mgteich

I'm not sure of your point. The 5th, 6th and 7th round is always the place where you are taking "fliers". Other than special teamers and backup quarterbacks, these picks usually are longshots to make the team. Of course, it is "worth taking a flier"! Isn't that the point of having picks? They certainly don't cost much if they don't make the team and save money if they do make the team.

Last year, we did great with Ingam, Edelman and Pryor with these rounds.

This year we chose Mesko in the 5th, Larsen (C) in the 6th and then used our two tradeable sevenths to trade up to get Welch (OT). All have reasonable shots to make the 53. Larsen and Welch over Connolly and LeVoir is certainly not out of the question.

Certainly, there will be competition for these developmental/inactive roster positions, espcially in the interior line. I would note that we also have Wendell and Bussey competing for Connolly's spot. The team seems to like Ohrnberger and seem likely to invest another year of development, even if he isn't ready for prime time. So, we ahve four interior rosters spots in Mankins, Neal, Koppen and Ohrnberger. We need a 5th player.

As far as the last three (non-tradeable) 7ths. These were opportunities to lock up three players before they becaome UDFA's. As with the UDFA's, one would think that they are all long long shots to make the roster and are competing for a Practice Squad position (which is a fine use of a late pick). However, Deaderick is a fine DE. With Warren on one side and Wright/Warren on the other, we could use a developmental DE as one of our backups instread of having three DT's in Brace, Pryor and Lewis. Personally, I'd rather have a developmental DE as my 7th DL in place of any of these three. We had six DL's on the roster last year. A developmental 7th seems reasonable.