FanPost

FA and where we draft what.

It all begins with free agency. The main questions are two fold!

First: Can we sign a lineman and a DB while keeping Shelly for approx. 20m ? Choose who you want for what you can get. Saffold, Veldheer, and the list goes on. Byrd, Verner, Jenkins Tillman, Bailey, whoever! But I feel we can squeeze Shelly into this budget to retain these

Second: Is with who we sign along with who we target to draft with in our projected budget in years 2015,16,and 17?

That is it in a nut shell. Who we retain will dictate how and who we draft. Even if we sign a good tackle it appears that most fans still want to use an early draft pick for Mathews or Robinson. I pretty much agree. I love Robinson for his road grading run block ability ,Plus! Now with Mathews we seem to like his all around skill set and pedigree. So having signed a solid big ugly we will have a better posture to make moves with picks. And choose who and what to target. Some one brought up the other day that we really need 4 to 6 keepers. And that is the perfect storm. But not a stretch if we sign a tackle and a corner/safety in free agency.

Things are getting sketchy with other teams posturing. Jags have singed a DE and OL's. They say they want a QB but I think they will grab a couple later rather than the first pick. I think they are targeting Mack. And so is the Brownie. If Houston does go QB and not the Clown then we have Jax, Cle, and Atl maybe to work with at #2. But if we don't get that trade down from these things get really sketchy. The Raider will spend a ton in FA, because they have to. Or lose it. So its wide open what drafting tact they will take. And because of Jax and Cle's eye rolling at QB's as early necessity, The Viking may want to play up. Tampa??? No matter what, I am not sure we get much. So what if we just draft conventionally at #2 Do we take OL or WR? With our second we would have to choose the OL and WR out of the top 5 or seven respectively. Sure we want some play/trading #2. Then we may take that ammo to allow trading UP to grab two strong early selections, Then our masterminds get solid return on mid to late round picks. I am really impressed so far with their judgement of character and talent. 4 to 6 solids due to a pick trade. But the first two questions about free agency have to be answered first! We may get freaky success like trading down at 2 for anywhere from 3 to 10 with a 2nd and/or 3rd and a 2nd next year. Then perhaps the 13 swap with Miami and give them the extra second for 2015 #1. Anything can happen. A ton of scenarios. We can take shots IF we sign the right FA's.

We will all see what happens beginning Tuesday!