Post-Draft Thoughts

In years past, I've followed NFL Draft weekend with the typical "Winners and Losers" piece, in which I praise those I believe to have done well on the last week of April and blast those who I feel did not. I've come to realize that it's a bit premature because you're essentially grading a team's draft on three components: Name recognition of the players selected, where in the draft said players were taken, and who else was available at the time those players were selected. The problem with this is you're passing judgement on an unfinished project. It would be like doing a movie critique on a trailer. Last year, I took the Falcons to task for selecting Matt Ryan because I felt he was a bit overhyped and thought Atlanta would have been better off with LSU DT Glenn Dorsey. A year later, Ryan's the reigning Rookie of the Year and the Dorsey briefly found himself on the trading block after an uninspiring rookie season. So, this year, I'm going the safer route and giving you who and what I liked from this past weekend's Draft. Is it much different from a "Winners and Losers" column? Probably not, but it's not nearly as bad as eating crow.

Thumbs Up:

1. Cincinatti Bengals: At first glance, I was a bit skeptical of a team that has had so much trouble keeping players out of the police blotter using its first 3 picks on guys with an acute case of knucklehead disease. However, when you take a deeper look at Andre Smith, Rey Maualuga, and Michael Johnson(all 3 of whom, were 1st round picks in my mock draft), you'll realize that they're guys who just need a bit of coaching up rather than the usual need for a parole officer. The Bengals walked out of this draft with a potential 6 starters out of their 11 picks overall(Smith, Maualuga, Johnson, center Jon Luigs, tight end Chase Coffman and punter Kevin Huber) which isn't bad for a team not far removed from being playoff contenders.

2. Philadelphia Eagles: Andy Reid and Co. hushed the critics who believed he would ignore surrounding QB Donovan McNabb with more weapons and stick to building the defense and aging offensive line. Reid came out firing before the draft, sending a late round 1st to Buffalo for Pro Bowl left tackle Jason Peters. Big Red then kept up the aggression by moving up to get speedy wide reciever Jeremy Maclin(whom some pegged as the top wideout in this draft). In the 2nd round, he replaced Correll Buckhalter with the highly underrated RB LeSean "Shady" McCoy and came up even bigger with two steals: Pass-catching tight end Cornelius Ingram and cornerback/return man Victor "Macho" Harris. Philly also swung a deal for disgruntled corner Ellis Hobbs, who along with Harris, could spell the last days for the also disgruntled Sheldon Brown. The cherry on top, however, was the team adding 3rd and 5th round picks in next year's draft, which could be used to snag Denver Broncos TE Tony Scheffler.

3. Jacksonville Jaguars: Give the Jags credit for lessons learned. With all-world WR Michael Crabtree still on the board at # 8, the Jags(who have swung and missed on first round wideouts Reggie Williams, R.Jay Soward and Matt Jones in recent years) addressed another need by tabbing OT Eugene Monroe. The rich got richer in the 2nd round when the Jags selected Arizona OT Eben Britton, who comes in the league with a chip on his shoulder after being passed up in the 1st round. The Jags would address their need at reciever with some nice underrated late round picks like speedy Mike Thomas, record-breaker Jarrett Dillard, and my personal favorite, Rutgers WR Tiquan Underwood. All three will have the fortune of learning from a still-breathing Torry Holt, one of the finest route runners in the game.

4. New York Jets: Lost in the fact that they left this weekend with only three picks was the fact that Gang Green didn't really NEED much. They landed the QB they desperately wanted in USC's Mark Sanchez, whom some had rated higher than top pick Matt Stafford. They moved up again to take hard-charging Iowa RB Shonn Greene, who will inevitably spell the end for camp holdout Thomas Jones. The beauty of both trades was that they didn't have to sell the farm to move up, giving up only a few backups and a 2nd rounder for Sanchez and a couple late round picks for Greene. While the lack of picks over the years will hurt the Jets in the depth department, the team is built to win now, much like head coach Rex Ryan's former team, the Baltimore Ravens, were last year.

5. Seattle Seahawks: Speaking of win now, the Seahawks are another team that put themselves in position for a run. They ignored the hype of Sanchez and the temptation of Crabtree and snagged arguably the best player in this draft in Wake Forest LB Aaron Curry. They helped the O-line out with center/guard Max Unger and got a nice sleeper in WR Deon Butler out of Penn St. The biggest coup for Seattle though was snatching up Denver's 1st round pick next year for a 2nd rounder this year(which Denver used on undersized CB Alphonso Smith). Oh, and it doesn't hurt that they selected a couple of my boys in Rutgers QB Mike Teel(who I'll admit was a huge reach at the top of the 6th but I still believe he has the tools to be an adequate backup in this league) and S Courtney Greene(who is much better than his 7th round standing). While the team could have done more to get younger on the offensive line, the team hopes it can squeeze one more healthy year out of future Hall of Famer Walter Jones, as well as aging stars WR T.J. Houshmanzadeh and QB Matt Hassellback.

