I'm putting my goddamn foot down on this one. They're saying it's unlikely at the AJC that the Falcons will trade up to get Calvin Johnson. I can only hope that's true. If they expend most of their draft picks to chase Johnson, they lose the 1,000 cool points they've built up. This is a team in severe need of a safety, a defensive end, several offensive linemen, and a kicker. Blowing a bunch of picks to get a potentially great receiver isn't what we need right now.
I'll be the last person to defend this receiving corps. We've got a ton of guys with an outside chance to make an impact next season, but aside from Joe Horn there's nobody who was ever even close to elite on the roster. But we have too many needs as a team to consider spending them on Johnson, even if he might turn out to be the next Moss or Owens. Some might argue that we need somebody of his caliber, and I don't totally dispute that. But we're more than an elite receiver away from being a great team. Let's focus on getting somebody like LaRon Landry first.
But we do still need a backup QB. There's a lot of names being bandied about, from Anthony Wright to Drew Bledsoe to Jay Fiedler. But there's only one who was a Louisville product and hasn't gotten a chance to prove himself anywhere. That's right, I'm talking about....
Dave Ragone!
And I'm not just picking him because he has the same first name and once threw for 666 yards in my Madden game (yes, yes, deal with the devil). We need someone who won't stand directly in Shockley's way if he develops, yet someone who has the kind of strong arm and familiarity with the system that Petrino is going to require from a backup. Let's just say I have a hunch that Ragone gets a pretty hard look, especially because he's dirt cheap. Hey, it could be worse. We could get Joey Harrington. Ask Lions and Dolphins fans how that one turned out.