I, State Your Name...

@"FSUVike" said: Back to OT....

And by the way, I was totally right to defend the pick. My new name should be FSUDraftGuru.

But why did I like it? There's been some really great success stories regarding TEs putting on weight and converting to OTs.

Lane Johnson is the poster child but we saw another one last night: Alejandro Vilkanueva. Tried out a couple of times as a TE, didn't get picked up, went back to the Army. Eagles eventually inked him as a DE and he started putting on weight. They cut him and Tomlin immediately signed him and told him to add even more weight. Now he's a legit Franchise LT.

You can't always expect athletic TEs to bulk up, keep the weight AND keep the athleticism. But O'Neil had the work ethic and he's kept the athleticism. Sure, he was raw. But there's plenty of tales of guys struggling at Sr. Bowls and developing. And I saw none of the issues Clemmings had before he was drafted.

It was a great pick and I suspect you'll see an early pick on Guard and boy there are plenty to choose from again this year.

If Rick goes DE, DT and LB with the first 3 picks and doesn't sign any Guards, though, I will rip him a new one here ad nauseum. Until that actually happens I'm going to trust him. Signed Reiff, drafted Elf & O'Neil. He's earned the benefit of the doubt.

I'll agree completely and go back a bit further to cite Joe Staley, a converted TE and one of the most consistent LTs in the game. There has been a trend to have OL who are bigger and bigger, often at the expense of athleticism, and I think it leads to more injuries. O'Neill is a nice shift back from that trend.

One thought...I hope the team doesn't keep pushing him to gain weight. I think Kalil played around 300 in college and his rookie year but the Vikings wanted him to bulk up to 315-320. Kalil had other problems, too, but I don't think the added weight was good for his knees.

I was pretty lukewarm about the first and second picks in the draft (Hughes and O'Neil).  I'm sure glad I was wrong because their contributions to the team have been pretty substantial during the times they were on the field.

@"Jor-El" said:

@"FSUVike" said: Back to OT....

And by the way, I was totally right to defend the pick. My new name should be FSUDraftGuru.

But why did I like it? There's been some really great success stories regarding TEs putting on weight and converting to OTs.

Lane Johnson is the poster child but we saw another one last night: Alejandro Vilkanueva. Tried out a couple of times as a TE, didn't get picked up, went back to the Army. Eagles eventually inked him as a DE and he started putting on weight. They cut him and Tomlin immediately signed him and told him to add even more weight. Now he's a legit Franchise LT.

You can't always expect athletic TEs to bulk up, keep the weight AND keep the athleticism. But O'Neil had the work ethic and he's kept the athleticism. Sure, he was raw. But there's plenty of tales of guys struggling at Sr. Bowls and developing. And I saw none of the issues Clemmings had before he was drafted.

It was a great pick and I suspect you'll see an early pick on Guard and boy there are plenty to choose from again this year.

If Rick goes DE, DT and LB with the first 3 picks and doesn't sign any Guards, though, I will rip him a new one here ad nauseum. Until that actually happens I'm going to trust him. Signed Reiff, drafted Elf & O'Neil. He's earned the benefit of the doubt.

I'll agree completely and go back a bit further to cite Joe Staley, a converted TE and one of the most consistent LTs in the game. There has been a trend to have OL who are bigger and bigger, often at the expense of athleticism, and I think it leads to more injuries. O'Neill is a nice shift back from that trend.

One thought...I hope the team doesn't keep pushing him to gain weight. I think Kalil played around 300 in college and his rookie year but the Vikings wanted him to bulk up to 315-320. Kalil had other problems, too, but I don't think the added weight was good for his knees.