h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Terrell Suggs... the top rated DE from Arizona St hurt his prospects by looking sluggish and running a 40 in the 4.7-4.8 range on his recent pro day workout.

Previously considered a top 4 pick, this performance may have droppped him to at least the 6th (Arizona) with personnel guys from Cincy, Detroit, Houston, Chicago and Dallas souring on him...

Now this guy got 24 sacks last season, that's 24 in 11-12 games, phenomenal at any level, and before this workout was touted as being in a tie with CB Terrence Newman as the best defensive player available... What do you guys reckon? Would you be bothered by the poor times or would you draft him anyway? Workout performance or game performance?

That old chestnut again isn't it?

I'd go with game performance myself, but what do I know?

24 sacks in one season is mightily impressive... I'd tend to go for that as well... I did read not so long ago that one team who places more emphasis on game performance than workouts is the Steelers and they have a pretty good draft record over recent years. A hint to the rest of the league...

Still, I reckon if Suggs falls that far on poor workouts, your boys will snap him up...

Hmm, I think our minds are working in the same direction...

we're gonna start talking about the same thing on two seperate threads again...

If Suggs doesn't make it that far down (I can't see Arizona passing on him), do you have any incling as to who the Hawks might be targetting, or any wish list yourself?

Kevin Williams' stock seems to have risen mightily, and its reckoned he can play DE or NT, which would fit with Rhodes' habit of fast rotation of players of the D-Line.

Boss Bailey looks a real prospect, and would either fill our needs at MLB or take some of the pressure off Chad Brown outside, as well as providing some continuity when Brown slows too much to be effective (not that far off, I think )

Terence Newman would bolster the secondary nicely, as well as perhaps light a candle under Springs' a**e...

Jordan Gross our Kwamie Harris might be tempting, depending on how negotiations with Big Walt are progressing.

Holmgren has shown himself tobe a very shrewd negotiater on Draft Day, and this year he has four extra lower round picks to play with. If he really wants any of these players, he will find himself a way to move up the draft order enough to guarantee getting his man, I think...

I'm not sure where you guys pick (top 15 I assume) but I reckon Newman might be the hardest to grab... rare in that he has both top notch game performance and out of this world workout numbers. He's a hot commodity and I think you'd have to wangle a trade to at least number 4 to get him as I reckon the Cowboys would snap him up...

The others, though, could be a possibilty... of course, I'm hoping Boss Bailey drops to late in the 2nd for us to grab him...

We go 11th. I'm betting either D or O line to be honest, though it'd be nice to get Bailey...

I'd probably go for the Game performance in looking for a draftee. Anyone can have a bad day if they're just running a 40 in front of a couple of coaches, but to get 24 sacks in a year is outstanding.

I do believe, though, that if the Cowboys have the choice between Suggs or Newman at the 5th pick, they'll go for Newman every day of the week, and twice on Sunday.

I think Bailey just might last that far (11th)... but how about E.J Henderson for MLB seeing as Boss is more of an OLB?

VRHG... I think Newman to Dallas is about as certain as anything can be prior to the draft... that's unless someone trades for one of those top 4 spots, and Cincinnati, Detroit, Houston and Chicago have all expressed interest in trading down...

i think MLB is dependant on whether we can sign either of the two free agents we've had in over the last couple of weeks...Certainly a possibility, though.

who're they?... Clemons and Holmes?

Aye...neither of them old enough at this stage to need top quality draft pick behind them...

Who knows, we've involved ourselves in the Seau circus, maybe we're thinking of putting him inside...

Having sorted the O, I thought Seattle would be shying away from stop-gap ageing defenders now and going for youth... I don't think Seau will be of much help... besides, he'd look far better in Acqua

I agree. Ithink Seau would look better anywhere otherthan the NW. I don't relish the thought of him on the D atall - it's not as if we lack emotional leaders (Randle, Brown, Tongue) in any event...

... sorry. That should be aqua. And yes, emotional leadership is Seau's main selling point right now... definately a bigger need in Miami than Seattle. He's also some kind of upgrade over Rodgers and Greenwood, not so Simmons and Brown (and perhaps Bailey)

Think I'd take a look at how he got those 24 sacks first ...

Where does he play?
What are the standard of opposition?
Did his team's offense get so far ahead that the opposition were always in known passing situations?
What are the standard of opposition o-linemen like?
What's the distribution of those sacks e.g. if he got 23 in the first 3 games, then the opposition worked him out he may not be so great.

It's that same old problem, we want to reduce things to a single number to make decisions easier, but in doing so we lose valuable information. Otherwise the workout times/speeds would be enough ...

Well, he plays for Arizona state... a Division 1A PAC 10 team, a conference that also features UCLA, Southern California, Stanford, Oregon, and Oregon State among others... some of the better college teams and certainly some of the best offenses... I'm not sure of the exact standings but Arizona St was certainly not known for the kind of offense some of those others have, so are unlikely to have had many huge leads...

It's top level competition and Suggs set an NCAA single season record for sacks last year... that in itself says something as nobody else has managed what he did last year.... ever!!

That performance would have had every scout breaking down tape from every one of his games, a process that had him ranked as a top 4 pick... now, based on two dodgy 40 times, he's said to have dropped to between 6-10, and lost millions in the process...

I'd suggest the only question thatteams should be asking is 'Will he perform on every down?' because those stats lead me to think he plays the game, but doesn't put himself outif he can't see the point...

I'd like to amplify that... I don't think it's so much a question of how hard he works during the game, as how hard he works during the offseason. If his slow 40 time is an indication that he's out of shape, I'd be concerned. But if he can show in other ways that he's in good shape, I'd shrug it off as an anomaly. The question here shouldn't be his speed, but his work ethic.