Exactly, I think you are crazy right now to look at pulling Houston off the field. The kid is just starting to "get it". Everyone was so high on Houston last year that it almost makes them look idiotic for wanting to draft someone that would pull him off the field.

Hali pretty much is. Houston probably will be this year.

I don't think Poe is going to make any "adjustments" considering what he came from. I think it's more he will have to quit making adjustments from snap-snap and will be allowed to focus more on on role and that role is one he is built for.

I would have taken Mercilus.

The best part about this pick, if there can be only one bright spot, is that it finally completes our commitment to the 3-4. We are now officially there, and it took us three ****ing years to get there.

It should take three years. We were playing a speed defense, the Tampa 2, which is the smallest defense in football, and transitioned to two-gap 3-4 football, the biggest defense in football. We've got a true NT that isn't just a one-year rental. He is a true 350 lbs, not an overachieving smaller player.

Gives us one of the biggest, highest-drafted defensive lines in football.

From here on out, we talk about how to improve our 3-4, now how to transition to it anymore.

I'm really excited about Houston's development. I still see him as a first rounder in spirit if not fact. Think he's going to turn out being the coup from that draft class. Which is not to say the other guys will be bad or anything. So while adding a third rusher to the mix would have (and could still be) nice, I can live without it.

I don't know enough about Hightower to say he would or wouldn't have been a good pick. All I do know is we need a mean, nasty mother ****er to play in the middle next to DJ. DJ is agressive and can bring it but still smacks of more of a finesse LB to me as opposed to just some nasty, Ray Lewis type.

I was on the Melvin Ingram bandwagon. But I would have been happy with Mercilus or any other pass rusher.

My thoughts are that if Hali or Houston were to get injured, our pass rush goes to shit. You can never have too many pass rushers. Plus, Houston is still unproven. People seem to forget that he didn't do a damn thing until the last few games of the year. Ingram has the ability to rush from any position on the front 7 besides NT. I think the Chargers got themselves a baller.

He is a damn good football who was the heart & soul of Alabama's defense.

Agreed but I don't think you waste a #11 pick on someone to be there just in case. Houston is more proven at this point than Ingram who has yet to take a snap in the NFL. Just sayin'.

And if Poe gives us any kind of push at all up the middle, even just enough to make it hard for the QB to step up in the pocket, Hali and Houston are going to terrorize some QB's this year.

Going a bit overboard.

Chapman played the heart & soul position.

And their defensive captains were Upshaw and Barron.

Guarantee you had we picked Hightower there'd be several of us b!tching about how we reached for a guy not rated that high.

I was pretty clear throughout the last couple of months that Ingram was my first choice, and Barron my second.

Ingram was there for the taking.

Dan Saly, who was the last good NT the Chiefs have had, imo, averaged 3.5 sacks a year with the Chiefs. That is the level I am holding Poe too at this point. It also points out that your NT is not there to get a ton of sacks and tackles but to eat up space, take on 2 blockers and allow the LB's to make the plays.

Uhhhhh........Belcher is that guy.

And he's only getting better.

Where would you have played him? Would you have benched Houston? Just curious, seriously, not being a smartass just wondering where you would have worked him in?