I like Andre Roberts a lot (especially after seeing what name his school has, it's pretty badass), but I don't like him for us. I hope he goes somewhere where he could acutally do something.

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That is an excellent point.

We're thin at safety, but we have Bigby who's been a 2 year starter and is still young, we're thin at OT but we have Clifton there, we're thin at OLB but we have options in Jones, Poppinga, Obi even Chillar and we're thin at CB but we have plenty of bodies and Harris may be back.

There is no position where we absolutely must find a starter this year in the draft, unlike other teams, such as Washington who need a LT for Day 1.

That's another reason I hope we can land O'Brien Schofield late and stick him on IR. He could be like trading a 2010 6th round pick into a 2011 2nd or 3rd rounder.

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Rock, I think you hit the nail on the head by saying Ted goes BPA @ areas of need early. Right on. This would be a solid crop of players in the top rounds, if it turned out that way.

My only problem is with the WR. Honestly, I can't see Ted going with a WR given the emergence of Finley. I think you can get buy with Jordey/Jones coupled with Finley post-Driver era.

If we go back to the idea that Ted will seek to fill a need with the third round pick... I'm thinking he might look at a DE (assuming one highly rated enough is on the board). Looking at his past third round picks (Spitz in 07 when we need to replace Whale and Rivera, and Finley in 08 when we needed to get younger and replace Franks) I think it's a high probability he goes for a player of need.

Love the draft, otherwise though. +1 for putting in some solid thought and effort.

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As I mentioned in another draft thread we are fortunate that this draft is deep in areas we have needs.

The thought of moving back and picking up Hughes later and getting in better position in the 2nd round would be appealing. I think the second round is loaded.

If we pick up three players by #61 I think there will be a lot of happy faces around here although I really couldn't say exactly which players that will be.

I just look at what's on most boards in the top 64 and the more we can get the better because that list is loaded. It goes deeper than that to about 75 so if Ted Thompson could pull off a low third rounder in there some way this could be a slam dunk.

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I agree with 93Z and British, I don't think it's imperetive that we find a starter in this years draft.
This years crop is deep and the Green Bay Packers, assuming luck with injury issues, have the luxury of developing draftees for at least a year.

Qualifying Statement: This does not mean that I think Ted Thompson is the "draft guru" that some folks on here portray him to be.