Length to Impact and the 1st round

[Roy P]

Originally Posted by painekiller

LTI cannot live in a vacuum, we also must look at normal life span of the positions, and projected ceiling of the player.

IMO, we should be looking at OL, DB, or and outside look at LB. Why?

OL, specifically Mike Iupati or Trent Williams, can come in this season and play at a high enough level to upgrade our LG position.

1st round CBs should be able to start day one.

Safety, has a larger learning curve than CB. It has a long life, now if I am picking a player in round one he needs to be a starter, and only Earl Thomas fits that mold,

RBs the life span of a RB is to short to use a 1st on him, Ryan Mathews would be solid pick, but how much better is he than Hardesty or Tate.

I know that Williams is a NT and the later are 3 technique guys, but we can always grab Linval Joseph later in the draft to play the NT.

So who do I like at 20? Mike Iupati or Kyle Wilson unless Earl Thomas is still there.

A prospect has value based upon the supply of similar players too. You made comparisons of Mathews vs. Tate and Dan Williams vs. Linval Joseph, so you realize this, maybe subconsciously. This is perilous to do when there is only 1 player who is being projected by consensus to be available later in the draft.

The reason I have Eric Berry ranked #1 on my board is because there are no other players like him going to be available in THIS draft. Most likely he's gone before we select at #20. I'd compare him to that Long-Haired guy that plays in Pittsburgh that nobody can spell.

Trent Williams is my #2 because he can play LT and he has enough athleticism and nastyness to play LG in our ZBS. Again, it's not likely that he drops out of the top 10, but I've seen some mocks in which he does, so I wanted to be ready to scoop him up. There just aren't many comparable OL in THIS draft that can come in and start. I'd guess that Asamoah and John Jerry would be upgrades over what we have on the roster, so they are going to be high on my board. Other than those 3, anyone else we draft on the OL are going to need some seasoning and time to make an impact.

Then next 4 players on my board are based upon LTI, Supply & Demand, Positional Value, Need, and Talent.

Earl Thomas is the closest thing to Ed Reed. If he's there, we should take him or be very sure that we get a lot of value for trading down. Kyle Wilson replaces Dunta for less $$$. Dan Williams plays NT like Pat Williams, John Henderson, and Kris Jenkins - so, that would be nice for Okoye, Mario, the LB s, and the Secondary. Then, there is Spoon. I'd compare him to Lance Briggs & Keith Bulluck.