I thought so at the time, actually, for a bit. Out of all the players that came in at that time that could have played TE (Wilson, Mathews, Holt, Mahina), he was by far the most athletic. And at 190 in HS, I was worried that what ended up happening would happen (that he wouldn't bulk up and get strong enough and thus would be a top-shelf athlete without a true position).

The things that changed my mind were 1) the glut of guys we thought we had at TE, and 2) Alani's brother made me think that maybe he would be able to get to 240 without a whole lot of trouble. So I don't really deserve any credit. But it should be obvious to anyone that watched our team the past two years that the best TE on the team was wearing #5 and playing D.

I don't think playing Alani at OLB any earlier than we played him would have made any difference in his being drafted.