I dont quite understand the Akeem Dent pick

[miKevicK777]

I've heard some say hes just a backup since he doesnt have the speed to play outside and we got curtis inside and akeem isnt good at coverage so he'd be just a 2 down back backup and a speical teams player.

But that doesnt sound right to me, why would TD waste a round 3 pick for a 2 down backup middle linebacker?

Given how high he went, I have to assume Akeem will be competing for mike pete's job, am i right?

I'm guessing TD believes he can be an efficient starting OLB.

I'm assuming Akeem could be a diamond in the rough, there's no way TD just wasted a pick for a special teamer.

[Borat]

I've heard some say hes just a backup since he doesnt have the speed to play outside and we got curtis inside and akeem isnt good at coverage so he'd be just a 2 down back backup and a speical teams player.

But that doesnt sound right to me, why would TD waste a round 3 pick for a 2 down backup middle linebacker?

Given how high he went, I have to assume Akeem will be competing for mike pete's job, am i right?

I'm guessing TD believes he can be an efficient starting OLB.

I'm assuming Akeem could be a diamond in the rough, there's no way TD just wasted a pick for a special teamer.

There's no way he's not faster than Peterson, and surely a he's better tackler, so I don't see why he isn't an upgrade.

Edited May 7, 2011 by Borat.Sagdiyev

[The O.D.B]

I've heard some say hes just a backup since he doesnt have the speed to play outside and we got curtis inside and akeem isnt good at coverage so he'd be just a 2 down back backup and a speical teams player.

But that doesnt sound right to me, why would TD waste a round 3 pick for a 2 down backup middle linebacker?

Given how high he went, I have to assume Akeem will be competing for mike pete's job, am i right?

I'm guessing TD believes he can be an efficient starting OLB.

I'm assuming Akeem could be a diamond in the rough, there's no way TD just wasted a pick for a special teamer.

I think Akeem will be the one to answer this question. Did TD draft him for depth at LB,yes. Did TD draft him to strictly be depth for Lofton,no. My belief is that TD drafted him to take a starting job but it's up to Akeem to take it.

[ki46dinah]

For one, there is no such thing as a wasted pick for a special teamer, especially once you get to the third round and beyond...special teams are very integral, and as quite visible in our dropoff in spec teams coverage, just swapping guys in and out isnt the answer.

That being said, I could see him as the replacement for Mike...we have Lofton, Spoon, and should re-sign Nicholas to be the starters.

[birdz4i]

i don t understand why we would draft another lb that struggles in coverage. don t we already have enough of those already?

[Borat]

Just thinking aloud here, but what if he's Lofton's replacement?

I love Lofton, but he's no Patrick Willis, and he wants to get paid. What if TD thinks Dent can do the same things as Lofton for tons less?

[capologist]

I think Akeem will be the one to answer this question. Did TD draft him for depth at LB,yes. Did TD draft him to strictly be depth for Lofton,no. My belief is that TD drafted him to take a starting job but it's up to Akeem to take it.

Listening to what TD said about it, he was drafted to backup our current LB's (Nicholas, Weatherspoon and Lofton--Peterson may or may not return) in run support and play ST's.

Think we'd have been better going a different route but that's just me...

[Pacific_Falcon]

Cap is pretty much right on, DT said that he primarily drafted him to back up Lofton. This tells me DT may plan on re-signing Nicholas, or perhaps find some other option in FA.

[muskokas finest ©]

Drafted not for his 40 time, but for his physical and cerebral play. He can improve on Peterson and keep lofton from getting too worn down.

[delaigle]

One other speculation I've heard is that he will take Bierman's place on special teams.

this would keep Bierman off the field some and keep him "fresher"to play DE.

Then TD said he was a capable backup at all 3 LB positions.

You do not built a "team" by just adding more starters.

[Mid-Nite-Toker]

One other speculation I've heard is that he will take Bierman's place on special teams.

this would keep Bierman off the field some and keep him "fresher"to play DE.

