It's tricky, because the most obvious answer to the front 7 question is Jabaal Sheard at #33. The problem is that would have totally ruled out safeties. IMO there were only 3 decent safety prospects left in the whole draft by #33 (including Dowling), and they were all long gone before #56.
So if you take your safety at #33, who's your difference-making front 7 guy at #56? The biggest name left is Justin Houston, but I didn't want him at all. IOW, it had to be either S or DL/OLB...unless you pass on the offer of a 1st + 2nd to take Muhammad Wilkerson or Cameron Heyward at #28.
Sorry for taking a bit to respond, but I haven't had the time over the last couple of days
to give the response that Snake's question deserves.
Anyway, when we look back at the draft, we need to remember where we stood with personnel & scheme.
At Safety, we had Chung, Stomper & Sanders plus poss. Page & McGowan with Barrett & Sergio as TC bodies. All but Chung were replaceable, but at least there was depth & experience with room to add a legit developmental FS.
As Patchick astutely as usual noted, this wasn't a good year to draft Safeties early, and those worthy of top-100 consideration (Amukamara, Jimmy Smith, Aaron Williams, Rahim Moore, Gilchrist, Jarrett) were gone by #56 (Smith & the Prince by 28/33).
Considering the qualitiy of avail. Safeties w/ our 2nd pick (and I thought that Williams & Moore were the only ones worthy of such consideration at that time), the current depth we had at that position, and the state of our front-7, I would not have taken a Safety at 28/33.
And speaking of our front-7, we were all still under the ass-umption that our scheme would remain as it had remained since 2003: stout NT, tall & strong DEs, and OLBs big enough to play 4-3 DE.
Had Bill convinced NO to take 33 instead of 28 (and I can't see why NO wouldn't - nobody else was taking Ingram from 28-32), then I would have strongly considered using 28 on either Mo Wilkerson or Cam Heyward. Bill had drafted only one DLman with a top-100 pick (Brace) since Wilfork & Marquise Hill in 2004. We need both quality & quantity at that position, instead of retreads & mediocrities.
Had Bill not convinced NO to take 33, then I too would have def. taken Jabaal Sheard, or perhaps Brooks Reed. We desperately needed then - and still do now - to draft & develop our own Pass-Rushers instead of relying (hoping, praying) on expensive past-their-prime geezers like Derek Burgess & AFailus Thomas, or on dime-a-dozens like TBC, Ninko & Eric Moore.
At 56, instead of taking the mid/late 3rd-round talent of Shane Vereen (who wasn't even the best damn RB avail.), I would've seriously considered doubling-down on Pass-Rusher with the enigmatic top-40 talent of Justin Houston or ILB-to-OLB candidate Martez Wilson.
There were no 3-4 DEs or Safeties worthy of taking at 56, but CB Brandon Harris, WRs Torrey Smith & Randall Tex Cobb, or RB Mikel Leshore would have provided appropriate value. Who knows, maybe Glas-IR Dowling might still have been on the board, too. If he were, then the risk-reward ratio would've been more palatable at 56 than at 33.
At 73/74, if DE hadn't been addressed, then Allen Bailey should've been the choice; if Pass-Rusher hadn't been addressed, then Sam Acho should've been the choice. Again, there were no Safeties worthy of consideration here, but since we still had all of the aforementioned Safeties on the roster, there was no reason to panic & over-draft a lesser talent. If both DE & OLB needs had been addressed, then perhaps we could've started to consider Vereen here.
Our next pick wasn't until 138, but Marcus Cannon provided too much upside to quibble with this choice.
At 159, there were too many better options than UDFA-talent, blocking-only dime-a-dozen TE Lee Smith: Fresno State OLB Chris Carter, CB Chykie Brown, DE Pernell McPhee, C/G Brandon Fusco, X-Back Charles Clay, WR Ron Johnson.
And if Stevan Ridley were still avail., then he could've been the first choice here; if he weren't, and Vereen hadn't been drafted either, then local dude Jordan Todman would've been a good fallback.
Safety Tyler Sash would also have provided good value here, even though he wasn't chosen until almost 40 picks later. And if he wasn't chosen here, then he would've been my only choice at 194. The combination of need + value would've been impossible to resist. I know that he's a bit of a tweener - not quick-twitch fast enough for FS, not stout enough for SS, but his instincts, hands, toughness & technique would've made him a perfect developmental candidate.
As for the complete, predictable waste that was Mal Williams, there were so many better prospects from which to choose that I won't even bother to name them all (cough-Mark-cough-Herzlich-cough). Included among those names were Safeties Eric Hagg, Jeron Johnson, Jerrard Tarrant, Deunta Williams and Rutgers alum Joe Lefeged.
In conclusion, there might not have been many Safeties worthy of early-round consideration, but there were plenty of them worthy of late-round consideration.
Next year, however, a FS must be chosen somehow with one of our top-100 picks; that's how dire Bill has left that position.
