NFL Draft Notes

by Blitzburgh on Apr 30, 2008 11:03 AM EDT

A few random thoughts on the draft from around the leauge.

Enough about Kansas City and their incredible draft. Their draft is still very much contingent on Glenn Dorsey staying healthy and motivated, and Jamal Charles bulking up without losing any of his incredible speed.

I liked the Giants selection of Kenny Phillips at #31. I also really liked the Patriots selection of Jerod Mayo at #10. Those are two football players that are going to have an impact in year 1. Sadly for the Patriots, it wouldn't surprise me if Mayo helped take them over the top in '08-'09.

The Washington Redskins sure added a bevy of pass-catching threats: Malcolm Kelly, Devon Thomas, and Fred Davis (TE). Not sure why they needed Davis, since they have one of the better TEs in the league in Chris Cooley and a suitable backup in Todd Yoder. Nevertheless, Antwaan Randle-El will soon be (rightfully) phased out of the 'Skins passing attack for the most part.

It's hard to question the St. Louis Rams' ability to identify good WR talent, but did anybody see James Hardy as one of the first WRs off the board? He's not even 6' tall.

I hated the Titans selection of Chris Johnson at #24. I also hated the Chicago Bears' selection of Matt Forte at #44. Cedric Benson isn't the problem. It's the lack of ANY sort of credible passing game that allows defenses to flood the box.

I like Arizona's selections. Dominique Roger-Cromartie in Round 1 and Calais Campbell in Round 2. Then, a WR who I think will shock some people, Early Doucet, in Round 3. Ken Whisenhunt's got that franchise heading in the right direction.

A Steelers note: for those of you who are unsure about the Bruce Davis selection, yet trust Jim Wexell's judgment - check out what Wexell had to say about Davis in a recent column. I kinda had similar thoughts while watching him. This kid's a competitor and exactly the type of guy that I can see Tomlin being intrigued by.

How is it that Notre Dame sends four guys to the pros and their head coach gets a total pass for having an 'inexperienced' roster? Blasphemy that Ty Willingham was booted when he was and Charlie Weis is given a mulligan.

The rich keep getting richer. USC sends 9 athletes to the NFL this year.

The Jaguars are funny. They mortage basically all of the middle part of their draft to reach for 2 pass rushers. Don't get me wrong, Harvey and Groves could be good, but do they really think that sacking Peyton Manning and Tom Brady is the only thing that team needs? I wouldn't be surprised if both of those guys had an impact this year in Jacksonville, but I can't help but think that either one or both of them is going to have issues staying on the field over the course of their careers.

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my thoughts

To consider the Chiefs having a great draft, you have to believe they already had their qb on the roster. I’m not so sure.

And with the Jags, well, Reggie Wiliams, Dennis Northcutt and Earnest Wilford are average talent for Garrard to throw to. So many wrs fell in the draft they could have taken. But maybe they are not as good (orin interested) evaluating that talent as they are defensive talent.

The Cards, man, those guys need to get their own identity, it seems like they are taking players the steelers would love to have all the time.

by vherub on Apr 30, 2008 11:52 AM EDT reply reply 0 recs

How do you judge Croyle as a QB...

when he doesn’t have talent around him to succeed. I’m not big on him by any stretch of the imagination, but at least now he’ll have some pieces around him to see what he can (and can’t) do.

Phear T.S.'s Crawdaddies...

by TexSkins on Apr 30, 2008 1:34 PM EDT up reply reply 0 recs

Chi-town

Actually i like the Matt Forte draft. Benson’s terrible. Complete bust. The FO for the Bears made a HUGE mistake when giving away Thomas Jones. The man got the Bears to the super bowl and immediately got traded for just a move up in the second round. The bears needed someone with some toughness to run in this division.

