Upgradeable Positions

I remember going into the 2007 draft, I took a look at the roster and thought that we really had no positions that needed to be upgraded.  Basically, all we could do was draft the best player and use them for depth.  We wound up with these picks:

Buster Davis (3rd receiver)

Eric Weddle (backup safety/cornerback/project)

Anthony Waters (backup ILB/project)

Scott Chandler (3rd tight end)

Legedu Naanee (WR/TE/H-back/project)

Brandon Siler (back ILB)

Now obviously adding a speedy receiver and some ILB depth (with Edwards and Godfrey leaving) was the main goal.  Weddle was a project of sorts.  A "smart" player who just needed to find the right spot.  Chandler fills a roster spot, Naanee is a pick we could make because of our lack of any needs.

The 2008 draft came up and all anybody thought about was replacing Turner and Neal.  I hate to critize AJ Smith because it seems like every move he makes is the right one, but I think he put too much faith in Derek Smith, Wilhelm and Jamal Williams knees.  I also think he worried too much about the loss of Drayton Florence.

Because of this we wound up spending two of our five picks on replacements for Turner (Hester, Marcus Thomas), two more on replacements for Florence (Cason and DeJuan Tribble) and the last one on a good young tackle (Corey Clark).

After spending high draft picks on Castillo and Olshansky, what made AJ think he could find a backup DT off the scrap heap?  He knows Jamal is old and has bad knees, but made no effort to upgrade the depth of the position past Bingham, who while he has flashness of being a good player is not an every-down lineman.

Now last year Wilhelm and Cooper played pretty good, but I think Cooper was helping out Wilhelm a lot more than any of us realized.  With that being said, it you know your defense is all about blitzing and speed and setting up for the MLB to make the tackle, you cannot rely on two slow players that have more intelligence than physical skill to start on the inside for you.  This is why Dobbins is having so much more success than Wilhelm.  The tackles get angled towards him and he fiercely makes plays with his speed and strength.  Is it okay to have one smart, slow ILB and one with lots of speed and strength?  Absolutely.  This is the formula we used last year and also during the Edwards/Godfrey years.

My main point here is that the two most important positions in the 3-4 defense (nose tackle and linebackers) was neglected this year  Also, Waters and Siler seem to have been blown picks as I've seen nothing impressive from either of them.  With Cooper's suspension and Jamal Williams having one good game in four weeks so far this year, we've seen the results.  Marcus Thomas was cut and picked up by the Lions and DeJuan Tribble has just been waived and will hopefully be signed to the practice squad.  Hester has seen no time anywhere except special teams.  As far as I can tell, Cason and Clark are studs.

So....my question is....did AJ blow these last two drafts?  Buster Davis is looking like he could be an okay slot receiver and Weddle looked great last year but has shown me nothing this year.  Naanee looks like an asset but cannot seem to get on the field because of Chambers, Jackson and Gates being so good.  So outside of what Cason has shown through preseason and the first 4 games of this year....what significant impact has AJ made through the draft in the past two years? 

Now I'm terrified as the season goes on that Jamal will break down.  Or that Cooper will get hurt and we'll get a lot of Wilhelm/Smith at MLB.  Or that Weddle is just too small to play FS.  Where is our talent and depth at these position?  I think this team, talent-wise, is the weakest we've had in 2-3 years.