After listening to Dave's explanation, definitely sounds like they thought they needed a LB and he was the best remaining. I dont really believe in a draft philosophy (need vs best available) as long as you use common sense but this feels like the perfect storm of reaching for a need. Tell yourself you need a certain position. A position that doesnt have a lot of talent in this draft. We gave up our next pick in the 4th round to an earlier trade. Spooked ourselves into believing all these other teams were lying in wait to draft him in the 4th and we couldnt risk him not being there in the 5th. Hopefully the kids ends up being better than a lot of the scouts said and proves Dave right.

One thing Dave said in the presser afterwards is how they really wanted to grab a TE and LB in the 3rd or maybe even two TEs. I wonder if they were hoping a guy like Sternberger, Warring, or Knox would fall to our second 3rd round pick. And when Knox got picked right before us, they started scrambling trying to trade back into the 4th. But with only a couple picks in between to do so, they didnt have time to find a trading partner and were then left to draft this guy ahead of where they would have liked. Ironically if he went 10 picks later in the 4th round, the perception would be a lot different. We could write it off as taking a flyer on a guy they really like whereas a 3rd round choice has the expectation of a player who should contribute pretty quickly and develop into full time starter at some point. This guy is being sold more as a special teamer and role player.

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