In response to natesubs' comment:

my understanding is no, we have none.

Some news on PE's boy...

Per ESPN Rumor Central:

UPDATE: Wisconsin lineman Travis Frederick is still considering his NFL draft options. An ex-Wisconsin staff member told ESPN Rumor Central, "I think he will (declare for the draft)."

Wisconsin has been able to seamlessly replace top talents leaving for the NFL in recent years, and it appears new head coach Gary Andersen will have to repeat the operation.

---

Wisconsin's offensive line has been an assembly line of talent to the NFL in recent years. The best of this year's bunch of big uglies is junior center Travis Frederick. And Frederick is strongly considering entering April's NFL Draft as an underclassman.

"Hearing Travis Frederick/OL/Wisconsin waiting till after bowl game on draft decision. Speculation from those close is he enters," Tony Pauline of SportsIllustrated.com tweeted.

The decision could be hastened by Wisconsin's recent coaching change. If he does decide to leave Madison for the NFL, freshman Dan Voltz will be expected to replace Frederick at the pivot.

In response to mbeaulieu07's comment:

mb and others, what makes folks here and elsewhere think frederick will make it to the pats at the end of the 3rd round, as opposed to the 2nd?

In response to bredbru's comment:

bred, you've been mentioning Frederick to NE in Rd 3, frequently... I don't know where he'll go at this point, will probably have a better projection on him once I'm able to watch some tape.  It's prob a fair assumption that he'll go somewhere on Day 2, but I still need to study him first.

In response to mbeaulieu07's comment:

thanks mb, ive seen him mocked on the thread and in prof mocks in 3rd rd, inlcuding several having him to pats in 3rd. have not seen him play, nor is o line my speciality. the descripion of him sounds pretty good, makes me have a little fdoubb that he lasts till late in 3rd rd.

In response to bredbru's comment:

The Belk Bowl is on at 6:30, Cincy vs. Duke, on ESPN... good chance to check out Duke WR Conner Vernon (6-1 200).  Looks like the prototype NE WR... good size, catches the ball well, solid route runner, good speed/quicks/RAC ability, ultra-productive at Duke (ACC career leader in receptions & receiving yards).  Check him out... prob a Rd 4-5 kid at this point.

In response to mbeaulieu07's comment:

does he play on the outside? any separation?

In response to bredbru's comment:

Versatile kid that plays inside and out at Duke... also looks good returning punts.  Uses his speed/quicks/route running to seperate, yes.

In response to mbeaulieu07's comment:

thanks man.

In response to Faucetman's comment:

I hope they make a run at Dwight Freeney. Dont know how much he will be asking for but he has made a lot of money playing for the colts over the years. Would love to see him play just on passing situations much like the Falcons do with John Abraham.

In response to speedster81's comment:

one way or another, we have to have another pass rusher and top o lineman. 2 glaring problems.

you know, if we get a pass rusher and safety in fa (and keep wlker, talib, vollmer/or fa tackle),

what do you suppose might be the merit in taking a xavier rhodes in rd 1?

we can still get the the interior o line help in rd 2 or 3.

i just dont know if bb will finally pony up for a pass rusher (and safety) in fa.

it (thi sstrategy) might be the better play since most of the pass rushers, if not all the good ones, will be gone by time we pick.

In response to bredbru's comment:

This class projects to be a lot deeper at CB than interior OL, so under the above scenario, I'd be looking OL first (Cooper/Jones), then target CB on day 2... I'd also be looking DT on Day 2 (i.e. UNC's Sylvester Williams).  Never in a million years did I think I'd ever consider (2) Tar Heels within the first couple rounds.

RE: Travis Frederick...

Watched some tape... if this kid declares, I'll be adding him to by Big 32 board, in prob the Rd 2 range.  For a big kid (6-4 338), he moves pretty well in space and has no trouble taking out 2nd level defenders... also plays with a good base and strength at the POA.  This kid is prototype Wisconsin, always looking to punch you in the mouth and I really like how he finishes blocks... I'm a fan of this kid's game.

In response to mbeaulieu07's comment:

When it comes to Guard/ Center Play, I put a huge value in run blocking ability. I am a big fan of Frederick for the same reasons I have cooled off on Barrett Jones. Frederick has the ability to lock up on his man and via good technique and natural strength drive his man backwards. Barrett Jones meanwhile seems more of a technician. He will use his excellent feet to wall off the DT or hold his point but rarely do you see him drive someone back. Frederick seems like the guy you really want on the field late in the game when you are trying to put together a 4 min drive to close it out OR when its 3rd and short and you got to have the first down, he is a guy I would feel confident would be able to open up a hole for Ridley in that situation.

