"why should we pass up the higher-rated (offensive) prospect?"-Rick Smith

[Roy P]

I keep going back to the 2004 draft. Imagine 3 players may be on the board when we select, one is WR Lee Evans, another is LB Teddy Lehman, and the last one is DE Will Smith. I'd be pretty surprised if Will smith lasts until our pick, but it is looking like he's sliding down draft boards and could be. I'm also having a hard time fathoming the idea that Evans would be on the board, but if he is, I would imagine that he'd be a pretty good player opposite of Andre Johnson.

Now Clay Matthews may be better than Lehman, and Maclin may not turn out to be as good as Evans, and Everette Brown may not approach Will Smith - I get that. However, those are the comparisons I'm coming up with before this draft and how I rated those 3 players in 2004.

Now, some may say that Evans isn't filling a need because we have a good offense. Others may scoff at the idea that we'd want to spend 1st round money on Will Smith since we just signed Antonio Smith. Therefore, the best way to improve the defense would be to get an athletic LB like Teddy Lehman.

Lehman 6' 1" 237lbs 4.53 - 40, 4.20 - shuttle, 6.85 - cone
Matthews 6' 3" 240lbs 4.62 - 40, 4.18 - shuttle, 6.90 - cone