Falcoholic Pick In The SB Nation Mock Draft: Jake Long

I am not sold on Jake Long yet.  He was owned by Gholston and Harvey this year and some project him to be right tackle and not the all important left tackle.  

Also - Peter King has a nice piece on Dimitroff in his MMQB column.  

Bob Gallery...does that ring a bell?  He's currently playing guard after sucking at tackle.  I understand the O-Line need, but I really think the value will be there to address that with all the picks we have on day one.  If you had to give a confidence pick of which of the following will be a perennial Pro Bowler, which would it be?

Dorsey, Ellis, Chris Long, Jake Long, Gholston

Personally I go: Dorsey (I know I've been preaching Ellis, but both are very good), Chris Long, Vern Gholston, Sed Ellis, Jake Long.  

I am really excited for the draft after reading PK's profile on Dimitroff on CNNSI.com  

And for the second pick, my vote is for Flacco.  Remember, we now have three picks in the secnd round, so there will be plenty of talent there for the taking to fill our other needs.  In fact, we could even look for a third RB, a DE or DT, and possibly another WR if we wanted.  There are some decent speedsters coming out this year, none that I would say are sure-fire first rounders based on our needs, but they are definitely worth a look.

looks like a solid right tackle, as his specialty was in run blocking all year long. but i think hes getting a lot of hype after the phenomenal year joe thomas had, and he really isnt comparable.

he doesnt have very quick feet and if it werent for the combine i wouldnt put him top 5 in any way, i think people overvalue the workouts, oh well, is he the consensus number one?

Like I said, Im not fully sold, but he would still be the best pick for a variety of reasons...

1. Need-We need an offensive lineman in the worst way. It is by far the biggest holeon the team. Part of this is due to injuries, part due to age, but mostly I lay the blame on the blocking scheme that Mora/Knapp favored. From the time the ax mercifully dropped on those two, it was obvious that it would take time to undo the mess they had landed us in, particularly on the offensive line. There is only so much you can do with the same players who were signed to operate as a smaller, quicker unit. Eventually, you just have to start over.
2. Offensive gameplan-Mularkey is known for favoring an in your face, smash mouth running oriented attack. The team has the personnel in place in the backfield, but something is missing. In order to pull off such an offense with any success, we need to start building the offensive line up. Long would be a good start towards that. It doesn't matter who we have in the backfield if they get no help up front.
3. Goal Congruence-the big free agent signing this off season was a running back. If we are going to invest that much in a running back like Turner, it makes sense to surround him with players who give him the best chance to succeed as soon as we can. A running back can ask for nothing more than a solid offensive line in front of him. A signing like Turner and a draft pick like Long would work hand in hand to help make the offense potent.
4. Importance-its cliche, but running the ball and stopping the run are the keys to success in football. Look at Minnesota last year. They won eight games with Tavaris Jackson under center, but they dominated on the ground, finishing first in both rushing and rushing yards allowed. This is also something that worked well in Jacksonville, which Mike Smith witnessed firsthand. They ranked second in rushing, were in the top third against the run, and made the playffs. Now, I recognize that drafting a defensive tackle would aid in the other side of this goal, but a stud offensive lineman is hard to come by, and would likely be more productive for longer.