Fan Speak Draft Simulator

[Panama]

We played the DT tackle only 25% because the defensive tackles we had are total horse shit. You can't run a 3/4 without a Nose. You can't stop the run without a Nose and you can't rush the passer without a Nose. Not only do we need a NT now, but we need another guy behind him. Now if you're telling me we are moving to a 4-3, I'll listen but I haven't seen any indication of that. Have you? We don't have the LB on this team to move to the 4-3, nor do we have the DE to do so.

Clearly you haven't read the gigazillion or so posts on this subject. Suffice it to say that I believe you are wrong about the importance of NT in today's game; but, to spare everyone who did read those gigazillion posts, I'm just going to agree to disagree with you and move on. (And it's a moot point anyway, because I would bet my house we are not taking 2 DTs in the top 4 picks.)

[Beerman]

Clearly you haven't read the gigazillion or so posts on this subject. Suffice it to say that I believe you are wrong about the importance of NT in today's game; but, to spare everyone who did read those gigazillion posts, I'm just going to agree to disagree with you and move on. (And it's a moot point anyway, because I would bet my house we are not taking 2 DTs in the top 4 picks.)

Bravo.

[Steve]

You need someone who lines up at that spot, but how many of the giant run stuffers are on todays rosters? And One of hose gazillion posts points out about half of the 34 teams have UDFA guy starting at NT. So clearly, teams are not necessarily valuing the huge NT guys at the top of the draft.

Having size CAN help in the middle of the D when teams run, but so many college NT are just big sloppy guys who never develop the technique to survive in the NFL. But a fair number of smaller NT types do OK, because they play with outstanding leverage, like Lissemore.

34 teams will play their NT on the pass rush line some, so you cannot just go by the snap count. But you look at the counts, and even though some NT are getting snaps on the rush line, how many of them can rush the QB well enough to really deserve to be there? If that NT doesn't rush the QB reasonably well, they aren't going to get doubled, so is there any point except to have them play the draws and screens, many of which they will be too slow to run down? That logic escapes me. There are going to be some early downs, where you might want more size on the field, but for us that is a matchup decision, which means it is probably going to be Reyes or Liuget, not a NT type.

Some of the more successful NT in football last year were guys who have spent as much time as DE as they have on the NT spot. If we do anything, why not draft a 43 DT type of player, play him at NT, then he can split time with Reyes and Liuget, who are really both 43 DT anyway. You can say we play a 34 D, but we line up in a 4 man line like something like 60% of the time, and I expect that % to go higher now that our O is really getting in synch. I don't get the obsession with focusing on archaic notions of football from 20-30 years ago. Back in the early 80's, you had to have a biggish NT, and if you wanted him to last for years, he had to be huge.

And teams ran the ball a lot more, so it made sense. NT got a lot of practice stuffing the run in college. Now, DT are smallish, spend most of their time pass rushing in college, because both college and pro teams throw so much more.

[Mister Hoarse]

This thing is still up and running. Updated to include the 1st round as already chosen.

57
WR DONTE MONCRIEF
MISSISSIPPI

89
G DAVID YANKEY
STANFORD

125
CB PIERRE DESIR
LINDENWOOD

165
WR JEFF JANIS
SAGINAW VALLEY STATE

201
S DANIEL SORENSEN
BYU

240
DT ZACK KERR
DELAWARE

[TABF]

I'm predicting a minimum of 2 Mormons in our 7 picks. Now we need to factor that into the rankings.

Telasco is Roman Catholic.... So maybe an LDS guy from Notre Dame.