Matt Slauson is only a year older than Ducasse. It'll be an interesting battle between them, and competition breeds improvement.
Still, Slauson has a lot more football experience than Ducasse. Vlad has a ton of natural talent though so his lack of experience shouldn't hurt us too much at guard.
It's going to help him tremendously playing inbetween two All-Pro caliber players in Mangold and Ferguson.
If McKnight was so great why didn't Pete Carroll of the Seahawks draft him. Afterall, he did coach him at USC. Kinda seems like Carroll took Leon over McKnight. At pick 111 the Seahawks nabbed CB Walter Thurmond - WalterFootball ranks him as the #17 CB in the draft BELOW Donovan Warren. Walter also only played 4 games in 2009 due to a knee injury. http://walterfootball.com/draft2010CB.php At pick 112 the Jets grab McKnight.
Good point, Pete Carrol has proven how good of an NFL coach he is. Hey!! Can someone call Joe and tell him he's cut!! Done.
Like a low ranking CB that they could probably have picked up in a later round? Or that they traded for Leon?
Carroll was a great college coach, you have to give him that. He obviously coached McKnight at USC - my question remains if he was that special why didn't Carroll go after him? Not a pressing need wouldn't apply if you're drafting BPA.
I hear ya, I think in the draft Carroll was looking at picking up an extra pick and Leon. Never know whats going through these guys heads. Still think we made the right move.
Carroll didn't pick any of his players until the 6th round. A lot of teams passed on McKnight, that doesn't mean he is a bad player. Look at how many teams passed on Leon in 2006, or Cotchery in 2004. Carroll could have had him graded lower or thought he could have been available with the 127th pick. Carroll passed on a lot of his players in the draft, that doesn't mean none of them are going to be good in the NFL.
I heard on the radio the other day that Carroll was going to take McKnight with his next pick. The draft is part talent grab and part gamble. If Carroll thought McKnight would fall to the next pick, he was of course going to take someone else. As soon as McKnight didn't, he started working the phones for Leon.
I'll call it now, Pete Carroll is going to do an amazing job in Seattle. Ok, he didn't do very well in NY, but went back to college football and has been fairly consistent.
The Seahawks already have Justin Forsett who is a similar player. Plus Lendale White, plus Julius Jones. And Carroll was going to use his next pick on McKnight if he was still there supposedly. But the Jets traded up and took him. The Seahawks defense was horrible last year, and obviously Carroll liked the corner. You don't turn an awful team around by drafting 3rd down backs ahead of potential starters.
