Alex Smith is the enigma in the equation, for sure. Are we getting second half of 2013 Alex, or 2014 Alex? Like OTWP says, good protection for Alex isn't necessarily a sure fire way to increase his production. Hopefully he's out practicing throws on the route tree to Maclin as we speak...

And to Milkman's statement, I don't disagree with your reasoning really at all, I just feel personally that what you can get from a impact athletic position in the first round trumps what you could get from a lineman in the first round (don't break your monitor throwing your Quinoa burger at it, Sacc). Of course every position is hit or miss (Jon Baldwin, Tyson Jackson), but that's just how my feeling towards first rounders have evolved over time.

So, if he can't find play makers even with time, how the hell is he going to find them when he doesn't have time?

But that's my problem.

Erving isn't the Andrew Luck of centers. He's middle of the pack of any top-picked center that comes through the draft any year.

If you want Alex Smith to have good protection, drafting and starting Erving in year one at C isn't the way to do it. We missed that boat when we made the financial decision to let Hudson go to Oakland.

So instead he's being touted as the Swiss Army Knife of offensive linemen. The problem is that like most tools on a Swiss Army Knife, they're often inadequate for the job, and you're almost far better off going into your shed to find the right item. Anything other than cutting open taped boxes makes them kinda bulky and not the best things to use.

If I could be convinced that Erving is a draft-and-start RT, I'd be for it. If I could be convinced that he's a draft-and-start RT who can also dabble at C when we need him, I'd be for it. Right now I see a huge question mark at C where his struggles will cause us to wonder about his career like we are with Eric Fisher if he's ever going to "get it." And as a LT switching to RT, I'd rather just draft La'el Collins and have him kick ass from Day One than deal with that nightmare again.

At least Collins has shown proficiency at both RG and RT, which are easily swapped and require little extra of the player to perform adequately.

From a general perspective, I completely agree with that.

For a smart man, I haven't been able to figure out why it is you can not grasp the concept that I am not arguing specifically for Erving.

I keep forgetting Sac is a vegan.

I think he would be able to chill out more often if he just had a nice juicy steak once in awhile.

or Dorsey is one of these GM that only believes in doing something every other year in FA.

I believe Carl Peterson talked about being one of those guys as well.

No, I understand you're not Direckshun when it comes to Erving. Sorry if it came off that way. I was just talking about why if Dorsey's justification for possibly picking Erving is that he's functional at both spots, meaning we're killing two of Alex's protection problems with one stone, I don't think that's what's going to happen at all. Your comments just sort of jogged that thought.

And that's my position as well, probably better stated.

I completely understand where you're coming from, I'm just not thrilled about doubling down on bad decisions - I can't think of many good teams where the draft decisions are made to bail out a QB.

Most of the good teams didn't make a bad decision at QB.

So why compound that mistake by making another one, simply because of your limited QB?

He's not going to be here forever.

Because, when they finally realize they've made a mistake, the one thing that will help a young QB, if they finally decide to actually make that plunge, is protection.

Dane's draft in 2009 would have been our best bet:
1. Sanchez
2. Max Unger
3. Kraig Urbik

yeah, i googled it...

it is indeed called a dime...

couldn't agree more...

the line must improve substantially, i was glad to see the grubs trade...