LKelley67

i study this stuff way too much i know but i have come up with a list i feel very confident about. after long analysis these are the players and the latest these players will be available in all probability, that is the lowest i think they can fall. thing is, it is as things stand now. niners sign garcia, bolts trade for howard, or the titans trade down then it all needs adjusting. anyhoo, here is the latest-

5th (TB) Cedric Benson RB and one of the two Auburn RBs
6th (TN) Derrick Johnson LB
7th (OAK) the remaining Auburn RB
8th (AZ) Aaron Rodgers QB and Alex Smith QB
9th (WAS) Braylon Edwards WR and Mike Williams WR
12th (SD) Erasmus James DE and Dan Cody DE
13th (TX) Alex Barron OT
14th (CAR) Jammal Brown OT
15th (KC) Antrelle Rolle CB and Pacman Jones CB

This list totals 14 players. That leaves one more to be picked before NO. It is a wild card the top candidate list to me would be- Mark Clayton, Troy Williamson, Heath Miller, Thomas Davis, Carlos Rogers, Justin Miller, David Pollack, Marcus Spears, or Shawne Merriman. The needs are greatest at DE so I would guess it would be one of the last three listed. This leaves Travis Johnson DT a sure thing for the Saints or probably Thomas Davis the Georgia SS/LB tweener. Reversing the fall list would show the likelihood of someone falling to the 16 spot (as Smith last year). That would be one of the top 2 CBs (a position deep enough for a good #2 NO pick) or big Jammal Brown (who I would be happy to see picked). A major free agent QB signing by any team from pick 8 ARZ upward could make Alex Smith being available a real possibility at 16.

Danno

Good work. I made a similar list last year and came up with 5 guys I\'d like at 18. Hall, Robinson, Vilma, DJ, and Will Smith.
Turns out we ended up with Will Smith.

I\'ve read that DE\'s are still very much in high demand league wide so I\'d expect a few to shoot up the charts. I\'d love it if we could land one of those OT\'s, but I\'d be happy with Travis Johnson or Thomas Davis.
But TJ would mean we have most of our D-money in D-lineman, which would make our D a bit unbalanced cap wise.
Davis reminds me of Cie Grant. That scares me. He\'s a heck of a player, but do we move him to WLB? Do we keep him at SS?
He would be a great WLB for chasing a certain running QB we all know.

I just hope we address our weaknesses (OT, DT, LB, S) in free-agency so we can just pick the best player on the board.

chRxis

i\'ll go ahead and say it.... the whole key to the saints offseason is not coordinators, gameplans, or even the draft... it is free agency.... with so many potential impact players available, this offseason should serve as a barometer to just how much in fact the saints and their managment are committed to producing a winning team... if we do not pick up a stud lb AND a drive blocking ot, then no matter what we get in the draft, we\'ll be stuck at about 8-8 again next year and for the years to come....

turbo_dog

Does this mean that they were in high demand last year? Then why were we the first ones to pick a DE at number 18?

Danno

[quoteDoes this mean that they were in high demand last year? Then why were we the first ones to pick a DE at number 18? [/quote:eececc4aca]
I didn\'t say I wrote it, I said I read it. Len Pasquarelli I believe.

I though Smith was the 2nd DE to go. Wasn\'t a real deep draft for DE\'s last year. last year was the year of the WR.