Morgan is probably done...

I cant tell if youre being serious here or not, but I think it has been pretty bad.

2003 was a total bust.

 

Some of these guys had a shot, though. Johnson, for instance, could've made the team if not for Goings. We got a fair amount of of those first four. Most of these guys were good enough to make rosters here or elsewhere. I really thought, after his late 2002, that Wesley would be starting here.

I never thought much of the Nelson or Branch picks, but at least Branch had measurables. Moorehead was a guy I was kinda excited about - he was the "potential" guy. 5 sacks last year's not bad for a 5th rounder, but I don't know why he's here right now. Walter Young wasn't the "next Moose" and didn't even outlast Moose. He could tear it up against the backups and as a starter, he was mush. As big as anything, Gross should've been elite and hasn't been much better than average. We really needed a backup guard with Nelson's spot, and should've known he wouldn't be able to play G. He was overmatched at C, too.
For a while, it looked like we could get 5 starters out of this squad - two linemen, a TE, and two DBs in a squad that really needed some talent. One starter, out of all of this, and a number of ineffective trades that ended up only forcing us to take a little value for picks we knew weren't worthy.

Damn, this one looked promising, too. If Colbert was playing how Carter is, I'd probably shut up - two starting years out of a lineman, with hopefully a little more to give. We've probably gotten as many starts out of this as 2003 and certainly more than 05, not that you judge last year's by that yet; Gamble starts his 3rd year, Colbert gave us two, Wharton gave us a year and a half, Gaines started some. And yet the upside is still very small and I don't know that anyone but Gamble will still be a starter in year 4 of this group, maybe Wharton. So chances are, none of them will stick around but Gamble after 4 years, and by the time Gamble's contract is up, Marshall's will be too, and we'll have to likely choose between them.

The linemen look promising, if you dump Ellison. You can't fault them for some of these picks, guys like Emanuel and Haye were good enough to make the team on their merit, just not good enough to beat out other players brought in to bolster. But damn, at best Shelton will be a backup, Ellison's an outright bust, Lefors couldn't even make the squad in a year. A lot of intriguing guys, but someone else's gotta step up and be a very good starter for this not to look like a lot of missing and not much hitting.

see, that's the thing. This looks as good as the others. Right now, these guys will stick and be the "next thing", but who's to say they won't get replaced? I sincerely hope that Salley and Butler, IMO the worst two of this group, are replaced. But looks like, for now, a star, a starter, a pseudostarter, and three late picks that could be key reserves.

 

Starter or plays a lot, not too bad really

 

Someone has to play right? I think the problem is the lack of good picks early.

 

No, I was agreeing with you. I hadn't really looked at it lately, so I was surprised that it was worse than I remembered. 2002 earns a solid grade because we took Peppers over Harrington and Witherspoon turned out well, but 2003 was pretty much a bust all around. 2004 is a little better thanks to Wharton and Carter being contributors at their spots, but Gamble isn't really a positive or negative as a late first rounder, and Colbert has been disappointing. 2005 still has time to pan out, but doesn't look very encouraging right now given how much Thomas Davis is struggling (he stood out again on film against the Bucs, and not in a good way).

That said, I'm still really optimistic about 2006. DeAngelo already looks like he's a clear step above Foster in terms of talent, while Marshall is already contributing and Anderson has shown some promise. I still have hope that Butler, King, Montgomery, and McClover can all contribute down the line as well, which would give this draft a chance to rival 2001.

 

06's should come up a good bit, but I'm still not sold at all on the 89 and 121 picks. Salley could be a special teamer, but just wasn't what we needed, and the exact reason to make the pick Butler became, wasn't something Butler could do at this point.


The more important thing here is that more of these 03, 02 picks should've become elite backbone parts of this team. While a guy like Foster earned a new contract, he's not a star, and neither is Gross. You've had to spend big for Lucas to replace guys like Manning and Wesley. You've had to spend on guys like Wahle and Hartwig because of guys like Nelson. That's where the failure is, we've drafted replacements and often have to redraft, respend almost immediately.

 

The team preaches draft, draft, draft, but what you mention here is exactly what we're having to do, replace draft picks, high ones at that, with expensive free agents. If this keeps up, we'll be in big trouble. What is sort of amazing to me is that no one has called them out on this.

 

I've been worried about the cap for a while. We paid Wahle a lot of money, Minter, on top of the guys Collin mentioned. Those two are nice players, but it's hard to get the kind of value we paid.

And it's been a while since a guy has broken through. Wharton is probably the best value pick that we've gotten since 02, and now that he's IRd, it probably falls to Carter.


As for Dan, I was happy when we drafted him, but he hasn't been quite the player I thought he would be even when healthy. And still, he should walk away now given the number of concusions, and the team should walk away to find another long term answer. We all wanted Dan to work out, as with any player, regardless of how much that hope was tempered.

 

we re-signed the wrong LB>we miss you spoon!