@tour2ma said:

... or had he stayed at LT he might have been a second round pick.

Cam may well end up starting somewhere, but when has a team ever asked a stud LT to move to Center? Or any interior O-line slot for that matter? Simply defies logic...

Not sure what was meant with the Shelton comment, so I'll choose to take it as a character complement.

IIRC, FSU had a highly-recruited tackle that was set to take over the spot this year when Erving graduated. When the injuries happened, they tried both out at C. Erving had less of a problem transitioning to the spot in practice, hence the move.

Basically it became a situation of "be above average at two positions or be very good in one and very bad in another". It turned out that Erving actually played better at C, when it was all said and done.

@walterwhite said:

The guy I think blows up this year and creeps up into 1st round consideration is Gunner Kiel.

He has an absolute rocket and he's really accurate, also makes great reads.

He ripped Ohio State apart for a good part of that game

I'm liking the Bearcat love.

Gunner is really good. He throws a nice deep ball and can thread the needle when he has to. I remember watching his first game of the year and thinking, "wow, so that's why he was a former #1 HS recruit."This kind of got him into trouble later in the season when he started making more risky throws. He also had quite a few injuries last year, but he also played through a lot of them. I believe he had some broken ribs for a majority of the season.

Fortunately for Cincy, the entire contributing offense returns this year. The defense will be garbage, but I could see us putting up 35-40+ points per game easy if we operate anything like last season.

@tiamat63 said:

In order.

1st bold - Myself, scouts and the USC coaching staff disagree with your assessment of the position and its requirements. Something to consider as well.

In the first 6 minutes of this tape I've watched there have been 35 snaps with Williams. Of those 35 snaps, he's rotated between the 2i- 4tech 32 times.

Thrice was he outside shoulder of the tackle. Twice standing up for a designed stunt to free up a blitzers off the edge, one to contain an outside zone stretch.

Still think I might be the only one who see's him NOT playing a 5tech exclusively and not requiring to be 300lbs?

2nd bold - Farmer has outright said they're looking for "waves" to send in like hockey, of specialty players. Not necessarily a strategy I agree with, but it lends credibility to my argument.

3rd bold - I love Joey as well, but I'm not going to sacrifice what I COULD get next year for what appears to be a highly quality player this year. Especially considering that Bosa would be our primary 5tech in this defense and would play a position almost completely different than Leonard.

4th bold - You're caught up in system names and designations believing that every 34 requires 300+lb, 2gap behemoths on the line playing heads up on the tackles and center.

Am I the only one who thinks he gets off the ball really slow a lot? It seems like he's always a half step behind everyone else.

EDIT: Guess not...

@wargograw said:

Man ole Jeff Luc had the nastiest HS LB tape I've ever seen.

Jarvis Harrison doesn't have character flaws. He showed up to camp last year a bit overweight but got his spot back a month into the season. He's a three year starter. Very thick kid. Your boy from GT probably can't pass block. But what do I know.

Luc was pretty good for us at Cincinnati this year. He was averaging like 15 tackles a game for the first quarter of the season. You could also tell he transferred from a big time school (FSU) when he was driving a customized 2014 Charger around campus.. haha I wouldn't mind bringing him in as a later round ILB. The dude flat out knows how to get to the football.

Eagles select: Ben Koyack, TE ND

Word from Cardinals fans is that he has stone hands, runs awful routes, can't block, but is a great athlete if he has the ball in his hands due to his size/speed combo. They were all happy to see him leave.

@thenew23 said:

Already picked... You can make your pick any time but you are no longer on the clock and can be skipped

Oops, missed it when it wasn't bolded.

Eagles select: Ifo Ekpre-Olomu, CB Oregon

The Eagles would also like to change their name to the Philadelphia Ducks.

The Eagles select: Donovan Smith, OT Penn State

Looking at BPA and their needs, apparently they need an OT and Smith was #3 on the best available list. Seems like a good fit, unless he is a slow, powerful tackle who can't keep up with Kelly's offense. I know basically nothing about him.

The Eagles have a big hole at WR now that Maclin and Desean Jackson are gone. They are going to go big play WR here to stretch out the field and help Bradford.

Eagles select: WR Devin Smith, OSU

The Bengals are now on the clock.

Oops, missed my pick. Sorry guys.

At least the pick was basically what I was going to do anyways.

@kvoethe said:

You realize how many concussions happen in soccer right?

http://www.newyorker.com/news/sporting-scene/cost-header

I stand corrected.

I grew up in an area where soccer was essentially non-existent, so I guess I always assumed that a majority of the injuries were lower body.

@frenchie said:

Hey, great signing - but I've got a question that I've been thinking about for a while. It's just speculation (by me) but can there any chance that the Browns are considering shifting Gilbert to safety? He might not have the skills for a cover corner but is a fast, athletic player with a nose for the football (see pick 6 last year). Comments?

If I'm not mistaken, Gilbert was said to be the top man-to-man coverage guy in the draft last year.

@diehardbrownsfan said:

He said he has had two concussions in his life and doesn't want to risk permanent brain injury and decided to retire. Sounds kind of fishy too me. His last concussion was in High School. So he played 4 years at an obviously high tempo in College to get selected by the 49ers and then plays one year. Strange. But, its his choice.

Yes, his last diagnosed concussion was in HS. I'm sure it happens less now that with the new concussion protocols, but players get their bell rung all the time and don't report it to trainers or coaches whether that happened in practice or in games.

I can't fault him for wanting to live a healthy life past the age of like 35. Honestly, expect USA soccer to start dominating in 10-15 years when kids start playing that instead of football in the Fall.

He'd be a nice change of pace considering all of our current corners are like 5' 10". Having a big, physical corner to press at the line is exactly what Pettine and co. like to see.

Obviously depends on the price, though.

I'd do it for the 19th pick in a heartbeat. I'd do it for 12th and 19th if the Saints threw us back some 2nd/3rd rounders.

But this will never happen, so I'm not even going to get my hopes up.

@tour2ma said:

Here's a left-field thought....

Since he already has a stable of oversized LBs and Wilfork possibly gone (Has he visited anyone?), I wonder if Bill is thinking about Sheard with his hand on the ground in a 4-3...

We drafted him out of Pitt as a 4-3 DE, so.....

I saw somewhere that Buster's deal made him the 15th highest paid CB in the league. A #2 corner (at best) isn't really worth that salary so I'm glad the Browns didn't give him that money. Good for him to get that pay day, though.

@the-gipper said:

Yea, I saw. Is that gonna stick? Any reason why? Was he a multiple concussion guy?

No idea. The ESPN article linked his twitter posts and he said it was "to pursue other interests". Probably has a family and doesn't want his brain and body to be mush in 15 years. I don't know anything about an injury history, though. He had a productive last few years.

@the-gipper said:

He is by no means irreplaceable.....if the Browns choose to replace him. Orakpo, Worilds could do the job....and maybe any number of others.

Worilds retired, FYI.

Remember when the Eagles had Nnamdi Asomougha, Asante Samuel, Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie and people were claiming they were going to have the most dominant secondary ever? They went 8-8 year one and 4-12 year two.

Yes, it would be really nice to add Revis, but I wouldn't throw a ton of money at him if we can't find a way to stop the run and fix our D-line.