[Blitzwood]

I'm scared as he>* of Matthews!! Can you say Vernon Gholston here we come.

Matthews wasn't even the third best LB at USC, much less a starter until recently. And why is no one mentioning his whopping 5.5 sacks his whole career there in the PAC-10. Drafting Matthews on potential is a colossal risk, more than Vernon was. At least he had 22 sacks his college career. And at 15, a major reach.

He hasn't done anything to warrant a 15th overall selection, besides have a nice combine, IMO. We all know if his name wasn't Matthews we wouldn't even be considering him in the first round. He also has some significant question marks about his maturity level (He created a "White Power" facebook group in 2007 with his buddies). How's he gonna explain that to his future teammates. And don't forget the amount of muscle he's put on in a very short amount of time. Wasn't he a 175lb walk on ?? Cushing's getting more heat over it right now, but the winds will shift to him eventually.
Finally, what position is he really gonna play? OLB in a 4-3. How, he has zero cover skills. So he's only a two down LB. Really? At the end of the day he's really a 3-4 OLB/4-3 DE tweener with very limited starting experience.

I think Jerry or Harvin are much safer picks and would be productive from game 1. Harvin, who is my preferred choice because of the explosiveness he plays with, would give us a level of athleticism and speed this team has never seen on our side of the ball and shift our offense to the same level of our division rival's, the Colts. With Slaton and Harvin in the backfield and AJ, Walters, and Daniels lined up, defenses won't know who to double. Kyle would look like a genius. And Harvin's been tearing it up for years at Florida and comes with a proven track record(bad pun).

Jerry's also been a disruptive force in the same conference, the SEC. He could easily replace Travis Johnson.

This pick needs to be really researched. Our season( and Kubiak's job) depends on it...