I'm responding to the original contention by Reiss, that Mgteich agreed with. I though you agreed with them.
I saw some video of Sheard and he looked good and they did give him a contract.
If you disagree with Reiss and Mgteich, then I mistakenly argued the point with you. Apparently we agree that they should not overlook a pass rusher if he's the best available at that spot.
For what it's worth, if Sheard works out, it could give them the luxury of bringing along a young rusher, though I'm not at all sure he's on the roster. I like Buchanan, but what does that mean? He has not seized the opportunity.
Yes, I do NOT believe that Belichick will choose a player in the first round independent of need. We are paying three players as starters at DE, and we have tow developmental players in Buchanan and Moore.
I also do not think that Belichick would choose a QB, TE or S with our pick at 32.
I believe that if a QB, DE, TE or S were clearly the best choice, Belichick would trade down.
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You responded by seeming to take two positions that I (and probably Reiss) disagree with
1) Belichick picks the BPA available and ignores need,
2) We have a strong need at DE, since Sheard is not a proven starting quality DE.
Feel free to clear up any misunderstandings of your position.
You keep including comments like, if "Sheard works out". You implication is that Sheard is incapable of being an injury backup. After all, last year Ninkovich and Jones played over 90% of the reps when they were healthy. At best, Sheard is part of a 3-man rotation. The middle position is that he has the role of Ayers, playing only when Ninkovich or Jones is injured and not playing when they are healthy. In the worst case, Sheard is competing with Moore and Buchanan for backup reps when there is an injury.
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AS AN ASIDE
When Belichick pay a free agent over $5M a year, we expect him to start. In this case, we only expect him to be a backup in case of injury, and perhaps part of a 3-man starting rotation.