NFL Draft Recap
Oh boy…I don’t know where to begin. The NFL draft is officially over. It’s only fair to cover every team. So I am just going to get right into it and let you know where every team stands. I’ll tell you what they did well, where they screwed up and I guess I’ll give each team a grade, why not right? I’ll try and keep my ranting to a minimum because there are a lot of teams. Let’s start with A…for apple or in this case the:
Arizona Cardinals-Went with OT Levi Brown with their first round pick. Not a bad pick nothing wrong with strengthening their line, which could use the help, but I would have gone defense with such a high pick. They went defense with their next two picks, a DT and ILB, but finding a quality O lineman is easier in later rounds than it is in the early rounds. Steve Breaston is a great catch in the 5th round, will likely become their return guy. (B) Atlanta Falcons-Had a ton of picks (11) so even if they failed in one respect odds are they found a diamond in the rough somewhere. Their top pick Jamaal Anderson a DE out of Arkansas was a good replacement for Patrick Kerney. And Laurent Robinson their 3rd round pick out of Illinois State is a major steal, he will prove to be a big help for Vick. I like their 6th round SS Daren Stone, hopefully can replace Chris Crocker who proved useless. Biggest offseason move is picking up Joe Horn though. (B+) Baltimore Ravens-Went O line with their first pick hopefully helping their new back Mike Anderson replace Jamal Lewis. Grabbed a couple LBs in hopes of replacing Thomas as well. And WR Yamon Figurs might not be the best but he ran the fastest time a the combine. Landing Troy Smith in the 5th could prove huge a few years from now, he is much better than he is given credit for. (B) Buffalo Bills-Marshawn Lynch was a good decision right off the bat, the Bills would have been running nothing, well Shaud Williams, but that’s basically nothing. They were light on LBs, taking Paul Posluszny with their next pick took care of that. My only complaint is at WR where they are playing without size, their top 3 Evans, Price and Reed are all under 6 feet tall. They should have taken a Jordan Kent or a Dallas Baker over QB Trent Edwards in the 3rd…giving them a possession receiver. (B) Carolina Panthers-Needed help at LB considering Thomas Davis was pretty much shouldering the entire load last season, problem solved by drafting Jon Beason. Keyshawn Johnson needs a heir, enter Dwayne Jarrett. DeAngelo Williams handles kick returns but Ryne Robinson will take over punt returns most likely successfully. Tim Shaw a LB out of Penn State is talented overlooked because of Posluszny. Overall pretty solid. (B+) Chicago Bears-They really don’t need a TE that badly and should have used their first round pick on a RB, because I’ll tell you right now Cedric Benson won’t cut it and will do nothing but complain. I like Garrett Wolfe but his size is such a liability. They also should be looking at receivers because Muhammad’s career is coming to an end and all they have left is Berrian. They didn’t even draft one WR and they had 9 picks. They spent two on CBs, when they already have 3 possibly 4 solid ones, what are you doing? (D+) Cincinnati Bengals-With only 3 CBs on the roster Leon Hall is a great pick. Kenny Irons will be a solid back up for Rudi Johnson, wonderful balance like his former teammate Cadillac Williams. And Matt Toeaina out of Oregon will be most likely be trained to replace aging Sam Adams. Bengals did well to fill the few holes they had. (B+) Cleveland Browns-they started off okay taking Joe Thomas 3rd, but then took a turn for the worst trading away their sure to be top 5 pick for next year to move up and grab an overrated Brady Quinn who can’t hit a trash can 5 feet in front of him. I do give them credit for drafting pretty much defense the rest of the way because they are going to need it. (C) Dallas Cowboys-Picking up Anthony Spencer to help out Spears was a good start…but then a number of…interesting decisions. They draft a FB, who they don’t need and two CBs they definitely don’t need and a kicker. They could have used another WR because Terry Glenn won’t live forever and they are going to need a replacement Patrick Crayton certainly isn’t it. A QB would be a good pick as long as it’s not Isaiah Stanback who isn’t even a pure QB, he played some WR at Washington. (C+) Denver Broncos-Didn’t have much to work with only 4 picks but basically went defense with 3 picks on that side of the ball. Didn’t need too much, had no gaping holes. Their big moves came through the offseason picking up Brandon Stokley and Travis Henry. (B) Detroit Lions-I love Calvin Johnson as anyone who is familiar with my website knows, so I am very impressed with Matt Millen for having the guts to take him knowing full well this is four WRs in a row. Matt it will pay off don’t you worry. Getting rid of McCown and Mike Williams was a smart move. Then grabbing an underrated Drew Stanton was another good move and using the rest of the draft to help out the defense the best they can