be a great upgrade.
Clinton Portis and Santana Moss had LBs and Safeties eyeing them all game, and Cooley and Gibbs took advantage. Defensive Coordinators just have to say, “if Cooley kills us, he kills us.” He was my fantasy TE, and Cooley killed everyone.

BTW, did you notice the Jonathan Scott reference.

He’s been my preferred second round pick since the rankings came out. Could he be there at #50?

BTW, I’m just not sold on Fasano, in my eyes he’s the player that has the best combination of hands and blocking potential. But names that might be available later on that I can see being drafted include names like Jeff King (V. Tech), Troy Bienemann (Wash. St) and Charles Davis (Purdue) and one of the trio could still be available as late as the early 5th Round.

I was watching the Senior Bowl practices today, and although I don’t put much stock in Kiper as a general rule I think he has his Top 5’s pretty much on target. The order may be different and I don’t believe his 1st round mocks at all, but I find his estimations on the round(s) a player might go in.

The OT’s are interesting this year. There are only 2 sure-fire 1st rounders in this class: D’Brick and Justice. The rest of OT’s fall in with Scott (who could go high 2nd to high 3rd), McNeill (the biggest wildcard of the class because of his stenosis, could go mid 2nd to 5th), and Winston (who Kiper says should go no higher than 3rd and more likely 4th or 5th). Other than D’Brick and Justice this class is tough to predict, and with all the quality (but not necessarily depth) at RB, TE, DE, and LB in this draft there is a good chance the rest of the OT’s might fall.

The most impressive Center that I saw in the 1-on-1 drills was definitely Mangold. He gets low and has great technique. He seemed to give the DL’s the best fight of all the OL’s other than D’Brick. Kiper thinks he’s a 2nd rounder. I can see that. From what I saw thus far, I think I’d rather see us pick him in the 2nd, and go FA at RT than roll the dice on one of the OT’s that seem more risky.

The Tight Ends were interesting because the Top 3 weren’t there because they are underclassmen. I wonder if they don’t have a bit of an advantage in some ways? Kiper predicts Davis and Pope are 1st rounders, with Fasano being a possible late 1st/high 2nd. He attributes this run on TE’s to it being the new glamour position that many teams are lacking and points out that players like Todd Heap went a lot higher than anyone thought. Amazingly, he sees Mercedes Lewis (who personally reminds me of Antonio Gates and would have been the #1 TE if not for the juniors declaring) as dropping to late 2nd possibly even mid 3rd. Joel Klopfenstein falls in at #5 and could be a high 2nd day pick.

I’ll save the defensive positions for another time. Gabe Watson looked REALLY good though.

Joey 2zs,

Wasn’t Daryl Johnston’s playing weight 237? He wasn’t 250.

Mills is being compared to Cooley and is working this week at fullback to see if he has even more versatility. That’s a very intriguing talent, IMO.

Ah, google is a wondeful tool.

Johnson played at 242. Mills is 236. A little smaller, but not 225.

Palmer interviewing for the OC job tomorrow.

Its up on the Star Telegram website.

Interesting thing is that Moose was 6’2", 238 when he played. William Floyd was around the same size when he played and so is Mack Strong. I’d be more worried about his skills than his size.

a player like cooley would be very nice, hate him but he does everything very well.

as far as moose goes he was so instrumental on the 3 super bowls. id love to find another moose out there.

Rafael,

He wouldn’t be a bad pick at that point in the draft. My objection is to drafting Fassano in RD #3. We already have a receiving threat in Witten at that position. I say go get a blocking TE on day two of the draft. Possibly a player than can be a receiving option, but a better blocker. .. Maybe I should have wrote “I don’t see us drafting a TE in the likeness of Fassano”. What I am saying is we don’t need another Witten. We need another Cambell.

Eric R:

I’m just the opposite on the TE thing. Having another Campbell makes the offense more predictable than having two Wittens. Two good receiving TE’s create all kinds of matchup problems for defenses, and if the guy has size to start with it is easier to teach a guy to block than it is to catch. Good pass catching hands is more natural and instinctive, whereas blocking skills can be improved with technique and hard work.

You don’t have to worry about us drafting Fasano in the 3rd round, he’s soaring up the boards since he declared himself draft eligible and is projecting to go high to mid 2nd unless he bombs at the combines.

Sterling,

I agree that having another Witten type TE would be better than having another Campbell, because it does make us more predictable.

I’m intrigued by Garrett Mills, and Rafael’s assesment of him as a Richie Anderson type is spot on. I think he would be a great 2nd round pickup.

Although I’ve been clamoring for o-line help, I don’t think they will be addressed until the later rounds or through FA.

The o-line wasn’t that bad until Flo got injured, and depending on how well his rehab goes, RT is the position that we need the most help in.

Our defense was certainly hurt by our lack of a good FS, and the injuries to LB. So, it wouldn’t surprise me one bit if they’re the positions we draft first.

I’m hoping Jerry is just making a smokescreen about going after an OT in the second round. At best, Torrin Tucker is a serviceable starting right tackle who can fill in for a game here and there at left tackle. Even still, he’s really best off as a guard.

But here’s the thing, even if they get the RT situation down pat, they are still going to have to find a replacement for Flozell in the next couple of years.

Going after a LOLB is a smart idea, but I’m not sure there’s really any of them available that fit the scheme and what they need. And while FS is a concern, taking one over a very good OT prospect is plain stupid.

Yakuza Rich:

The problem is that the only OT’s that are true 1st rounders are D’Brickashaw Ferguson and Winston Justice and both are projected to be picked well before we get a chance.

After that Jon Scott from Texas projects as a 2nd rounder and the rest of the pack looks to go no better than 3rd round or lower.

We don’t want to take Scott in the 1st round when it would be such a reach. If anything, we would trade down into the 2nd and take him there, but then we miss out on a 1st round OLB where there is less depth.

With all the depth at OT this year, we could probably wait until the 2nd day and get an OT like the kid from Cal and still be better off than Tucker or Pettiti. If we get a FA to play RT next year, he could sit behind him and Flo and learn the ropes so he doesn’t get thrown to the wolves too soon like Pettiti did last year.