Redskins Select CB David Amerson, TE Jordan Reed

[Ax]

Thanks. Moving along now.

 

[Goaldeje]

Goal, it's VERY possible that Paul didn't show he could handle those types of plays in practice. It's also possible those plays really weren't part of the playbook last year and they decided that's a route they now want to go. Who knows? Like I said, if Reed shows he's THAT guy in Training Camp and does it better than Paul, I can't possibly have a problem with it. In fact, I'll be jumping for joy but I can promise THAT won't be a pretty sight.

Good point, Jimbo. Another possibility that Tr1 and El raised in another thread is that Sleepy may not be progressing enough for the FO's liking, and/or they may be sick of the immaturity issues with him.

Personally, I am thrilled that this seems to be a completely BPA pick, which is such an excellent turn from where we have come from. Think about from Fred's position: he knows he can't afford to screw up; furthermore, he can't afford to give less than maximum effort either, as this is a (nother) contract year for him. If he thought the market for him was dry this year, if he ****s up at all this year, his phone may not ring at all. Ever.

We've hedged our bet with Fred, while also engendering some pretty spectacular competitive position battles. Would it have been nice to get an OLineman in there somewhere? Sure. Last year's third round pick contributed so little last year that I really think Shanny is OK going with UDFAs that fit his scheme. As long as it works, I'm cool with it.

BPA is pretty damned fun.

 

[Ax]

If Paulsen goes down, who do we have to supply his blocking? Reed certainly doesn't fit that bill.

 

[LoyalSkinsFan]

Fine.

Do me a favor and remove your first post. It's enough to not respond in kind. But I'm tired of looking at it.

Done. Let's move on.

 

[Neophyte]

I take that lack of Offensive Linemen to mean two things.

1. While not world beaters, our line from last year performed well enough to not be considered a weak spot on this roster. Sure, it could be better but I don't think anyone can say that our line cost us any games last year. The same cannot be said about the Secondary.

2. The coaching staff likes our current depth. We really didn't loose much in the way of performance when guys had to come in off the bench. In fact, Josh might even have been a slight upgrade over Kory and I would not be surprised to see those two in a real competition for the starting LG spot this year. We added a couple of veteran guys this offseaon to compete for the weakest position on the line, that being RT and I wouldn't be at all surprised to see the line improved this year over last.

Game situations proved that we have depth on the OL. As the season wore on though we say issues with the starting talent or the depth other places though. Secondary and TE were two of those. We started our second string safeties from Day 1 and by week 7 we were starting a TE who had been 3rd string a year previous. Throw in the issues at Outside rush Backer after Rak went down and you can see why we drafted like we did this year.

In short, I have no issue with it. Now, if we don't draft an offensive wide body again next year I probably won't be singing this same song.

 

[Ax]

Agreed Neo. I think they like the Oline guys on the roster well enough to concentrate on what was, by far, the weakest link on the team.

 

[Lanky Livingston]

Fans of 32 NFL teams think their OL is a weak spot.
Posted via BGO Mobile Device

 

[Goaldeje]

If Paulsen goes down, who do we have to supply his blocking? Reed certainly doesn't fit that bill.

With a couple of days to ruminate, I think we keep 4 TEs, at least at first (give credit to Neo, I think he said this first). I suspect they are fairly pleased with Niles's development in ST, and hope at a minimum he can continue that development in the blocking game.

I think if you gave Shanny truth serum, he would probably tell you they have moved on from Niles as the next Shannon Sharpe; but if they kid can develop to be a reliable blocker and a ST ace, there will be room for him on the roster for a while.

 

[Neophyte]

Oh, I disagree Lanky. I have a lot of friends in the Bay area and to a man, they love their 49er offensive line right now. Granted, that is just one example but I am pretty sure there are plenty of fans in Baltimore, Seattle, New Orleans and maybe Denver who are also pretty happy with their lines.

I would agree that most fans think their lines could be better though.

 

[Lanky Livingston]

Oh, I disagree Lanky. I have a lot of friends in the Bay area and to a man, they love their 49er offensive line right now. Granted, that is just one example but I am pretty sure there are plenty of fans in Baltimore, Seattle, New Orleans and maybe Denver who are also pretty happy with their lines.

I would agree that most fans think their lines could be better though.

Right, but I'm sure there are plenty of Niner fans who think the OL is the weak spot on the team.
Posted via BGO Mobile Device

 

[Jimbo]

With a couple of days to ruminate, I think we keep 4 TEs, at least at first (give credit to Neo, I think he said this first). I suspect they are fairly pleased with Niles's development in ST, and hope at a minimum he can continue that development in the blocking game.

I think if you gave Shanny truth serum, he would probably tell you they have moved on from Niles as the next Shannon Sharpe; but if they kid can develop to be a reliable blocker and a ST ace, there will be room for him on the roster for a while.

Tim Tebow might be available to play TE if Paulsen goes down.

 

[Elephant]

Neo, I am not sure I agree with you about the OL not being a glaring weakness. Tyler Polumbus is a very glaring weakness in pass protection and his inability to keep the rush off of Griffin was the reason most of his scrambles out of the pocket were to TW's side of the field. In fact, if you recall, the play where Robert took off to TW's side of the field was because Polumbus was pushed 8 yards deep with the blitzing LB coming up the middle forcing Robert to that side of the field. We could say Polumbus was indirectly responsible for the injury...

 

[Goaldeje]

Tim Tebow might be available to play TE if Paulsen goes down.

 

[Neophyte]

Neo, I am not sure I agree with you about the OL being a glaring weakness. Tyler Polumbus is a very glaring weakness in pass protection and his inability to keep the rush off of Griffin was the reason most of his scrambles out of the pocket were to TW's side of the field. In fact, if you recall, the play where Robert took off to TW's side of the field was because Polumbus was pushed 8 yards deep with the blitzing LB coming up the middle forcing Robert to that side of the field. We could say Polumbus was indirectly responsible for the injury...

