Good year for centers

[MTK]

If there was ever a year to take a center in the draft, this year seems to be it!

http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/draft0...len&id=1998936

[e16bball]

Yes it definitely is a great year for centers, and the best thing is that it is the sort of position that teams will wait on, so we can snare a top one with our 3rd pick. Chris Spencer, Jason Brown, Ben Wilkerson and Junius Coston could all very well be available at our pick in the 3rd. Also, if we trade down in the 1st, we could go for David Baas if we pick up a number 2. Right on with that post Matty.

[Defensewins]

Trading down might be difficult this year.
In the same ESPN article it says:
"The early consensus among league general managers, coaches and even owners here is that this is not a good year to hold a high choice in the first round. Teams stuck at the top of the round possibly will end up investing a lot of money in "boom or bust" players. And the guess is that there aren't going to be many opportunities for those teams with top-five picks to slide back in the round, because there won't be suitors wanting to move up in the order. "I think it's going to be difficult [to trade back]," said Buffalo Bills team president Tom Donahoe. "Nobody can agree on who the top guys are."

[diehardskin2982]

we won't trade down this year, because were trying to trade Cole for a late first and which is just like a early second round.

[e16bball]

diehard- If we trade Coles then sure, its is nice to pick up another pick. But if there isn't a player that we want at 9, why would we not trade down? Players don't get any better based on where you pick them. If we want a DE but think we can get better value for one at 15 (which we could) assuredly we will trade down.

defensewins- I agree wholeheartedly that at the very top of the draft no one will be able to trade down. But that is because the asking price (according to most draft pick value charts) for top 5 picks is so absurd. At number 9, the asking price is much more reasonable. Any team from 10 to 17 could trade up with us by sacrificing only a 2nd rounder. The question is do we want to trade down, and who would want to trade up with us. That depends on who slips to us. If one of the top 2 WRs slips to 9, I think we will select one of them. However, if they don't, I think its very likely we move down.

If neither WR is available, and the rest of the top 8 goes as basically planned, there will be 2 QBs taken, 2 RBs taken, 2 WRs taken, and 2 defensive players taken. What that means for us is, if the draft shakes down like that, there will be a top-level RB available (one of benson, brown, and cadillac) and one out of derrick johnson, antrel rolle, and pac-man jones. Someone in the mid-teens would definitely want to trade up to nab one of those two. The panthers might be interested in the back, or the texans, chiefs, or saints might be interested in the defensive player. hell perhaps even the cowboys would be interested. My point is that at pick 9, even if we don't want anyone who is available that badly, someone else probably will.

If that was unclear please let me know and I will try to explain it better, but I hope I effectively made my point that we might very well be a good target for a trade down.

[diehardskin2982]

I agree with why we should trade down but I disagree with u e16 in that I don't think it will happen because the Coles for moss trade looks about done, so we'll already have one Wide out, we'll probrally take Edwards, Williams, or Williamson with our pick. then we also may get a pick for the trading of Gardner. The skins seem to always go with the unrational decision rather than thinking it out.

[BrudLee]

Trading down might seem difficult now, but the demand for players should change after workouts and the combine.

[offiss]

IMO center is the single most important need we have, that is good new's that there is plenty of quality this year.

[Gmanc711]

I'd rather get a center in FA, personally. Raymer cannot be our starting center next season; we need someone who can get off the ball and knock some heads and know how to run the plays. I wouldnt mind picking up a young center, later rounds.