Then TD said he was a capable backup at all 3 LB positions.

You do not built a "team" by just adding more starters.

I'm all with KB becoming a full time DE and the need to draft a good SPT player but not in round 3. This was the most contraversial pick I think TD made in the draft. We'll see what happens.

[wren]

First of I think Akeem Dent is not the pick we made so we can have a starting LB. He is the pick so we have a quality and FRESH DE.

Kroy had to play kickoff returns because we were getting eaten alive last season in the return game, if Dent can fill his role and allow Kroy to play full time DE (where is lack of size and strength require max effort) I think Biermann makes a huge jump in sack production. He is has already been recognized for making the QB get rid of the ball early as a hidden impact maker (or whatever they called it)

If he is fresh I am betting those pressures become sacks because he is a full to half a step faster being a whole lot fresher.

And for the addition of Julio, its not just that he is TO or Boldin on crystal meth (aka really fast)

Its not just that he runs like a TE (had to tackle alone) through the secondary.

Its that he demands that safety's play a deep cover two so you cannot drop even one safety into the box that makes all the difference.

Before Jones we had a controlled passing game (mostly short to intermediate) with a power run game. We learned form 1998 that if you have a power run game you need the threat of the play action pass deep to make defenses choose one or the other to take away. It was Jamal Anderson pounding defenses to death slowly or we would go up top to Martin for a quick 6.

We can now actually do all 3. We have deep play action threats on both sides (before the deep safety rolled to Roddy's side cause White can get deep in a hurry when its time) We have controlled underneath passes to Gonzalez and HD or even deep to HD or Jenkins as well as screen threats to Rodgers....

And of course option 1A is pound the rock with Turner and our mean Oline.

This draft is not so much about what each player brings to the the table themselves its how they affect the team.

And I also think in 2-3 years White might have to seed the #1 WR spot to Jones... He is just like Roddy but bigger, faster, stronger, and with better high point catch ability. He just needs to get where Roddy got with is hands and we are a THREAT!

[kschreck]

It's funny how some people say we don't have depth, yet we draft a guy in the third for depth and all of a sudden that's no good either...

[Robb4242]

I've heard some say hes just a backup since he doesnt have the speed to play outside and we got curtis inside and akeem isnt good at coverage so he'd be just a 2 down back backup and a speical teams player.

But that doesnt sound right to me, why would TD waste a round 3 pick for a 2 down backup middle linebacker?

Given how high he went, I have to assume Akeem will be competing for mike pete's job, am i right?

I'm guessing TD believes he can be an efficient starting OLB.

I'm assuming Akeem could be a diamond in the rough, there's no way TD just wasted a pick for a special teamer.

I think this year he's going to be a backup. IMO, he was drafted as Peterson's replacement in 2012. He brings nothing more to the table than Peterson does, basically he's going to be a 2 down LB. It looks like the coaching staff doesn't mind having a run down and pass down LB rotating in based on situations. I think that hurts us because we are predictable then and we expose our weaknesses to good QBs, which we have a couple of in this division.

[pzummo]

I've heard some say hes just a backup since he doesnt have the speed to play outside and we got curtis inside and akeem isnt good at coverage so he'd be just a 2 down back backup and a speical teams player.

But that doesnt sound right to me, why would TD waste a round 3 pick for a 2 down backup middle linebacker?

Given how high he went, I have to assume Akeem will be competing for mike pete's job, am i right?

I'm guessing TD believes he can be an efficient starting OLB.

I'm assuming Akeem could be a diamond in the rough, there's no way TD just wasted a pick for a special teamer.

It wasn't wasting a 3rd round pick on a STer. It was filling a hole on ST's with a third round pick. Last season, Biermann was playing Special Teams because our depth guys couldn't get it done. Drafting Dent made it possible to let Biermann concentrate on LDE and not gas himself running downfield on ST. Filling that hole improves our starters IMO.

