Lomax to Green 84
Hall of Famer
6'2" 230 lbs. and a 4.3 40. David Boston's numbers you ask? Yes, but also Andre Johnson's. Many on this board, myself included, are frustrated at the thought of drafting Johnson because it seems to be typical Cardinal business practice: Lose a good player (Boston) to free agency and then replace him with a top draft pick. Its the horizontal approach (losing and replacing, losing and replacing) and never getting any better. However, this does not appear to be a typical Cardinal offseason. Things looked incredibly bleak 4 weeks ago, but the front office has made some things happen.
The eternal optimist could look at the current Cardinal roster and say that the Cards are only 2 players away from making a serious playoff run. The offensive line looks strong with excellent depth, the quarterback situation appears better than last year, our running back situation is much improved, the linebackers are fast and we have good depth, and our secondary is as fast as it has been in years.
The two glaring weaknesses that must be addressed are a go to #1 receiver and a stud pass rusher. The eternal optimist would go so far as to say that we have a decent #2 in either McAddley or Jenkins if he resigns, a decent #3 in Kasper, and an unknown but speedy #3 or #4 in Bryan Gilmore. Also the eternal optimist would say that we are at least relatively deep at the defensive tackle position with 3 serviceable lunchpale types and one (Wendell Bryant) who has potential to be very good. We have 2 blue collar scrappers at defensive end (Vandenbosch and Wakefield) and a raw unknown talent in Dennis Johnson.
The two obvious choices in the draft that the Cards appear to have somewhat of a chance at are Terrell Suggs and Andre Johnson. Suggs, despite the less than stellar workout, still is a longshot to be there at #6. My guess is that he tells his workout guru to take a hike, gets his weight back to a more natural 248-252 (Andre Carter like) and runs a very respectable 4.6 and gets back into the good graces of the Texans and Bears. Johnson may very well be there at #6. Questions abound about his concentration, the fact that very few receivers make an impact their rookie year, and his hands. There are, however, no questions regarding his physical tools (tremendous size, great speed, great leaping ability).
Why does Andre Johnson make sense? Compare Johnson as a draft eligible junior to David Boston as a draft eligible junior. Johnson is both bigger and faster than Boston was when Boston first came out. Johnson would have the guidance of Jerry Sullivan that Boston did not have his first 2 seasons. Johnson would have a quarterback who specializes in the deep pass and Boston had Plummer who was absolutely horrible in 1999. Many say that Boston made zero impact his rookie season, but if you recall he did quite well in the games that Dave Brown played in because they let Boston go deep and Brown threw a nice deep ball.
The Cardinals are not going to solve all of their weaknesses in one offseason. They need to pick and choose what they address and what they hope they can fill with the current roster. There certainly is temptation to trade away draft choices to move up to guarantee a spot for Suggs, but the safest and smartest choice would be to sit still at #6 and let the best guy fall your way. If neither Suggs or Johnson is there at #6 then look to trade down.
Just a long winded thought.
The eternal optimist could look at the current Cardinal roster and say that the Cards are only 2 players away from making a serious playoff run. The offensive line looks strong with excellent depth, the quarterback situation appears better than last year, our running back situation is much improved, the linebackers are fast and we have good depth, and our secondary is as fast as it has been in years.
The two glaring weaknesses that must be addressed are a go to #1 receiver and a stud pass rusher. The eternal optimist would go so far as to say that we have a decent #2 in either McAddley or Jenkins if he resigns, a decent #3 in Kasper, and an unknown but speedy #3 or #4 in Bryan Gilmore. Also the eternal optimist would say that we are at least relatively deep at the defensive tackle position with 3 serviceable lunchpale types and one (Wendell Bryant) who has potential to be very good. We have 2 blue collar scrappers at defensive end (Vandenbosch and Wakefield) and a raw unknown talent in Dennis Johnson.
The two obvious choices in the draft that the Cards appear to have somewhat of a chance at are Terrell Suggs and Andre Johnson. Suggs, despite the less than stellar workout, still is a longshot to be there at #6. My guess is that he tells his workout guru to take a hike, gets his weight back to a more natural 248-252 (Andre Carter like) and runs a very respectable 4.6 and gets back into the good graces of the Texans and Bears. Johnson may very well be there at #6. Questions abound about his concentration, the fact that very few receivers make an impact their rookie year, and his hands. There are, however, no questions regarding his physical tools (tremendous size, great speed, great leaping ability).
Why does Andre Johnson make sense? Compare Johnson as a draft eligible junior to David Boston as a draft eligible junior. Johnson is both bigger and faster than Boston was when Boston first came out. Johnson would have the guidance of Jerry Sullivan that Boston did not have his first 2 seasons. Johnson would have a quarterback who specializes in the deep pass and Boston had Plummer who was absolutely horrible in 1999. Many say that Boston made zero impact his rookie season, but if you recall he did quite well in the games that Dave Brown played in because they let Boston go deep and Brown threw a nice deep ball.
The Cardinals are not going to solve all of their weaknesses in one offseason. They need to pick and choose what they address and what they hope they can fill with the current roster. There certainly is temptation to trade away draft choices to move up to guarantee a spot for Suggs, but the safest and smartest choice would be to sit still at #6 and let the best guy fall your way. If neither Suggs or Johnson is there at #6 then look to trade down.
Just a long winded thought.