And I think you can say we will see competition for the RT job this year, don't you? We still have Polumbus and Compton (who has a full year under his belt of NFL practice experience and coaching now) as well as new veteran additions Trueblood and Pashos.

I think the front office has tried to address it. Obviously from the offseason moves we have seen they thought they could do more for the Secondary in this draft than they could for RT. Secondary obviously cost us games last year, both with bad pass coverage and poor tackling. I don't think you can point at RT and say that position cost us a game. Not directly.

That was my point.

 

[Elephant]

And I think you can say we will see competition for the RT job this year, don't you? We still have Polumbus and Compton (who has a full year under his belt of NFL practice experience and coaching now) as well as new veteran additions Trueblood and Pashos.

I think the front office has tried to address it. Obviously from the offseason moves we have seen they thought they could do more for the Secondary in this draft than they could for RT. Secondary obviously cost us games last year, both with bad pass coverage and poor tackling. I don't think you can point at RT and say that position cost us a game. Not directly.

That was my point.

Yeah, I understand what you were saying, just playing devil's advocate mostly. I was happy with the draft...just wish we'd have been able to secure the RT spot for years to come. I am tired of the OL being just on the cusp of being good. I want a great one. I believe that is where winning teams start...OL. As long as we have QB's in place who can hide that pass pro weakness, we can make it at least one more season since it appears we have addressed most of the other "glaring" weaknesses. We will have to find an ILB next year too, but mostly RT... I am not convinced Compton is the answer.

Bottom line, we can't address all positions of need in one draft, especially when we're lacking a 1st rounder. I think we appear to have done a solid job of suring up the secondary. Maybe next year we go out and sign a FA CB to big money, if he's a good fit.

 

[FuriousD]

If Paulsen goes down, who do we have to supply his blocking? Reed certainly doesn't fit that bill.

You place a call to Central Casting and they will send you 10 guys that can do what Paulsen can do.

Place a call to Central Casting for someone who can do what Reed does... and they will send you 10 guys who can do what Paulsen can do.

 

[Rymanofthenorth]

if armstead turns out to be great, we will look stupid. if we were going with a boom or bust draft, we should have taken lattimore and armstead, im sick and tired of this " we are good enough" method used by shannahan, if amerson turns out decent (which I have doubts) and if this undersized TE who ran a slow 40 turns out decent maybe Ill be less irritated but passing on a solid OT who filled the second biggest need, was ridiculous. sorry, but our Oline is atrociuos, rib looked good because he replaced a guy who was playing terrible football, polumbus was solid in the run game but was embarassing bad in the pass game. chester cant run block. im not looking forward to watching RG3 take needless hits for yet another year and if this team doesnt match last years record, I will be the first one calling for haslett and shanny to gtfo

 

[Ax]

I hear you Ryman. I won't get into the bad vibes on Amerson again, lest
I offend. But his resume is also less than impressive. And, it looks like we'll have to wait until game time to see anything redeeming about the Reed pick. The more I see and read, the bigger the WTF in my head gets.

4-7 looks more promising than 2 & 3. The only reason you don't pitch a bitch about using two picks at RB is Shanny's history of finding guys there. But if at least one of them doesn't make the team, it's a total waste.

If Thomas, Rambo, and LB Brandon Jenkins come through, I'll be happy.

 

[Goaldeje]

Ry, but most any metric, our line was not "atrocious". I think we all agree Polumbus needs to either improve on pass pro or be replaced, but as has been stated, we got some FAs to come in and push him for that job. With a full off season, maybe Compton is ready for the blocking assignments and can handle starting.

The more I think about it, the more I like the Reed pick. This guy is going to be devastating for defenses. My in laws are Pats fans (yeah, shoot me, I know. Better yet, shoot them) so I have to watch more Pats games than the Geneva Convention allows. Aaron Hernandez presents so many problems it isn't funny. My bet is that within three years (at the most) we're the team other fans look at and say, why can't we ever get a player like that?

We screamed when Vinny drafted because he reached to fill needs. The way to build a championship roster is draft BPA.

 

[fansince62]

we won't know for a couple years, but this may go down as one of the best drafts in the last 20 years...IMO.

- the defensive backfield was the achilles heel last season. everyone knows it. they went out and got what was the best talent on their board at the time their moment came to select.

- given cap constraints..this year was going to drive a strategy of higher risk taking. that was simply built into the equation.

- the front 7, on paper, ought to generate more pass rush this season with returning folks like Rak and off-season signing like Merlin coming thru and the growth in LB capability.

- something had to give due to cap constraints. the team obviously reasoned that o-line was not the highest priority - in part based on the offensive numbers generated last season. seems entirely reasonable to me. they signed two established pros probably hoping at least one recovers from injury to be serviceable for a season (i.e., draft RT next year) and may be thinking something will pop up in training camp cuts later this Summer.

- Polumbus was a liability in pass pro. but there was more to it than just him. the scheme itself lends itself to more QB exposure. and QB decision-makings plays into it. Robert, afterall, was injured by deciding to turn upfield instead of toward the sidelines or going to the turf sooner on a scramble.

Personally, I like what they are doing under circumstances in which they are being totally screwed by the NFL and in which they gave away the farm for 3 years to have the chance to sign a franchise QB. this is so much smarter than what we have seen for the past 21 years that it defies imagination. heck, it's way better than when they first arrived. lest we forget, they hired Smith and have been beefing up the whole part of the process that evaluates over the last couple years. THEY ARE GETTING BETTER AT IT. and the record is starting to reflect that.