It was a tough call between Talib and Brandon Albert, as compelling cases were made for both players form the peanut gallery. I want to express my deepest appreciation to all reader(s) who helped us make the pick, and know that your input was the driving force to the selection. Personally, I have some serious questions about Aqib Talib and consider him a stretch in the first round... but I'm usually wrong, so that bodes well for the young man.
The pick is up at Mocking The Draft with both mine and TexSkin's thoughts (mine open, his begin at "From there, we move to the stats, measurables, and all the other fun stuff....") on Talib and why he might be the right pick there. I want to note quickly, before you go over there, that as the players have been selected they have added their name to that team's jersey, their number being the pick they were selected with. As you can imagine, I wasn't terribly comfortable with the idea of having someone else's name on a #21 jersey, but I know that it was not meant disrespectfully and that it just happened to be the case that we had the 21st pick of the draft. No one can replace Sean Taylor and I assure you that nobody here nor elsewhere on the network is insinuating otherwise.
Head to Mocking The Draft for analysis via Matt Miller, who is our resident draft expert. He is unimpressed with the pick for the most part, and awarded TexSkins and I a B-, which isn't the worst grade he's handed out, but it certainly isn't the best, either.
Speaking more to where I was at with the pick, I didn't like the field available all that much. I had previously damn near vetoed Limas Sweed between TexSkins and I, unless there was a sudden burst of support for him here at the site. Malcolm Kelly didn't fall, and those were the two receivers I felt were capable of being available at 21 and also worth taking at that position. Merling and Harvey didn't fall; with WR and DE looking questionable, that all but eliminated drafting an immediate impact player in the 1st, as I was stuck choosing between a backup offensive linemen and a backup cornerback. I went with the CB.
Let me have it in the comments section and also let's turn our focus to our next pick in the 2nd round. If we make it through three rounds, remember that the 'Skins will be picking twice. HTTR