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I don't understand how this could be a BPA pick???????

No way he is top 38 players in the draft....major reach for a need IMO




I agree 100% this should never have been the pick, we would have no need for it, if we would have made the right pick taken at # 1. We would have had our starting coners Wright & Brown, with Thomas starting at safety. Brown would not have to move or make Haden a #1 pick a nickle back, it makes no sense.

Ward's bio reads like this; two year starter who missed time from injuries. Does not have elite speed and lscks height and size. Can be outmuscled by big receivers and struggles to disengage from blockers. Does not possess the skills to be a true centerfielder. Questions about durability after 2 major knee surguries. rating of 6.1 way to low for a #38 pick.

We should have taken Benn WR at this spot, one of big need and with a higher rating 7.7. Big fast runs good routes,great hands, good YAC and gets good seperation. at the line. The added bonus, two of our biggest needs satified, SS and WR with our first two picks.

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I agree 100% this should never have been the pick, we would have no need for it, if we would have made the right pick taken at # 1. We would have had our starting coners Wright & Brown, with Thomas starting at safety. Brown would not have to move or make Haden a #1 pick a nickle back, it makes no sense.




Haden is a pretty good number 1 pick. It's very difficult to find a good corner, one who you can line up against the other team's top receiver. Eric Wright can't do that effectively.

Sheldon Brown is like 31 or 32. He is past his prime. When you draft players, you look toward the future not just this year. Haden is very young, has started for Florida since his freshman year.......

You might say that this was a bad pick this year, but what about next year when we really need a real corner? Because there are none in FA that are available, and the ones that come up are guys like Nate Clemments, who the 49ers paid huge money for and ended up benching at the end of the season last year.

Yeah........#`1 corner is a premium position. Now you might not like our safety postition, but what corner prospect do you see that was available that could move Wright to number 2 corner? Otherwise we would have had to spend an early pick on that next year, and possibly get a guy who we aren't so sure can man that role........

I have no problem with our pick. Safeties are replaceable, real #1 corners are not. Joe Haden will be a great asset for this team for years. There's a learning curve, so he might not be a star this year, but next year he'll be very good. And when we have to go against Boldin, OchoCinco, and whoever the Steelers are rolling with, we'll be very happy that we have our guy. #1 corner is like LT on offense. It's absolutely key to a defense. As Diam used to say, corners are the guys who get you off the field on 3rd down. As you know, while we blitzed well this year, QBs made mince meat of our awful secondary. Haden will allow Wright to cover the opposing team's #2 receiver. If Brown is still here next year, he can play nickel and covering the opposing team's #3 receiver (may be he'll even make that transition to FS, although that seems doubtful). Rob Ryan blitzes a lot, we need good corners to back up our defense while they get after the QB

Haden is a great luxury to have, and I'm definitely not looking back and whining about not taking Earl Thomas at number 7.


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I think you underrate E-Wizzle. He's got #1 corner ability too. He's actually one of the more underrated players on this team.

Wright and Brown w/ Haden as the rookie nickel is a GREAT threesome, all things considered.

Get a look at what the Jets are doing on D for an idea of what we're trying to do, they're just further along since they've had 5 years of successful 3-4 drafting/FA acquisitions to do it.

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E-Wizzle







Micah 6:8; He has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God.

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Whoa, back the truck up petey. Wright is easily the best corner in our division and a legit #1. Haden is an excellent addition to our team, but it wasn't one of our biggest needs.

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Enough with the ratings, this isn't Madden


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Whoa, back the truck up petey. Wright is easily the best corner in our division and a legit #1. Haden is an excellent addition to our team, but it wasn't one of our biggest needs.




Are you joking? Wright is a decent corner, but he's not top-notch. Haden will be better.

As for best in our division, our division isn't filled with great corners. Leon Hall is pretty good. And I think he's teamed with another good CB in J. Joseph (he still starts, right?). The Pitt and Balt corners are not better than Wright, but their defenses are at another level because of the other players around them who have been in that scheme for such a long time.

We can get pressure on the QB with Ryan's style of D. But our secondary was burned up last year so it didn't matter. Wright is an improving corner, but he's not not great. I definitely saw him get beat quite a bit last year, although nothing like Mike Adams and McDonald.

I like having at least two very good corners. Now teams seem to be using lots of receivers ALA NO with Colston, Meachem, Henderson, all which can really hurt you.

