The Implication of Taking Doucet

[cardsfanmd]

This is being over-analyzed. Our WR corps was Boldin, Larry, and a bunch of stiffs. Just because he lacks ideal speed, the basic fact remains that we only had two good wideouts. Name a team that succeeds without 3 good ones.

Almost every good team.

 

[Mulli]

Almost every good team.

I dunno, both Super Bowl teams has some "good" receivers.

 

[cardsfanmd]

I dunno, both Super Bowl teams has some "good" receivers.

The Pats had 3 strong ones, but the Giants sure didn't. They had Plaxico and an improving Steve Smith and that was it.

Who were the studs on NE's recieving corps for their last two SBs? Jabar Gafney?? Reche Caldwell??

Who were Chicago's studs 2 years ago in the SB?

How about Jacksonville, the Chargers, or my personal fav, the Seahawks?The Skins had maybe the worst recieving corp in the league last year and made it to the playoffs. The Eagles went to three straight NFC Championship games with no one better than Todd Pinkston at WR. They then added TO and only made it one game further.

I guess my point is that WRs are overrated to begin with. Team's strength in the trenches wins games IMO. We are better than almost anyone with Fitz and Boldin alone.

 

[Mulli]

The Pats had 3 strong ones, but the Giants sure didn't. They had Plaxico and an improving Steve Smith and that was it.

Who were the studs on NE's recieving corps for their last two SBs? Jabar Gafney?? Reche Caldwell??

Who were Chicago's studs 2 years ago in the SB?

How about Jacksonville, the Chargers, or my personal fav, the Seahawks?The Skins had maybe the worst recieving corp in the league last year and made it to the playoffs. The Eagles went to three straight NFC Championship games with no one better than Todd Pinkston at WR. They then added TO and only made it one game further.

I guess my point is that WRs are overrated to begin with. Team's strength in the trenches wins games IMO. We are better than almost anyone with Fitz and Boldin alone.

Giants has Toomer and the guy who made the ******** good circus catch whilst wearing a Rodney Harrison dress. So I guess you need a guy who can may ******** good circus catch whilst wearing a Rodney Harrison dress. Tyree?

 

[Stout]

First, all teams try to outscore their oppenents, as it is the point of the game.

I hate to break this to you, but do not expect to see us run much more this year 'cause it ain gonna happen. Whiz had a run first mentality coming here because it is easier to be a good running team than a good passing one. When you have two Pro Bowl WRs and a hell of a QB things change my man.

Regardless, our lack of a "speed burner" did not keep us out of the playoffs last year, it was our lack of defense, depth and fg kick/punting that killed us. If there was some players that we "needed" they were not WRs, they were a CB and defensive depth. We did that. I was hoping for a new P or K, but that has yet to happen. I am assuming that Seattle will cut either Jeff Wilkins or Brandon Coutu and we could bring in the odd man out to compete with (embarrass) Rackers.

Geez, I didn't know teams tried to outscore their opponents

Moving on, we had damn well better run more than last season. Note that this does not mean I feel we should try to become a smashmouth running team that constantly runs. We just need to run more than last year. Winning teams don't focus on the pass as much as we did last year, on the whole. We need at least a decent run game to win, IMO.

I'm not saying a lack of a speed WR kept us out of the playoffs, per se, but it didn't help us either. With a solid, speedy #3, we have a chance of beating New Orleans last year when we couldn't seem to get open. We have a shot of continuing drives and getting quicker strikes in a lot of games. Would we have made the playoffs with one? Impossible to tell. Would we be a better team today if we had one? Without question. That's all I'm saying.

 

[john h]

NE just took a QB, is Brady on the block? ESPN is stupid. Boldin will be an issue next off season.

He may be an issue this season if he is unhappy?

 

[Cardiac]

Without seeing the Cards draft board we can only guess that Doucett was in fact a purely BPA pick. Having said that it is obvious that he was indeed a great value pick in the 3rd round. He also gives us a much needed upgrade/competition at the 3rd WR position. In my mind he is also insurance in case Q can't be kept happy/extended.

As many of us are concerned about the potential loss of Dansby and not having a clear back up plan this is a step in the right direction. My hope is that we can continue to keep our true top notch talent but in todays NFL the salary cap makes this incredibly hard to accomplish. I would be amazed and very impressed if we don't lose someone we would ideally like to keep on the team.

Based on this year's draft and acquisitions Dansby leaving would create the biggest hole in our roster. Q's potential departure is less of an impact due to having Fitz, drafting Doucett and the fact that we will receive some great draft picks for him.

 

[john h]

I wasn't crazy about the pick, but I understand why they did it.

