Anybody see this si.com thing about the draft?

Yea, it's not entirely promising. But the season ain't over.

 

The thing is, people can do what they want, but where were the fairweather draftniks when there was actual college football to watch and so on? Hell, I'll talk draft in May. I'll talk it in September. If you like the draft, this is one of the crappier times of the year.

 

well, in the 2nd, but we almost picked freaking Seidman there. And Witten wasn't "a good enough blocker", even though I've never seen Mangum or Gaines be that good in run blocking. Pass blocking, maybe. And that's almost always with help. It's really easy for a pro to do the job of one hand with two.


Granted, Seidman was a solid choice. Fairly strong, smart, good body control, hands. Should've been a good blocker, and was allright when he was in there. The knee injury was bad, and sometimes you just never come back from that, just as with any injury of that severity.



It always did sting me that we were sold as an "H-back" team, walls was still productive in 02, and he could've very well played that role on 03's team, catching short TDs, catching some quick passes, and being the motion man who might draw some attention. Could've still had Mangum block, still had a productive year with us, still would've been useful and then would've retired after that year anyway.

And then there's the Wiggins thing. Caught 181 balls in 2.75 seasons since leaving.

 

Fasano would've been awesome. :newsmile61:

 

Yep. That one will always bother me. A lot. It's stupid, but for some reason that bothers me more than Biakabutuka over Eddie George.

 

I really had high hopes for Seidman, and thought he'd be the balanced TE we so desperately needed (and still do). I hate that he's been such a disappointment.

Different offensive scheme, which was exactly what he was looking for. Took less money to go to MIN, IIRC, just to get more balls thrown to him. Stupid, stupid move to let him go.

 

Yep. And as the ultimate tease, they started him early this year, as though he'd come around suddenly. Who knows if he had.

Different offensive scheme, which was exactly what he was looking for. Took less money to go to MIN, IIRC, just to get more balls thrown to him. Stupid, stupid move to let him go.[/QUOTE]

We didn't have a choice over letting him go. We had a choice over using him, though, and we certainly didn't.

The thing is, our O would blossom with some of the drag, hook, out routes the TEs can run, and in PA drawing the LBs up, TEs are open. If we're going to dink and dunk, why not to the TE as well? Doesn't have to be a deep threat. Hell, do it with our guys. Gaines can post up a LB and fall down just as well as anyone else could.

 

No, I most certainly did not. I said he shouldn't be a first rounder and absolutely shouldn't have been a top 5 pick. I believe that opinion is still correct, although the talking heads are currently on his jock just like Romo's. But watch a San Diego game closely. You will notice exactly what I talked about then and in the magazine, that Rivers' arm strength is below average and that he actually has to throw his body into a throw in order to attack deep downfield. He does have a quick release and makes good decisions with the ball, but his flaws will affect his production as defenses adjust to his limitations.

Seriously, it's fine for you to bitch about me and criticize the places where I've actually been wrong, but my record on projecting QBs to the NFL is absolutely impeccable. It's the best thing I do. Need I remind you of that Chicago fan who came here early in the season talking about how great Grossman was and I detailed what his problems were and how those would be exposed in the following weeks as defenses adjusted? It played out exactly how I predicted it would.

Anyway, here's what I wrote about Rivers in our 2004 magazine:
"Fantasy owners should be wary of players who rise dramatically just before the draft, and Rivers is no exception. Although he's received enormous praise from most pundits, no less than Ron Wolf and Ron Jaworski expressed doubt that he could ever become a "great quarterback." Rivers does have an exceptional feel for the position, and that alone should keep him in the league for a decade or more, but issues with his arm may be too much to overcome. While Rivers' side-arm delivery is often cited as a potential concern, it's actually his lack of arm strength that figures to restrict his pro protential. He simply doesn't have the velocity necessary to complete long or intermediate passes with regularity. Rivers worked around those problems in college with superior touch, but the speed of NFL defenses will severely limit his options. If surrounded by superior talent it is possible that Rivers could someday be an average fantasy quarterback, but LaDainian Tomlinson is the only competent receiver on San Diego's roster (this was before Gates' breakout season, although I listed him as the sleeper TE in that issue) This season he figures to post numbers similar to Manning's, but over the long term there is little reason to think that he'll ever be more than middle round selection."

Fyi, I said that Roethlisberger would be the best QB out of that class, that Eli would be good, that Rivers would be solid, and that Losman would suck monkey balls. I also listed Matt Schaub as the top sleeper QB in that draft and said he'd be as good as Rivers despite being drafted much lower. And for the kicker of all kickers, I said the Chargers made a mistake in drafting Rivers because they were giving up on Brees too early as I still saw him being a good NFL quarterback.


Seriously, Quinn is not a very good NFL prospect. He's not terrible like Losman, but although a different type of player would struggle like Alex Smith. Quinn wouldn't even be considered for the top spot if he didn't play for Notre Dame or especially if Charlie Weis hadn't made him look better than he is. His arm is average, he's a little slow in reading defenses, and he needs a lot of work with his mechanics. Actually, thinking about it, he reminds me a bit of Jake.


magnus:
This is arguably one of the best times to talk about the draft since we just completed the largest body of evidence from which to draw conclusions. It's much, much better to think about it now and come to some conclusions than to wait and let the combine numbers fuck up everyone's perspective.

Also, Wiggins really sucks balls as a TE. People look at his numbers and assume he was better than he looked when he was here. He wasn't. Linehan specifically installed a dump-off option with Wiggins on all routes so that Culpepper wouldn't continuously force things downfield. Jermaine did nothing but stand there and catch what was thrown to him, as his YAC has been pathetic. Plus his blocking has been so bad that he's been phased out of the lineup there now.

 

bro, you just flat out killed any fascination i had w/ him. 1 is enough.

 

Talking about college football makes more sense when football's being played, than waiting for the first site in google to post their analysis or because a team's out of the playoffs.

Wiggins showed he could be productive. That's all we should need a player to be. I didn't suggest we needed Gonzalez.