Oregon's Matthews, Arizona's Reed Would Look Good In Purple

Atleast on Matthews anyways. Most will argue that his name would hardly come up if it wasn’t for his very successful older brother, but I beg to differ. This kid not only has solid genes, but he also has a nose for the football. He is the sole reason Oregon stood a chance of winning in the closing minutes of the BCS championship. With their backs against the wall, Casey came up with a game changing forced fumble. Although they did go on to lose, this kid can obviously come up with big plays in the clutch, and that’s the kind of guy I want understudying behing big Ray-Ray.

I’ve expressed my homerism for Matthews left and right on he Beatdown, and have received mixed feelings on him I’ve heard he should go no higher than the 4th, but personally I feel like we should bundle some of our later round picks and trade them for another 3rd round pick. That way we can ensure he ends up in purple and black, and not growing up to be a key contributor for any other team. We already know Ozzie has interest in him, as there are several reports of him working out in Baltimore, and I believe we even interviewed him at the Combine (or was it his Pro Day?) Anyhow, there it is. So come Day 2 of the draft, here’s one guy that will be sitting on his couch, with a beer in hand, hoping that Baltimore calls out that name…..Matthews.

- the team feels good about Gaither’s return, at least for one more year
- the team feels that they will resign all their CB’s
- the team does not feel good about Kindle ever making an impact
- the team pays no more than a 3rd for Mathews

Then hell yeah I am for picking both Reed and Mathews and the scenario does not seem absolutely crazy. Sandwich them around Titus Young or Randle Cobb. I’d be very happy on Saturday night of the draft weekend.

The only fly in Bruce’s ointment here is that I would imagine that Ellerbe would get cut seeing as how he’s so far in Harbaugh’s doghouse.

From watching Mathews for three years while living here in Portland, he will be a decent pro. IMO he’s not worth a 2 as I’ve seen some reports lately. But a 3, yes. He understands the game and he works hard at getting better. His limitation is his physical self: not like his brother. He has to learn not to get caught up in the wash so much. But remember the play by Ray vs San Diego where he won the game for us by driving into the backfield? Mathews has the capability of seeing and acting on plays like that.

There are better players to fill that need than Casey Matthews. I wouldnt take him until the mid 4th at the earliest.

Jabaal Sheard, Kelvin Sheppard and Nate Irving come to mind as LBs that I’d rather take than Matthews that have dreads to give you that whole ‘Predator’ look

Also, Matthew is an ILB, not an OLB like his brother

I wouldn’t say it’s slim to none on bringing them both in because Matthews is an ILB and Reed is an OLB. Reed is rising on draftboards and could very well find himself in the first round and Matthews should be there with our 3rd pick. With that said I really am not a fan of Matthews. I think he is getting overhyped by the name and think he will really struggle to get off blocks and make plays consistently. He is nowhere near the athlete of Clay, but does have good instincts which is really his only hope IMO of turning out good. He definitely could turn out ok due to his genetics, but really would not want to use anything higher than our 4th on him. I do like Reed though and think he has the potential to be very good which is why he is flying up boards. I still do like Houston better than Reed right now, but wouldn’t be upset if the Ravens chose to go with him.