dew1679666265

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Isn't Randy Bush in the same position? Or is he just the assistant GM? Because if he has the same role, Bush has been mentioned for possible GM jobs.

Better get in Pete Carroll's head. :D

Alright, year 3 of this. It's been productive in the past and seems like a popular idea still. So here we go. We'll start the actual mock draft after the combine since we'll know much more about the prospects after that. Until then, posters will have a chance to divy up teams. I want to have a different poster heading up each team. We'll probably shoot for 4 rounds, interest really waned after that last year. Basically, the premise is this: 1. We'll need at least one person for each of the 30 teams. 2.The first person will be the person of record for that team, but it might be fun to have a bit of a "war room" type of activity. We'll limit War Rooms to five per team. 3. War Rooms participants should share IM names and might want to form a private chat room to discuss their selections. It is recommended that War Rooms take a vote on picks after the discussion and allow the person of record make the pick. If a consensus cannot be reached, the first person to sign up for each team will make the final decision. (Idea and wording courtesy of vance_the_cubs_fan) 4. Picks will be made in real-time, with a set amount of time between picks. After that time ends, a pick will be made for that team - much like the actual draft itself. Each slot will have 24 hours to make a pick. Posters can double and triple up if there's a need - I'd like to have more than one for most, if not all, the teams out there. We've still got plenty of time to get this thing going, though we should start pretty promptly after the combine ends. If anybody has any suggestions, post in this thread or you can PM me. If you want to take one of the teams, post it in here or PM me and I'll update the list. And here's the list thus far: Patriots: ELCABALLO45 Dolphins: ISUCubsFan, Warpticon Bills: EhDubya Jets: jersey cub fan Steelers: WrigleyField22, rawaction Ravens: WrigleyField22 Browns: UK Bengals: rocket Colts: CubColtPacer, Exile on Waveland Titans: dew, PostCountPadder Jaguars: dew, CaliforniaRaisin Texans: rawaction Broncos: Mark Prior's Calves Chargers: weis21 Raiders: soccer10k Chiefs: Transmogrified Tiger Cowboys: vance, shnsajax Eagles: TruffleShuffle Giants: jersey cubs fan Redskins: CaliforniaRaisin Vikings: hawkeyecub Bears: bukie, CaliforniaRaisin Lions: sneakypower Packers: Flames24Rulz Panthers: Andy Falcons: Vanilla Ice Buccaneers: SpongeWorthy Saints: OleMissCub 49ers: jame.gumb, CubbieBum Cardinals: CubbieBum Rams: mul21, reggiemiller rules Seahawks: mhuber92211 Draft sites of interest: NFL Draft Countdown National Football Post - Wes Bunting Walter Football Football's Future Mel Kiper and Todd McShay at ESPN NFL.com Combine site Draft Tek ROUND 1 ROUND 2 ROUND 3 ROUND 4 1(99) St. Louis Rams – Tony Pike, QB, Cincinnati 2(100) Detroit Lions – Kevin Thomas, CB, USC 3(101) Tampa Bay Buccaneers 4(102) Kansas City Chiefs 5(103) Washington Redskins 6(104) Seattle Seahawks 7(105) Philadelphia Eagles (from CLE) 8(106) Oakland Raiders 9(107) Buffalo Bills 10(108) Jacksonville Jaguars 11(109) Chicago Bears 12(110) Miami Dolphins 13(111) Tennessee Titans 14(112) Carolina Panthers 15(113) San Francisco 49ers 16(114) Denver Broncos 17(115) New York Giants 18(116) Pittsburgh Steelers 19(117) Atlanta Falcons 20(118) Houston Texans 21(119) New England Patriots 22(120) Cincinnati Bengals 23(121) Philadelphia Eagles 24(122) Green Bay Packers 25(123) Arizona Cardinals (from BAL) 26(124) New York Jets (from ARI) 27(125) Dallas Cowboys 28(126) San Diego Chargers 29(127) Seattle Seahawks (from NYJ) 30(128) Minnesota Vikings 31(129) Indianapolis Colts 32(130) New Orleans Saints 33(131) Cincinnati Bengals

Jeff Fisher is sticking around in Nashville. Good stuff.

Fassel's been a really good OC from everything I've heard. He wouldn't be a "sexy" hire, but I think he could be solid.

