With all the talk about trading down from 1 and how hard it would be, I wonder how many thought about trading up from 20, using 33, to move up to grab Raji since he's not regarded as a top5 pick, maybe 8-10ish? Not even sure about need for those other teams for DT.

EDIT: Your post was more about trading the 20 and the 33 in order to get Raji at around pick 10... Let me offer you this scenario. Instead of taking Raji, you could take your choice of Peria Jerry/Ziggy Hood at #20, and follow that up with Ron Brace at #33. You get a disruptive UT and a run stuffer NT, instead of one player with character questions. I'd have to go with the two guys being collectively better than one.


Raji has been starting to get some #1 hype, if only with the fans. Truth be told I like this idea more than taking a tackle. The tackle supply is high and therefore, value is lowered. The opposite is true at DT. I think that Raji is the only DT available of a certain size/skill combination. Behind him are smaller disruptive guys like Jerry and Hood, or a bigger run stuffers like Brace. That raises his value. IIRC he was graded a single point below the top tackle. I want to say it was Curry at 98, Smith/Monroe at 97 and Raji at 96. One point can easily be just perception.

He does have negatives. Looking at his report, weaknesses could include:
Conditioning/Stamina, Height, Maturity/Commitment, Sometimes uses improper leverage, Runs Hot/Cold, Not an elite pass rusher, Possible intelligence and durability questions.

He did have 8 sacks in '08. He essentially doubled his career stat numbers in the '08 season.



-ILMP

That's more than enough to take him OUT of the top 5, possibly the top 10. However, teams are desperate for DTs and will make bad choices to get them.

If I'm taking a DT top 10, it better be Tommie Harris or Haloti Ngata...

To his credit, he hasn't yet stomped any heads. In the context of DT morality, I think that makes him a saint.

-ILMP

Merely a smoke screen designed to make teams that are salivating over him cringe and squirm. But, I would not mind seeing us get Curry at #1 and Raji at say #12 and it only costing us the 3rd round pick from Dallas.

I'd love to get Raji. Not at #1 overall--I think we'd have a hard time justifying passing on Curry, Smith, Monroe, and Stafford to get him there.

I just don't see him getting past Jacksonville at #8 or Denver at #12, and it costs a lot to move up 8 or 12 spaces in the first round, not that it couldn't be done.

On a related note, what's the story with Fluellen so far? Can he step into Redding's spot at UT? He's almost exactly the same size (6'2, 290-something) as Peria Jerry and we just spent a third-round pick on him. I see so many mock drafts with Detroit taking Jerry at #20, but I wonder if we'd be taking somebody whose skill set we already have.

Has anybody heard the coaches' evaluation of Fluellen so far?