In response to speedster81's comment:

Frederick is def the pure power player (and is more fun to watch), however I don't think Jones is lacking in power... he more than held his own against the mammoth Daniel McCullers when they went head to head.  It really comes down to the preference of the coaching staff as I'd agree that they have two different styles... though both good football players, IMO. 

In response to mbeaulieu07's comment:

yes williams seems like a good prospect. 

you dont think frederick is good enough to win in the nfl in the pass and run?

rhodes is a gig tough guy. after pass rusher, if we have a chance to get players liek seattle has, that has a lot of merit to me, especially if we can get a guy in the 3rd who would be an upgrade of our o line.

re cooper jones, you siad you liked cooper. i cacknoweledge hsi talent, but wouldnt a guy who can play every postion on the line including center be more valuablle?

if we got the fa safety and pass rusher id be coll going rhodes, dt (williams if stll there perhaps), then frederick in third (if i expected him to be there).

that said , id be hard pressed to have a probnlem with taking a first round o line stud at a position of huge need (provided we have a pass rusher already, otherwise i want a pass rusher in rd 1-but feel wed have to move up considerabley to get ansah- and jorrdan i expect out of reach).

hunt i dont see as a speed rusher, bu if he were jj watt 2.0 id find a way to be ok with that :)

In response to mbeaulieu07's comment:

exaclty what i had a hunch about. i think wed have to get him in rd 2. i just dont see why so many think hed be around for rd 3 for us to grab. thanks for the review.

In response to speedster81's comment:

In response to mbeaulieu07's comment:

mb, did yo see vernon?

what did you see in him?

i was working.

This post has been removed.

ok evryone, who is at risk for taking a qb by draft day:

kc yes

jax is getting tebow, i had them as a risk to add a qb (now i think it depends how insistent the owner is that tebow plays and fills seats.

oakland i vote yes going nowhere with what they got

philly has foles, probably not unless a fa backup or late in draft

detroti no

cleveland i would (not sold on wheedon), buit think they wont

zona yes

tampa thinks they have the guy, i dont. no

buffalo i say yes

tenn thinks they have the guy. im not sure abot it.

jets yes

panthers no

chargers no

miami no

rams no 

steelers no

dallas 

n.o.

minn. they think ponder is it.

ginats, cinci, rams, bears ravens colts,  no

and no on everyone else.

no concidence, got your qb, yorue in contention and have low pick.

i have 5 of top 11 that could go qb

courswe im hopin 5 qbs shoot up the charts till draft day (even in a non qb year)

 

In response to speedster81's comment:

why not just get big richard seymore if we are going to dish out the money, why not a guy we know works here?

offense

new idea, since BB is bad at drafting WR's and most teams have trouble covering TE's why not just draft a set of TE's.  using TE's in place of WR's.  Have one burner WR who a team would have to double cover, place Hernandez at WR, gronk and ballard at TE.

the shear size of these guys require double coverage and it would be tough to choose who to double cover. You can't use just a regular CB to cover these guys because they wouldn't have the strength to tackle them after the catch.  having a WR/TE core of guys who are bigger than 6'-5" and 240 lb would mean that most teams wouldn't have enough big CB's or safeties to be able to cover this.  they would also have to have a safety deep to cover the burner WR who would go deep every play.  next season we would have Jake Ballard, gronk, hernandez, hauwanaimi (however you spell his name)  this frees us from spending a high draft pick at the WR position and allows us to let welker go if he does not accept a reasonable contract.  We would also resign endelman as a backup option.  I think with added playing time he could be quite good and perhaps close to as good as welker. 

Vollmer might not be back due to his back problems and the value of a good OT, he might want to be paid as if he were a LT being that he can play the position.  Therefore i propose that we bring in King Dunlap, the Eagles OT.  He is a bit raw but we have the best O-line coach in the league.  We have issues with our OG's staying healthy therefore i propose that we use our 5th round pick on Graham Pocic, C, Illinois.  With the increasing size of DT/NT in this league teams need a big C to stand them up.  This would also free up connolly to play right OG his more natural position.  I would also draft og braden hansen in the 7th round.

