Based on what I've seen and read -
- None of the QB's at the Senior Bowl warrant a #5 consideration.
- From the standpoint of "team system-fit", I'm intrigued by Miller and his pass rushing talent. If the draft were held today - if he was there at #5, I'd be tempted to grab him.
- In some ways, our pick at #37 is more crucial than than the one at #5 (because the certainty of our getting good value at #5 is more likely whereas having the right guy fall into our laps at #37 is iffier.
- We need a major overhaul of our O-line and, although we can sort of tread water and continue to "get by" with Levi, Faneca, Sendlein, Deuce and Brandon - we're going to have to bite the bullet sooner or later and start stockpiling the unit with quality talent. I doubt we'd choose one of the three top OT's (Solder, Castonzo or Carimi) over Von Miller at #5, but there are a bunch of good interior linemen who figure to be around at #37 - most notably Watkins and Moffit (both street-fighters & road-graders who can also anchor). Plus a couple of underclassmen (Pouncey and Wisniewski).
- If we can pull it off, this might be the right year to trade down. It depends on how the Cardinal board profiles - i.e. If we've determined that there is a blue-chipper still available at #5 who's far and away better than the next 15-20 rated guys we can't pass him up. But if our board profiles a pretty flat "plateau" of prospects from, say #3 all the way into the 2nd, 3rd or even the 4th round - we have more holes in our roster than draft picks available to fill them and maybe we should stockpile our board with extra picks by trading down (& more than once).
- One word of caution - Trading down (past a Suggs, Trufaunt and Kevin Williams) in order to settle for a McDougal (whom we were beaten to the punch anyway) B Johnson and Pace - this time, we should run like hell away from that kind of deal.
Finally (& it was alluded to by Leslie Frazier about the Vikings draft strategy), right now, Wiz and his assistants are, no doubt, reviewing (a) the offensive and defensive systems he wants to run and (b) the "ideal" player - in terms of size, speed and skill-set - for every starting and backup position within those systems. (Do we want a 6-5 QB with a cannon to operate a vertical offense? Or do we want a 6-0 brainy and surgical Drew Brees type? Do we want a short one-trick pony pass-rush freak at ROLB? Or do we want a 6-5 Lawrence Taylor type?). And then (c) the scouts and staff go about rating players according to how well they fit the team's position ideals. And (d) they wind up ranking all these players regardless of position BPA-style.
QB is the most vexing. We've got Skelton (whom the coaches could feel is definitely our QBOF) but can he get the job done as a starter in his 2nd year? We can look to a veteran to get the job done until Skelton is ready (but who's out there? McNabb? Palmer? (heh heh) Jeff George)? We could draft our franchise QB (if one were available) at #5. Right now, the only two guys who might fit the profile would be Gabbert (we'll have to see more of him) and Newton (high roof/different set of skills/risky floor). Or we could go the Philly "Kevin Kolb" route and draft someone like Dalton in the second or third round; but he'd probably start out as backup to Skelton either as a #2 or #3. There are a gazillion 2nd or 3rd-echelon prospects (6 of them in the Senior Bowl) who figure to be available in rounds 2 - 4 if we want to go in that direction. I'm guessing that, until the QB situation is resolved, our speculation about the draft (all positions considered) will be all over the lot.
