Carl Nicks "Expected to Leave the Saints" - Adam Schefter

[mldardy]

Our biggest shortcoming on the offensive line? Or on our whole team? I hope you are just talking about the line. Our biggest glaring needs would be the secondary, followed by the defensive line, THEN the offensive line. Our Oline ranked #13 in the league last year. It NEEDS to improve but it isn't even close to our biggest shortcoming.

We just saw an offensive juggernaut team go down last night. They had the best offensive line by far and it still wasn't enough to get them to even the championship game of their division.

And we also saw one advance. That offensive juggernaut finished with a 13-3 record and lost to another 13-3 team on the road that supposedly had a great defense. You have to be able to protect your qb and give him time to throw. I agree with you on the secondary but the oline is number 2, the defensive line is not as big a priority as those other two.

 

[TheSport78]

We don't have an average defense though. We have a long way to go just go get to average. Think of all the players who will be gone this year. Brady, Brookings, Newman, Walker, Ball, Spencer, (Sensy sucks, Scandrick sucks, Spears sucks) We don't currently have ANY other players who can put pressure on the QB besides Ware. Our defense is a joke....SERIOUSLY. Our offensive line is at least decent right now. It won't take much to make it good. I can't say the same for the defense.

Statistical wise we were average on defense. We were 14th in yards allowed, 7th against the run, 24th against the pass, 7th in sacks, 16th in scoring, and 17th in INT's.

The glaring stat there is 24th against the pass. If we can upgrade the secondary through FA and the draft, get a solid pass rusher or two, we'll be a decent defense. With that being said, it still starts with the offensive line. Our offense is so close to being prolific.

 

[Avery]

Nicks and Decastro would be a dream. Even Nicks and Kirkpatrick would be great, but pay this man.

 

[jobberone]

While I'm not counting on Nagy, Costa, Arkin or Ski likely two of them will be starters next year. I'd pick Costa to be one of them. Getting Nicks or another FA interior lineman will depend on how the staff feels about those guys. And it doesn't matter who or how many here feel differently. The OL needs to improve and I've been saying we need to get a FA interior lineman but that doesn't make it so. In fact I hope they believe we can do without signing a FA there although I wouldn't hold my breath.

And I agree with a CB FA. You can also add a pass rusher to that list although that's a pretty big wish.

Be careful what you wish for you just may get it. It's always better to draft your needs rather that buy them although judicious use of FA can be a real problem solver.

 

[jobberone]

The consequences of whiffing with a top 15 pick are worse than the consequences of over investing in a position group. If it gets down to it and Decastro is the overwhelmingly highest-rated player on our board, we'll take him regardless of what we have just done in FA.

Agreed. If there is a clear cut player on a different tier you get him regardless of position.

 

[RS12]

The consequences of whiffing with a top 15 pick are worse than the consequences of over investing in a position group. If it gets down to it and Decastro is the overwhelmingly highest-rated player on our board, we'll take him regardless of what we have just done in FA.

Could not agree more. Worked in the Sean Lee instance.

 

[ufcrules1]

Statistical wise we were average on defense. We were 14th in yards allowed, 7th against the run, 24th against the pass, 7th in sacks, 16th in scoring, and 17th in INT's.

The glaring stat there is 24th against the pass. If we can upgrade the secondary through FA and the draft, get a solid pass rusher or two, we'll be a decent defense. With that being said, it still starts with the offensive line. Our offense is so close to being prolific.

I feel that we will probably take Decastro because I think the top 2 corners will be taken already in the draft. At that point it makes sense to take Decastro then go for secondary help with picks 2 and 3 an hopefully grab a starter or 2 in FA for the secondary and defensive line.

 

[Outlaw Heroes]

If over-investing in the guard position is a concern , I would personally prefer that we draft DeCastro, rather than sign Nicks, and use our FA dollars on someone like Brandon Carr. DeCastro is one of the more NFL ready players in the draft. In contrast, while there's some depth in this year's draft class at CB, I think it would be much harder finding someone ready to start from day one.

I personally hope Garrett and Jerry aren't concerned with allocating a lot of resources to the guard position. In my view, there's a market inefficiency that is begging to be exploited in the league-wide tendency to undervalue guards.

 

[JBS]

If over-investing in the guard position is a concern , I would personally prefer that we draft DeCastro, rather than sign Nicks, and use our FA dollars on someone like Brandon Carr. DeCastro is one of the more NFL ready players in the draft. In contrast, while there's some depth in this year's draft class at CB, I think it would be much harder finding someone ready to start from day one.

I personally hope Garrett and Jerry aren't concerned with allocating a lot of resources to the guard position. In my view, there's a market inefficiency that is begging to be exploited in the league-wide tendency to undervalue guards.

what happens if we dont sign a guard and DeCastro is taken? then we are screwed..

 

[WoodysGirl]

espn_macmahon Tim MacMahon
Should be Cowboys' top target RT @greggrosenthal: Report: Carl Nicks "expected to leave" New Orleans in free agency ******/zKNSuY

SportsSturm Bob Sturm @
@espn_macmahon I like him, but if yesterday didn't dampen your ambition, then watch that game again and lock on Nicks.

 

[burmafrd]

Our biggest shortcoming on the offensive line? Or on our whole team? I hope you are just talking about the line. Our biggest glaring needs would be the secondary, followed by the defensive line, THEN the offensive line. Our Oline ranked #13 in the league last year. It NEEDS to improve but it isn't even close to our biggest shortcoming.

