few highlights

[Wesson44]

Mike Mulligan checked in from the airport in Florida on his way from the owners meetings.

 

He got a couple interesting tidbits during breakfast with Lovie Smith Wednesday morning. Check right here for his full story.

 

A few highlights:

 

*** Smith projected that Mike Brown will be the starting free safety. Presumably, that means Danieal Manning is out of a job and Brandon McGowan and Kevin Payne will battle for the strong safety job.

 

*** Smith reiterated John Tait could be moved from left tackle to right tackle depending on what kind of personnel is added. He couldn’t name an offensive line, though, or a quarterback. And then there’s the situation at running back. Smith called the position deep in the draft.

 

*** As expected, Israel Idonije has been moved inside to defensive tackle.

 

*** Smith said he expects running back Cedric Benson to be ``motivated.’’ No word on what happened in terms of motivation in 2005-2007.

 

*** No player will ever be taken out of the role they’re best in, so Devin Hester will not disappear as a returner. That doesn’t mean he won’t be spelled at time to time by Manning or maybe Rashied Davis.

 

*** The quarterback job between Rex Grossman and Kyle Orton will be decided in training camp. Bourbonnais, here we come.

[DrunkBomber]

I really hope the news on Tait means were drafting a LT in the first round.

[adam]

So OL and RB in the draft then.

[nfoligno]

I really hope the news on Tait means were drafting a LT in the first round.

 

If I had to guess, I would suspect we have several players we are looking at in the 1st who, if we drafted them, could move Tait to the right side, but we are leaving it open as we can no predict how the draft plays out. For example, if...

 

Miami or Stl take Jake Long,

 

KC takes Albert (which I would have never thought, but his stock seems to have moved up so much. Kiper now has them taking him in his mock, and PFW is saying KC is not in love w/ Clady, but does really like Albert, and feels he is a great fit for their scheme.

 

Baltimore takes Clady to replace Ogden

 

Denver takes Clady

 

Carolina takes Otah.

 

That would leave Cherilius (strictly a RT) and Baker (a massive reach) for us. This is a worst case scenario, but it in fact possible. Point is, while I think Angelo would like to draft a LT and move Tait, there is no guarantee a LT will fall to us to allow us such a move.

 

A question I would ask is, can we interpret from Angelo's comments that he does "want" to move Tait, and that he does feel Tait should be playing RT? If so, would that mean we are less likely to draft a RT as that would basically eliminate our ability to move Tait. Could this take Otah off our board?

[nfoligno]

So OL and RB in the draft then.

 

The impression I get is OL is our top choice in round one, and RB is a choice in the 2nd or 3rd. I get this impression because

 

- If he is thinking about moving Tait, that means we want to add a LT, and IMHO, that means our top choice. I do not think any OTs available after that point are likely to start at LT.

 

- He talks about how deep the draft class is at RB, which to me implies he believes he can get a very good RB later, and for better value.

[madlithuanian]

Beware of smokescreens...'tis the season for mis-information.

 

The impression I get is OL is our top choice in round one, and RB is a choice in the 2nd or 3rd. I get this impression because

 

- If he is thinking about moving Tait, that means we want to add a LT, and IMHO, that means our top choice. I do not think any OTs available after that point are likely to start at LT.

 

- He talks about how deep the draft class is at RB, which to me implies he believes he can get a very good RB later, and for better value.

[nfoligno]

But is it a smokescrean when the world can see the fire? From outer space?

 

OT is a need? Um, yea.

We would consider moving to to RT. Um, said that long ago.

RB is deep this year? Wow. Shocker.

 

If he slipped out some info that may not otherwise be so obvious, I too might chalk it up to smoke. If it was reported that Angelo was really impressed w/ Broham, while it may be true, that I would say has absolute potential for smoke.

 

I remember some year back when Hatley talked about needing a pass rusher, and fans freaked out when SF leap frogged us to take Andre Carter, blaming Hatley for loose lips. I always laughed. It was like fans felt it was a secret we needed a pass rushing DE. Still makes me smile.

 

Maybe it is all smoke, but when the obvious is stated, I don't think much of it. Now, if Angelo talked about how confident he was in Beekman, or how well he felt St Clair could fill in at OT, then I would agree w/ the smoke call.

[madlithuanian]

true enough...

 

I just tend not to believe anything until May...

 

But is it a smokescrean when the world can see the fire? From outer space?

 

OT is a need? Um, yea.

We would consider moving to to RT. Um, said that long ago.

RB is deep this year? Wow. Shocker.

 

If he slipped out some info that may not otherwise be so obvious, I too might chalk it up to smoke. If it was reported that Angelo was really impressed w/ Broham, while it may be true, that I would say has absolute potential for smoke.

 

I remember some year back when Hatley talked about needing a pass rusher, and fans freaked out when SF leap frogged us to take Andre Carter, blaming Hatley for loose lips. I always laughed. It was like fans felt it was a secret we needed a pass rushing DE. Still makes me smile.

 

Maybe it is all smoke, but when the obvious is stated, I don't think much of it. Now, if Angelo talked about how confident he was in Beekman, or how well he felt St Clair could fill in at OT, then I would agree w/ the smoke call.