Does anyone else dislike the Devonta Freeman pick?

[night]

All I see is another Jacquizz Rodgers. We have never been able to get him going with much production even when the #1 guy had injury issues. I don't think our scheme matches well with the small shifty back. You almost need to run the spread like New England or Nawlins to get the best out of a guy like that in my opinion.

 

[Demonjoe93]

I think our offensive-line was more of an issue than Rodgers himself.

 

[ATL96Steeler]

All I see is another Jacquizz Rodgers. We have never been able to get him going with much production even when the #1 guy had injury issues. I don't think our scheme matches well with the small shifty back. You almost need to run the spread like New England or Nawlins to get the best out of a guy like that in my opinion.

I understand the position pick...but I'm more in line with you I wouldn't have taken a RB in that spot. In hindsight, I probably would've taken Tom Savage, QB from PIT. If Matt goes down, the season is sank.

Overall thoughts.

TD held strong that they would not mortgage the future (a 2015 #1) for Clowney...I think Mack was a little higher on their board than Matthews, but they were a little fortunate that STL went for the power OT and freed up Matthews for ATL...day one starter @ RT I'm thinking.

Hageman was taken with a couple of true 4-3 DEs (Ealy) on the board still so a little interesting he would take an interior DL guy...I like the pick, but he's not the edge rusher they need.

But, with 3 major needs, I thought he would sacrifice a couple of picks and come back in the 1st for Dee Ford, get a S, then use the rest of the picks for depth. At the same time, you never know what may happen...one of these late LB picks could turn out to be a stud.

I think TD and Smitty feel that they have an assortment of pass rushers, with Massaquoi, Goodman, and Maponga to go with Osi and with Hageman now in the mix, collectively they will be better on the DL...we shall see.

 

[Johnnydollaz89]

We don't need another 'Quizz, we needed CJ2K or just a healthy Steven Jackson.

 

[night]

I understand the position pick...but I'm more in line with you I wouldn't have taken a RB in that spot. In hindsight, I probably would've taken Tom Savage, QB from PIT. If Matt goes down, the season is sank.

Overall thoughts.

TD held strong that they would not mortgage the future (a 2015 #1) for Clowney...I think Mack was a little higher on their board than Matthews, but they were a little fortunate that STL went for the power OT and freed up Matthews for ATL...day one starter @ RT I'm thinking.

Hageman was taken with a couple of true 4-3 DEs (Ealy) on the board still so a little interesting he would take an interior DL guy...I like the pick, but he's not the edge rusher they need.

But, with 3 major needs, I thought he would sacrifice a couple of picks and come back in the 1st for Dee Ford, get a S, then use the rest of the picks for depth. At the same time, you never know what may happen...one of these late LB picks could turn out to be a stud.

I think TD and Smitty feel that they have an assortment of pass rushers, with Massaquoi, Goodman, and Maponga to go with Osi and with Hageman now in the mix, collectively they will be better on the DL...we shall see.

Hageman is an interesting pick. From what I've read he is a monster in all of the measurables but he's just a tad bit raw talent-wise. That leads me to believe he may not be making a big impact until a year or so down the road but either way our DL has been improved since last year by quite a bit. I'm honestly surprised that RB pick in the 4th wasn't used towards a tight end. As far as QBs go Mettenberger and Murray were still hanging around too.

 

[ATL96Steeler]

I've heard that same thing about Hageman...Suh like strength, can be dominant at times, but not all the time and that's largely why he went in the 2nd round...this kid is from a really tough upbringing...I hope he's hungry...today I think Soliai and Babs will be the starters inside, but I do see this big fella getting in the rotation right away.

TE...Arthur Lynch from UGA I thought was a good fit, but there are several UDFA options out there...I will say...I like Toilolo...I know he's not a complete player, but I think combining him with a solid blocking TE they should get good production.

 

[night]

I've heard that same thing about Hageman...Suh like strength, can be dominant at times, but not all the time and that's largely why he went in the 2nd round...this kid is from a really tough upbringing...I hope he's hungry...today I think Soliai and Babs will be the starters inside, but I do see this big fella getting in the rotation right away.

TE...Arthur Lynch from UGA I thought was a good fit, but there are several UDFA options out there...I will say...I like Toilolo...I know he's not a complete player, but I think combining him with a solid blocking TE they should get good production.

We will be using Toilolo a lot in the red zone but I don't think he's ready to contribute elsewhere on the field just yet. He has the potential to be a really solid possession TE if he can get the blocking part of things down. Lynch has some pretty decent hands for a big guy. I wouldn't have minded getting him in one of those later rounds either.

 

[ATL96Steeler]

We will be using Toilolo a lot in the red zone but I don't think he's ready to contribute elsewhere on the field just yet. He has the potential to be a really solid possession TE if he can get the blocking part of things down. Lynch has some pretty decent hands for a big guy. I wouldn't have minded getting him in one of those later rounds either.

Something from Tony G had to rub off on him...now keep in mind Tony wasn't a great blocker either, he did enough to get by.

I've been wondering where all those targets to the middle of the field are going to go now. I'm thinking the slot is going to get a lot more targets and Toilolo will get his share.

 

[night]

Something from Tony G had to rub off on him...now keep in mind Tony wasn't a great blocker either, he did enough to get by.

I've been wondering where all those targets to the middle of the field are going to go now. I'm thinking the slot is going to get a lot more targets and Toilolo will get his share.

I agree I think we'll use the slot receiver more. Without Tony Gonzalez on the field we will need to utilize our depth at WR a little more on 3rd down. If the line is upgraded enough we will probably be using the running game more often too. That being said we'll be lucky to find another guy in the middle with the kind of ball skills Tony had.

Here are our backups:
Mickey Shuler
Andrew Szczerba
Bear Pascoe
Jacob Pedersen

Mostly journeymen without much game experience here but hopefully we can get some decent production out of them. I can't say I know much about them or their potential though.

 

[ATL96Steeler]

Interesting...I would not have guessed this but with both Roddy and JJ missing several games I should have figured it...Harry D was the top target by a pretty good margin with 133 targets. Tony G was 2nd with 119...Roddy 99, JJ 60, Sjax 49, Toilolo 14 and I'm leaving out the Quizz, Drew Davis, Snelling..et al

So with that in mind...I can see Toilolo getting up around 50 to 60 targets (about half of Tony's) and Sjax, should pick up a few more and obviously JJ will ramp up from 60.

Plus as you mentioned they should run the ball better to reduce Matt's attempts some as well.