Haden upgrades Wright because Wright will be able to cover lesser receivers, something that should make him look even better. Our entire secondary is upgraded by this because we can still use Brown often because we will be running a lot of 5 DB packages.

I guess the question is, what do you define as a legit #1 corner. Because Wright is no Al Harris (of old), Darrelle Revis, Charles Woodson, N. Asmo, Champ Bailey, or even Duanta Robinson. I'm hoping Haden reaches that level.

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The way I see it is, with the top 3 rated Safeties already off the board, It would appear that we got a little trigger happy, but not so fast.
The Browns medical staff has given him a clean bill of health. Rolling the dice? Maybe so, but many draft nix tend to over hype the more (Mediacized) prosects like Taylor Mays, Morgan Burnett and Chad Jones, but the above mentioned prospects are Concidered "In the box " Safeties. Another words they can not cover man on man. Even Nate Allen is Concidered one of the above.
T.J. Ward has very lose hips and began his Collage career at CB, only out of necessity was he moved to Safety. He's about the same size, but slower then both Berry and Thomas, but then again this was not a 1st tier pick, it was the end of the 4th.
If you were to ask the Pack 10 WR who was the Hardest hitting Safety you had to face, I think you might be suprised that most would say T.J. Ward and not Taylor Mays.
Heck just ask OSU.
The advercity he had to work threw with coming back from injury will I think benefit him in making the transition to the next level, because of the maturity he gained.
With the loss off Pool in FA. With this pick I think we had to roll the dice on a Safety Prospect who can. (Cover,Tackle and Hit).
I'm Just happy we did not go for a Glamour pick here like WR Arrelious Benn AKA BE_2 or even Taylor Mays.
I think this pick was either Ward or NT Torrell Troup who whould have added insurance for Rodgers and depth behind Ruben.
Instead Heckert and Mangenius went with the
possible starter this season and he fits the mold of the type of players we are and should be looking for (Smart, Tuff and unselfish). In sort this is a solid pick IMO.

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I can honestly say I'd rather have Wright than Dunta Robinson.

No, Wright is not an elite cornerback, but he is darn good and capable enough to cover a team's #1 wide receiver. Haden should be better, but Wright didn't need upgrading. If Haden develops like he should, we will have possibly the best corner tandem in the NFL.

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DT, your sig image is broken. Awesome.


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I didn't even notice that before I changed it to my actual sig.

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we will have possibly the best corner tandem in the NFL.




The Jets might say otherwise.


Seriously, how sick is Revis, Cromartie, and now Kyle Wilson



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I personally think Cromartie sucks (primarily because he does) but there is a ton of potential in that unit. Revis is the NFL's best corner, Cromartie is an athletic freak who just doesn't give effort, and Wilson has the potential to be pretty good.

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I personally think Cromartie sucks (primarily because he does) but there is a ton of potential in that unit. Revis is the NFL's best corner, Cromartie is an athletic freak who just doesn't give effort, and Wilson has the potential to be pretty good.




I think it's amazing how much Rex likes to gamble on defense.

He already loves to blitz and gamble that way, now he picked up 2 CBs who like to gamble in their coverage (Cromartie and Wilson). If they are gambling and the defense is gambling to get to the QB, I'm guessing you will see quite a few big plays watching the Jets defense this year.

The only real question will be if most of the big plays are for or against the Jets.


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j/c....


I think that anyone that feels that a CB wasn't a top need position for us hasn't paid any attention at all to our games for the last few years. Our CB's have outright SUCKED with the lone exception of Wright... and have been a Primary reason for us losing so many games.


We were forced by injury to put McDonald in there as a starter a couple of years back... and he didn't do terrible at first, so he somehow kept the job.... and he has been a HUGE reason that we've lost games. How many times have you seen a team convert 3rd and forever on a play designed to go at McDonald? Lots! How many times have you seen a close game blown open by a big play run at McDonald? LOTS!

Signing Brown and drafting Haden put McDonald back where he belongs... Nickle/Dime duty; where if he gambles and loses (like he does often) there will be plenty of help around him.


Browns is the Browns

... there goes Joe Thomas, the best there ever was in this game.

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As a continuation of that line of thinking, in no way should the acquisition of a 31-year old CB be viewed as a solution to filling the need of our lack of a starting corner.

