Reviewing Mel Kiper's latest AFC North mock draft

[Flasteel]

Re: Reviewing Mel Kiper's latest AFC North mock draft

I'm all for improving the DLine in the first round and think there will be a couple guys there to consider.

To beat the Pats, Saints, Packers, etc, we need a 4 man line that can get to the QB.

That's what kills our coverage.

Ike, Bmac, and Gay are good enough if we get to the QB consistently. Remember the beast that Keisel was on 3rd downs coming off the bench behind Kimo? We could have that rotation again with a stud Dlineman.

And I'd like to see Worldis' speed on the field on 3rd downs. If we lined him and Timmons really wide, it would open up so much for the Dline. And if you kept 2 guys fresh for 3rd downs, this defense could be sick.

Our biggest problem is getting to the QB. And addressing that will fix the secondary.

A FS with ball skills could really help as well.

Flip, we run a 3-4 and that's not about to change. I'm not sure if you slipped when you said 4-man line and meant 4 pass rushers or if you were advocating a 4-3 defense. Despite losing Aaron Smith, the d-line was the bedrock of our defensive dominance. Keisel was voted to the Pro Bowl, Ziggy Hood played lights-out all year and the tandem of Big Snack and Hokey had perhaps their best year in the middle. The role of 3-4 linemen in the passing game is to eat up blocks and free the LBs to pressure the quarterback. It's great when your ends have pass rush ability (and alll of ours do), but it's not their primary function.

I too hope that Worlids develops into a legitimate 3rd down pass rusher to keep both Harrison and Woodley fresh. With the return of Aaron Smith (who I think we'll see come off the bench from now on, to extend his career), we have a great 3-man rotation at DE already. Having an equally strong 3-man rotation at OLB would indeed be a huge bonus for our defense. We already have our chips on Worlids to be that guy, so there is no need to draft that position high.

We led the league in sacks, so I don't know how you can say getting to the quarterback is our biggest issue. I will agree that the key is getting to the quarterback, but against those teams and quarterbacks you mentioned, they are able to consistently spread us out, get the ball out quickly, and find an open receiver. We lack a legitimate starter opposite of Ike, and we have problems matching up with our nickel and dime corners as well.

I wonder if we don't have safety depth already on the roster in the form of B-Mac and K. Lewis. I don't see safety nearly as big of an issue as corner, so I hope we can get a guy we really like at some point in the first 2 rounds.

I think Flip was noting how teams like New England, New Orleans, and Green Bay spread us out, so we were in nickel and dime packages much more often than our standard 3-4. In nickel or dime, our 3-4 OLB's become DE's with their hands on the ground and our 3-4 DE's become pass rushing DT's in a 4 man front (with 2 LB's and 5 DB's or 1 LB and 6 DB's behind them depending on whether or not we are in nickel or dime).

Those guys with their hand on the ground are still OLBs. They are also named Lamarr Woodley and James Harrison. Good luck upgrading there. Our DEs all have pass rush ability, whether they're lined up in a 3, 5, or 1 technique. When he's advocating drafting a D-lineman with our first pick and follows it up with a conversation on pass rushers, I just don't see where he's coming from.