My favorite part of the NFL offseason starts tonight - the Draft. Yeah, the WWE Draft was the big reason why I held TWB Draft Spectacular last night, but the NFL Draft was used as more of a model because it is more of a draft. Many people think that the proceedings that begin tonight are boring. I can see that, but I just like the intrigue, which players are going to go where, what moves my team makes and really just soaking in something meaningful re: football for the last time before the college season kicks off at the end of August.
You know what I don't like about the Draft though, aside from that gelatinous and smug windbag Chris Berman tipping picks before the commissioner announces them, thus ruining the suspense that comes with the call? All the talking heads, the Mel Kipers, the Todd McShays, the guys who only come out of the woodwork once a year to bloviate about how what team made a huge error by picking one guy over another one, or about how they're surprised that whatever overhyped quarterback has fallen out of the first round, or, my favorite, grading teams' drafts as soon as the event ends. It can be nauseating, especially when certain stories are pushed to the top of the heap.
The most glaring example of this happened in the infamous 2006 Draft. The Houston Texans had the first overall pick, and everyone thought that they were either going to take USC's all-world, all-purpose running back Reggie Bush or hometown favorite QB Vince Young. The two had just been on opposite sides of the field three-and-a-half months prior in the most exciting BCS Championship game of all-time, with Young's Texas Longhorns defeating Bush's Trojans in a nail-biter. Much to the surprise of every draft pundit, including myself, the Texans reached an agreement with North Carolina State defensive end Mario Williams at the first pick. Many people, including myself, blasted the pick. The Texans were stupid, we all thought. Why did they go for a two-year wonder at DE instead of a QB who just led his team to the BCS title (despite his wonky throwing motion and the fact that they already spent tons of draft picks on QBs over the years, including their first overall pick as a franchise in David Carr) or the best overall prospect at RB coming out of college since Barry Sanders?
Boy, were we all proven wrong.
Three years later, Williams is an impact player on the Texans' defensive line. Although he's not Reggie White or even Julius Peppers, he's a big reason why the Texans have one of the best front sevens in football and why they're an up-and-coming team in the AFC South. Meanwhile, Bush has shown flashes of greatness for the Super Bowl Champion Saints, but he's been mostly compared to Eric Metcalf, a good third down back and above-average returner, but nothing you'd spend the first overall pick on. In fact, us Eagles fans know Bush for being on the receiving end of this hit, maybe the NFL's hit of the decade:
Oh yeah, that's the stuff.
Young, conversely, has had a tumultuous NFL career where he showed inconsistency for the Tennessee Titans and even got himself benched in 2008 in favor of Kerry Collins. He even contemplated retirement at one point. Young seems to have gotten his mojo going with a strong finish to last year's campaign, but it remains to be seen whether he'll just be an okay NFL QB or whether he'll prove the pundits right by joining folks like Drew Brees and Peyton Manning in the NFL's elite.
Be all that as it may, the Texans did well for themselves to find a QB in Matt Schaub and running backs in Steve Slaton and Ryan Moats among others to keep the offense moving. Even if Young becomes a great NFL QB, Williams' production since his selection and his projected production in the coming years makes his pick a sensible one.
Compare that to the Raiders' draft in 2004, when they took offensive tackle Robert Gallery second overall. The move was widely praised as the "safest pick in the draft". Gallery, however, has been a bust for the Raiders, not nearly living up to his potential. In fact, the two best tackles to come out of that year, Chris Snee and Jason Peters, were taken in the second round and signed as an undrafted free agent respectively.
I've learned my lesson. I know that you need at least three years to grade a draft, because you don't know how players are going to mature or what other variables will factor into their growth. It just goes to show that a lot of what these blowhards are talking about on the are is hot air. So, when your team selects a player and Kiper blasts them for not making a great selection, brush it off, because there's just as much a chance that he's wrong and is just lashing out at the team for not doing what he thinks in his head (which is protected by a massive helmet that is disguised as hair) as he is of being right.
That being said, here are a few things that I'll be interested in following:
Whom are the Eagles drafting?
Of course, being that the Eagles are my team, I have a great interest in whom they take. I'd love to see them get a middle linebacker, which they can conceivably get at their spot or by moving up a little bit, or to help their offensive line, which they can do by standing pat. However, I've heard rumors that they're looking at moving up substantially and grabbing either Eric Berry out of Tennessee or Earl Thomas of Texas to fill a need at safety.
We've been pretty spoiled here watching Brian Dawkins patrol centerfield for more than a decade, so immediately, people want someone who can replace him at the same or at a slightly lowered level. Personally, I think the safety position is highly overrated and that if the corners are covering and the line is getting pressure, then it'd be easy for any safety to play defense.
Personally, I want to see them get Rolando McClain or Mike Iupati, but hey, if they get Thomas or Berry, I could live with it.
Where will Ndamukong Suh be drafted?
Suh, a stud defensive tackle, ate souls and demolished QBs in the Big 12 this season, almost taking Nebraska to the BCS BY HIMSELF by sacking Colt McCoy 4 times and generally disrupting the Texas offense. He should have won the Heisman, and in a perfect world, I think he's earned the right to be picked number 1. However, the Rams are in that spot, and they've been lulled by the siren call of taking a franchise QB, or at the very least, trading out to someone who wants to take that franchise QB. This year's model is Sam Bradford, the Oklahoma signal-caller who spent most of last season on the sidelines with an injured shoulder.
You'd think that Suh would be a lock to go #2 then, right? Well, the problem with that is that the Lions have more than one need and they may take either Russell Okung, the Oklahoma State offensive tackle, to protect Matthew Stafford's blind side, or they could go with another DT in Gerald McCoy. McCoy didn't have the eye-popping highlights that Suh had last year, but many feel he's a more polished prospect. The Bucs could then take Suh, but they could also use Okung or might be smitten by McCoy. The 'Skins, who traded for Donovan McNabb, might still even use their pick on a QB, or they could use it on Okung if he falls that far.
Again, I'm not going to tell you that Suh is going to be the best pro in this draft and that teams are stupid for not taking him like I just railed against above. However, I do feel that he was the most impressive college player last year, and that has to go for something, especially at an impact position such as DT.
Which QB will get more of the slobber treatment by ESPN's analysts the longer they go unpicked - Jimmy Clausen or Tim Tebow?
Clausen, the Notre Dame product, has a higher stock and is more likely to be taken at, say, the #4 spot than Tebow, but Tebow is that college player that everyone loves to love because of his "grittiness" or "leadership". Many national sportswriters have said that they love Tebow and think he'll be a great NFL player, while scouts cite his wonky throwing motion and lack of playing time in a pro-style offense (having been burned by another Urban Meyer QB in Alex Smith prior) as reason to shy away from him. Either way, I expect the announcers to fawn over both guys, but Tebow seems to be the one to get more sob-story press because he's the one who'll spend more time waiting to get picked.
If someone were to play a drinking game every time Berman tips a pick, when would they surely die of alcohol poisoning?
I'm gonna go with mid-first round. Seriously though, I hate that shit.
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