Defense wins championships... Offense puts fans in the stands. I voted defense. ILB or FS please.

I agree but would add a DT to the list of possibilities. It all starts with being able to stop the run. But I think you have to go with the best player available where you pick.

My thing about drafting a NT is that you are now giving Soliai the role of mentor...He's not a mentor yet...rather he still needs a mentor. That said I would acquire a veteran if you feel uncomfortable with Ferguson's possible retirement.
It's a sticky situation. Hopefully we will know more or less by Draft day whether Ferg is coming back or not.

I also am against taking a FS because I do believe Clemons will develope into that center fielder. I think you have him split time with Culver for right now, and your fine.

I think you have to go out and get that WR in FA, and concentrate the early part of your draft to LB's. I wouldn't be against taking 3 LB's with our first 4 picks.

Coaches do a good job of mentoring too man... but I agree that we need to go defense... the offense wasn't really all that bad this year... the defense gave up a lot of leads though.

What if the best player available is a running back, or an offensive tackle.

Vernon Carey struggled big time this year and the o-line got dominated several times in the last half of the year. So I don't see the o-line as a solid, consistent, deep, game dominating part of this team.

Correct me if I am wrong, but seems that a lot of the top notched receivers in the NFL were drafted after the first round.

Period.

My thing about drafting a NT is that you are now giving Soliai the role of mentor...

Says who?

Who is mentoring B.J. Raji in Green Bay?

Vernon Carey struggled big time this year?? I think you made a mistake...Vernon was number 72 on the right side who only gave up 4 sacks this season and was who we ran behind the most in the WildCat....most of those sacks coming the last 3 weeks when he was playing hurt.

No depth?? Not dominant? Please...This is the best unit on the team, (outside of RB), bar none, and is an elite line. Period.

There is nothing dominate or elite about a 7-9 Team. The Wildcat was shut down this year and was a gadget offense used to compensate for lack of WR's and a passing game. I agree with you that the Offensive line and RB units are the strengths of the team, but when you look at them in depth, they aren't elite or particularly deep. And that is scary. Some people are of the opinion that you don't draft to need with the 1st pick you take the best available player... Are there other areas of the team that need to be addressed more than the o-line and RB position? Yes, but if you had to take the best player available and he happened to be a RB or OT it would improve a 7-9 team that didn't have the depth to play through injuries and a tough schedule this year.

There is nothing dominate or elite about a 7-9 Team. The Wildcat was shut down this year and was a gadget offense used to compensate for lack of WR's and a passing game. I agree with you that the Offensive line and RB units are the strengths of the team, but when you look at them in depth, they aren't elite or particularly deep. And that is scary. Some people are of the opinion that you don't draft to need with the 1st pick you take the best available player... Are there other areas of the team that need to be addressed more than the o-line and RB position? Yes, but if you had to take the best player available and he happened to be a RB or OT it would improve a 7-9 team that didn't have the depth to play through injuries and a tough schedule this year.

Does defense win championships?
Well, of course. And so does offense. But the conventional wisdom that "defense wins championships" implies that defense is particularly more important than offense in the playoffs and the Super Bowl. This post will begin to look at whether defense really does matter more than offense in the NFL by comparing the right tails of the performance distributions of offenses and defenses--where playoff teams come from.

This time of year we are helped to the standard slew of articles declaring that defense is more important. Here is the latest example from ESPN.com. It's a good example because it suffers from some fatal flaws (itemized by Phil Birnbaum here). Typically, these articles look at past examples of NFL champions and comparing the offensive and defensive rankings of each team. I don't think this kind of analysis is necessarily very valid--


•They are anecdotal
•The sample size is usually very small, and results are probably not statistically significant--just due to chance

•If the sample size is large, it covers very distinct periods of NFL passing and blocking rules, confounding any results

•If the sample size is limited to one period of NFL rules, it can be dominated by one or two particular teams would skew the results (PIT in the 70s or NE currently, for example)
•Often, the analysis shows that defense is indeed important, but not more important than offense
•The rankings of each squad is almost always based on points scored or total yards, which are more often than not deceiving about the true performance of a squad

................

This means that great offenses tend to be "better" than great defenses, and terrible offenses tend to be "worse" than terrible defenses.

.....

So if a great offense usually trumps a great defense, where does the perception that "defense wins championships" come from? Truly dominant defenses such as the 2000 Ravens, 2002 Buccaneers, or 1985 Bears are relatively rare, and are therefore more memorable. Also, defense has traditionally been overlooked, at least by the mainstream hype-laden media. Even football insiders seem to focus on offense, demonstrated by who is inducted in the Hall of Fame, or who the MVPs tend to be. So the phrase "defense wins championships" may really mean "defense helps win championships more than most people think they do."

...........

So when looking at the NFL as a whole, offense and defense balances symmetrically. But when focusing on the right tails of performance, where playoff teams come from, we see that great offenses out-pace equally great defenses.

I say go all defense for one reason. Most of our old guys are defense, most of our holes are defense, and this draft is the suck for WR (ok that's 3). Spend the $ on a WR and draft some serious D. Even when Ricky retires, we have other RBs that can handle their own (RB and Cobbs) and another draft to find one. We average 22 points a game on offense. We give up an avg of 24 points a game. One of those numbers is unacceptable. The other is managable.

There is a difference between coaching and mentoring. There are certain things that a Coach cannot teach, where as a teammate can.

Yeah, those points per game go up with Ronnie in the line up...and Cobbs. This offense can score. The defense can't keep other teams from scoring. Seems pretty obvious on where they should draft.

There is nothing dominate or elite about a 7-9 Team. The Wildcat was shut down this year and was a gadget offense used to compensate for lack of WR's and a passing game. I agree with you that the Offensive line and RB units are the strengths of the team, but when you look at them in depth, they aren't elite or particularly deep. And that is scary. Some people are of the opinion that you don't draft to need with the 1st pick you take the best available player... Are there other areas of the team that need to be addressed more than the o-line and RB position? Yes, but if you had to take the best player available and he happened to be a RB or OT it would improve a 7-9 team that didn't have the depth to play through injuries and a tough schedule this year.

Our lists probably differ, but I would consider this as my top 10 list:
Andre Johnson
Larry Fitzgerald
Reggie Wayne
Calvin Johnson
Steve Smith
Randy Moss
Anquan Boldin
Wes Welker
Brandon Marshall
Vincent Jackson

Calvin Johnson can't hold Marques Colston water? Please. The kid has put up numbers for the Detroit Lions while Colston plays with a great offensive team and QB in New Orleans.

Colston is a tremendous pick for the Saints in the 7th round, but trying to belittle Calvin Johnson to make a point is weak.

As for the actual question: I'd like to see us trade back and go after Terrance Cody. We must get a NT this offseason.