-RB Felix Jones goes to Dallas. I really like Jones a lot, but was it worth it when RB Mendenhall was there and no WRs were taken? They could’ve taken CB Mike Jenkins, a great fit on defense, and then get one of the RBs or one of the WRs, whoever drops at 28, their second pick in the 1st round. I can’t imagine Jenkins will still be there at 28. They must be comfortable taking a WR at 28. Felix Jones does make a better complement with Barber than Mendenhall does though.
-Pittsburgh takes RB Mendenhall, here is a great example of what I was talking about when I said that every team without 2 starter-worthy RBs has the potential to select a RB. Nice pick, just like Barber and Jones, Mendenhall and Willie Parker should make a great complementary duo.
-Great situation for Tennessee here, no WR has been taken yet. And this is one of the most glaring needs that any team in the NFL has at any position. I would be utterly shocked if the Titans don’t select a WR here….And here comes the shock. Is Tennessee completely intent on not giving Vince Young anyone to throw to? RB Chris Johnson is a good complementary RB to LenDale White just like the previous 2 RBs taken. Seems like the Felix Jones pick by Dallas was a good pick now with a run on RBs here. This is a great example of how bad this WR class is. If the most WR-starved team, picking at 24 thinks there isn’t a single WR worth picking there in the entire draft, that’s bad.
-A good trade by Seattle. There wasn’t a single player there that made sense for need and skill. Dallas has to be jumping up for Jenkins or a WR they think stands out among the top tier and wasn’t going to get to 28….And it’s Jenkins, great move up in my opinion. They got the 2 players they probably wanted at 22 the most. Worked out really well for Dallas. And with how much the WRs are falling, there’s a good chance that some decentt WR will be there in the 2nd round for Dallas.
-San Diego takes CB Antoine Cason. I’m a big fan of Cason. He might be a nickelback behind CBs Jammer and Cromartie and has the size and strength to be great in that role. Might be a reach to draft a nickelback in the first round, but he’s a good fit to contribute right away. And there weren’t any defensive stars left at this pick, so grab the defensive guy who fits your team the best.
-I don’t know about the DE Lawrence Jackson pick for Seattle. He didn’t show much production last year at USC. And I thought Seattle had a more pressing need at TE or DT. Most people were saying TE, but what I thought the pick would be was DT Kentwan Balmer at DT, who went the next pick to San Francisco. I thought Balmer would give the Hawks that bigger body that you could put next to Rocky Bernard and allow him to rush the passer. Jackson isn’t bad to compete with Darryl Tapp for a starting position and give the Hawks three DEs to rotate with Kerney, but I feel like DT is a more pressing need than DE and Balmer is just as highly ranked if not higher than Jackson.
-DE Philip Merling is the first pick in the 2nd round. Is this a sign of Jason Taylor being traded in the near future possibly?
-The Rams take WR Donnie Avery. What were the odds that Donnie Avery would be the first WR taken in the draft? This isn’t even an example of they should’ve traded down to avoid reaching, this is an example of they should’ve picked someone else and waited until the next round and pick Avery with their 3rd round pick. This just doesn’t make sense. On the other hand, Washington has to be ecstatic to get WR Devin Thomas in the 2nd round. Not only is he the highest rated WR, but he’s the prototypical big receiver that Coach Zorn desires in the west coast offense.
-Talking to a friend on the phone during the draft, I started to think about the dynamics of analyzing the draft. We all read and hear about Mel Kiper’s draft board, and Tod McShay’s, and Scounts Inc, and somehow get it in our minds that a universal draft board is created and every team will go by that board. We seem to forget that every team has their own draft board, which is not like each other’s. We seem shocked that some team will take a player that is not next on the “universal draft board.” We forget that some teams will like some players more or less than other teams and “draft experts.” Just because everyone ranks Reggie Bush as the #1 pick in 2006 and when the Texans take Mario Williams at #1 instead they get criticized, doesn’t mean that was the “wrong” pick as is the truth now that Williams is looking like a better NFL player than Bush. And I’ll leave you with those thoughts for now. I’ll have my draft winners and losers up in a few days and then I’ll have my rookie fantasy rankings for you guys.
Here's part two of my drafts notes. Part three (the last segment) will be posted in a couple days. Let's here your opinions.
-All fantasy managers, including myself, had to have been disappointed that Mendenhall didn’t go to Denver.
