Best Player Available Strategy

[Ohio]

Noway to Bowers, noway. We have to many DE's.

A.J. Green is the pick people.

[Catalyst]

I would take Peterson over Fairley. I would take Bowers over Fairley. But I would take A.J. Green over any player in this draft and it's not even close.

- Fairley and Bowers both are coming off their only good years in college. Both were basically invisible until this year. That worries me. A LOT.

- A.J. Green on the other hand, has been dominating since the day he stepped onto the practice field for UGA.

- Fairley is a smaller, pass rushing DT. I'm not sure how he'll hold up to the run in the NFL. He's Damione Lewis; would you take Damione Lewis 1st overall?

- Fairley has character concerns, Green does not. Bowers doesn't either, not does Peterson, but Green is the better prospect.

- Say what you will, I believe Smith is gone come the offseason. We'll know if/when he is traded that they've made up their mind to take Green. Then again, it's entirely possible they wait until draft day to move him.

[vorbis]

it's a myth that Fairley is a smaller, solely pass rushing DT. the guy is 6'5" 300+. to my eyes he picked up some weight as the college season went along this year. he has the frame to add as much weight as he or defensive coaches deem necessary. he's a monster in the interior line. when kris jenkins was drafted by the panthers in 2001, he was listed at 6'4 3/4", 316 pounds.

[Catalyst]

He can add some weight, sure. But good weight? I just worry about his only having one good year in college. And his maturity when it comes to transitioning to the NFL. He won't go unblocked twice in one game in the NFL. And if he starts any of his antics in the NFL he might just get his a** kicked right there on the field.

[vorbis]

He can add some weight, sure. But good weight? I just worry about his only having one good year in college. And his maturity when it comes to transitioning to the NFL. He won't go unblocked twice in one game in the NFL. And if he starts any of his antics in the NFL he might just get his a** kicked right there on the field.

define "bad weight" with respect to a defensive tackle. that is a rhetorical question.

i agree though, if the panthers pass over fairley, it will be because either they think a) they have a kickass trade offer to move down, green is a more impactful player, or c) because fairley is kind of a jerk and they'd rather not have those sorts of stories on espn.com referring to a panthers player. nick flair isn't going to have his pants pulled down against the falcons or anything. he's an asshole, and i mean that in the best possible way.

the one good season that fairley had doesn't really scare me, honestly, because he was something to be dealt with in every game that auburn played this season, as far as i can tell. everybody in the SEC who pays attention to defense recognized that auburn was decent at best on the defensive side, except for this real d-bag who lines up in the middle of the d-line. and he still disrupted game plans and made life miserable for coaches who take the fidelity of the interior offensive line for granted. that matters to me, whether a guy does it for one game or 4 whole seasons.

[Catalyst]

Bad weight would be adding too much weight so that it slows him down. He's not a space-eater; those guys can pretty much add as much weight as they want within reason and be alright because their job is to take on blockers and let the linebackers and DE's get after the QB.

Fairley is a pass rushing DT. He's a penetrator that relies on his quick first step to get into the backfield. Adding too much weight could slow him down and therefore neutralize his best trait.