??? Did we reach??

A little bit. Nothing like Minnesota or Seattle.

The Cards got Peterson and the Rams got Quinn. Aaarrgghh.

Picking a guy expected to go 20 slots later is a reach. Picking a guy 4-5 spots early in a draft of over 200 players is not. Wash traded back and took the same position, a likely sign the guy they wanted wasn't there, could easily have been Smith. Houston also wanted him. That leaves 2 teams that weren't going to trade up to trade down with w/o risking losing the targeted player. We got the consensus #2 3-4 OLB in the draft. How is that a reach?

Originally posted by TX9R:
Picking a guy expected to go 20 slots later is a reach. Picking a guy 4-5 spots early in a draft of over 200 players is not. Wash traded back and took the same position, a likely sign the guy they wanted wasn't there, could easily have been Smith. Houston also wanted him. That leaves 2 teams that weren't going to trade up to trade down with w/o risking losing the targeted player. We got the consensus #2 3-4 OLB in the draft. How is that a reach?

Smith fills what was arguably the greatest need on the team. Though some boards had him in the lower teens, he was #11 overall on the only two boards that count - MD and OTC.

Originally posted by TX9R:
Picking a guy expected to go 20 slots later is a reach. Picking a guy 4-5 spots early in a draft of over 200 players is not. Wash traded back and took the same position, a likely sign the guy they wanted wasn't there, could easily have been Smith. Houston also wanted him. That leaves 2 teams that weren't going to trade up to trade down with w/o risking losing the targeted player. We got the consensus #2 3-4 OLB in the draft. How is that a reach?

Dallas was also looking at a possible Smith pick at #9

Originally posted by 80sbaby24:
Slightly.

this was a huge reach, don't kid yourselves. With all the tons of first round mocks I've been looking at, I've never even heard of this guy. We should have traded back.

Originally posted by Shaj:
this was a huge reach, don't kid yourselves. With all the tons of first round mocks I've been looking at, I've never even heard of this guy. We should have traded back.

Your basing that he is a reach on mock drafts??

Originally posted by Jcool:

Originally posted by Shaj:
this was a huge reach, don't kid yourselves. With all the tons of first round mocks I've been looking at, I've never even heard of this guy. We should have traded back.

Your basing that he is a reach on mock drafts??

I think he is saying since he has never heard of the guy he
Is a reach even though his
Name was in all the mock drafts.

Originally posted by Shaj:
this was a huge reach, don't kid yourselves. With all the tons of first round mocks I've been looking at, I've never even heard of this guy. We should have traded back.

He was picked as high as #10 on a lot of boards, rarely lower than 13 or 14 on others.

I think the 'zone was so fixated on the Peterson/Prince scenarios that the more obvious need for a pass rusher was overlooked by many. That was a mistake as it should have been clear to everyone that Peterson would not drop to #7 and Prince was not worth a #7. Therefore, with Von Miller long gone, Aldon Smith was the best value AND filled a huge need issue.

Time will tell but I like the pick and the value.

Originally posted by blizzuntz:

Originally posted by Jcool:

Originally posted by Shaj:
this was a huge reach, don't kid yourselves. With all the tons of first round mocks I've been looking at, I've never even heard of this guy. We should have traded back.

Your basing that he is a reach on mock drafts??

I think he is saying since he has never heard of the guy he
Is a reach even though his
Name was in all the mock drafts.

He was always far down the list if he was on all the mock drafts. And to answer jcool, yeah, I don't watch college football, so I rely on what I read.

Originally posted by Shaj:

Originally posted by blizzuntz:

Originally posted by Jcool:

Originally posted by Shaj:
this was a huge reach, don't kid yourselves. With all the tons of first round mocks I've been looking at, I've never even heard of this guy. We should have traded back.

Your basing that he is a reach on mock drafts??

I think he is saying since he has never heard of the guy he
Is a reach even though his
Name was in all the mock drafts.

He was always far down the list if he was on all the mock drafts. And to answer jcool, yeah, I don't watch college football, so I rely on what I read.

What mocks were you looking at? The major ones had him going to Houston at 11. Most mocks are done by reporters who really don't know anything about scouting and just piggyback other people who know little. Rick Gosselin is the best around, he had him 11, as did Kiper. McShay had him 5th. Those guys make a living doing this, everyone is is just a reporter.
http://www.dallasnews.com/sports/nfl-draft/20110429-dallas-morning-news_rick-gosselin-out-predicts-espn-si-on-cowboys-nfl-draft.ece

Originally posted by tjd808185:
Not at all.

Most people called him a reach because he went over Prince and Quinn. He without a doubt would have went before Prince and most likely went before Quinn had we not tooken him at 7.

Just because he wasn't on our fanbase's radar doesn't mean he's a reach.

This.

Originally posted by Shaj:

Originally posted by blizzuntz:

Originally posted by Jcool:

Originally posted by Shaj:
this was a huge reach, don't kid yourselves. With all the tons of first round mocks I've been looking at, I've never even heard of this guy. We should have traded back.

Your basing that he is a reach on mock drafts??

I think he is saying since he has never heard of the guy he
Is a reach even though his
Name was in all the mock drafts.

He was always far down the list if he was on all the mock drafts. And to answer jcool, yeah, I don't watch college football, so I rely on what I read.

He was the 13th player on ESPNs top 100 big board.
Todd McShay had him going number 5 to the Cardinals in his last mock draft
Mel Kiper had him going No. 11 to the Texans

just saying.

Originally posted by NineFourNiner:

Originally posted by tjd808185:
Not at all.

Most people called him a reach because he went over Prince and Quinn. He without a doubt would have went before Prince and most likely went before Quinn had we not tooken him at 7.

Just because he wasn't on our fanbase's radar doesn't mean he's a reach.

This.

It's already been said somewhere that he he wasn't going past 11. I think I heard that NE was pretty high on him too...that's enough for me to say he wasn't a reach...now it's just a question of how he turns out.

Folks need to do their OWN research instead of basing on other people's opinions. Watch the game tape on his freshman game against Colorado and tell me he didn't jump out at you.

The guy will thrive in Vic Fangio's defense as a pass rushing OLB.