-Stewart over Mendenhall for Carolina? Interesting, it seemed like Mendenhall had surpassed Stewart on many draft boards over the off-season, but Stewart has the big body that the Panthers seem to covet for their power running scheme. He replaces Foster, and continues the trend of no teams except the Rams, Chargers and Eagles being content with one running back.
-I like the Bears taking OT Chris Williams instead of Mendenhall. The Bears had too many other needs to take a position that I just don’t think is that important in the NFL. It’s just too easy to find a decent RB and not very easy to find a decent left tackle.
-Nice trade by Detroit. Again, here’s another team with a lot of needs. People were talking about Mendenhall and the 2 LTs still on the board; trading down 2 spots allows them to still get one of those 3 guys.
-Kansas City trades up (was it because they heard rumblings that Philly was going to trade up to get Albert?). OL Brendan Albert was also a player who was expected to be picked higher, so there’s always a concern that someone will trade up for a player that has dropped (Brady Quinn). If they knew the player they wanted, there’s no reason to not trade up and secure that pick. KC now has Dorsey and Albert lower than everyone projected them, wow. They were going to trade down to 7 or 10 and maybe even pick Albert with one of those 2 picks. That’s why they traded up.
-The gamble pays off for Detroit if they grab Mendenhall, they could also get Otah….They take T Gosder Cherilus who is a RT (reason they picked him?). They probably could’ve traded down again, but already traded down once, so why take the chance again I guess. It sounds like they could’ve traded down far though and still have gotten him.
-Arizona takes CB Cromartie-Rodgers, which allows them to move Antrel Rolle to safety. Cromartie-Rodgers is an off-season workout guy. Teams seem to worry about guys from lower level schools for the first round (the one example of a small school first round bust that comes to my mind is Jason Babin).
-Baltimore trades up to get QB Flacco. After Ryan goes, they had Flacco as their 2nd QB. Since they traded far down and got extra picks, they were able to give up something to make sure they got their 2nd QB. They got a QB, and still came away with a few extra picks.
-Is anyone going to trade up to get Mendenhall? I keep thinking about that. Hard to know who wants a RB though, now that most teams are going to a 2 RB system. Anyone without 2 starter-worthy RBs could be a potential suitor of a RB these days.
-I have to imagine that Otah will go to Philly. Tackle is a need of theirs and Otah is the only mid-first round tackle left on the board. This would be a great pick for selecting the last player from the elite tackle tier.
-Nice trade by Carolina to trade up and get someone who could’ve gone 5 or so picks earlier and is still in the tier with all the previous tackles and was the last one in that tier. I don’t understand why Philly didn’t keep the pick and make the same selection….I just saw what Carolina gave up for Otah, now I understand why Phillip traded out of there. Way too high of a price to trade for Otah. Great example to look at: last year when SF traded their next year’s #1 pick for LT Joe Staley, and that turned out to be the #7 pick this year. Just not a very good trade at all. Especially with Carolina, it’s always good to have faith in your team and think you’ll do well and the pick will be low (just like SF thought coming off a 7-9 season with what was thought to be a vastly improved team), but you have Delhomme coming off Tommy John surgery, what if the recovery doesn’t go well? This team has a real chance of having a top 10 pick next year. Bad trade.
-Tampa Bay takes CB Aqib Talib. Lots of talent there. This squashes any Lito Sheppard trade possibility. Needed a CB for sure, that’s why they were talking about trading for Lito. Talib was a part of that top tier CB group, another pick I like just like Otah. Talib is also a good fit for a Cover 2 defense.
-Atlanta traded up for OT Sam Baker, which just doesn’t make sense to me. Trading for Otah makes sense since he’s the last of a top OT tier. Baker is not in that tier, so they traded away picks to make a reach. I think Atlanta panicked a bit, realized they are about to make a rookie QB their starter, and didn’t want what happened to David Carr in Houston to happen to Matt Ryan. Also, why give all that money to Michael Turner if you can’t block for him?
Now I know that the draft was more than a week ago and that seems like forever, but it's never too late to take a look back as what happened during the most exciting weekend of the off-season. Here are my draft notes from the first round and a little bit of the second round. I hope you enjoyed the draft as much as I did (one of my favorite holidays of the year). And please don't hesitate to share your thoughts on the draft also. This is part one of three.
