Oh man, I was in love with Wilfork in '04. I had him, Sean Taylor and Robert Gallery as my top three back then.
I agree on your trade up targets. Curry is a pipe dream, but a nice one.
I understand that Orakpo or Brown would be 'situational', but these players would fill exactly the situations (1) where a rookie on defense can provide an "impact", and (2) where this defense needs the most help.
So what if a RDE is "situational"? I don't need an everydown defensive player to qualify for what the Texans need. I look to the Giants the last couple years and all those pass rushers they had and can only wish the Texans would supplement Mario, Antonio, and friends with another sackmaster, sliding Antonio inside on 3rd downs if he doesn't need the breather.
I also realize that for a lot of you, I'm preaching to the choir, so I'll stop ranting here. But this is one aspect of the parallel to 2005 that prompted me to type out that article - - that the targets to move up were also pass rushers.
No one knows whether Orakpo and others are anywhere near that level of quality, but what seems probable to me is that trading down or out of the first round lowers the team's chances of finding that impact player the defense needs. So long as Rick Smith gets good value either way, I won't be upset, but I don't want to close off the notion that moving up, not down, might be the way to go in THIS draft.
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