SaintsReporter

50 Mike Vrabel OLB
Height: 6-4 Weight: 261
Year: 7 Yrs/Pat: 3
Acquired: UFA-01 (Pit)
School: Ohio State
Major: Pre-Med
Born: 14 Aug 75 Akron OH

08 -- Lose weight? Why? This guy is fast enough to play LB and not lose weight. Mike Vrabel is one example of big linebackers who play well. Will Smith is MUCH faster than Vrabel.

GoldenTomb

I don\'t know...in my opinion this has to be one of the best draft in years for us. If you look at it, just about every pick fufilled a need. I am confident Will Smith WILL play LB for us in the mold of Suggs and Vrabel. His athleticism is outstanding, plus he is an intelligent individual. If you look at his documented weaknesses, they are listed with the DE position in mind. He doesn\'t need to bulk up at ALL if he\'s going to play LB for us, which is obviously what he\'s going to be brought in for. Devery Henderson was a great pickup in round 2. I was itching for them to pick up Keary Colbert, because I think he should\'ve been in the mix with the other top recievers. I actually was hoping for Clayton, because I think we need a possesion reciever, but Clayton wasn\'t even available. I\'ve known about Watson for some time now....I even drafted him from NCAA 2004 onto Madden 2004.....very instinctive and intelligent. I think the common characteristic from all of the top 4 players we drafted is INSTINCTIVE! That is arguably the most important thing to have in the NFL, besides athleticism. AND we just picked up the best blocking fullback in the DRAFT???? I think the Saints did about as well as they could have given what players were already off the board at their positions.

[Edited on 25/4/2004 by GoldenTomb]

Cadillac

At first I wasn\'t sure about the Will Smith pick, but the more I think about it, he should be an impact player for us. On running downs, he can shift to SLB, and should be able to play better in traffic than Hodge has. On passing downs, Sullivan or Young will likely come off the field, our nickleback will come on, Howard will moved to DT, and Smith can shft back to DE.

saintz08

Smith at 275 , trying to blanket the likes of Gonzalez would be ugly .

He is going to have to get his weight down for the OLB position .

Try to remember his draft position , he is a number 1 pick and will take up the cap space for it .

Just cause you can smoke next to an open gas line , does not mean you should ....

SaintsReporter

08- Will Smith has been clocked in the 40 @ 4.55. What difference does weight have to do with it? Hell, at 4.55 he can outrun a lot of receivers. He\'ll be ok.

Tell us something positive 08. Suprise us........ :P

On another note. You sure have been silent on Eli. Are you a Giants fan now. Now you have 3- teams to keep up with. Carolina, N.Y. Giaints, and then your 3rd team -- The Saints.

[Edited on 25/4/2004 by SaintsReporter]

rusta

howard was franchised but i never saw anything about him signing a deal

i wouldn\'t be surprised to see him traded, even if we keep him as often as he is injured we could use the depth

i just don\'t see smith playing LB

saintfan

Billy, Good to see you haven\'t lost your touch.

GoldenTomb

Smith will put in some time at LB, I guarantee it.

Also I don\'t think Howard is going anywhere...or at least we don\'t NEED him to go anywhere. We need to get out of the old Saints way of operating...you know....build up a player for him to star somewhere else.

Euphoria

its called cap... he could be a cap casualty but... I don\'t see us unloading him except maybe to GB they got CB\'s. But Smith is a player and he will contribute to a team no matter where he is needed.

GoldenTomb

Well I think it\'s a little too soon to talk cap casualty. Let\'s wait and see what transpires this season with the defense. Maybe a Darren Howard playing with a threatening, younger, more athletic DE(Smith) on a upper echelon defense will be more cooperative towards negotiating a new contract.