After reading Singletary's end of season press conference, I've suddenly become a lot more interested to see how our next draft will unfold. His implications that he'll have heavy influence on the players selected really thickens the plot to a story that's already got our attention.

There are reasons for both optimism and skepticism in his latest release:

On the bright side, I think it's safe to say that we'll aquire a few players that will fit the system that we should have in place for the next couple years. Coach Sing has a pretty solid grasp on his "philosophy", so we're unlikely to get many players that we'll have to re-invent or develop into something that they aren't already. This is good. Expect tough, disciplined football players (see: Staley, Joe)...rather than physical specimens or superathletes (Davis, Vernon).

On the less bright-and-cheery side of things, we have to wonder just how good of a talent evaluator Singletary really is. I don't doubt his ability to lead men, and I'm positive that he's an excellent judge of character...but that doesn't necessarily mean that he can pick out quality football players out of a 250-man line-up.

Thanks to Sing's wonderful honesty, we see that not only did he not endorse our best draft selection in years (who else? Bamm Bamm himself) - but seemed to actually be in opposition to the choice until being heavily persuaded. Call me negative, but that worries me a bit. You would think that if anybody were in a position to spot Willis as a sure-thing, then it would have been Singletary...who coached him personally at the Senior Bowl. But we'll just have to wait and see.

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