re: Are these DEs 3 down DEs?

Barnett will be able to play run... he has great hands, plays with leverage and can set the edge

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You are intending to put Reddick at DE? Because he would be a LB in our scheme 100%

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no... he's 100% LB... that's where i'd play him... i was more just making an overall opinion post, rather than specifically about the DE part...

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Barnett is fine against the run for what he is, it's his pass rush that needs polish. He essentially has one move, an outside speed rush, and he isn't quick enough to pull that off in the NFL. By his second contract he'll be a player, but he's not an impact plug and play

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that's a lot of "if", basically.... and we can't really afford, in the win now mode we are in, to have a lot of "if"... we need a guy that can come in day 1 and be a contributor...

and i say that as someone who was very high on Barnett to start this process... but the more film i saw, the more fault i found... depending on if we have the 32 at the draft or not, there are plenty of better options/combinations that we can come up with...

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I don't advocate the saints taking him at 11

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who? barnett?

I'm starting to warm up to the idea of just taking BPA at 11. Outside of Garrett and Adams the defensive prospects in this class, while no doubt talented, don't scream "must have". Frankly, there's not much difference between who will be there at 11 and 32. Assuming we keep 32 and 42, we could go RB at 11, DE at 32, and CB at 42, and I would be happy with it.

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Yeah I don't see them taking Barnett at 11 either. Payton has spent too many words this offseason telling us about prototypes, and Barnett just doesn't fit the bill. Even though his production is good, there is just no way that they're gonna have him graded high enough for the 11th pick IMO

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exactly... IMO, the only for sure thing is Thomas... and he's long gone by 11... so you either trade up to get him, or juice that 11 pick for all it's worth... trade back a couple of spots, pick up some extra bullets in the arsenal, and then go from there...

more than likely the guy you're targeting at 11, is still there up to around 16-17... get what you can out of it, IMO

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I disagree. Barnett doesn't just use a speed rush and is probably the most technical DE in the draft. He's quick off the ball, rips and bends off the edge but he also uses that to set up a bull rush or inside move.

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I wouldn't call him technical but he has the best edge bending in this class. He rarely uses a secondary rush move because he's so certain in beating the tackle to the outside.

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IMO his hands separate him from other DE prospects. When getting up field he does a great job knocking linemans hands down, and when playing the run he's usually first to the point off attack with his hands inside.

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His hands are great on one move and it's his swipe move. That's really all he does. His hands are lackluster in any other pass rush move. He does well against the run but can't be counted on to hold up at the POA.

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Pretty much the only thing he needs to add is a spin move. Plus, he's relentless and plays to the whistle every play.

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There's a lot of moves he needs to work on. Simply adding a spin with leverage to his outside rush would help tremendously. I do worry about his athleticism because he beats tackles through snap anticipation most of the time.

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That being said, I think I'm still more interested in a player who is a bit more of a risk but also with higher upside at DE.

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Taco Charlton




Malik McDowell

I don't at all. His knocks are overblown AF. Anyone that watches tape on him can see that he's almost always giving 100% on every play. He was the only guy on defense worth a damn in 2016 and it completely wore him down so he stopped going above and beyond (chasing RBs when they're far past him) at the end of the season.

The interviews are a different story. Malik seems like the kind of guy that feels slighted by this entire process and that's gonna turn people off. He doesn't have off-field issues but if coaches feel like he's not coachable they're going to pass on him.

He was required to be "the guy" on every single play at MSU and they moved him all over the defensive front and I think it stunted his development. I've seen him line up at 0, 1, 3, 5, 9 at 3 point and 2 point on run and pass downs. He's so ridiculously versatile that they couldn't afford not to use him that way.