SpearSrai

To take this point one step further, the draft-value chart hasn't worked for the past 10 years. Jimmy Johnson invented it back when nobody had any idea what type of value to assign to picks, and guys like Belichick, Pioli, Ozzie, and other top GM's have been taking advantage of teams that use that chart ever since. Wait, you what? ...

You do realize that there are still talented, star WR's available, right? There's no guarantee that Bryant will be a better pro than Benn or Tate, one of whom will probably still be there for us with the #11 pick. Not to mention Shipley, Gilyard, LaFell, Briscoe, D. Williams, E. Decker... and then Mitchell from USF, Roberts from Citadel, Riley Cooper from UF, Jacoby Ford, Price from Ohio... There's a ton of WR depth in this draft. Forget "getting Boldin for free"... we could take 3 guys from the above list just for the picks we got for trading down, and that's not even including the 5th rounder we would have given up to grab Bryant. So would you rather have 4 of those receivers, or one Dez Bryant? (I'm just offering a value-comparison...in no way am I suggesting we will take multiple receivers with our picks)

And don't forget... there are still several players available who you would have been okay with us taking at #25. When you see what quality of player is available at #70 (our 'free' pick), you'll be whistling a different tune.

Cody...Benn...Tate...Dunlap...Griffin...Kindle... these are guys I could get excited about at #11 in the Raven's first round. I'm just looking at it like we have two first round picks in a very shallow draft.

Good deal for the 9ers. We spent a 3rd on Yamon Figurs...

Not disease; alien wizards.

In Pittsburgh, the women's bathroom is a perfectly acceptable venue to pick up chicks.

That should be an interesting quarterback competition... they can play catch from opposite endzones.

And at the very least, the face of an NFL franchise was having sex with coeds in the bathroom of a club. Rape or no rape, that should be bad enough. Super-bowl-winning NFL quarterbacks shouldn't have to resort to stuff like that, anyway.

As far as his athleticism, one scout allegedly said that Cody could dunk a basketball when he first came onto campus at 370 lbs. And Cody claims that he can do a backflip, though I haven't personally seen the video of that yet (I've seen the JPP one though). Here's something to look at... Albert Haynesworth is 6'6, 350. At Tennessee, he had "66 tackles, five sacks, 31 quarterback pressures, 20 tackles for a loss and nine pass deflections during his career", before being drafted #15 overall by the Titans. As a Junior (his final year at UT) he had 36 tackles (15.5 TFL) and 1.5 sacks. And clearly Haynesworth is a great pass-rusher in the NFL. The fact that Cody got through the line to block several field goals tells me that he's a tough guy to block in pressure situations, and we already have another one of those. If we can create a Goose/Adams situation again for the next few years, we'll have a good shot on defense.

I'm going to go out on a limb and say the "one they want" is going to be Michael Oher. Just a hunch.

So let me get this straight...you're saying that Mark Clayton isn't a #1 receiver?

Who did he say this to?

Maybe Cody could rush the passer on third down, then? I know it's not what he's known for, but he did knife through the line on a couple of kicks... throw Ngata, Cody, and Redding on the line, and I bet you get pressure with a 3-man rush.

That actually adds to Cody's value, because his biggest knock is his stamina. If not for the fact that he's only going to play 50-70% of your defensive plays, his value would probably be closer to the top of the round. We have the perfect system him, because we always rotate linemen anyway. As a Gator, I can tell you how dominant Cody really was in the SEC trenches. The reason his production isn't higher is because he is always the focus of the opposing offensive strategy. And Rolando McClain owes Cody and the Alabama d-line several million dollars for eating up all of the blockers so McClain could run sideline to sideline. McClain has a very 'long' build, and would probably have been blocked out of a lot of plays otherwise.

We took a flier on Stallworth because he stretches the field, and Ginn can take a return to the house "whenever he touches the ball"... It seems like a 4th would be a good value for him (I realize we don't have one), and a 5th might be a "steal" (except that Santonio Holmes just went for a 5th). If you get the guy to extend, though, what are you paying him? You can't pay him like a top receiver, and return-specialists traditionally don't earn a lot. Look how much Cribbs got put through to get a deal in Cleveland...

Terrence Cody is starting to grow on me. I do want a corner or DE, but having a guy like Cody next to Ngata (and Redding/Pryce) would be pretty impressive. You can't double all of them, and Ray would be free to roam like he did 10 years ago. Yeah, we'd have to find a way to stop the pass, but the run would be a complete nonfactor.

It still kind've sounds like you're saying we should base a football decision on who is making more money. Why can't Gaither be the RT?

Sources are saying that the Dolphins are looking to move Ginn sometime between now and draft-day. Ginn was one of the most highly-touted prospects coming into the draft, and it's actually debatable whether he or Brady Quinn have had the least successful careers thus far. I guess you have to say Ginn has produced more, since Quinn couldn't even stay in the lineup for long, but the fact remains that the Dolphins don't feel that Cam Cameron's first (and only) first-round draft pick has panned out. So, just for the sake of argument... any interest here? The guy can get downfield, but can't catch. He's a somewhat explosive returner at times, so for the right price, maybe he's worth a gamble. I don't know what Cam thought of Ginn when he left Miami, but he obviously saw something in him at one point. Nothing will come of it, but it's worth a discussion.

And in related news... we HAVE to be the most controversial division in the NFL, and the latest Steelers fiascos only sealed the deal. The Browns, always late to the party, blessed us with Shaun Rogers' airport assault a few weeks back, and it's no secret that us and the Bengals have our share of "controversial" players in the mix. These two knuckleheads from Steel-town are only carrying on the AFC North tradition. And as far as the Jets go, they can thank Rex for bringing a little AFC North to the Big Apple.

Yeah, well, in that same draft we took a guy who had a terrible pro day (Suggs) before we came back up for Boller. And we would have sprang on Leftwich if Jacksonville didn't, and he was a guy who had tremendous production in his career. So no matter what, we were losing out in that one. And Suggs still hasn't lived up to his potential (solid-but-inconsistent so far)

So you agree that Ozzie didn't want to draft Kyle Boller?

I hope they talked about looking for guys who "play like Ravens" in the draft. And on a side note... what would "partying like a Steeler" entail?

So in 3-4 years time, is Thomas still playing the deep-threat/redzone role, or is he eventually developing into a #1 receiver? Because that's the guy we're trying to find... a #1 receiver for Flacco to develop with. A downfield threat would be great, but I'd also like to know that we're looking at a potential franchise guy as well. (Compare this to Gresham, who would be a great downfield/redzone weapon, but also would be able to put pressure on the defense in other ways as well)

So we shouldn't move Oher to the left because we're not paying him enough?