I wouldn't read too much of the Boldin-issue into the pick - we needed a slot guy to replace BJ and Doucet was there in the 3rd. I had him #52 on my big board (and 2nd to Dexter Jackson rating receivers in terms of fit within the Cardinal system. We got him at #81 - a good value. I would have liked someone faster, but this wasn't a very deep year for quick, mobile wideouts.

My main beef was at the beginning of the day when SD traded up to the first spot (giving up a 6th round pick) in order to nab Kevin Smith. We could have done something like that (if not for Smith, at least a couple of picks later in order to secure Charles). Instead, we sat on our thumbs. With Slaton off the board, there are no "home run" RB's left that I'm aware of.

What we get in Doucet is a guy who, although he runs a 4.59, is the polished product of a pretty good LSU program and who can be expected to contribute right away. Other than the lack of speed, the major knocks on him is that he talks too much trash and will drop too many easy ones because he tries to run before he secures the ball.

Bottom line - An OK pick - not a great one. (Note - At the top of my board when our pick came up was: Avril, Schuening, Rubin, DeCoud, Branch, Adibi, Zbikowski, Kehl, Okam, Josh Johnson, Henderson, Leman, Stevens and Morgan in that order).

For me the question remains "will we be a better running team than last year?" If we are, it will be because of a better OL and not because of a better RB. A team who expects to make the playoffs must be able to run the ball as all of you know. We were one of the worst running teams in the NFL last year. Addressing the running game should have been a high priority but apparently was not. I do not understand that. Just how much better did our OL get? Well, our guys have more experience is about all I can say other than maybe some guys that were injured will be back. If we start off and cannot run for what ever reason we will once again have to go to the pass and that will probably mean Warner will have to be the QB as he can and has the experience to conduct a pass only game. Unless we caught lighting in a bottle with Hightower we start this season with the same old running game while Whiz wants to run at least half the time. Who had more input into the draft? Graves, Whiz, the Scouts, or who. You can say by committee but committee's to not make the final choice. Some individual has to standup and say this is the man we are taking. Some teams you clearly know who is in charge and who will make the decision and take the responsibility. A team like Dallas and Jerry Jones is a prime example. Who is the "responsible" person on our drafting staff? Just like on a battle field someone individual has to be in charge. You cannot have a gang of leaders with no one taking responsibility.

 

[Divide Et Impera]

As you know, I took some heat for having him as the first receiver off the board. Clearly I liked him a great deal if I had him going 11 to Buffalo. If he stays healthy, he will be an impact receiver in the NFL. Here’s the concern. He is not the type of receiver who can spread the field. You can only have some many receivers running 15 yard patterns if you hope to get any separation of defenders. To me this only means one thing. Despite the denials, the Cards are seriously considering trading Boldin.
Doucet is a fine player and easily worth this pick. He just doesn’t fit with the other two receivers.

I'm gonna chime in and say that you are as wrong about this as you were about him being the first WR picked....

 

[cardsfanmd]

Geez, I didn't know teams tried to outscore their opponents

Moving on, we had damn well better run more than last season. Note that this does not mean I feel we should try to become a smashmouth running team that constantly runs. We just need to run more than last year. Winning teams don't focus on the pass as much as we did last year, on the whole. We need at least a decent run game to win, IMO.

I'm not saying a lack of a speed WR kept us out of the playoffs, per se, but it didn't help us either. With a solid, speedy #3, we have a chance of beating New Orleans last year when we couldn't seem to get open. We have a shot of continuing drives and getting quicker strikes in a lot of games. Would we have made the playoffs with one? Impossible to tell. Would we be a better team today if we had one? Without question. That's all I'm saying.

I agree it would be nice to add a player like that, you just seem to make it out to be a bigger need than it really is. Also, I have given up my hopes towards building a smashmouth football team. Those types of teams dont make finesse WRs the highest paid guys at their positions.

 

[football karma]

Geez, I didn't know teams tried to outscore their opponents


I'm not saying a lack of a speed WR kept us out of the playoffs, per se, but it didn't help us either. With a solid, speedy #3, we have a chance of beating New Orleans last year when we couldn't seem to get open. We have a shot of continuing drives and getting quicker strikes in a lot of games. Would we have made the playoffs with one? Impossible to tell. Would we be a better team today if we had one? Without question. That's all I'm saying.

the bolded part is the tricky part, the speedy is the easy part. No question the NFL puts a premium on speed, but the fact that there were plenty of WRs who ran fast 40s at the combine still around in the third round says alot about their other attributes as WRs.

What good is stetch the field speed if they guy just gets jammed at the LOS or cant be counted on to come up with the ball when its thrown to him?