Simotron said:

Tavaner had made a pretty good rankings list last year.  I wonder if he'll do it again this year.

I hope he does…Tav is a wealth of knowledge when it comes to IDP

jm4steelers said:

My top 10 LB

10. Puz

God bless ya JM

I'll say this, IDP is VERY VERY VERY easy to go waiver wire on

1) DBs are borderline irrelevant due to the point I made above. You can run off the waiver wire pretty effectively. 2/PD is huge though. See where Atogwe lands, but very few peeps other than perhaps Weddle, Winfield, and probably Gibril are worth really picking early. Figure out who is going to start as a rookie CB, or who has a crappy ball control offense, and get some value later in the draft

2) LBs are always the cream of the crop, but aside from Willis, Beason, and Ruud, I don't think there's anyone worth reaching for. Harrison and DeMarcus will simply go too early, DeMeco's situation isn't ideal, Vilma's getting up there in age, and there are too many values (David Harris, DQJax, Bradie James, Kirk Morrison, DJ Williams) who will be extremely solid producers later on in the draft for much better value. Again, look for teams with crappy ball control offense and either extremely good pass defense with a marginal offensive line (think Oakland) or think teams that have such porous DLs that other teams run like mad against them (think Denver) – this creates opportunity, and that's what it's all about.

3) DL – with few exceptions, wait on this one. You might be able to snag some of the more "LB-oriented" DEs if your league counts guys like Suggs, Ware, Woodley, etc. as "LB/DL". The guys that get picked early are the guys who are name-brand sack specialists. Trent Cole and Justin Tuck are the only ones I'd consider "reaching" for, and that's only because they are solid and consistent against both the run and pass. Let someone else reach for the pass rush-only specialists like Abraham, while you grab a guy like Justin Smith 5-6 rounds later.

anyway, that's my opinion, for what that's worth.

Simotron said:

6. Lofton

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Isn't that kind of high for Lofton?

uh, yeah. way too high IMHO. I also think it's nuts to put Ruud down at 8. The dude is a 25-year old tackling machine.

I think Mayo's value drops quite a bit if Brady comes back. If the high-flying offensive scheme of 2007 returns, rather than the run-first offense necessitated by bringing along Cassel, I don't see Mayo getting as many opportunities. Not saying he'll be a bust, but he will be one of my top candidates for "drop from top 10"

I'm also not convinced DQJax is going to be a top 10 guy. He got a ton of tackles, but he was the recipient of a PISSLOAD of assists and he really isn't all that good. Alot of those tackles, he's not the one making the first hit. I just don't see him as being talented enough to belong in the top 10.

I think Bradie James is going to surprise people. I think Stephen Cooper is going to surprise people. I think Lofa Tatupu bounces back and has a big season.

With 2 points for a solo and 4 for a sack, I say, stay the hell away from Merriman! Dude is NOT in the same class, all-around, as guys like Harrison and DWare. He averaged 49 solos, 14 assists in his first 3 seasons. The OPs scoring simply doesn't allow for Merriman to be useful.

Point to consider – James Harrison plays on special teams, so he gets additional tackles there. That's why he was the only guy over 8 sacks that had > 90 tackles. Actually, he, Trent Cole and DWare are the only ones over 8 sacks that had more than 70 tackles. A ton of people were beating their horns about Joey Porter, but the dude had 37 solos, 11 assists. He was one of many "sack or nothing" guys (Abraham, Freeney, Howard, and Mathis were like this)