-Jake Long was a good pick in my opinion. If you relate it to fantasy football, most people tell you to not take any chances with your 1st round pick. There is enough talent in a first round that it’s never necessary to take a player that has lots of risk. So if you attach that to the NFL Draft, Jake Long is probably the safest pick. I don’t think there’s a chance at this being a Robert Gallery pick here, that was an example of bad scouting on the Raiders part and trying to project him as a player. Jake Long not only has the strength and technique, but he has the college production to match it too. Also not to be overlooked is that he signed for 2 million LESS guaranteed money than last year’s #1 pick, which is big in my opinion. Along with the risk issue for a #1 pick, a team can handcuff themselves with the contract they give to their #1 pick, especially if the pick is a bust (think Tim Couch, Courtney Brown, Alex Smith etc.).
-Dorsey was the #2 choice for the 2-4 picks. That’s just unlucky (or lucky if you take into account that he avoided going to Atlanta and Oakland). I think Dorsey has the best combination of a high ceiling and a realistic chance at reaching that ceiling than the guys chosen over him. Chris Long is a high motor guy that might not have the raw talent to be a perennial pro bowler. I question Matt Ryan’s ability to be a franchise quarterback, although I have heard him described as being similar to Tom Brady by a current Pro Bowl Quarterback. And Darren McFadden is a special talent, but he is a one-cut running back who might not have the vision and agility to make things happen like LT does or Marshall Faulk did. I still like all those three picks and understand why they were made; I just think Kansas City got really lucky by having Dorsey fall into their laps.
-Will Vernon Gholston be a bust? He’s the potential high pick bust for this draft.
-I haven’t liked a lot of things that Goodell has done as the commissioner (mandatory haricuts?), but changing the first round draft time to 10 minutes and doing more research to make sure that the players in the green room get selected early has been great for the draft. Having the players gone from the green room allow the commentators to actually focus on the draft and not on the player that is falling (Brady Quinn).
-The Saints had to trade up to 7 because the Bengals were going to take Ellis at 9, who was pretty much the only player that might’ve been taken before any of the top six picks. There’s a big drop-off after Ellis.
-Baltimore’s trade was a good move, their most glaring hole is QB and once Ryan was taken it was smart to move down, because they have lots of other minors holes on their team that can be addressed with those third and fourth round picks.
-There are lots of CBs and OTs worth taking in the early-middle portion of the draft, will that mean they all drop because no individual stands out?
-Well this is very annoying; the Jaguars trade for the 8th pick and then take 10 minutes to select a player. Do they really trade up not knowing which player they want? Especially trading up from 26 (huge jump!, but the Jaguars feel they are one player away from having a good shot at the Super Bowl).
-I love trading down when there isn’t a player there you really want, especially early in the first round since taking a player at that time means you’re committing a lot of money to that individual. The Patriots need LBs and CBs and there are plenty of those for the first round this year, they know one will be there by trading down. Baltimore wanted Ryan, and when he didn’t fall to them, they had to look to trade down. They still want a QB with their first pick, so finding someone at the bottom of the first round to trade with is great for them, now they can select a QB with their first round pick and not have to reach for him.
-Keith Rivers to the Bengals, does this now mean that Keith Rivers will be in jail in a year or two? They also have Odell Thurman coming back, who knows how he will be after two years out of the league, but they have a chance for a good LB corps for the first time in awhile. I watched Rivers in the Pac-10, and this guy is all over the field. Considering the sub-par talent that will be around him on the defensive side of the ball in Cincy, he should be making a lot of plays as a rookie (IDP leagues, take notice).
-Everyone had New England pegged as taking a CB after Gholston didn’t fall to them at 7, including myself, but should any of us be surprised that they ignored the glaring hole at CB, and went with a LB? They needed a LB also, so they still went with need. And this is the same team that won a super bowl with a WR playing CB and having their #4 CB at the beginning of the year starting for them. They don’t need talented CBs to win, they know that, and it’s been proven. As long as they have their talented front seven and their scheme, they don’t need a 1st round CB. This is the same team that didn’t even make an offer to Asante Samuel. This also is the reason many people said Samuel wasn’t really that good, because he was a product of the system in NE.
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Getting ready to get into those weeks were every single point counts, and playoff spots are won... and lost. Yup, better be sure you are on top of all your injuries and know who is going to start and who's sitting. Backup plans upon backup plans. The name of the game. Lots of big name injuries this week. See the link below for a breakdown of Week 10 injury updates.
The super bowl is a very famous game specially in America. It is the game of National Football League. The kansas city chiefs are a professional American football team in Kansas City, Missouri and are members of the Western Division of (AFC). The miami dolphins are a professional American football team in the Miami, and Florida. They play home games at in the Miami Gardens that is about fifteen miles from Downtown Miami.
Sunday, May 11, 2008