was the way to go. (A) Green Bay Packers-From a team who drafted well to a team who drafted by blindfold. With Favre at the end of his rope and in need of a some serious help the Packers came through by drafting a DT? Okay well to correct this mistake they took an overrated injury plagued Jackson a RB from Nebraska with their 2nd round pick? At least they were able to land James Jones in the 3rd round and David Clowney in the 5th to help out their receivers but neither will amount to much, both are slow and a bit undersized. Nice try, but something tells me Brett will be as frustrated as ever. (D+) Houston Texans-The Texans took Amobi Okoye a big DT out of Louisville, which will hopefully help out their D-line who did not get the boost they were hoping for from #1 pick Mario Williams last year. Jacoby Jones in the 3rd round at WR should be able to help Johnson and Moulds. But they probably should have thought about overhauling their Offensive Line who almost got David Carr killed last year. But they need help all over, so what can you do? (B) Indianapolis Colts-The defending champs started off the new season perfectly by replacing Brandon Stokley with Anthony Gonzalez, almost a carbon copy. They needed another Guard they got it in Tony Ugoh, one of the best in the draft. Could use a couple CBs, they got them. They picked up a few more defensive players for good measure. Clearly, their offense didn’t need much else. (B+) Jacksonville Jaguars-I really like Reggie Nelson, I think he will be an Ed Reed like safety in the NFL, and they desperately needed a safety. Their next pick with LB Justin Durant out of Hampton should be able to help a linebacking crew who only tallied 5.5 sacks last year. Picked up a few WRs they can hopefully mold and filled holes in their defense all over helping their front seven and their secondary out. (B+) Kansas City Chiefs-Good start with Dwayne Bowe, they need receivers. I think Kolby Smith is pretty solid learning in that backfield from Michael Bush. On the D-line they needed help and got it with back to back big guys in the 2nd and 3rd rounds. The only D-III player in the draft TE Michael Allan who made a name for himself at the combine will learn well from Tony Gonzalez. (B+) Miami Dolphins-Great move drafting Ted Ginn Jr. and passing on Brady Quinn, once healthy he will be a big time special teams threat and provide some help for the receiving core. Their QB situation is difficult, they will probably unload Culpepper and probably pick up Trent Green but in the meantime John Beck a solid guy out of BYU will put another body in mini camp. They were running out of Centers so they drafted two. Not addressing the secondary is a bit odd, it definitely needs some help. Sneaking Lorenzo Booker in there in the 3rd round will prove to be a nice surprise. (B) Minnesota Vikings-Adrian Peterson will be a very good running back and getting one of the few quality receivers in this draft with their next pick in Sidney Rice helps even more. Their biggest need was in fact WR and they grabbed two more in Aundrae Allison and Chandler Williams. Their questionable move was not taking a QB a little sooner, Tyler Thigpen out of Coastal Carolina is definitely not going to take over this team, and they are going to need someone to when Tarvaris Jackson craps out on them. (B) New England Patriots-Their biggest problem, WRs, oh they took care of that in the offseason bigtime, adding Randy Moss, Kelley Washington and Donte Stallworth. Next up they need someone to play alongside Harrison in the secondary, they got a good one in Brandon Meriweather. An already good team the Patriots didn’t need to fill any wholes otherwise except maybe picking up another corner to protect against what has proven to be an injury prone secondary. (B) New Orleans Saints-With Joe Horn headed to the Falcons they needed a WR and got a great one in Robert Meachem, I think probably the next best one in the draft behind Johnson. Eventually McAllister will be too old and they’ll need someone to help Bush, hopefully Antonio Pittman can fill that role. They did take two corners, they probably only needed one, could have used one of those picks for another Linebacker or WR. (B) New York Giants-With the loss of Tiki Barber the Giants probably should have used one of their early picks to help out Brandon Jacobs who is going to need it. They chose to take CB Aaron Ross out of Texas and USC’s stud WR Steve Smith with their first couple picks. Both good picks and well-needed. I like their TE pick Kevin Boss out of Western Oregon, he’s big and could be a big help blocking on their line. (B) New York Jets-Another team that didn’t have much to work with only 4 picks. Fear not Jets fans they were used wisely. Darrelle Revis is a solid corner and can help out right away. David Harris is a big game tested LB out of the big ten. Jacob Bender although coming from a small school in Nicholls State is a big O-lineman at 6-6 316 pounds. Chansi Stuckey is a steal in the 7th round out of the ACC who is just a little undersized, but makes up for it. (B+) Oakland