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LaRon Landry on LaRon Landry

By Skin Patrol
Update [2007-4-23 11:38:11 by Skin Patrol]: More Landry on Landry quotes, per the Chicago Sun-Times:
I have great technique. I can play down in the box, fit the runs, take on pulling guards. I just have a passion for the game. I give 110 percent effort, and I make the players around me work to try to match my intensity...
Also from the article is the suggestion that Chicago might want to trade up to the #6 pick with Washington to acquire Landry, though it isn't clear if they're still talking about a possible Briggs deal or a separate trade proposal.
Per the Times:
"I'm a complete safety," Landry said. "I'm fast and physical. I communicate well. I'm able to read offenses. I can play the middle of the field. I can play man to man. I have great technique. I can play down in the box. I can take on pulling guards.
    "I just have a passion for the game."
I like confidence bordering on arrogance, as does the Times, apparently, as they are in full enabler mode for this kind of ego expansion:
Landry has a right to be so bold. Most NFL teams would agree with his self report, which is why he is the draft's top defensive back and a candidate to be selected sixth overall Saturday by the Washington Redskins...

"One of my favorite players in the entire draft is LaRon Landry," NFL Network analyst Mike Mayock said.

Mel Kiper's in love, too:
"He should be a Pro Bowl-caliber player. He'll be better than Roy Williams, no question, but his ball skills downfield are not necessarily what you would want them to be."
Although he caveats that praise with the only criticism I've heard of Landry; that he sometimes misjudged passes in the air. That's a rare critique in mounds of praise, so I take it lightly. Everything I've read on Landry has been overwhelmingly positive, and I don't doubt for a second that he makes our defense better for many years to come.

Still, I'd prefer Defensive Line help. It would not hurt my feelings in the least if Your Washington Redskins select Landry with the 6th pick in the draft, but I think the LSU safety is worth more to us as trade bait than he is on the field. My understanding is that Pierson Prioleau earned the starting job last year, and if the Coaches were comfortable with him heading into the 2006 season (unfortunately he was injured early in our first game) I doubt he's significantly regressed.

View my apprehension simply as an organization of needs, where replacing Prioleau and Omar Stoutmire is a close second to an immediate and drastic youth movement along the D-Line. With so few draft picks early on, moving down a few spots so that someone else snags Landry could let us get a quality DE or DT in rounds 2-4. And if the team is truly married to Safety in the 1st round, there's no shortage of talent that can be had later in round one: Brandon Meriweather (Miami), Reggie Nelson (Florida) and Aaron Rouse (VT) could all be developed into the necessary complement Sean Taylor needs to eat souls on Sundays.

But here's one more thing to think about, admittedly stolen from elsewhere (though I cannot remember whom). Do we really want to burden Sean Taylor with the mentor role next year given his regression in '06 sans Ryan Clark? Perhaps what Taylor needs right now is the veteran presence of a Pierson Prioleau or Omar Stoutmire, who can line him up at the right place on the field so that Sean can go out there and destroy our opponents. As excited as I'd be to see a Taylor/Landry safety unit knocking opposing receivers senseless, it might contribute to a continued regression on the part of Taylor. Reader(s), is that a justifiable concern?

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