By having Tauscher, Clifton and Lang on the roster prior to the draft... it opens our draft up to truly taking the BP that fits our team.
Ted has proved over his tenure not to be a needs based drafter...
Last season... he proved that he is not necessarily a Best Player Available drafter either. Ted stated before the draft how highly he thought of Crabtree.. and after his pick as well.
So, that leaves the best player (BP) that fits our organization in the scouting groups opinion.
All the spots from last year, starting that is, has the returning players in them.. and in better shape than last season.
( Okay.. minus a very average punter whom took exception to not being tagged at a premium dollar.. lol. But last time I checked.. that usually affects the front portion of the draft little.. especially in a year where no premium prospects are clamoring to be 4th or 5th round choices.)Clifton doesn't have the physical issues of last season, Mark will be with the club through camp, Bigby won't have an ankle this season.. Jones and Matthews have a year under them in the NFL.. so forth and so on.
Now that doesn't mean we have areas the need depth or could be improved by pushing or replacing a starter.. but with having the roster intact from last season for the most part.. it will allow us to utilize a deep draft to the maximum to upgrade the bottom 50% of the roster.. and hopefully find a couple of solid answers to immediate upgrades or long range questions of who is next.
Example.. if Ted and company see a Safford in about the same range of 4 or 5 other tackles when our name comes up at #23.. it will give him freedom to open up his board a bit and maybe select a player in the same tier at another position that could help the club.. say a smart safety to pair with Collins and push Bigby to either improve or spend more time on the bench watching the defense.
"The oranges are dry; the apples are mealy; and the papayas... I don't know what's going on with the papayas!"