The NFLDraftguys staff is going simulate playing the GM of each of the 31 teams picking in the first round and justify their picks. You can look forward to a new pick every day leading up to April 28, when the staff will be in Radio City Music Hall to see if they took our advice.
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Follow the progress of the On The Clock Draft Board, where you can see exactly how the first round would play out if the NFLDraftguys staff were making the calls in the war room.
Sean Baca
With the 24th pick in the 2007 NFL Draft the New England Patriots SHOULD take Paul Posluszny , LB, Penn State
The Pats could take a look at the corners on the board as well as the safeties but the B.P.A is a damn fine linebacker in Posluszny and the Pats could get a year at least to groom a player who has all the tools. The receiver position has been addressed through free agency (though maybe not very well) so the Pats can look toward filling other needs with their first pick.
Posluszny is a great linebacker who lacks speed but is very fundamentally sound and that would be a great compliment and understudy to the great but aged backers they already have. He makes up for a lack of speed with great play recognition and reaction time that puts him in the right place at the right time. Posluszny is a linebacker in the purest sense and he would have zero troubles playing at ILB or at OLB because he is versatile and smart enough to play either.
Marc Faletti
With the 24th pick in the 2007 NFL Draft, the New England Patriots SHOULD select Brandon Meriweather, FS, Miami.
Meriweather has 2 strikes against him on draft day. One is his size, which is less than imposing. Fortunately, he makes up for his stature by playing extremely intelligently. For example, he reads QBs extremely well, which means he rarely plays himself out of position. He also tackles and supports against the run like a much bigger player.
Meriweather's other strike was his off-the-field conduct in 2006, which included a return-fire incident after his friend and teammate was shot in a drive-by as well as his conduct during the Florida International brawl, when he went Haynesworth on several Fla. Int'l players. I would understand why any team or person would avoid him because of these concerns, especially in light of the Commissioner's conduct crackdown. But most scouts and coaches familiar with Meriweather believe that his previous incident-free 22 years speak more about him than these two events, which both involved standing up for teammates. Neither action is excusable, but in my mind, they are both understandable.
New England needs more help at safety, where they're thin and injury prone. Their winning locker room culture seems to help keep players out of trouble and should be just the right fit for Meriweather.
Cecil Lammey
With the 24th pick in the 2007 NFL Draft, the New England Patriots (from the Seattle Seahawks) SHOULD select Lawrence Timmons, LB, Florida State Seminoles.
The Patriots have been a great team for many years, and if they don't trade this pick (could be sent to Washington along with Asante Samuel for the #6 pick), I feel that they will try and help out an aging LB corps.
Timmons is considered by some to be the best prospect at the OLB position in this draft class. He certainly passes the eyeball test, and his measurables are among the best at his position. Lawrence is a great playmaker that can make plays from sideline to sideline. He has tremendous field awareness, and when he recognizes where a play is going he can get there in a hurry. He is a big hitter that will make an impact for whatever team drafts him.
Sigmund Bloom
With the 24th pick in the 2007 NFL Draft, the New England Patriots SHOULD select Jon Beason, LB, Miami.
It's time for the Patriots to start making other plans at ILB. Tedy Bruschi and Mike Vrabel are on the wrong side of 30 and Bruschi particularly is already not the player he used to be. Beason makes sense from a needs standpoint, but he also just seems like a Patriots player, smart, instinctive, and versatile.
Beason is tough, intense, and a leader. He makes plays sideline to sideline and does not back down from offensive linemen in run support despite being on the small side for an NFL LB. Of course, this pick could well belong to Washington by the time it's on the board. Dan Snyder's terminator scope might have shifted to Asante Samuel, and #24 and Samuel might be enough to hop to #6 and take LaRon Landry.
