He went to HS and College in Texas, but actually was born in SD (and i have no clue, but might have grown up there). Which may be a reason he looks at us.
oh really? even better, I hope so! Lol one advantage we have is its always warm in the winter in SD and a lot of NFL's players come out of Cal..
Kirkpatrick might, but unless he shreds his knee or gets caught knocking over a liquor store between now and the draft, Claiborne won't even fall near enough to pick #18 for us to sniff his residual odor.
Don't you need to look at who will realistically be available when we pick in order to present a valid argument?
Well, I don't have to tell you this DM, but barring some massive freak-of-nature draft day shocker, he's going to have to reside himself to us only ever seeing one of those prospects if we're lucky. The likelihood that both Kirkpatrick and Jenkins fell to us (and that AJ would actually select them if they did) would be the only way I could see it even remotely happening. In order to trade up high enough from #18 to get Claiborne (presumably #6 overall and that's being extremely generous and assuming that someone reaches heavily for a 3rd QB or 2nd OT in the Top 5) would cost us our 2nd rounder in trade. And with our 2nd rounder, we'd have to trade away our 3rd and a future 2nd to get back into the range where Jenkins would still be available. Then again, I've yet to hear anything definitive about Jenkins even declaring. FSU's coach was fairly confident before the Champs Sports Bowl that he wouldn't be losing many if any underclassmen to the draft. That would include Jenkins, methinks, if he's correct.
I like Ferrari's but doubt that it's realistic I'll ever have one. Seems to me that a productive discussion starts with who is most likely to be available.
Well if you haven't watched AJ Smith draft the past 4 or 5 years. He isn't afraid to move up to grab someone he likes. So technically it's a valid arguement because moving up from 18 to grab Kirkpatrick isn't out of the realm of possibility with a regime that tends to give up the house for one player. I'm pretty sure you remember the Ryan Mathews trade? And im pretty sure you and I still agree on that one. I wasn't really trying to make any valid points or arguements really. I was just throwing my 2 cents on the 2 guys I would love to have. Realistic or unrealistic.
Fair enough. I don't see any guys that we need bad enough to move up for unless it's an OL, & we ALL know that ain't happening. There isn't a defensive player on the board, IMO, worth trading up for. Kirkpatrick, if there at 18, could very likely be BPA. More & more I feel like AJ could go with Perry, possibly Upshaw if he's there.
I would definetly love to have both. Would prefer Upshaw. But ya being realistic. There isn't anything I see out there that is going to warrant AJ moving up to get, unless some unlikely player like Claiborne or Blackmon for some strike of god is falling. Which is obviously not going to happen barring some miracle, catastrophic event.
nope i agree, upshaw doesnt impress me that much as a pass rusher, if i was gonna have any alabama LB it'd be donta hightower
Better pure pass-rusher, yes. I don't know if he has the hips or flexibility to play OLB at the pro-level though. And really, until I see him in LB drills at the combine I'm not going to be solidly convinced that he's not just a good option at 4-3 DE at the next level. He has the athleticism, but if he doesn't have the hips and we don't adjust our scheme to run more of a hybrid, he's a 2-down at best player for us and becomes a major liability if teams go no-huddle against us to exploit his short-comings. Upshaw, as I've been saying, is a high floor guy - he's capable of doing it all in terms of pass-rusher (just more of an effort than athleticism/power rush guy), not be a liability against the run, drop into coverage, and stay disciplined in containment. Thing with Upshaw is I don't think he's that far from reaching his ceiling right now - and considering that he's still a prospect at this point that's not exactly a great thing. In short, he's Lamar Woodley - he's a better compliment guy that someone capable of being the guy in a defensive unit - he can do it for a few stretches when needed due to injuries but he can't do it consistently - but ultimately he's best when he doesn't have to be the primary pass-rusher driving a defense and can play what's almost a trashman type role (similar to what Phillips was playing when Merriman was here in his prime). He's an outside in guy, but he's not someone who is going to be lining up with a hand in the dirt when we'd go to 4 downed-linemen looks - if anything he'd likely be playing the other nickel LB spot along with Butler. If Branch's hips are fluid, he looks to be more capable of being that primary pass-rush option than Upshaw, but that still remains a big IF for the time being.