The problem I see starts in the 3rd round where they started ignoring every capable QB in college football. What Grossman does in practice I don’t know, but it must be amazing for him to still be considered a #1 option.

by Chicago Steeler on Apr 30, 2008 11:56 AM EDT reply reply 0 recs

my take

- Chris Johnson at 24 is a joke. The fact that the Titans didn’t get a WR until the 4th is an even bigger joke.
- I’m not as down on the Jags draft as most. I think the two pass rushers they got should be pretty decent and the DL as a whole should be solid. If they’d have a gotten a WR at all, it would have been a really good draft, IMO. Don’t sleep on Chauncey Washington either, that guys gonna be a steal.
- Jason Campbell won’t have any excuses any more. He’s got just as many weapons as nearly any QB in the league.
- Chicago had 12 picks and didn’t get a QB, are you f*ing kidding me. What a joke. Lovie’s playing for his job this year and he’s gonna hitch his future to the combo of Orton and Grosman (and no I don’t care that Kiper thinks they got a great QB as an UDFA).
- Mark me down as a big fan of what KC did. Sure they have question marks as Blitz noted but DaJuan Morgan (3rd round) and Barry Richardson (6th round) are great values. And that’s not even mentioning Brandon Flowers (2nd) who some mocked to the Steelers in the first.

by cgolden on Apr 30, 2008 12:08 PM EDT reply reply 0 recs

The steelers could never draft someone named “Flowers”.

by steelguy99 on Apr 30, 2008 11:10 PM EDT up reply reply 0 recs

My thoughts

I hope you’re wrong about Mayo, but fear that you’re right.

With the ‘skins taking so many receivers, what are the chances Randle El ends up back with the Steelers?

The Rams had a great receiving corp when Bruce was in his prime and Torry Holt was still young. Holt should still be an elite receiver for a couple more years, but who have they added since Vermeil left that is a great receiver?

I agree that the Bears need a new QB, but their collapse last year was due to backing on Benson carrying the load that he had been sharing with Jones. Their running game was good enough to protect their QB before that. So, Forte made sense there.

Notre Dame – Where were those four drafted? I don’t know. I have heard the criticisms of Weiss, too, but, he took Willingham’s 6-5 team and won 10 games his first two years. This last year was Weiss’s 3rd, which should have been populated by Jr’s and Sr’s that Willingham recruited. I’m not a ND apologist, I just think Weiss is likely to end up being better than some are crediting him with up to this point. By comparison, 7 of USC’s 9 players drafted were taken in the first round, IIRC.

Finally, the Jags. Mayock said that they think they are a player or two away from a SB win. The last time I remember a team saying something like that was the Vikings trading for Herschel Walker. The Jags may be right, and I don’t think they gave up as much as the Vikings did, but I doubt that they will suddenly become a championship team. If their wrong, they will have a short window due to Garrard’s age.

by WolfpackSteelersFan on Apr 30, 2008 1:21 PM EDT reply reply 0 recs

slow down

as far as Notre Dame, it also means that Weis took a team of Willingham’s juniors and seniors in his (Weis’s) first two years as coach and won with them. you can’t on one hand say this most recent year was bad because it was Willingham’s players, but then on the other say Weis is good because he came in and made a team that was 6-5 win 10 games. maybe it suggests that Willingham had developed those players from Weis first two years better than Weis developed the players who are playing now. i.e. Weis might be a better game-planner or play-caller, but he doesn’t develop the players as well year to year. ND’s administration is a bit full of themselves. They think anyone will drop everything to take the Notre Dame job, and it’s just not true anymore. They booted Willingham because they thought they would get Urban Meyer and some of the other top-notch college coaches available. Only after being turned down did they turn to Weis.

by TheMostViolentTeam on Apr 30, 2008 1:38 PM EDT up reply reply 0 recs

Maybe

Willingham was fired at the end of his 3rd year, which would have been Bob Davie’s Jr’s and Sr’s. It may just be that Weiss was lucky enough to have a great QB in his Jr and Sr years. I’m not saying Weiss is the 2nd coming of Knute Rockne, but I think he needs more time, whether that means that Willingham should have gotten more time or not, I don’t know. I will say this, though. Willinham’s first year was also a 10 win season, but he won a lot of close games on a little bit of flukiness. I think they won their first three games without scoring an offensive TD. Sure, you could say, that’s great D or ST, but how many times can you go to that well, if you’re not the 2001 NE Pats*?

by WolfpackSteelersFan on Apr 30, 2008 2:59 PM EDT up reply reply 0 recs