All I think this guy is saying, and I tend to agree, is that the team needs to look beyond stats for a change(something many people on this board could stand to do) and draft someone with a \"fire in his belly\" AND talent.

If I had to pick between someone with a little less talent but a huge mean streak and someone with a lot of talent but shows no passion, I\'m picking the first guy.

And like I\'ve said before, Duece has supposed to be injury-plagued too. He\'s a freakin RB with a history of knee problems...that is a recipe for failure if there ever was one. Looks like he\'s doing ok to me.

[Edited on 2/4/2005 by GoldenTomb]

Crowder may be good, but he will not be better than DJ.Johnson is the best defensive player in the draft. I\'d take Burnett over Crowder in a heartbeat too

he\'s not good enough for #16 but will be gone by #40. another pick scored between there in a howard trade might make him possible.

CROWDER’S STOCK FALLING
Come draft time, one name to closely watch is former All-SEC linebacker Channing Crowder from Florida.

When Crowder threw his name into the 2005 draft early many of us in the draft world speculated that he would end up going in the opening round.

But concerns about his knees -- he has already had four operations -- is dropping his draft stock.

Crowder, who had worked out in New Orleans with speed enhancement coach Tom Shaw, has run a 4.70 and a 4.72 in the 40-yard dash at 245 pounds.

But he seems to be following the same draft path that lowered the draft stock of another former SEC standout linebacker -- Georgia’s Boss Bailey.
Many draft insiders speculated that Bailey would go in the middle to latter part of the first round in the 2003 draft, but Boss’ stock fell after medical reports indicated some instability in his knee, and he fell into the early part of the second round.

The same sort of scenario seems to be happening to Crowder.

One NFL director of player personnel has a different feeling about Crowder, but he does agree that his draft stock is dropping.

\"He is going to get red-flagged medically by some clubs, there is no question about it,\" the AFC director of player personnel director said. \"Our doctors don’t feel the knee is as unstable as what we saw in Boss Bailey. I hope he falls to be honest, because we would love to get him later in the draft. He isn’t going to go in Round One because of the injury, but he would be a steal of a pick in Round Two. This guy is 10o percent football player. He has a great attitude, he is tough, and he can run the field as well as any middle linebacker in this draft class. He has terrific football genes and he is a natural leader. I have been in this business for many years and I can tell you that you can overreact to some type of injuries. I was on a scouting staff that had Anthony Munoz ranked as the best player in the 1980 draft and our medical staff flunked him because he had three knee operations. We picked wide receiver Johnny \"Lam\" Jones from Texas and he could run, but he couldn’t catch a cold. All of the people in the scouting department pleaded with our coach to not select him, but he fell in love with Jones’ deep speed. Jones was hurt from the time we picked him until the time we got rid of him and he was clean as a whistle in college. That guy (Munoz) never missed any time in the league and he is now in the NFL Hall of Fame. You have to listen to your medical people, but in this league today you have people in the position to select players that don’t know football, and they pass on people who have been nicked up a bit, but can really play.\"