While having elite talent at every position on the line would be a dream situation for any offence. Four 1ST or 2nd round picks have been used on the O-Line in the last 3 years, thats alot for one area of team need. A home town guy like David DeCastro coming in and starting for 15 years would be a huge plus for the Hawks, but you have to look at the rest of the teams area's of needs. I'm of the mind the Hawks will not take a QB this draft as Carrol seems to like Portis as a developmental guy and they need to keep T-Jack in case of injury or failure by Matt Flynn. The D-Line is sound except for a situational speed rusher to split time with Red Bryant and eventually replace Chris Clemons, do you use the 12th overall pick for a situational pass rusher ? The Receiver position and Defensive Backfield seem to be in the best shape ive seen them since Largent and Turner with Easley and Harris so i would'nt commit my 1st Round pick there, and i'm sure we can bolster the RB position in the 2nd or third as the talent there seems very deep. That brings us to our Linebackers an area that has been unstable for several season because of injury, to key players and the release or failure of other. I would have prefered to see this area stay untouched, as Hawthorne, Hill and Wright did a good job, with not having having played a single snap together before the 2011. With the loss of Hawthorne i think ILB Luke Kuechly from Boston College with the 12th pick would be the best scenario, or trade back to 16 or 17 pick up and additional pick and take ILB Donta Hightower Alabama. See my mock draft at http://draftdebacled.com/publisheddraft.aspx?mdid=27627

Because of the exceptional job done in free agency along with McQuistan and Breno, it gives the Hawks a lot of flexibility in their draft. Kuechly, Vinnie Curry, Backup running back, another O-lineman (Bergstrom from Utah?) I have no reason to panic, because however it shakes out, there are not gaping holes to be filled...could this be the season where they finally take the "best player available" on their board? Their ability to focus on talent in relaton to team needs is remarkable.

Aside from that fact that the middle linebacker position has been devalued by the Hawks he is also very over-rated. He doesn't take on blocks well, he doesn't put any pressure on the QB and he makes about 95% of his tackles 5-10 yards past the line of scrimmage. Carroll seems to like more aggressive defenders who actually square up running backs at or behind the LOS. Kuechly is very good in zone coverage, decent in man coverage and a sure tackler but MLB's just don't get picked that high unless they are Patrick Willis type game changers. Decastro would be a solid pick, a bit of a reach drafting a guard that high though. Floyd wouldn't be bad either but WR not really a need. The biggest need is a pass rusher that can play multiple positions. Whoever they like best between Coples, Ingram and Uphaw or a trade back and pick McClellin, Perry or Hightower. Any one of those guys can play multiple positions and really get to the QB. Perry might not be ready right away but I like the potential.

While I would not be upset adding a bruiser like DeCastro, Dre Kirkpatrick would be the wise pick. He is the biggest and hardest hitting corner in this draft. His football IQ is off the charts. Only some off-the-field stuff has dropped his stock. Dre is perfect for Carroll's concept of defense.