Summerhill

I don't think he looks raw to me. I see a player who can use speed and power and who plays hard and hustles. Even if he is raw, there is plenty precedent for physically talented, raw defensive linemen getting better in the NFL. I remember watching Ziggy Ansah's tape when he was coming out and thinking he looked awful and he quickly became a really good player.

I have to assume Takk will go against Solder and we’ll hope Beasley can beat whatever scrub they’re replacing Flowers with.

For the record I'm not questioning the lack of dog in any player. I'm more saying that Takk McKinnley has a hard to match level of dog in him.

I like it. What is your projection for Christian Miller? A dedicated pass rusher or replacement for Devondre Campbell?

Nothing personal but I think these limited highlight videos are pointless. Every good prospect has highlights. You learn the most watching the videos that have every snap from a game. There are a lot of those for Ferrell out there.

I'm a Gator and tend to be hard on players' pro prospects. IE I didn't think Keanu Neal was as good as everyone else thought. Here are my takes: Jabari Zuniga, Cece Jefferson, Jachai Polite: All three are good college edge rushers. None of them are big enough to be base NFL DE's, but Polite is closest. The question is how much dog do they have in them to play above their weight like Takk McKinnley. Adam Shuler: Grad transfer who has some potential as a base DE and nickel DT, like a Jack Crawford type. David Reese: Decent 2-down thumper. Vosean Joseph: Good player but I worry about his size. I'd rather see a player his size at SS in college and then bump him down to LB in the NFL. Secondary: There are a ton of players back here. They're all fairly young so I don't have the best idea who is at the top but I feel like our best pro talent is somewhere in here.

Has anyone mentioned Peyton Manning and Demaryius Thomas? Thomas got extended the offseason before Denver won the Super Bowl. Regarding Freeman, it may well turn out to be a mistake re-signing him, but it's worth pointing out at $8m per season he's being paid in the old running back market. Gurley just re-upped for almost $15m per year. Leveon Bell's unsigned franchise tender is over $14m.

Oh are you saying there is more than one way to build a successful football team and the Falcons have benefitted from spending resources in other areas than offensive line that the Saints have not been able to benefit from, potentially by spending so much on the line? Imagine that! (This sarcasm is directed at Falcons fans, not you guys.)

It is without question the Falcons have been spending a ton of money on the offensive line and until very recently been getting good results from it. In a vacuum you can argue they should have been using some decent draft picks on developmental linemen to eventually replace the older starters, but the Falcons have overall been drafting pretty well so it's hard to substitute one good player at one position for an offensive linemen. One can pretty easily look at Jalen Collins as one spot where a lineman could have been picked, but Collins was a huge part of replacing Truffant during the Super Bowl run and not suffering too much for it. Without Collins, the Falcons most likely lose early in that playoff run. That said, there were some good linemen available at that pick, namely Mitch Morse and Rob Havenstein. You can argue Austin Hooper has been a pretty average draft player and that pick could have been used on a lineman but I don't recognize anyone drafted after him as anyone of merit. Same with the Duke Riley pick.

He's a pass rusher. He may also be able to be a off-ball coverage linebacker like Riley but his pass rushing will likely get him drafted higher than what the Falcons want to spend to replace Riley and fill all their other needs.

If there's anything good about this season it's that Neal and Allen's injuries occurred at the very beginning so they have as long of time as possible to be right for next season.

This is too effin' rich. Yes, the Saints have generally had a good offensive line during the Brees era. But where is the effin' winning? New Orleans' record since Payton got hired, including the 2012 season he was suspended for, is 116-81 for a 0.588 winning percentage. The Falcons' record combining Mike Smith and Dan Quinn with their turrible offensive lines is 96-69 for a 0.581 winning percentage. The Falcons have had virtually the exact same winning percentage as the great Sean Payton and Drew Brees with bum coaches Mike Smith and Dan Quinn, noodle-armed Matt Ryan and their turrible offensive lines. Sean Payton has been head coach for 11 full seasons and missed the playoffs 5 times. (The Saints also missed the playoffs the year he was suspended.) How do you miss the playoffs with Drew Brees? How? And with those great offensive lines?!?!?!?!?!

There is truth to that. Roethlisberger and Brees are future Hall of Famers. Cam Newton won a MVP and while Andy Dalton is not all that, he's currently in his 8th season as an unquestioned NFL starter and will likely go another 4-5 years.

Emmitt obviously played forever, but he clearly peaked in 1995 when he was 26 years old. He was never the same player after that and was pretty much a league average RB the rest of his career. Sometimes the really big guys wear down quickly, too, because they play so physical. He took a lot of abuse in college, too. He might be similar to Trent Richardson who came into the NFL already damaged.

He's been hit roughly 1,000 times in his career and is not a large man at 5'8" 200 lbs.