Raiders-DA raiders, I am a fan of JaMarcus Russell, I think he will be a good one, but not as good as everyone is making him out to be. He won’t be the savior of this team just yet, it will definitely take some time. Picking up Dominic Rhodes was a good move in the offseason and getting Michael Bush in the 4th round was HUGE. I would have liked to have seen them get some LBs in the draft but even that’s being a little picky. It was a solid draft but I don’t think it will help all that much. (B+) Philadelphia Eagles-Drafting Kevin Kolb with their first pick (second round) probably wasn’t the best decision. I would have D-line right away, they decided to wait until their next pick. They don’t really have a power back so I am surprised they went with Tony Hunt in the 3rd, not the biggest of the backs. They picked up a safety in CJ Gaddis out of Clemson who could end up right next Dawkins by seasons start. Not too bad but I would have drafted another D-lineman to help out instead of a TE a position pretty well covered by LJ Smith. (B) Pittsburgh Steelers-It won’t be likely that Lawrence Timmons can replace Joey Porter but it’s the best they could do. Picking up a TE in the 3rd round I have problems with. Heath Miller has proven he will be pro-bowl caliber for a while this pick should have been used to grab a WR. Why they waited until their last pick to grab one (Dallas Baker) I couldn’t tell you. Look out for William Gay out of Louisville at corner, I think he’s going to be a good one, someone who may contribute right away. (C+) San Diego Chargers-Picking a WR with their first round selection was the right move, making that pick Craig Davis may not have been, but only time will tell on that one. Anthony Walters will hopefully be some help to Shawne Merriman. At TE Scott Chandler will be able to come in and learn from the best in Antonio Gates. Considering not much retooling is needed, they drafted as well as they could have. (B+) Seattle Seahawks-Most of Seattle’s needs were on the defensive side of the ball and that can be seen in their picks. Drafting CB Josh Wilson out of Maryland will be a help to their secondary. Next few picks a DT and a DE will hopefully help stop up the middle where they were a little tender last year. Courtney Taylor and Jordan Kent are two solid WR pick ups in the late rounds. (B) San Francisco 49ers-Patrick Willis will be able to help out their linebackers immediately. Joe Staley will hopefully help keep Alex Smith on his feet and Jason Hill will give him Smith a decent target. The 49ers did very well with their early picks and were able to get a steal in the late rounds with CB Tarell Brown out of Texas who dropped because of character issues. They were even able to land Ray McDonald a nice big DT out of Florida to help plug up the middle. 49ers next step is gaining experience for their young team, then the playoffs will be right around the corner. (A) St. Louis Rams-Adam Carriker is a very big DE out of Nebraska that will have an immediate impact most likely opposite Leonard Little. Brian Leonard a FB who was a secret for most of his career at Rutgers is no longer one. I would have liked to have seen them draft a receiver earlier. As good as Bruce and Holt are, they are getting older. It wouldn’t have been a bad idea to pick up a linebacker either. (B) Tampa Bay Buccaneers-Gaines Adams will help out on their defensive line for sure, but not trading up to land Calvin Johnson and then not even drafting a WR when they had 10 chances too will prove to be a big mistake. As far as I’m concerned not drafting for the position in need of the most help shows incompetence in the front office. I hope Cadillac can run for 2000 yards because they’ll need it. (D) Tennessee Titans-Also making errors, Michael Griffin another good solid safety, but Vince Young is in need of help that pick needs to be spent on a replacement for Travis Henry or on a wide receiver. They took Chris Henry in the next round which is better than nothing, but should have been spent on Dwayne Bowe who was still available. Instead they had to settle for Paul Williams in the 3rd round again, not bad, but they could have had Dwayne Bowe. They were able to pick up three WR over the duration of the draft which will hopefully help out Vince but if I was him I’d be disappointed. (C) Washington Redskins-Another team with only a few picks, 5 to be exact. Did well with what they had though, LaRon Landry along side Sean Taylor makes flying over the middle against the Skins some scary stuff. I think they would have been better off drafting a RB over a TE, with the way Clinton Portis keeps getting injured. And who knows maybe Jordan Palmer will end up as good as his brother, doubtful though. (B) Overall the draft was just as exciting as ever, with the first round of this years draft actually clocking in as the longest in history. With the season not yet started and the draft over it’s the best time of the year for the NFL when even the most hopeless of Browns fans think their team has a chance.
| Rate it: |
 Email it
|
Leave a Reply