Looking at the upcoming draft it is always a challange to try and get in Thompson's head and foresee what he might do. I am going to take a stab and say how goes the OT position before we pick will determine how Ted Thompson approaches the draft.

IF Okung, Williams, Davis, Cambell, Baluga, AND, I will through in Lupati, are all gone before we pick I would not be surprised to see Thompson attempt to trade down and get two lower 2nd and 3rd round picks to go with the two later picks in those rounds (whatever else we might get would be gravy.

What we know is this is a deep draft and Thompson likes to take advantage of that when the opportunity is there.

My thinking is that if a true OLT is not there (Lupati is an interesting option because of his talent) there will be some very talented picks available early in round two and even early in round three.

Now there could be a worthy player with the talent for the pick at #23 BUT from what I can see the talent from #23 to about #38 does not fall off much at all and then from there to about the mid 3rd the talent is pretty clustered as well.

If Ted Thompson went that route I could see us plucking a good 0L,CB,S, and LB out of these first three rounds all with a bunch of talent.

Finally, I am for bringing as many of the current starters back as possible. When you look at the positions where we need help and backup to aging starters with injury potential these are not positions you plug rookies in unless its' absolutely necessary. Left Tackle? Shutter. A rookie CB? Burn city. Safety? Oh no, whose supposed to be covering that guy?

Everybody is saying the FA market will be extremely bare this season so bring back our own guys and pile in as much talent behind them as possible. That gives us the best shot at improving next season and then beyond that. We have plenty of young guys now that will help the team be better next year.

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Jahvid Best...... thompson never takes OL in the first couple rounds.

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And he never trades up in the dra... err wait a tick...

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Daryn Colledge - 2nd round - 2006

Other useless statements based on what Ted Thompson "always" or "never" does in his grand total of five drafts.

1. Ted Thompson drafts a QB in the first two rounds of the draft 40% of the time.

2. Ted Thompson never drafts TEs in the first two rounds.

3. Ted Thompson always takes an offensive lineman or a defensive back in the 4th round.

Quit making up stupid pronouncements of what Ted Thompson always or never does in the draft. Especially when they're factually incorrect.

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Ted Thompson never signs FA :physassult:

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HoustonMatt - +1 for making a great point.

warhawk, +1 to you for raising an excellent - and often overlooked - point about Safety: physical skills are not as important as the ability to understand the game.

In this scheme, right from the word "Go" last off-season, the biggest concern regarding Nick Collins was his ability to communicate in this defense. It was stated back then that having a safety - especially the QB of the DBs - understand his responsibility and who to pick-up / when was essential to success in this scheme.

Notice the problems that arose when our Safety and CB had communication problems. Case in point: Against the Vikings at Minny, on a play that Derrik Martin is behind Al, who is covering Berrian. Al is turned around trying to get Martin more over to the sideline, and while this is happening Brett snaps the ball quickly, while Al turns around to see Berrian going past him. Martin, of course, is no where near Berrian either, and Favre throws for an easy TD.

When Bigby started to pick up his play in the latter quarter of the season, notice the improved communication that was implicated as being the reason for Bigby's improvement by Bigby himself. After one of the games where he had an INT, Bigby said he communicated with Woodson - who diagnosed the play correctly - and once he was aware of the play he and Woodson covered over / under and Atari got the INT.

Everyone wants a safety that they think has the physical skill set to play the pass and run well. But in this defensive scheme, it is not about just having all the physical tools; you have got to be able to understand and dissect the game in tune with your teammates.

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I don't think Eric Berry or Earl Thomas are on the board when GB picks. I think Taylor Mays is, but I'd avoid him if I were the Packers. He'll solve a team's problem if they lack run support, but GB lacks coverage/playmaking at SS and Mays hasn't proved he's either one in college. He's a project in my view.

I think you can address SS in the later rounds with maybe a Larry Asante from Nebraska. I could see him having an impact.

If the scenario where all the offensive lineman are gone plays out, I think they'll be a pass rusher there that would be tough to pass on. Someone like Sergio Kindle or Brandon Graham. I'd grab one of them.

You can also move down and grab the next best LT. This is a deep draft for that position.

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I like the idea of getting as many picks as possible in such a deep draft.

In Wes Bunting's first mock for the National Football Post he has OT Bruce Campbell, OT/OG Mike Iupati and RB CJ Spiller available to us at #23.

If it played out like that I'd be delighted.

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I'd love CJ Spiller, but I'd be suprised if he'd be available.

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If Okung, Cambell, Davis, Baluga, and Lupati, are all gone I would just let go of the thought of a first round 0L pick. Williams is not projected to be a LT in the NFL and Brown doesn't even weigh 300lbs and there are upper body strength issues with him. He's very athletic and has good feet but we already have problems with our run blocking and he won't fix that.

More than likely the players gone for sure by the time we pick will be Chiller, Bryant, Clausen, Bradford, Okung, Davis, Buluga, Lupati, Morgan, Williams(DE), Suh, McCoy, McClain, Hadden, and Berry. That, IMO, will be the top 15.

The next bunch is Williams (WR), Gresham, Brown & Williams (OT), Griffen, Dunlap, and Pierre-Paul, Price & Odrick, Graham, Warren, Thomas, and Best. There are certainly guys in that group I would hope Ted Thompson would not touch in the first round because I think it would just be a waste.

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