Let's all just get it off our chest; Carp was a bad draftpick

[Qwickdraw]

Qwickdraw, hasn't Carpenter been moved inside and doesn't he in effect backup Bradie James? I do believe he is a little lost out there, but he will come around. Bradie James needed 2 seasons to come into his own.

Also some guys perform better when the lights are on during the regular season. I can't help but try to be optimistic, I am getting that heine puckering feeling now that the first game of the season is upon us.

But doesn't that kind of patience and contribution sound more like a 2nd or 3rd round draft choice (like James) than a first?

I'm just saying, good LBers can be found all over the draft.
If you're going to spend for one in the 1st, he should show something quickly and contribute immediately, IMO.

 

[superpunk]

I personally wanted Marcus McNeill and Greg Jennings.

Right now, looks like both are starting for their teams.

Neither of them would be starting for us.

 

[Qwickdraw]

Neither of them would be starting for us.

...because neither of them is from Jersey.

 

[superpunk]

...because neither of them is from Jersey.

And neither of them are good enough. There was no better pick we could have made, where we were sitting, with what we knew at the time. At the time, we needed a starting OLB. Ellis proceeded to tear it up. So, we have possibly the deepest LB corp in the league, on a defense where it's all about LBs.

I fail to see a problem.

 

[Fletch]

And what happened to him?


I'm not calling him a bust.
I'm just saying what everyone is thinking.

I'm definitely not everyone. How long did it take for one of our better LB's to come on? And I don't care about draft status either. Just look at Bradie James?

Besides, we are deep at LB, he can come along at a nice pace without being expected to carry a significant defensive load.

Stop worrying so much.

 

[devotedfan]

I agree with Quickdraw. The fact is, with the various holes we had on offense and the front seven in our conversion to the 3-4, you think we could have found someone who could START!!. What happened to the prevailing wisdom that (apart from qb), you should get a starter with your first pick at least.

 

[im2deep4u]

I like Carp but your #1 pick in the draft should be someone who you need to come in and make a difference.

Is Carp a impact player? Does he make the defense better?

Lets just wait until the season start to see if Carp was the right or wrong
pick?

 

[LD Fan]

I agree with Quickdraw. The fact is, with the various holes we had on offense and the front seven in our conversion to the 3-4, you think we could have found someone who could START!!. What happened to the prevailing wisdom that (apart from qb), you should get a starter with your first pick at least.

If there's anything to debate, this is the real point; was there a player at a position of need available that we didn't take? The plan for Carpenter at the time was that he wouldn't be the starter early in the season, but would probably take over sometime during the year. I didn't hear any complaints at that time. He actually is the "starter" on a couple of packages and may very well end up starting before the year is done. Oh, if Ware were a rookie this year he wouldn't be starting either.

To the earlier point about about drafting another position, since we can speak for everyone apparently, wouldn't we all agree that would be NT and OL (and maybe WR). Which players were available at #18 that would have started for us? I'll wait for your reply cause I'm coming up blank for names. A final point, who would have heard any buzz about Carpenter this ps? With all the TO bs and the "buzz" about Romo, everything else was drowned out.

 

[silverbear]

I'm not calling him a bust so calm down.
And don't give me this transition stuff.

Don't we have a few guys dressing and even starting from our 2nd round draftpick on?

Our 1st rounder looks like he may not even dress for some games early on.
And I didn't see ANYTHING from him in the preseason.

Let's face it, it seems like a bad pick.

Let's face it, you're in full-blown negative mode... you're just about drowning us in negative posts...

Excuse me if I don't care to indulge your negativity...

 

[WoodysGirl]

And what happened to him?


I'm not calling him a bust.
I'm just saying what everyone is thinking.

Uhmm don't speak for me.

 

[whcarm]

I think once Ellis proves he is the real deal at OLB and once Parcells gains some more trust in Carpenter then I think that we will trade Singleton for a draft pick.

Then it will pretty much be Carpenter and Ellis handling that position with Ellis more of a pass rush specialist.

