Both Skkorp and K9 could be right about Boone if it turned out that (a) Boone wasn't in the building and (b) La Cava made a misstatement about Boone'[s involvement (i.e. La Cava may have said it, but that doesn't mean it was necessarily accurate).
That said - I consider Boone to be the single biggest drag on this franchise's struggle to improve its overall talent level over the years*. This may be unduly unfair (and some will be quick to point out a few good picks that were exceptions to the overall pattern) but let's just say that Mr. Boone is an "unlucky charm" for the Cardinal organization.
With regard to trading down: This year is different from the Suggs Year. Back then, Rod Graves traded out of the plateau of elite players and into "Tommy Knight Country" to draft BJ and Calvin.
This year, it appears that there is a dropoff in blue chip talent after you get past Johnson, Russell, Peterson and Thomas followed by a sizable 10 -15 player talent-plateau of very good prospects who are significantly more talented than Johnson, Pace, Knight etc.
Ergo, we could afford to trade down 5 - 10 notches (or even farther) and still wind up with a very good player whereas we couldn't (and didn't) accomplish this with the Suggs debacle. (Let's also not forget that our target wasn't Pace - it was McDougle. But Rod made an "assumption" when he traded down that McDougle would still be there. He assumed wrong).
* The Boone discussion reminds me of a cyber-reunion I had a several years ago with the former sports editor of the daily Trentonian, who had resurfaced as a feature editor at the Sporting News. I asked him what the problem was with the Cardinals. His reply: "Too many Boone players. As soon as you can replace them with better talent, the Cardinals will do better."