Thumbs Down:

1. Dallas Cowboys: This is normally the section where I eat my words, but come on! While props should be given that owner/GM Jerry Jones decided to do an about face from last year's strategy of picking stars out of the police blotter, Jones clearly thinks his team is better than they actually are. Already short-changed thanks to the bogus Roy Williams trade, the Cowboys foolishly opted out of Day 1 altogether, opting to go into Day 2 with 12 picks. Those picks, however, is where I'm a bit sour. Of those 12 selections, all appeared to be reaches and none seem like they'll be able to help the Cowboys in the immediate future. The most notable of the 12 is local product Stephen McGee, a QB out of Texas A & M, who doesn't have much of a chance of starting with Pro Bowl QB Tony Romo in front of him. The team's biggest needs, cornerback and wide reciever, weren't addressed until the final two picks with Cincy CB Mike Mickens and Okalahoma WR Manuel Johnson. Both of whom would be lucky to make the team.

2. Denver Broncos: You would think a guy who spent so many years under the tutleage of draft master Bill Belichick, you would think head coach Josh McDaniels would know a thing or two about building a team. After forcing his 25-year old franchise QB out of town by making googly-eyes at one of his former proteges, McDaniels ignored its huge holes on defense and used its first of two selections on Georgia RB Knowshon Moreno. While Moreno is a solid running back, his selection is a bit of a headscratcher given the fact that THE BRONCOS SIGNED THREE RUNNING BACKS PRIOR TO THE DRAFT! I know the team had some injury problems in the backfield, but clearly, that defense needed more immediate attention. Denver went defense with its 2nd pick in Tennesee DE/LB Robert Ayers, who has legit athleticism and pass-rushing ability....just like former first round flame-out Jarvis Moss. I'm not saying Ayers is going to be a bust, but the team might have been better served going with the significantly more athletic Brian Orakpo at 12, and then using thier 2nd pick on a guy like Rey Maualuga, who would have solidified the middle of that linebacking core. To top it off, the team traded one of its two 1st rounders next year for 5'9 cornerback Alphonso Smith, who, barring injury, will sit behind Champ Bailey and Andre Goodman to start the season. Not exactly a great start to the McDaniels Era.

3. Oakland Raiders: Man, where do I start? While I can understand the reluctance behind taking Texas Tech Micheal Crabtree(possibly slow 40, injured foot, pass happy system), someone is going to have to sit me down and explain to me how Darrius Heyward Bey is the 7th best player in this draft. Despite having guys on the board like Crabtree, OT Eugene Monroe, and DT B.J. Raji, GM/Owner Al Davis stuck with his obsession over 40 times and suprised everyone by taking DHB, who they probably could have traded back into the late first round to grab if they absolutely had to.(Well, not everyone, some mocks had DHB going here as a joke and even I hinted at it in my mock). That was just the start of it. Davis used a 2nd round pick on Ohio S Michael Mitchell, whom draft guru Mel Kiper Jr. had as the 73rd rated player at his position and whom some GMs had rated as an undrafted free agent. 73rd! I know Kiper isn't exactly Bill Parcells, but my God! The rest of the draft consisted of so many no-names, they could be casted for a Bring It On sequel.

4. Draft Time: Look, I love the NFL Draft. It's like Christmas multiplied by Thanksgiving for me, but even I don't believe it has any business running on prime-time...especially during the NBA playoffs. While last year's 3 p.m. start was brutal, the move to 4 p.m. was worse. The main problem with making the Draft so late isn't so much that it runs concurrent with other events(in the age of TiVo, there are ways to not miss an NBA playoff game or a Yankees-Red Sox showdown), it's that it's preceding by hours and hours of pre-draft hype inwhich the networks kill time by going over the same story lines over and over and over again. Where's Mark Sanchez going? Do we need a rookie wage scale? Who's trading up? Who's trading down? It's hyperbole overload. I've championed the idea of moving the draft a few weeks back for years, simply because all that down time leads to miniscule stories reaching the overblown level(particularly this year with all the rampant trade rumors and draft hypotheticals). If you want to keep the Draft in prime time, move it up to March and let it run as an opening act to baseball Opening Night. You can have Day 1 run from 12-8 and then go right into baseball's regular season debut. Otherwise, you'll just have more and more wasted time of talking heads spewing the same headlines over and over again, which brings me to....

5. Where's the sizzle?: Months of trade talk and the best you give me is Ellis Hobbs? What happened to Anquan going to the Eagles? Or Braylon to the Giants? All these "insiders" with their "near-certianties" and the best we got was a 3rd-string cornerback being dealt for a couple of late rounders nobody will remember. Sure, Boldin and Edwards and company could be dealt before the regular season, but after spending the last 12 weeks building up all this rampant talk that has fans salivating over the next big move, we ended up with an Acquisition Cold War. The only way the Draft Day trading scene could have been more disappointing would be if it was hosted by Nic Cage. Not only that, rather than trading their disgruntled stars, GMs decided to spite them as well as the fans by drafting their eventual replacements. The Eagles gave a huge middle finger to Sheldon Brown by trading for Hobbs and bringing in Macho Harris. The Jets brushed Thomas Jones off their shoulders by acquiring Shonn Greene. The Browns started preparing re-tape some new names over Brady Quinn and Braylon Edwards' lockers by drafting two recievers and trading for another quarterback. Worst of all were the Cardinals, who got Boldin more excited than Paula Abdul spotting a bowl full of Percocet by letting all this talk of an inevitable exit linger, only to turn their cell phones off over the weekend.

All in all, it was a respectable weekend. Despite the lack of star power at the top of the draft, teams made things interesting by swinging for the fences. Some teams whiffed and some teams put a few in the stands. While there's never any sure things following the last weekend of April, one thing I can say with great certianty is that the next five months til kickoff will be every bit as agonizing as the previous three were leading up to today.

--Dave