Oh, absolutely, I understood what you meant and I agree. I wasn't trying to explain anything to you in particular. I was just using your post as a jumping off point. It does make you wonder why he took this guy when others may not have looked so highly upon him. That is totally a natural reaction for a fan to have. That is painfully obvious simply by reading the opposite reactions on this site. One guy loves the pick and the other guy hates it. Why?

I rely very heavily on these "experts" opinions since I don't follow college football at all and I don't know much if anything about these guys. Maybe that is why I don't get as worked up about these picks as some of you do. I don't have my own opinion on them so I tend to think that the guys who study them know more about them than those who may not. If you watch a lot of college football and have strong, knowledge based, opinions fine but even then, I doubt most people have studied the film as much as the GMs have. Especially when it comes down to the 3rd round and later guys.

Your part about him making a career out of taking players sooner than others would may seem very obvious to us but I would venture to guess that the vast majority of fans feel that way about their GMs as well.

Originally Posted by: sschind 

I watched one of those highlight videos where it shows every snap in a game. Some things that stood out to me were:
- He penetrates into the backfield a lot
- When he doesn't penetrate, he doesn't get pushed off his spot much at all
- He was constantly hustling, which is impressive for a guy his size. He was already around the play, even downfield.

Originally Posted by: MassPackersFan 

I think this is a great example of how important the personnel team is in the process.

Thorton played on one of the worst teams in college football. Did not get the benefit of having good players around him. Opposing offensive coordinators could pick multiple ways to play around the one good player on the D line or afford to give him a heavy dose of double teams.

This is how you dig deep and find diamonds in the rough. I wonder where this kid would have been ranked had he played on a good football team that received a whole lot more national exposure. A team where the players around him would be a benefit vs. a liability.

He certainly seems to have the size, speed, and athletic ability to hang with better known defensive linemen in this draft.

I look at this as the anti-Linsley pick. Ohio St. guy on a very successful team with good players along side him in a highly touted run offense. No offense to Linsley it's just easier to find players like him playing for a big time program.

Originally Posted by: warhawk