Let's pretend!

[meatpile]

Let's pretend we get a first between 10 and 20 and a 3rd btween 70-85 for Peppers.

I'm thinking we need dline help more than anything. Who are our choices?

I know it seems dire, and it might be. We don't know yet. Remember how everyone wrote the Giants off when they loss Strahan and Ominyura ( sp ) ? He's a great player, but he's one player. And it's not like he's Steve Smith.

SO - who can we get?

 

[Collin]

Remember how everyone wrote the Giants off when they loss Strahan and Ominyura ( sp ) ? He's a great player, but he's one player. And it's not like he's Steve Smith.

The Giants had an aggressive, attacking defense as well as Justin Tuck (10 sacks in '07) and Mathias Kiwanuka (2006 1st round pick) waiting behind them. We have Charles Johnson, Tyler Brayton, and Hilee Taylor. It is what it is and we have to just deal with the loss, but it is dire. We had two superstars on this team, now we have one. Steve Smith is amazing, but unless he starts playing both ways, a defense fans have been bitching about will just get that much worse.

SO - who can we get?

First, I don't think there's any way we get a mid 1st and a 3rd, not with Peppers making it clear that he wants to leave. KC didn't have to trade Jared Allen, they just felt like they didn't need him since they were rebuilding. And Peppers' agent's comments about a 3-4 will give 4-3 teams an excuse to offer less even if he backs off those earlier statements. I've said already that I think the best we'll be offered is something like Elvis Dumervil and a second round pick, if Denver even wants Peppers (sketchy because they've spent so much already on defense and Nolan may not want to experiment anyway).


Humoring your scenario, a lot of people are high on Michael Johnson because he's one of those very athletic defensive ends with considerable potential, but I'm not on his bandwagon. He'll probably go in the middle of the first round, but I'm concerned about the effect of his height since he seems to struggle with tackles getting under his pads. With proper technique he certainly has the talent to be effective, but I don't see anything that suggests a future star. Beyond him, I'm not that well versed on the defensive ends in this draft because I didn't think it was going to be a need, but I don't think you can expect anyone to step in and make a huge impact right away. Facing NFL LTs is such a learning curve that you don't see a lot of right defensive ends come into the league and dominate from the start. If we need to replace Peppers, it will probably need to be with a veteran.

 

[magnus]

Let's pretend we get a first between 10 and 20 and a 3rd btween 70-85 for Peppers.

I'm thinking we need dline help more than anything. Who are our choices?

I know it seems dire, and it might be. We don't know yet. Remember how everyone wrote the Giants off when they loss Strahan and Ominyura ( sp ) ? He's a great player, but he's one player. And it's not like he's Steve Smith.

SO - who can we get?

I don't believe it's a matter of just what we put into those picks versus what we gave up. I would expect one impact veteran in there, too, and I don't know that I'd expect a rookie to be there right from the first step anyway. Mario Williams took a while to grow into it, those big ends from 2007 have yet to show anything, and Johnson's a guy I believed in before the draft and felt like he did a good job, but isn't there yet two years in. I'd still rather that first pick go to a DT, and though I've brought his name up, a Suggs or at worst case an aging guy like Bertrand Berry paired with a guy to develop.