No Mays

by klarue24 on Jan 14, 2009 12:58 AM CST Comment 7 comments

As Head Coach Pete Carrol announced today, Taylor Mays, USC's premier safety will no enter the 2009 Draft and will return to play another season under Carrol.

It was widely considered that with the health problems and lack of consistency of Green Bay Safety Atari Bigby, the Packers might grab Mays at their number nine selection in the upcoming draft. That however, will not be an option for the Pack. it now comes fairly apparent, with no other premier safety worth taking with the ninth pick and the talent and depth at every other skill position, that Green Bay must take an Offensive Lineman (such as Monroe) or a Defensive Lineman (McCoy, Orakpo, Maybin). Most of that will hinge on Green Bay's activity in the Free Agent Market and which Lineman they throw money at (If TT throws any at all). If they do pick up Haynesworth or Peppers the tradtional choice would be Monroe. Vice Versa with Jordan Gross and the D-Lineman mentioned above.

I cant believe these words are coming out of a packer fans mouth, but I would embrace a trade down to the mid-teens if we could still snag any of the players mentioned above. Throw in Oher if he does well at the Combine.

Obviously Lineman are not sexy draft picks but it is what we desprately need if we have any hope of taking the NFC North Crown back from the Vikings. And with TT's prowess at drafting I expect to have a much improved roster on April 28th.

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My first thought when seeing Taylor Mays:

he’s going to be better than Sean Taylor.

Maybe in order to understand mankind, we have to look at the word itself: "Mankind". Basically, it's made up of two separate words—"mank" and "ind". What do these words mean? It's a mystery, and that's why so is mankind.
-Jack Handey

by jobe on Jan 14, 2009 3:12 AM CST reply actions 0 recs

Agreed

i felt the same way but the name that came to my mind was Ed Reed. With Collins coming into his own we would have the best safety Combination in the Leauge. Hopefully we can get him next year with the 32nd pick!

by klarue24 on Jan 14, 2009 11:17 AM CST reply actions 0 recs

He's a bit taller than Ed Reed

and I know Taylor Mays is the fastest guy on the USC team, which is really saying something, but even I don’t see Taylor Mays having the kind of range Ed Reed does. The Ravens coaches have Ed play deep in the Cover One more often than any other safety in the league. And to be honest, Mays is already stronger against the run than what Reed is. Mays has similar stature to the late Sean Taylor, so I think its Sean Taylor.

Don’t laugh, guys, but Nick Collins is like a poor man’s version of Ed Reed. Packer coaches trust him to be the deep man in the cover one very often, which means he has just insane range, and when he picks off a ball, I honestly feel like his runback skills are second only to Ed Reed. Remember that pick in the Indy game?

by jobe on Jan 14, 2009 1:35 PM CST up reply actions 0 recs

Still young

I don’t think we should give up on Bigby so quickly. I don’t know about his play being “inconsistent”. It seems that anybody in the secondary gets burned, especially when they’re young. It seemed that we weren’t prone to giving up the big play as much with Bigby back there.
I think Williams was a little inconsistent, but much improved this year.
I was very encouraged by the play of Rouse. I think he could evolve into a solid starter in years to come.
Overall, I feel that Woodson and Harris are doing an OUTSTANDING job of mentoring our secondary. I think the only reason we’re looking at secondary is to possibly get a gamebreaker with that pick. Linemen are our bigger “need”, but they may be leftovers by the time the 9th pick comes around.

by Lee-Roy Jenkins on Jan 14, 2009 9:04 PM CST reply actions 0 recs

+1

I think the secondary help can come later in the draft as well. we may not get a play maker but do we really want one? who are we williing to have sit on a third down? None of the corners, not Nick Collins and Bigby does deserve a second shot and if Mays is not in the draft why waste that pick for a safety that won’t make a difference this season.

Lets face it how many corners or safeties in the draft are NFL championship team ready? (as i believe we will bounce back this year and make a run) we need the help where a rookie can make a difference the DLINE!

by bizzle4 on Jan 15, 2009 12:03 AM CST up reply actions 0 recs

Filling a need at safety

Watching Bigby and Rouse take bad angles, while showing off their lack of speed, on a few big plays in 2008 as really brought the safety position forward as an area of need. But I’m not sure it’s worthy of the 9th overall pick either. Bigby does deserve another shot due to all the injuries he suffered in 2008. I’m really down on Rouse after his promising 2007 season, but he had a lot of injuries in 2008 too.

I’m not sold on Mays either. After watching Harrell struggle as a pro, I’m gunshy on another talented player who had trouble staying healthy in college.

by Brandon on Jan 14, 2009 11:08 PM CST reply actions 0 recs

Agreed

My point was that now that Mays is staying another year, there is no choice but a lineman. no other playmaker will be valuable to our team as a lineman. i do believe that with Mays in the draft there would have beena very good case for getting him. i like bigby but he tries to lay everyone out. we did miss his energy this year no doubt but if Rouse can develop like i think he can i believe he will take his starting job in years to come.

by klarue24 on Jan 15, 2009 1:10 PM CST reply actions 0 recs