Ray Edwards

a 1st rounder??? I just don’t know… he had a lot of help on the DL

I say" hook em up". The Dude could end up being a Monster under GW’S system. Our 32nd pick is nothing more than the first pick in the second round and we already have a second round pick. Atleast with Ray Edwards, you know what your getting and a lot less money than a first round pick……………..Just me………….

Edwards is a known quantity, which is an advantage; but that known quantity doesn’t equal very much. He’s a solid starter, but little more. He has no “upside.”

These, however, are among the players who may be available when the Saints pick at #32: Sean Weatherspoon. Jared Odrick. Brian Price. Everson Griffen. Jerry Hughes. Brandon Graham. Maybe someone like Jermaine Gresham will unaccountably drop…every draft someone drops way below his actual value (Drew Brees, for instance). Any of those guys has the potential to be a star.

I’m not saying that it’s a sure thing that we get a star with our pick; it’s not. But using a first-round pick on someone who will never be any better than good enough is playing not to lose I want our front office to play to win.

Admittedly, Edwards had a solid season last year, but a lot of that had to to with the fact that he was playing on a line with three other guys who have a collective 9 All-Pro campaigns among them. He started every game and had 51 tackles, 8.5 sacks, 2 passes defensed, 1 forced fumble, and 1 fumble recovery.

Contrast that with Anthony Hargrove: 6 starts, and in limited action he had 42 tackles, 5 sacks, 3 passes defensed, 1 forced fumble, and 3 fumble recoveries, including one for a touchdown. And much of that was at defensive tackle, rather than his natural position of defensive end. Move him outside, and over an entire season at starter those are Will Smith numbers.

After a lot of thought, I’ve come to the conclusion that the convention wisdom that we’re thin at defensive end just isn’t true. Will Smith is a solid starter on one side; on the other, Anthony Hargrove, along with McCray and Charleston in rotation, will do fine. What I would like to see is Jared Odrick alongside Sedrick Ellis to provide disruption up the middle. Of course, it’s the draft, which means there’s no guarantee Odrick will still be available at #32. But if he’s not, someone else will be. I can’t see using a first-rounder on Ray Edwards when we already have someone in the building who is likely to be just as good.

Vike here so take what I say with a grain of salt. Grumps trotted over to the dark side and started asking a question about Ray so I thought I’d come down here and see if you guys were chatting about it or not. Looks like you are.

Personally I like Ray and woud be sad to see him go. He has tremendous upside, at 25 he is in the beginning of his career, and if you look at other DE’s many of them start of in exactly the same progression that Ray has. He has consistantyl gotten more sacks every year he’s played for us, and he doesn’t play all passing downs as we move him out to rest and put Robinson in on third downs at times. What Ray does bring is a strong run stuffer and a strong pass rusher. He’ll never has the sacks Allen has because his job on our defensive line is different. Jared is in the enviable position of pretty much every down peeling his ears back and jumping the QB. Ray has to deal with the run and the passer.

Remember you have a tough as nails DE on the right side already so most of the offense will be looking at trying to stop him, leaving Ray in the same spot he is with us.

Personally, I would hope you keep your first round pick and Ray stays. If he doesn’t though I truly doubt you’ll be disapointed in him.