What we are seeing is now the team thinks they are in New England, where a championship process is in place (it took them some time to get there). It will take a while before this team ever is able to model what NE does in low-balling players, yet keeping enough to sustain excellence year after year. Again, I say the falcons will struggle to get 8-8, because their hope is that Ryan is the man. Ryan without “The Burner” will not happen, and a defense that hold down offenses.

Here’s the problem our DB’s had last yr. VHutchins, JIrons, BGrimes, CHouston and CJackson are all very good man or one on one defenders. But because of our less than stellar LB play, and our very poor DL play, we played a lot of zone. That was the weakness of all of CB’s except DFoxworth, but especially JIrons. The CB that replaces Foxworth might not be as good, but if we get a decent pass rush and a SS with cover skills, he won’t have to be. which I am certain will happen. Because of Malloy’s coverage libialities, and the way he was used, FS RColeman had to cover a lot of extra ground, and he did an excellent job under the circumstances. Having a SS with cover skills will make us less vulnerable to TE’a and deep passing routes.

BOTTOMLINE, IF WE FIX OUR POOR RUSHING DEF, IMPROVE OUR POOR PASS RUSH, AND START A SS WITH COVER SKILLS, OUR PASS DEF, AND OVERALL DEF, WILL BE JUST FINE. IT ALL STARTS WITH FIXING OUR DL. And on that issue, consider this. If TLewis returns and plays up to his talents, we might see him replacing JBabineaux’s and another roadblock replacing GJackson at NT. Babineaux would be used on passing downs and the regular DT rotation. JUST FOOD FOR THOUGHT.

CLTHURMAN-you seem to be hung up on the loss of CB DFoxworth and the idea that his loss will make it impossible for the Falcons to field a pass DEF. I have news for you. Even with CB DFoxworth and SS LMalloy, he Falcons finished 21st in pass DEF, 25th in rushing DEF and 24th in overall DEF, and that was with CB DFoxworth. The only reason our pass DEF wasn’t rated lower is the fact teams found it more expediate to attack our poor rushing DEF, allowing them to control the clock and keep our potent OFF on the sidelines.

It doesn’t take a high football IQ to know that a good pass rush, especially from your front 4, can make even an average secondary achieve above average results. The Falcons haven’t had a good pass rush, and what we did have was one dimensional(DE JAbraham). Replacing DT GJackson will automatically upgrade our pass rush. The hoped for pass rushing improvement of DE JAnderson, or the hoped for increased production of CDavis, if hegets starters mins, or the improvement of KBiermann as a situational pass rusher, and/or the addition of a quality pass rushing OLB/DE will definitely improve our pass rush. There have been very few CB’s in NFL history talented enough to excel without the aid of an effective pass rush.

Last yr, if a team ran a pass play before we substituted, the entire L side of our DL(DT GJackson & DE JAnderson) was almost totally ineffective pressuring the passer. Teams could just wall off, or double the R side(DT JBabineaux & DE JAbraham) and limit our pass rushing ability. Add TLewis’s athleticism and pass rushing ability, a LDE with pass rushing ability, and we create a solid pass rush by making it counterproductive to double or wall off the R side of the DEF.

Adding a SS with cover skills, along with an improved pass rush, will automatically make it easier for our CB’s, and overall secondary. Just because you can’t see a solution doesn’t mean Dimitroff and Smith don’t have one. LOOK, DON’T GET SO WORKED UP OVER THIS. OUR PASSING, RUSHING AND OVERALL DEF WILL BE BETTER THAN IT WAS LAST YR, EVEN WITHOUT LB’S KBROOKING & MBOLEY, SS LMALLOY, DT GJACKSON AND CB DFOXWORTH.

That being said, everyone is raving about Nicholas(and I think he has enormous potential to start as well), but the only question I have is ‘Why was he not able to beat out Wire last year when Boley started tanking?’

Just food for thought.

1st-Cushing/Perry/Maybin/Matthews/English in that order
2nd-Chung/S.Smith/R.Johnson in that order
3rd-Nelson/Cook/Coffman in that order
4th-Hill/Taylor/Miller
5th-Best Available CB

I assumed Raji will be long gone in 1st.

ROUND…OVERALL…PLAYER…POSITION…COLLEGE
2003
1 13 Ty Warren DT Texas A&M
2 36 Eugene Wilson CB Illinois***
2 45 Bethel Johnson WR Texas A&M
4 117 Dan Klecko DT Temple
4 120 Asante Samuel CB Central Florida***
5 164 Dan Koppen C Boston
6 201 Kliff Kingsbury QB Texas Tech
7 234 Spencer Nead TE BYU***
7 239 Tully Banta-Cain LB California
7 243 Ethan Kelley DT Baylor

2004
1 21 Vince Wilfork DT Miami***
1 32 Benjamin Watson TE UGA***
2 63 Marquise Hill DE LSU (Died 052807)
3 95 Guss Scott S Florida
4 128 Dexter Reid S N. Carolina
4 128 Cedric Cobbs RB Arkansas
5 164 P.K. Sam WR FSU
7 233 Christian Morton CB FSU

2005
1 32 Logan Mankins OG Fresno State
3 84 Ellis Hobbs CB Iowa State***
3 100 Nick Kaczur OT Toledo
4 133 James Sanders S Fresno State***
5 170 Ryan Claridge LB UNLV
7 230 Matt Cassel QB Southern Cal.***
7 255 Andy Stokes TE William Penn

2006
1 21 Laurence Maroney RB Minnesota***
2 36 Chad Jackson WR Florida
3 86 David Thomas TE Texas
4 106 Garrett Mills TE Tulsa
4 118 Stephen Gostkowski K Memphis
5 136 Ryan O’Callaghan OT California
6 191 Jeremy Mincey DE Florida
6 205 Dan Stevenson OG Notre Dame
6 206 Le-Kevin Smith DT Nebraska
7 229 Willie Andrews DB Baylor

2007
1 24 Brandon Meriweather S Miami
4 127 Kareem Brown DE Miami
5 171 Clint Oldenburg OT Colorado State
6 180 Justin Rogers LB SMU
6 202 Mike Richardson CB Notre Dame
6 208 Justise Hairston RB Central Conn. State
6 209 Corey Hilliard OG Oklahoma State
7 211 Oscar Lua LB USC
7 247 Mike Elgin C Iowa

Now, I’m certain that most of these names were recruited as situational players. Furthermore, teams draft on need and I’m sure a number of players were drafted, during TD’s tenure, based on positions that were vacant on the roster. Nonetheless, TD was responsible for researching and evaluating the best player to fill those needs. This entry simply gives us an idea of how TD operates. Again, you can draw your own conclusion. What I noted was the type of schools he recruited from and the number of late rounders that eventually rose to national recognition. In conclusion, I decided to shut-up and let TD, and staff, do their thing. What do I know?