ESPN Insider Draft Guides

If you have access to ESPN Insider, this is interesting:

http://insider.espn.go.com/nfl/draft201 ... raft-guide

For those that don't have Insider, I won't post the whole thing but I'll summarize:

PERSONNEL NEEDS (in order): DT, OLB, CB (nickel), OL (depth)

QUIET NEED: Nickel CB (they talk about Winfield, but think he is long in the tooth)

NOT A NEED: DE

ADDITIONAL DRAFT GOALS: TE

OVERALL DRAFTING ASSESSMENT: They like what we have done the last several years AFTER the 1st round. They call the Carpenter (2011) and Irvin (2012) picks reaches but LOVE the other picks in the Carroll/Schneider era, esepcially Sherman and Wilson.

MCSHAY'S LIKELY TARGETS AT #56: DT Brandon Williams, LB Arthur Brown, CB Blidi Wreh Wilson

Nice work by them. Wouldn't surprise me if they "reached" for Brandon at 56 although I'm hoping that Kawaan drops to there. *fingers crossed*

Thanks for the summary. I'm curious what they have for the 49ers considering they have all of those draft picks.

That was accurate assessment, I think adding another CB might be slightly overvalued now we have Winfield because Lane, WT3, and Maxwell are solid.

I call bullshit on the Irvin pick being a reach. In fact, I guarantee you that if the 2012 draft was done all over he'd probably be drafted sooner than 15th. I'd take Irvin in a heartbeat over guys like Dion Jordan, Ziggy Ansah, or Barkevious Mingo. If Irvin is a poor man's Von Miller then Mingo is a poor man's Irvin, and it sounds like Mingo could end up a top 10 pick this year.

kearly":35pazbjz said:

I call bullshit on the Irvin pick being a reach. In fact, I guarantee you that if the 2012 draft was done all over he'd probably be drafted sooner than 15th. I'd take Irvin in a heartbeat over guys like Dion Jordan, Ziggy Ansah, or Barkevious Mingo. If Irvin is a poor man's Von Miller then Mingo is a poor man's Irvin, and it sounds like Mingo could end up a top 10 pick this year.

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I'm going to have to confess. I really REALLY was pissed we took Irvin. I was an unabashed Fletcher Cox fan, and as much as I didn't perceive Irvin being a first round guy, I was doubly stung by watching Cox fall to us, almost perfect like, only to have us trade down 3 spots and Philly end up taking they guy I coveted.

I'm sure Kip would understand, if we were to have traded 5 spots in round three so we could take Korey Toomer, only to see Wilson taken at 76. That's pretty much how I felt.

So 5-6 drunken/curse filled hours later -- I spooled up the Irvin video and after a good 90 minutes felt much better about it.

I've called Mingo 'Irvin-lite' before. And truth be told, after having looked at these DEs this year and then relooking at Irvin tape just last friday, Irvin really stands out remarkably from this class of DEs. So much so, that I'm left with the thought that there could be a very real emergence of productivity from Irvin this season. He never looked as quick last year as he did on tape. He just doesn't appear to be in his groove yet at this level. It's been said before, that DEs can take time to develop. Irvin has a ceiling he's not even come close to approaching. If things do click for him he could be electric.

Is it me or is OLB not a need? Seems like with the signings we made thus far and listening to some interviews with coaches/FO guys that WLB might just be a part time position.

With Winfield at the nickel, Avril, Clemons, Irvin and Wright all mixing it up playing close to the line or OLB (in Wright and Avril's case) when will a traditional WLB see the field?

Hawkfan77":3nyhz9fc said:

Is it me or is OLB not a need? Seems like with the signings we made thus far and listening to some interviews with coaches/FO guys that WLB might just be a part time position.

With Winfield at the nickel, Avril, Clemons, Irvin and Wright all mixing it up playing close to the line or OLB (in Wright and Avril's case) when will a traditional WLB see the field?

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I'd say it's unsettled. Pete indicated he was satisfied with letting the depth we have battle it out for a starting position. I think there's reason to be optimistic about that prospect.

I would think though, that the unsettled nature of the position would warrant picking up a guy somewhere in this draft to add to the competitive mix. That doesn't mean a Greene/Moore or even Ogletree necessarily.

I wouldn't say it's a need. We can't really know that until the regular season rolls around and we see how the guys we have fare. They aren't complete unknowns and honestly, I don't recall disaster befalling this team when they were relied upon deeply either.

I'd still be surprised if we didn't get a day 3 OLB. Someone few have heard of. Don't you kind of have that feeling?