 

[DLCassidy]

Saying that SO FAR Carp hasn't been impressive is hardly a news flash. I doubt he dresses early on because he hasn't even shown much on special teams. BP is saying a lot more upbeat things about Hoyte, an undrafted ILB than Carp.

I think Carp will eventually be a solid contributor. But I'd have to guess if you gave our staff a mulligan on the pick they might well take it and not just because of the emergence of Ellis. The B word is way harsh and way premature. But you'd like to have seen some more flashes, even if it's just some big hits, from the 18th pick already IMO.

 

[Doomsday101]

And what happened to him?


I'm not calling him a bust.
I'm just saying what everyone is thinking.

Your a mind reader as well? Carpenter will be fine. With the way this team is progressing on defense I'm not overly concerned that a rookie is not starting right off the bat even if that rookie is a 1st rd choice.

 

[whcarm]

I think that if we didn't have to put up with the Owens' saga 24/7 and then the Vanderjagt saga then we probably would have heard a lot more about Carpenter.

But no one said he was going to be another Ware. We didn't need another Ware. We needed some one to balance Ware. Someone who could provide some pass rush but that could also play the run well and play the pass well. That is what we got in Carpenter.

And yes, Parcells has talked up Hoyte a lot. But Parcells also talked up Pettit a lot, Blade a lot, Stewart a lot, etc. Have we really heard Parcells say much of anything about Carpenter, Fasano, Hatcher or Watkins? He's probably talked about Watkins the most and that is because the media has asked him about Watkins the most.

 

[wileedog]

And once again, I'm not calling Carp a bust.
I'm simply stating that I remember Ware having all of us on the edge of our seat last season and creating more of that buzz with his preseason play.
That's kinda what you want from a 1st round pick.

Carp has created nothing close to that level of anticipation.

Ware created that much anticipation because before he came into camp the best LBer on the team was Dat, who while I'm sure most of love for how hard he worked wasn't really a guy who struck fear in opposing offenses. Other than him we had the still-bust version of Bradie James, Al (zzzzz) Singleton, and JAGs like Shanle, Fujita and Fowler.

If Carpenter had come into that situation last year he would have been made a starter immediately, and probably gotten a lot more chances to flash his potential like Ware did last year.

All that said, I will agree with you I would have liked to see a little more from Carpenter. But the good news is if he takes a year to "get it", there are now a heck of a lot of good LBs in front of him. Doesn't mean it was automatically a bad pick.

 

[YosemiteSam]

Let's face it, it seems like a bad pick.

Lets see. He is a rookie outside linebacker. He has to complete with DeMarcus Ware and an 8 year vet. in Greg Ellis. Ellis wasn't expected to be the full time starter so they drafted our future outside linebacker. Who knew that Ellis was going to be as good as he is (at least thus far anyhow) So, our #1 has to move inside for now. Something he has played before but not much and now he is expected to play it on the Pro level.

No, I don't think he is a bust. I think he just has a learning curve. He will get plenty of snaps this year. I think we got a player that will end up very good. A Kevin Greene type back. (Of course I don't mean he will be as good, but could be) Just think, if Chad Greenway fell one more pick we may have ended up with him and he is already out for the season! (Who knows if Cowboys and company would have drafted Greenway though)

 

[cnhnyy]

I have to agree it is a questionale pick, at best. First round LBs usually make impacts very early if they are 1st or high 2nd rounders. If we have to wait, we should draft some in the later rounds.

 

[noshame]

Well, when you draft a player at an unskilled posistion that high, I think you'd like to see him be at a level where he can contribute right away.

He may turn out to be a solid LB for many years, but did you need to go to the first to get a solid LB?

 

[jman]

And what happened to him?


I'm not calling him a bust.
I'm just saying what everyone is thinking.

No, you are just saying what you are thinking.

Please do not lump me in on generalizations you feel may be true.

Thank you.

 

[LD Fan]

So why don't some of you who question the pick tell us who your pick would have been?