The need was there, and even if there were bigger needs, taking a guy at #7 because of need is a failed ideal.



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The reason some are grumbling is they wanted Thomas feeling Berry would be gone.
What never left was Haden off the Browns top 5 list.
I thought quickly what other corner could have fit in and it wasn't close..
The next corner drafted after our 38 pick was Arenas @ 50..and he isn't a big corner and is more of a nickle back..

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Cromartie is gonna give his all for Ryan..


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Quote:

High pick of T.J. Ward surprised many

By Steve Doerschuk
CantonRep.com staff writer
Posted Apr 23, 2010 @ 11:52 PM

BEREA — T.J. Ward was asked which safeties he would study if he could only pick two.

Without hesitating, the Cleveland Browns’ second-round pick said, “Jack Tatum and Troy Polamalu.” He had named two of the most famous safeties, past and present.

In terms of fame, though, who the heck is T.J. Ward?

He was the first of four Browns draft picks Friday. On the surface, the Oregon safety was a long reach. Pro Football Weekly had Ward rated as the 74th-best draft prospect. Longtime NFL personnel guru Gil Brandt had him stuck in a tier of players rated 91 to 100.

Even Ward, who joined the Ducks as a walk-on, said, “I’m kind of surprised I went this high.”

Browns General Manager Heckert, though, seemed completely sold on the pick. In fact, Heckert was so focused on Ward that he resisted “a few trade-down calls” to ensure getting his man.
Heckert thinks the 5-foot-11, 211-pound Ward adds needed juice to a defense that ranked 31st overall in 2009. He said Ward is a thumper whose hits can be infectious.

“No question about it,” Heckert said. “One of the first things you notice is he’s lighting people up.”

Before Ward was picked, the Browns’ top two safeties were Abe Elam, a fairly big hitter who is inconsistent in coverage, and Mike Adams, a fast but not physical free safety type.

The Mike Holmgren-Heckert regime gave up on safety Brodney Pool, a high Round 2 pick in 2005 who never quite panned out.

Durability is a concern with Ward, and Heckert surmises that might be why analysts had him rated much lower than the Browns did.

He was ticketed to be a starting cornerback in 2006 before tearing an MCL. He suffered an ankle injury in the 2009 season opener and missed five games.

Heckert said Ward checked out with the Browns medical staff.

“He’s a super-tough kid,” Heckert said. “He makes a lot of plays in the run game. We think he can cover, after working him out. We think he adds a lot to our defense.”

In mentioning Tatum, Ward revealed himself as something of a history buff. Tatum played for Ohio State’s 1968 national championship team.

“My dad talks about him a lot,” Ward said. “My dad played safety. He modeled his game after Jack Tatum. Hit everything moving. No prisoners.”





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Browns General Manager Heckert, though, seemed completely sold on the pick. In fact, Heckert was so focused on Ward that he resisted “a few trade-down calls” to ensure getting his man

Of course I'd like to know who came a calling and what their price was..

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Browns General Manager Heckert, though, seemed completely sold on the pick. In fact, Heckert was so focused on Ward that he resisted “a few trade-down calls” to ensure getting his man

Of course I'd like to know who came a calling and what their price was..




Lol, right on.

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Just clicking in a note of interest to myself,...my boy Barry Church went undrafted and signed an FA contract with Carolina. Apparently they expect him to make their ST roster.

I thought the kid played like at least a 4th or 5th rounder worth a shot. Oh well.

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church is slow.. and is more like a S/LB. Similar to Thomas Davis, who currently plays for them.


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Check the bolded section of the article, feeling a little better about the TJ Ward pick the more I look into it.

Quote:

Risers & Sliders: Mays fails to impress in DB drills at NFL combine

Taylor Mays is fast, but scouts still question his ability on the field
Eric Berry turned in near flawless workout, solidifying his top-5 status
Poor 40 time will likely cause Joe Haden to slip in first round


Taylor Mays impressed in the 40-yard dash, but left much to be desired in field drills.
AP


INDIANAPOLIS -- NFL decision makers and scouts gathered at Lucas Oil Stadium today for the final day of the 2010 NFL Scouting Combine. They were on hand to watch the 58 defensive backs who were invited to work out.

