More Trojans to the Rescue?

all good points E….

I do know this, the USC Defense in 2008 was #1 in the country, thanks in large part to our beloved Maualuga and potential #21 Pick Taylor Mays head hunting and thriving in an NFL style 4-3 defense.

These guys played in a prostyle defense, which makes them more attractive than some of the unknowns that dominated weak college conferences.

Mays might not have the coverage skills of an Earl Thomas however, we have two top flight CB’s and a couple of decent nickel corners as well. That’s not to say we might be better off drafting one of the premiere CB’s, but the Bengals could definitely use some youth and talent at the Safety position. I love having Crocker and Roy the Hitman, but neither of those guys played 16 games in 09.

I think drafting Taylor Mays would certainly bring us a hard hitting, run stopping safety that crushes a few wideouts along the way. I don’t care if he isn’t a cover safety, that’s not what we would draft him for. Mike Zimmer loves him some DB’s, and does a nice job schooling them up in his system. Why else would a 6th round rookie CB have a couple sacks and a few PBU to his name? Morgan Trent likely wouldn’t see the field had he not been coached up to play over his rookie potential, right? Look at the plays he made in Pittsburgh, he only mirrored Ward and came up with a key deflection, and later batted away a potential corner of the endzone TD to Santonio WakenBake a la SBXLIII.

my point in all of that, is simply this: Zimmer wants more talent in the secondary. He couldn’t wait to grab Roy Williams when he was coaching in Dallas, and now he has his first shot at grabbing a 1st Round DB of his own. The Bengals have put a ton of faith in Zimmer, and will likely be listening to him in Warroom come 9:45pm tomorrow night. I won’t be surprised if Mays is our guy in the First ROund, nor will I be disappointed.

As for Rucker and Rivers: I dont’ think you’re doing Rucker any justice showing his stats in annual averages, nor Rivers. Rucker has been hurt most of his career. It’s hard to call that Bust material. Obviously Marvin Lewis sees something in Rucker that made him keep Frostee on the roster. Rucker makes plays when he’s on the field, you can’t deny it. Show me his stats by game, and I think you’d be surprised how it stacks up with other versatile 4-3 DLineman like him. Keith Rivers has been solid. Again, you’re looking at a guy that played in a 4-3 for four years, and was easily inserted as a starting WILL backer as a rookie. You just can’t do that with any old draft pick. Rivers stats are skewed as well. He only played half of a season thanks to HInes Ward, but with a season and a half experience he’s doing a fine job sealing off the corners, run defense in general and in TE coverage.

Stats are not the true measure of a player. That’s why small school “phenoms” fall flat on their faces when thrown on a field full of talent.

For the sake of the post, i threw in Damian Williams. Honestly, the only Trojan I really hope we get is Mays. McCoy and Williams are both solid and I definitely wouldn’t be disappointed if we got either of them.

One more thing – thanks for the debate btw, that’s the point of my post, i wasn’t looking for 100% agreement by any means – based on your chart of 1st – 3rd rounders, 5 of 21 players are BUST, right? So, that would mean any team drafting a USC player has a 76% chance of nabbing a non-BUST? Those are pretty good odds since some say 50% of draft picks are Busts….(watch I’ll get killed for that last comment).

I believe in Zimmer’s Defense. If he wants Taylor Mays in btwn the hashes, then i sure as hell do as well.