Through the Smoke

cane 1575,

I Don't believe all should have stayed now you may say, Brandon Washington, Tommy Streeter and Olivier Vernon an Marcus should have stayed, but for a running back their future is not bright, as far as longevity, but He should have gone he just has to dedicate himself to working out in a serious mind set like Willis Mcghee.

Martin fits what the Bucs do best... Run a pro style offense, play smash mouth football & great defense. Now they haven't done that lately (hence the 5th overall pick) but it is still who they are. I think Martin compliments Blount nicely. They wanted Richardson badly but didn't want to pay the price for him. Trading down 2 spots for only a 4th rd pick pisses me off though. Especially if they were counting on Claiborne being there. If Barron was their guy then fine but I just don't see it. At worst they should have gotten more picks for trading down.

and for everyone saying that lamar miller should have stayed needs to consider his durabiliy is exactly why he should have left early. I just cant understand why most people on here seem to not like his game. if he did not have any shoulder issue, do you think he would of been taken in round 1? I do.

Is Martin's skill set that much different then Mike James? Which most on this sight for some reason, don't see as a starter for the "U", but I think could have put up big numbers at a school in a weaker division or even in the Big Ten. He's about the same size, good hands out the back field, good picking up the block, with desent speed.

Lmao!! Ok my bad. You're right. It makes more sense now that I've gotten SOME sleep. Lol ok ok my bad. I swear I'd actually read it like they were scouted and Martin wasn't lol. I think it was something like 130 when I wrote that. Lmao!! Oh man... Carry on.

Lets take football 101 shall we? and the list is 3, not very long...jsut because a guy is fast doesnt mean thats why he got drafted high. all of these guys proved they were much more than jsut fast.

CJ Spiller- the guy was a flat out stud for 4 full years at Clemson and ended his career with the most yards in ACC history. He was a unanimous all-american, and was a playmaker running, receiving or on special teams. He proved himself on the cfb level for 4 years...I dont think his speed was the lone reason for his draft position.

Chris Johnson-first off, he ran a 4.24, the fastest time EVER at the combine. thats on a completely different level than a 4.38 that miller ran. secondly, he too did everything. he played all 4 years and had almost 3000 all-purpose yds his senior year at ECU and 3 times as many TD's as Miller had this year.

Bruce Irvin- this is the closest one you have in making a point, not too much top-end cfb experience, on really good year, etc.. except he had the 2nd most sacks in the nation last year. but I dont really think that running a 4.5 for someone at 245 lbs is ridiculous, it just sounds better because he was listed as a DE. hes a 3-4 OLB in the NFL. If miller had the 2nd most rushing yds in the country last year, then he probably would have been a first rounder too, instead he barely made the top 20. most people still think he was drafted way too high though. Heyward-bey was drafted due solely due to his speed and look how that turned out, jsut like everyone not named al davis thought it would

If miller played for 4 years like these guys, he probably would be a first rounder, but you cant expect NFl teams to over-react to one year in which he was the man. He needed to show consistency to expect to be that high of a pick.

You could say the same thing about Martin. James has more speed then he does, yet he's a first rounder!

Here's another way of looking at it. If you have a corvette, but live in the city and never get a chance to open it up, does that mean the car is slow?

Mike was a pretty well recruited kid coming out of high school and played against pretty good competion and never got caught from behind on many long runs. Now he hasn't done the same in college, but is that do to him playing on a weak team or eroding skills? Is he fast as Miller, no! But he does run high 4.4's and strong as an ox! If you look at the spring game James ran for 57 yards, but on like his first run he had like a 20 yard run called back do to holding or something. In the first scrimmage he broke off a 55 yarder and no one was going to catch him, yet people keep saying he can't break away. Plus this is a work horse type guy, where he'll be stronger in the 4th quarter then the first and I think you will see thoughs long runs. Just something to think about, in the aftermath of the Martin pick.

I think its funny that people seem to look for reasons to justify this kids pick, but I just don't see anything from him that I don't see from any starting RB around the country. Hell the RB's we have in Tampa now break tackles! Just think how many yards Miller would have run for had he had a passing attack to compliment him. I hope I'm wrong, but I just don't see it!

I like Mike James a lot. I think he might end up more productive in the pro's than Miller will. Durable. Very strong. Solid pass blocker. Nice hands. Good speed. Extremely versatile. In a Big10 offense like Wisconsin, I think he would absolutely kill it. Expect a big year from him.

I agree. If a team can afford to give him 5-7 touches on offense a game (how NE uses Danny Woodhead) & maybe return KO's then I think his health should hold up... Don't think he'll ever see 15-20 touches every game, not more than one season anyway.

Janoris Jenkins is a top 10 talent but he didn't get drafted last night. He will go early in the 2nd but still...he had elite TALENT. Point being talent alone isn't enough to warrant a 1st rd pick when you have red flags like character issues or being injury prone. Just how it goes...

Okay, you're right, he's got 1st round talent too. That's all I've been trying to say, I just don't understand why Miller gets hated on so much. He was our best back in 2010 and 2011, its unfortunate he had a shoulder issue, but hopefully the surgery has repaired it and has a great year.