The thing that sticks out to me is how well we did with solid players and sleepers. We upgraded our secondary with a possib;e starter talent in Usama Young, and a very interesting prospect with ballhawking skills in David Jones, as well as spending a 4th on Jason David. We are really going to be unstoppable on Offense for years to come. The way Payton has built this Offense, he should never want to leave.

We picked up some very good OL man, who may be steals at the spots they were taken. They seem happy to play for us and is mean slap you around type Lineman. One thing is for sure, we have alot of waking up to do

Eugene Lipscomb now now lets not put to much pressure on the kid.

You can't use the "small School" "No Talent" excuse because many a great player have come from small JuCos it doesn't matter what college they went to, if they have the ability they have it, and the oppposite is true a good player from a powerhouse school fail more often because they were in a system with other players equal or better than they are. A corner from Tenn. is more likely to have been helped out by safties and good coaching than a corner from Kent who could have been the best defensive player on his team. We will just have to sit and watch and next year we can make our draft assessment. After last year's draft most people said "Well The got Reggie so it was a pretty good draft. The rest of the players were drafted just to allow for the Reggie Signing. None of them will start in '06. Well 5 of the 8 players draft started at least one game, ON THE NFC SOUTH CHAMPIONS!

Kent State is D1A. Last year they played Minnesota and VaTech plus their MAC conference schedule. It's not the SEC, but we're not talking about Millsaps either.

At first glance, of the guys Young played against last year, these two were drafted:

Ryne Robinson WR MIAMI (OHIO) 4 19(118) Carolina
David Clowney WR VIRGINIA TECH 5 20(157) Green Bay

You are correct. Just as hard as it is to make the transition to NFL for a WR, its just as hard if not harder for CBs. Where I think that Young especially and Jones as well have more potential thatn Jon Wade, I agree that the learning curve will be much more for them. In Wade's case, you also have to consider not only the guys he faced this season but in season's past. Its not unrealistic to say that a guy who has played 4 years for an SEC school could have possibly faced 10 NFL starters or regular contributers at wideout. Thus, I think if you are looking for someone who can come in on defense immediately and be able to contribute either in a partial/split time role or as a nickel back, you are better off drafting a big school player. However, we drafted our CBs this season based on potential and Young and Jones potential is much greater than Wades. No corner we drafted was cracking the starting lineup and probably not the nickel or even dime back cases either. They may get some spot duty here and there and will be expected to contribute on special teams. In the mean time, you will be grooming them and instead of them facing Bowe, and Rice and Davis in college practice, they will be facing Colston, MEachem, Patten. Also they will have the guidance of Frddy T, Craft, McKenzie which will also be big for them catching the learning curve.

Thus, with some big school prospects, you can argue that because they played against so much good competition, that while they are battle tested and likely more NFL ready, you might never get any more out of them than you already have. These small school guys havent played against that type of competition so you dont know what the possibilities are. I would have rather selected Wade or Bennett or another corner from a strong conference with one of the CB picks that way we have a guy who is battle tested and played against the best in case we do need him to contribute a fair amount of defensive snaps during the season and one CB who is more of a project but whose upside is limitless. But it is what it is.

Not putting any pressure on the kid but he sure could be. Then I was kinda referring to their background being somewhat simular. I'm really pulling for this guy.

If you have the speed,moves and the heart to compete the rest can be taught. These guys have the chance of a lifetime,it just depends on how much heart they have and how bad they want it.

You can make the case that big school prospects are just products of their 'system' as much as small school players were men among boys. I understand that the SEC is so tough that the '72 Dolphins would have gone 7-9 playing in there, but I know I watched Florida beat up on my alma mater Southern Miss, which is nowhere near a top flight school as far as talent goes. Big schools love to rack up huge numbers against creampuff schedules. Anyone can turn one stat to mean anything they want. It doesn't matter what school they played for, it's what they do when they hit the big time that really counts.

I think Young is one of the best sleepers in the draft and might turn into a shutdown corner given the proper coaching. We have two starters in McKenzie and now David, along with Craft and Freddy T still in the mix to fight for the nickel and dime spots. We can afford to take a guy that needs a year or two of seasoning and who can transition into the lineup when McKenzie hits the downslope of his career. I'm pretty excited with this draft. We had the luxury to take the best players available without worrying about need, and when was the last time the Saints have ever been able to draft that way? Not many teams are going to be able to handle the offensive juggernaut we're building. Brees, Deuce, Reggie, Pittman, Colston, Henderson, Meachem, Johnson, and a very solid line that is just going to get better... need I go on? We gave them fits last year, next year we might get an honest to God forfeit.

Well put post NH, you toke the words out of my mouth