I'll probably just go ahead and start one up here pretty soon (probably this evening). Going by last year, I think the interest will be there, and I enjoy doing it. Especially with this draft, where so many teams could go in so many directions. It seems a little early, but maybe that's just me not caring as much about the draft since Chicago won't be participating. I'd be happy to play along, and select for the Jets. I'll probably do it like I did last year – make the thread now and leave it open for people to claim teams and make sure everybody has a chance to get involved. Then actually start the mock draft after the combine when we have more official info on the players.

Carlos Dunlap and Maurkice Pouncey are both entering the draft.

I'll probably just go ahead and start one up here pretty soon (probably this evening). Going by last year, I think the interest will be there, and I enjoy doing it. Especially with this draft, where so many teams could go in so many directions.

As encourage by CNS. I doubt Smart takes the Tech job, cause I think Smart is waiting for the GA job to open up possibly after next year. But it wouldn't surprise me if Smart does take the Tech job. Kirby Smart is the next DC at UGA. No. Personally, the ONLY way he goes to Georgia is if/when Richt is fired. And knowing Richt penchant for being cheap when it comes to paying his assistants plus Alabama's assistants are about to get a big raise....less then 5% chance of Smart going to Georgia. You were saying? I'm seeing where Georgia's offered Smart, but not where he's taken the job.

Buffalo took a lot of what the Colts did under Dungy and implemented it. Smaller, fast players across the LBs and secondary, but their D-linemen are actually bigger than the Colts' linemen. My understanding is that very few teams actually run the "Tampa-2" that started with Monte Kiffin (he doesn't even refer to it as that) and instead run the Cover-2 with some slight variations.

The other thing is a super bowl loss is most likely going to always be that much more disappointing, as hopes were building with each win before. The Bears got spanked against the Eagles in 2001/2002 playoffs and it wasn't that disappointing since it was a flukish team to begin with, the 2005/2006 loss to Carolina was closer but the team was similarly "flukish" or surprisingly good. The 2006/2007 SB loss to Indy was kind of close for a while but ended up as a blowout, but the loss hurt more since they were so close, it was the Super Bowl and expectations were higher given back to back good seasons and the thought that the Bears were for real instead of those earlier versions. I still think that NE loss was embarrassing enough to be classified as worse than your run-of-the-mill playoff beating. Their team was pathetic and should have been shutout in the first half if not for a gift turnover/non challenge. I'll agree that it was worse than your run-of-the-mill playoff blowout. I still don't think it's comparable to a nailbiter loss, though. And yeah, the Super Bowl magnifies anything, but a clearly superior Titans team lost in a very close game to the Ravens last year. That was far worse than the Raiders/Titans blowout of 2003.

The Ravens are a solid team, but most of the blowout yesterday was the Patriot implosion more than the awesomeness of the Ravens.

You are ignoring what I said about expectations though. And I don't get what you are referring to. The Patriots beat the Titans 17-14 in January 2004 (2003 season), and didn't qualify for the playoffs in 2004. New England was the clear-cut favorite that season, and Tennessee was a wild card team on the road, you had to think they'd lose. New England fans thought they were going to handle Baltimore yesterday, and they were humiliated, that's not just a ho-hum loss. No playoff loss is ho-hum, but blowouts are much easier to get over than nailbiters to me. And I would argue that the Patriots shouldn't have been expecting to roll over the Ravens because the Ravens aren't much worse than the Pats. New England doesn't have a great defense this year and I expected it to be exploited - just not to the level that it was. As for the Titans' playoff losses, you're right about the NE/Tennessee score (it was 03, not 04 as well). Not sure why I remember it being much worse than that. Probably a better example would be the January 2003 game (2002 season) when the 2nd seeded Titans lost to the 1st seeded Raiders 41-24. It was competitive until halftime, but then the Titans imploded and the Raiders won by 17. That one was tough, but nothing compared to the close losses we've taken (99 Super Bowl, last year). And I thought that game was a toss up at the time.

