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Texas A&M Jake Matthews is staying and Michigan tackle Taylor Lewan is as well. That apparently moves up Lane Johnson of Oklahoma and Eric Fisher of Central Michigan. Both Johnson and Fisher have their limitations. Johnson is a former tight end turned tackle. He has about 2 years of experience at that level. And Fisher is from a small school, so the competition level is questionable.

This brings me to the San Francisco 49ers' Anthony Davis. He started the first 3 years at right tackle after playing left in college at Rutgers. The Niners have cap issues and every single starter on the offensive line was named a pro bowler or an alternate including Davis. The Niners already have the most expensive starting linebackers in the league. So money is a problem. If the Niners put Davis on the trade block, would their be any takers?

The teams hurt most by Matthews and Lewan returning to school are the Bears, Chargers, Giants, Packers, and some say the Steelers and the Colts. Davis is definitely worth a first round pick in this draft. The dropoff after Joeckel is steep. Davis has gone thru the growing pains and will help immediately and will garner a fat raise.

radtech wrote:
This brings me to the San Francisco 49ers' Anthony Davis. He started the first 3 years at right tackle after playing left in college at Rutgers. The Niners have cap issues and every single starter on the offensive line was named a pro bowler or an alternate including Davis. The Niners already have the most expensive starting linebackers in the league. So money is a problem. If the Niners put Davis on the trade block, would their be any takers?

The teams hurt most by Matthews and Lewan returning to school are the Bears, Chargers, Giants, Packers, and some say the Steelers and the Colts. Davis is definitely worth a first round pick in this draft. The dropoff after Joeckel is steep. Davis has gone thru the growing pains and will help immediately and will garner a fat raise.

The teams hurt by Matthews and Lewan returning are the same times that would be interested in Davis. Especially the Bears, they are desperate at this point. They need a OT, and don't have a high enough pick to get Joeckel.

Fisher is the biggest winner IMO of Matthews/Lewan deciding to go back to school. Bumps him pretty much uncontestedly up to the #2 OT in the draft and possibly a top-10 or -15 pick.

Re: Anthony Davis, I have to assume if they put him up on the block they could get a pretty high pick for him considering he's already a Pro Bowl alternate at 23. I don't think they'll trade him since he's a pretty critical part of their success (if anyone I think Goldson is the obvious cap casualty) but if they did I wouldn't be surprised to see them get a mid-1st rounder for him.

Bulaga is a solid option at RT for the Packers and they should have Sherrod back this fall. Plus Ted likes his draft picks so I can't see him offering much for Davis. And the Packers have their own situation with Jennings, Finley, Hawk, Rodgers, Raji, Matthews to worry about.

They can save a lot of money with the departures of Smith, Haralson, Goodwin and Akers.

Thankfully for those teams at the top who lost out on the guys returning to school, both Fisher and Johnson had excellent Senior Bowls.

Cammo101 wrote:Thankfully for those teams at the top who lost out on the guys returning to school, both Fisher and Johnson had excellent Senior Bowls.

Johnson in particular really helped his stock. I'd be shocked if he fell out of the top 20. Fisher is almost guaranteed a top-12 selection as well.

gswhoops wrote:

Cammo101 wrote:Thankfully for those teams at the top who lost out on the guys returning to school, both Fisher and Johnson had excellent Senior Bowls.

Johnson in particular really helped his stock. I'd be shocked if he fell out of the top 20. Fisher is almost guaranteed a top-12 selection as well.

I'm reading that some feel Fisher could end up going #1 when all is said and done. I doubt at this point he gets by Arizona at #7.

JustAwesome wrote:They can save a lot of money with the departures of Smith, Haralson, Goodwin and Akers.

Truth.

By my estimations they're up to $25.5M in cap space with those 4 gone or substantially lowered. Manningham (ACL) and Carlos Rogers would also be candidates for release/renegotiation if we're up against a wall, which would save us roughly $10M in cap ($4M for Manningham, $6M for Rogers). Doubt A. Davis gets dealt unless someone blows us away.