We just saw an offensive juggernaut team go down last night. They had the best offensive line by far and it still wasn't enough to get them to even the championship game of their division.

considering how many of your posts tear apart Romo I would have thought you would put QB first

 

[theogt]

If over-investing in the guard position is a concern , I would personally prefer that we draft DeCastro, rather than sign Nicks, and use our FA dollars on someone like Brandon Carr. DeCastro is one of the more NFL ready players in the draft. In contrast, while there's some depth in this year's draft class at CB, I think it would be much harder finding someone ready to start from day one.

I personally hope Garrett and Jerry aren't concerned with allocating a lot of resources to the guard position. In my view, there's a market inefficiency that is begging to be exploited in the league-wide tendency to undervalue guards.

I've always preferred the idea of filling holes in free agency and drafting talent.

 

[JBS]

espn_macmahon Tim MacMahon
Should be Cowboys' top target RT @greggrosenthal: Report: Carl Nicks "expected to leave" New Orleans in free agency ******/zKNSuY

SportsSturm Bob Sturm @
@espn_macmahon I like him, but if yesterday didn't dampen your ambition, then watch that game again and lock on Nicks.

i didnt think he played that poorly..i will admit, i was focusing on him early and he was playing well..then i stopped paying attention

 

[Outlaw Heroes]

what happens if we dont sign a guard and DeCastro is taken? then we are screwed..

It's actually a pretty deep draft at the guard position. And it's a deep FA class at the centre position. There will be plenty of options for improving the interior OL even if we don't sign Nicks and lose out on DeCastro.

Getting both Nicks and DeCastro would be a dream. But it doesn't follow that losing out on both would be a nightmare.

 

[marchetta]

If Konz falls to the 3rd he may be worth the risk if we think he is a 1st round talent.

However, the buyer has to beware that he can easily be out of football within a year.

I must have missed something. What's the health issue with Konz?

 

[burmafrd]

im not questioning his injuries or even his condition..people on this board are making his condition out to be something serious..which is fine, if it is true..i have not seen one source label him w a red flag due to this "condition"..and until i do, i will not believe it

just admit you were wrong and move on. You are just digging yourself in deeper.

It is a serious situation with a player that young. ANd it could come back at any time.

With out luck it would come back in the first year.

A lot of people wanted us to take Marcus MacNeil; and look what happened with him.

 

[ufcrules1]

If over-investing in the guard position is a concern , I would personally prefer that we draft DeCastro, rather than sign Nicks, and use our FA dollars on someone like Brandon Carr. DeCastro is one of the more NFL ready players in the draft. In contrast, while there's some depth in this year's draft class at CB, I think it would be much harder finding someone ready to start from day one.

I personally hope Garrett and Jerry aren't concerned with allocating a lot of resources to the guard position. In my view, there's a market inefficiency that is begging to be exploited in the league-wide tendency to undervalue guards.

Problem is there is no guarantee that Decastro will be sitting there at #14, another team could take him right before us. We need to go after Nicks and Brandon Carr in a big way in FA.

 

[burmafrd]

I must have missed something. What's the health issue with Konz?

read through the thread; SDogo even put in a link

 

[Eskimo]

That is one of our problems for sure.. but our bigger overarching problem is not being able to stop other teams with our defense. They can just go right down the field and score on us. Next in line is not putting much pressure at all on opposing teams QB's. I'm not sure how anyone can deny our biggest problem on this team is the defense.

The biggest problem is the defense.

The biggest problem on the defense is the secondary.

The biggest problem in the secondary is the CBs.

We have one good CB (Jenkins) who was hurt most of the season, needed offseason shoulder surgery and is a UFA next year. He also has a history of being a bit of a knucklehead who has had a questionable work ethic at times. The big question is do you re-sign him given those issues.

We have an old CB (Tnew) with a big salary who is about to be released.

We have a young CB with terrible ball skills (OScan) and has 4 years left on his deal at possibly an overinflated salary that may lead to him being released in 2 years.

We have no young or emerging players. The only other CB we have is basically a spot player on defense and a ST contributor (Ball) who has likely hit his ceiling as a player.

I can easily see none of these players being on our roster by 2013.

CB is a gigantic, gaping hole on this team right now with both low quality and lack of players under contract. I was shocked that we released Josh Thomas only to keep McCray and bring in Frank Walker (short-term thinking) a week later - that was a bad FO decision where they did not properly understand their roster needs. McCray could have been easily re-signed later as he is a pure ST guy with very little upside in the base defense.

I will be shocked if we don't draft two this year with both making the roster. I will also be very surprised if one of those guys isn't picked by the 3rd round but preferably one should be picked in the first two rounds as we need a starter for next year unless we pay big money in FA for one.

This is why I am shocked with people on this forum who seem to want FO to pay Robinson a premium salary in FA if some team tries to outbid us. It is also why I am shocked that many people want to spend all of our available rersources on the offense which was already pretty good and whose main weakness in the OL will likely improve just from player development from the young guys we signed last year. We should only seek to bring in one high cost player to the interior via FA or 1st round pick - we cannot afford to do both right now and if we did it would be a sign of poor utilization of available resources.

This secondary must be dramatically improved for us to compete with other teams in the league.

 

[Eskimo]

I must have missed something. What's the health issue with Konz?

You need to read the thread - I spelled out the issue in post #27.