Sure it's different, but worse? The Eagles I'll give you, their fans pretty much all assumed they were going to get spanked on the road again one week after getting spanked and that's what happened without anything else getting in the way. But the Patriots were hosting what they perceived to be a clearly inferior team, and got blown out in about 3 minutes. The game ended before it began, and the fans all sat there for 2.5 quarters of jaw dropping futility they never imagined happening. Patriots fans thought they were very capable of going on the road and embarrassing the higher seeds, they were quite confident, and they gave up the game on 51 turnovers in the first 5 minutes of the game. You're over that by the end of the game, though. With a fumble in OT or some other late-game dramatics, you start to obssess over the 1-2 things that your team might have been able to do differently (or the 1-2 breaks that your team didn't get that might have swung the balance) for quite a while after the game. I still cringe every time I see Kevin Dyson coming up a yard short in the Super Bowl. I don't cringe when I think of the Titans getting handled by the Patriots in 2004.

Aren't all playoff losses amongst the most demoralizing losses you could imagine? Give me an example of a playoff game that wouldn't fall into this category. Would you have rather the Packers not made a comeback? Not picking on you, just wondering, because I always think like that, and if asked that I would say like a 27-17 loss would be better because we'd just be beaten by a better team but at least were in the game and not blown out. But in reality, I'd be picking those moments of close calls that didn't go our way, which happen in every game to make me demoralized beyond belief about what could have been. Close playoff losses are much worse than blowouts. While I'd rather watch a close loss than a blowout loss, it's still tougher to take. For instance, the 1999 Titans Super Bowl loss and last year's loss to the Ravens were much tougher losses to take than the times they've been blown out.

Every time I read that guys name, in my mind, I pronounce it like Perry Ferrell, but in an Elmer Fudd voice. But yeah, Brad Biggs said on the radio this morning that Fewell is likely going to be the DC...and that given that Lovie won't change schemes, that Fewell is probably the right guy for the job. I definitely think Fewell is the best hire since the Cover 2 scheme isn't changing. The defensive speed is going to have to be improved if the defense is going to make big strides, though. For the Cover 2 to work well, the D-line has to get pressure without much, if any, blitzing. I haven't seen the current Bears players doing that.

Interest in another board mock draft? If so, I'll start it up sometime today.

I figure this is a good thread to have so that we don't have to keep the rather long bowl discussion thread open. The USC news continues. Mike Riley shuns the Trojans. Tommy Tuberville has also been introduced as the new head coach of Texas Tech.

More Perry Fewell news:

Eagles need to regroup at halftime. That line isn't blocking for McNabb at all.

Yes! I want the Bears to get Bates in some capacity. That article mentions the Tennessee OC as a candidate. I don't know much about him, but I do think I want more experience than Bates as OC. Bates as QB coach would be ideal. From everything I've heard, Jim Chaney is very good at working with quarterbacks - that's the main reason Lane brought him to Tennessee. As far as his offensive schemes and playcalling, I'm not certain what from UT this year was Chaney and what was Lane Kiffin. Chaney has the OC title, but it's pretty obvious the offense is Lane Kiffin's. For what it's worth, the Tennessee offense this year very closely mirrored what USC has run under Pete Carroll. There were a few more shotgun formations and bootlegs than I've generally seen from USC in most years, though. That said, Chaney was the OC at Purdue in that great run they had with Painter, Brees, Orton, etc. He's got an excellent collegiate resume, but I can't speak to how he'd do as an NFL offensive coordinator.

I think the Bears have their eyes set on Perry Fewell. I think that could be a good move. Fewell or Mora? Sorry, Fewell. He's probably one of the better Cover-2 coordinators out there, so if that's the scheme you're sticking with (it appears that it is) then he's probably one of the better ones.

I think the Bears have their eyes set on Perry Fewell. I think that could be a good move.

I'd rather have Pods at 1/$1.75 than Byrd at 3/$15. Better yet, how about a platoon of Reed Johnson and Fuld for the same as Pods is getting paid. Hendry just loves wasting money on average players. As mentioned Reed would have made twice easily what Pods is going to make. As for Pods vs Byrd, here are their respective OPS': Pods: .721 Byrd: .762 Byrd is also two years younger and has had an 80-100 point advantage in OPS each of the past three seasons. Consider also that Byrd (0.0 career UZR/150) is a better defender than Pods (-5.6 career UZR/150) in center and Byrd was the better addition. Byrd is average being paid a slightly below average salary (maybe average salary). Pods is below average and being paid as such.