Taylor Mays' workout at the combine will be one talked about for a long time, and with good reason. After weighing in at 230 pounds, Mays completed 24 reps on the bench press, then ran a 40 that most scouts clocked at 4.32 seconds. Normally those numbers would elevate a prospect towards the top of the draft, but we contend that won't be the case with Mays.

During drills, Mays was in poor form. As fast as he was moving forwards, Mays was terribly slow moving in reverse. It was similar to his performance at the Senior Bowl in January. Mays looked uncomfortable backpedaling during drills and one scout called his defensive back fundamentals "just bad." When asked to change direction, Mays would come to a complete stop then start up again. The contrast between Mays and players such as Earl Thomas and T.J. Ward, who lost little momentum changing direction, was striking.

Poor performances in Mobile and Indianapolis do not mean Mays won't be productive in the NFL. It does mean he will be limited to certain systems that don't require him to play man coverage or make plays sideline-to-sideline. In other words Mays is likely to go later in the draft than someone with his measurables usually would.

Risers
Eric Berry/S/Tennessee: Berry impressed scouts by weighing 212 pounds and completing 19 reps on the bench. His 40 was fast ... in the high 4.3-second area. He was near flawless in drills, displaying quick and fluid footwork moving in reverse, a terrific burst to the ball and the ability to change direction on a dime without losing momentum.

Devin McCourty/CB/Rutgers: He could come away the biggest winner among defensive backs. He was super fast, timing right around 4.40 seconds, and showed strength by pushing up 16 reps on the bench. And his skills in drills were near outstanding. McCourty now enters the conversation as a late first-round pick.

Earl Thomas/S/Texas: Teams interested in drafting Thomas breathed a sigh of relief when the red-shirt sophomore stepped on the scales and weighed 208 pounds, then completed 21 reps on the bench press. This dispelled many of the myths that Thomas lacked the size and strength to play safety in the NFL. He later ran well (4.5) and looked effective in drills.

TJ Ward/S/Oregon: Ward ran reasonably well (4.55-range) but it was his work in drills that really impressed scouts. Considered more of a straight-line defender, he displayed ball skills that exceeded expectations. Ward changed direction quickly, showed the ability to move in reverse with no hesitation and looked terrific catching the ball.

Chris Cook/CB/Virginia: The big cornerback has been steadily moving up draft boards. He weighed in at a solid 212, then ran his 40 in just under 4.5. Cook's mechanics looked significantly improved since the Senior Bowl and the imposing prospect displayed a lot of athleticism. Cook has solidified himself as a top 75 pick.

Kareem Jackson/CB/Alabama: He answered questions scouts had about his athleticism and defensive back skill set. He ran well in the 40, timing under 4.5 on stop watches. During drills Jackson displayed a quick backpedal, fluid hip movement and the ability to drive to the ball. He's likely assured himself a spot in the draft's initial 40 selections.

Sliders
Joe Haden/CB/Florida: He was really slow in the 40. His hand times of 4.58 translate into electronic times that will broach 4.65. Haden looked terrific in drills, with outstanding ball skills and showing the makings of a starter at the next level. He was projected as a potential top-eight pick, but as we saw last April with Malcolm Jenkins, cornerbacks who time poorly in the 40 are not early selections in the draft.

Donovan Warren/CB/Michigan: Warren started by struggling to get under 4.7 in the 40. He was ineffective in drills, exhibiting a poor backpedal, no burst out of his plant and an inability to change direction without losing a lot of momentum.

Chad Jones/S/LSU: Jones ran reasonably well, timing in the mid-4.5s, yet did nothing to dispel the belief he's solely a downhill safety. He was incredibly slow in reverse and displayed poor footwork. He looked a bit confused on the field and had to be stopped in drills several times to be given direction.

Dennis Rogan/CB/Tennessee: Rogan was small and slow, not a good combination at cornerback. He checked in under 5-foot-9 and could not break 4.7 in the 40. Rogan may regret leaving Tennessee a year early.






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TJ Ward/S/Oregon: Ward ran reasonably well (4.55-range) but it was his work in drills that really impressed scouts. Considered more of a straight-line defender, he displayed ball skills that exceeded expectations. Ward changed direction quickly, showed the ability to move in reverse with no hesitation and looked terrific catching the ball.


He played corner before..I have seen the kid many times ..watch some highlights..he doesn't always try to seperate a body part but he is a sound hard tackler..if he plays smart ball,he'll make it.

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