Defense

Wilfork can't do it all by himself. he needs help, i think adding jones helped him and gave us a lot more pass rush.  I would also add Richard Seymore in FA.  However while i like what Nink has done so far this season i would love to add another Pass rushing DE.  I think the best value would be to select Margus Hunt in the second round.  he is a physical freak, who could help on special teams and could easily break up passes if taught to keep his hands up. 

Our core of DB's who have checkered pasts has worked pretty good. Denard and talib played great together.  I propose we use a late round pick on tyrann Mathieu because of the shear value he brings.  A heisman finalist who could really help our DB's.  we would also need to pick up a safety in FA, perhaps Dashon Goldson or Jairus Byrd. Either of these guys paired up with McCourty would be a great combo.  I would also hire a new DB's coach. Brett maxie of the Tenessee titans would be my first choice.  In order to bring him in we would have to promote him to assistant-D coordinator, but if it fixed our Db's it would be well worth it.  We also will have to resign talib.  hopefully Wilson will improve to be the top rotational S for our team.  

 

recap

bring in Brett maxie as new DB's coach

resign endelman, brace, Talib, and fletcher.

sign King Dunlap OT, dashon Goldson or jarius byrd S, Aaron Curry OLB,  Richard Seymore DE Oakland, danny amendola WR rams

letting walk- welker (need the cap $), Vollmer (will be offered too much by other teams), chung

35 million cap space

5 million rookie pool

Resign talib- 4 year contract currently making 2 million (6,7,7,8million) behavior clause, 20 guaranteed (6 million)

Sign danny Amendola to replace welker – (making 2mil now) 4 year 16 million, 10 guaranteed (4 million)

Sign jarius Byrd 4 year 26 million                or                Goldson – 4 year 30 million (6-7million)

Sign King Dunlap OT Eagles (making 1 mil per now) 4 year 9 million with performance raises up to 18 million (2,2,2,3 million) (2 million)

Richard Seymore DE Oakland 2 years 12 million (5,7)  give him a chance to go out with a ring, I bet he has seen enough losing seasons (5 million)

Steven Jackson – (let woodhead walk) currently making 7 million per, offer him 3 per season for 2 years. Give him the opportunity to retire with a ring or two (3million)

Resign endelman 5 years 12 million  10 guaranteed (1,2,2,3,4million) (1 million)

For a total of 27 million in FA and 5 mil of rookies leaving BB with 3 million cap space to bring in FA throughout the season

 

 

2013 NFL draft

1^st round – Louis Nix*, DT, Notre Dame or Bennie Logan, DT, LSU

2nd Round – Trade down into an extra 3^rd and 5^th round picks
3rd Round - Margus Hunt, DE, SMU (2-3 round)
3^rd round (from trade)-  Daniel McCullers*, DT, Tennessee

4^th round (probable compensatory pick for BJGE and anderson) - Tyrann Mathieu*, CB/S, LSU

5^th round (from trade) - Graham Pocic, C, Illinois

7^th round - Braden Hansen, G, BYU
7th Round - Ron Powell*, OLB, Florida  or Jake stoneburner, TE, OSU

UDFA-Zach Boren, FB, Ohio State (also plays ILB)

Lucas Reed, TE, New Mexico

Marcus Lattimore*, RB, South Carolina

In response to bredbru's comment:

yes williams seems like a good prospect. 

you dont think frederick is good enough to win in the nfl in the pass and run?  Where did I say this?

rhodes is a gig tough guy. after pass rusher, if we have a chance to get players liek seattle has, that has a lot of merit to me, especially if we can get a guy in the 3rd who would be an upgrade of our o line.

re cooper jones, you siad you liked cooper. i cacknoweledge hsi talent, but wouldnt a guy who can play every postion on the line including center be more valuablle?  Barrett Jones is prob the more versatile player, based on what he's been able to do at Alabama, but I see a future All-Pro OG when I watch Jon Cooper on tape.  I'd be happy with either player.

if we got the fa safety and pass rusher id be coll going rhodes, dt (williams if stll there perhaps), then frederick in third (if i expected him to be there).

that said , id be hard pressed to have a probnlem with taking a first round o line stud at a position of huge need (provided we have a pass rusher already, otherwise i want a pass rusher in rd 1-but feel wed have to move up considerabley to get ansah- and jorrdan i expect out of reach).

hunt i dont see as a speed rusher, bu if he were jj watt 2.0 id find a way to be ok with that :)  You can definitely see the rawness to Hunt's game, but this kid generates a lot of explosion of the edge and his tools are evident.  At this point, he looks much more effective off the edge then does playing on the inside, IMO.