response-

OT- Gandy looked like grandpa to me too. Expensive now too. However, I will trust the FO talent evaluation whether he has any gas left or is worth the price. Ditto for Stinch. If they say either is a worthy starter then the draft outlook is much different. If not a OT is needed in the first 2 rounds fo sho.

CB- dunno about if 2th weakest but definitely needs upgrade with FA and/or draft whether Smith move is viable or not

DT- agreed, FA stoppers are disappearing. Need a Wroten or better on draft day

WR- is light on depth. Will be interesting to see how many "drops" there are bringing in a QB with more than one gear in the touch dept. A big inside posession guy would be ideal.

OG- Holland is tendered. Staying here unless someone offered something we felt to wacky to match. Mayberry is much like Gandy IMO. I'll let the FO make the call. He is a center option too.

I would add-

C- No mention of the position that we only have a questionable G to play. Need somebody!

LB- One good solid journeyman signed in Fujita. Simmons is a giant boom or bust story. McKinnon is ancient and hasn't been resigned. He could stop the run but was useless on pass coverage. Should be able to get at least one decent player out of youngsters Watson, Fincher, and Bock. Impact player here would transform D

K- Only more downhill ahead for Carney I believe. Edinger and Josh Brown would be upgrades IMO. At least bring in some legitimate camp competition.

QB- One extremely good but yet to be proven again QB. A veteran backup needed badly, just in case. Maddox, Banks, and Wright are all proven not break the bank options.

what's left? LOL a Pro Bowl punter, good RB depth, and solid DEs.

Can't argue with drafting Hawk. Still we have OLB. We really need a NT that can occupy both the center and guard. This would free the MLB to make plays. As of now that is not happening so getting a MLB high in the draft my not pay gread dividends. Sure my post about drafting 3 OL is not going to happen but you have a chance to draft 3 future allpros... and already have another on the OL... wow.

I also think our safety position is pretty solid, and so is FB. TE is good, but thin.

FFs underlying point that we need to protect our high dollar QB seems to require a greater than average emphasis on the O-line this season.

I wouldn't trust Gandy against all the edge rushers in this division.

I'd like to see defensive improvement too, but not at the price of looking at Drew Brees, arm in a sling, all season.

Well guys I guess my drafting idea evolves around this....

The last few years.. we didn't have much of a running game. We couldn't control the LOS and never blew people off the ball like when we have Roaf, Turley and Bentley playing guard. With these players, Brooks looked like the second coming and Duece had over 2000 combined yards. We scored 30+ points a game. Without these players, we never had time to throw the ball and it magnified the problem with Brooks ie poor decisions, sacks and fumbles. Poor OL play plagued the Ditka years too. Our defense will be ok with a few more FAs.

With a draft like that and the skill players we have, we would be one of the best offenses in the league. Remember our coach is a QB coach and he might decide to go this way.

again, I am not buying this argument. Peyton Manning seems to do fine behind his less than stellar O-line. Name me three players on Pitt's O-line without going to NFL.com. Seattle? What about the Pats? Their entire O-line is unspectacular. And Denver has the best O-line in the league year in and year out, is that cause they have all the best linemen? Hell no. And let's look at Brees' Chargers. When Brees sucked, EVERYONE said they had one of the worst lines in football. When Brees played like a pro bowler, they got better. Coincidence? Um, no. All these teams have a smart QB under center, and good coaching for their O-line. We had NEITHER when Haz was here. All this Drew Brees will get killed cause we don't get all the best linemen nonsense is just that, nonsense. Brees has been in the league long enough to know how to protect himself in the pocket, as well as how to operate in the pocket. AND we have a new coach and new blocking schemes. At least give that a chance before we go balls to the wall for O-lineman, and ignore the OBVIOUS lack of overall talent on D, which we have been screaming for forever. Anyone else think Brees will spin into a rush, or run 25 yards back, or avoid stepping up in the pocket like there is an E Bola monkey in there, or will lock onto one receiver, or will take 7 step drops on plays that call for 3, or any of those things? If so, raise your hand and be counted. If not, realize that cutting ALL those things will improve ANY O-line.

It sure will... I'd love to draft a defense but too many defensive players have questions. Besides, until the NT can occupy the center and guard, nothing will change in the running game. This is because the MLB wil have to occupy a OLman and the SS will have to handle the FB. If we had a allpro NT, this would help everybody including the DE on pass rushing downs.

Saintswhodi... I feel your pain, but name 15 OL in the league. They can be great and go completely unnoticed. Great QB play will help but you need great athlethes too. You may be living in a dream world thinking Brees can single handedly make the Saints line better. Won't happen. I hope I'm wrong.

I'll name for you 15 O-lineman, and won't name a Saint.

Orlando Pace,
Walter Jones'
Steve Hutchinson
Jordan Gross,
Robert Gallery,
jake Grove,
Jonathon Ogden,
Will Shields,
Tom Ashworth,
Mike Wahle
Jeff Faine,
Kenyatta Walker,
Ruben Brown
Max Starks
Adam Meadows
Jason Fabini
Al Johnson
Andre Gurode
Adrian Clemm
Neal(from Denver)
Tuti Fonoti
Tuten Reyes
Orlando Brown

Need more? That's just off the top of my head. Or I could go look up the Super Bowl champ Steelers line and see how many pro bowlers they had. I do actually have to look that one up. They had one guard, and their center as a reserve. And the guard, Alan Faneca is a name I know but didn't list. Strange, NO team sent 5 O-linemen to the pro bowl. How odd. You mean teams get by without having all of thie O-linemen in the pro bowl? :roll:

Damn... you're good. Tuten Reyes doesn't count... you know that. LOL.

Do you agree we need Dbrick or Halk for #1? I say Dbrick.

What do you thing about drafting Ngata? Seems a good choice. Another LB I like is Greenway and Carpenter if we could get them later in round one.

If you go defense... I would lke this... assuming we trade down...
DT Nagata, OLB Carpenter. MLB D’Qwell Jackson

Really don't like any of the CB prospects. Too small and my not be better than what we have.

I like trading down like Deuce said, to somewhere around 5-7, and taking Hawk. If he is gone, I take Ngata, and hope for D'Qwell Jackson in the second or late first, along with Mangold, or Winton Justice, or Marcus McNeil. I spend my TOP pick on defense, except for corner, and my next two in any combo of defense and an O-lineman.

Poss combos- Hawk, Wroten, Mangold(or Justice, or McNeil)
Ngata, D'Qwell(or Carpenter or Hodge), and the above O-line combo

In either scenario, we have gotten a good O-lineman, but stellar defensive players, where we have need to get impact players forever. As I keep saying, you don't NEED 5 of the best O-lineman around, but you do need a defense that, when called upon, can create that crucial stop or turnover that wins games. We don't have that, or too many of those types of players. We have one great player on D, a few good ones, and several who prob would not start anywhere else. That's gotta change. But, that's also just my opinion. You can hope for whatever you like.