In my opinion, our FO and coaches approached this draft with the intention of improving our starting 22. We did that with Julio. We did that with Dent and Matthews by filling holes on ST, allowing our starters to rest and focus on their position. We did that with Quizz by adding a different type of RB that will let us run different types of plays, expanding our playbook and giving Turner more rest. We hopefully did that with Bosher, if he can beat out Keonen and save us money to use in FA to fill any other holes.

I truly believe our coaches are happy with 90% of our roster. I think they have a few holes they want to address obviously. But overall, I think they are happy with our personnel and are not "needing" competition as much as they need to address the small gaps to let our current players reach their full potential.

[g-dawg]

First of I think Akeem Dent is not the pick we made so we can have a starting LB. He is the pick so we have a quality and FRESH DE.

Yeah, this makes total sense. We drafted a special teamer in 3rd round to help our underachieving defensive end go from 4 sacks/yr to 5 sacks/yr....

Next draft, we will use our 2nd rounder on a massage therapist so that Michael Turner can recover faster after Sunday games.

[Robb4242]

Yeah, this makes total sense. We drafted a special teamer in 3rd round to help our underachieving defensive end go from 4 sacks/yr to 5 sacks/yr....

Next draft, we will use our 2nd rounder on a massage therapist so that Michael Turner can recover faster after Sunday games.

Hey that might not be a bad idea.

[Sheldon Cooper]

Dent is supposed to be one of the best run defenders at LB in this class. He has played inside and out in college but i dont see him doing a lot of that in the NFL. I can see him backing up all three positions on run plays.

[kierstendawg]

Hey that might not be a bad idea.

ADent was not drafted just to back up CLofton, nor just to rest Bierman, he was drafted for both as well as what someone else said, to backup all three LB spots. He played all three positions over his career at UGA, he fits the Falcons mold in that he is an extremely hard worker, he was the leader of UGA's defense and he could very well develop into a starting role at some point, not to mention he was excellent on special teams. His versatility, knowledge of all three LB spots, work ethic, and leadership are worth the third round for me. I like the pick and think he will surprise some of you.

scouting report link "http://ajc.stats.com/nfldraft/players.asp?id=141762"

Edited May 7, 2011 by kierstendawg

[g-dawg]

ADent was not drafted just to back up CLofton, nor just to rest Bierman, he was drafted for both as well as what someone else said, to backup all three LB spots. He played all three positions over his career at UGA, he fits the Falcons mold in that he is an extremely hard worker, he was the leader of UGA's defense and he could very well develop into a starting role at some point, not to mention he was excellent on special teams. His versatility, knowledge of all three LB spots, work ethic, and leadership are worth the third round for me. I like the pick and think he will surprise some of you.

scouting report link "http://ajc.stats.com/nfldraft/players.asp?id=141762"

the reason we drafted Akeem Dent is because he is a....

[jddurden]

Just thinking aloud here, but what if he's Lofton's replacement?

I love Lofton, but he's no Patrick Willis, and he wants to get paid. What if TD thinks Dent can do the same things as Lofton for tons less?

That's a very New England-ish way of thinking. I think he's to good to let go, but maybe TD doesn't.

[d#d#d#]

We need a MLB that can cover worth a ****, not 2x 2 down LB's like what we now have...

[Abe]

Thomas said we didn't have a good option if Lofton went down. He saw this as an opportunity to pick up a great run stopper that could fill in for Lofton if we needed.

[Blank's Consigliere]

Just thinking aloud here, but what if he's Lofton's replacement?

I love Lofton, but he's no Patrick Willis, and he wants to get paid. What if TD thinks Dent can do the same things as Lofton for tons less?

There's a guy at Marshall that plays LB named Mario Harvey from Forsyth, Ga. who is a heck of alot better. In my humble opinion.

[wilco]

reach imho