NFL Draft - Round One

Unlike last year when I typed as it went along and then posted all of it at the end of the day, I think I'll add and repost as I go along.

Well, it's the pregame show. We’re at Radio City Music Hall which became the choice two years ago when Madison Square Garden was dumped after their management opposed a new downtown stadium for the Jets. In the studio, we have the usual ESPN guys in Mel Kiper Jr., Chris Berman and Chris Mortenson. They’ve also got Steve Young which is good because he is one of the smarter, more articulate ex-players. Unfortunately, we’ve also got Keyshawn Johnson who isn’t one of the smarter, more articulate players. He does fit in though, because he was a former number one pick who reinforces my belief that number one picks generally don’t match the hype (and money) that come out. Keyshawn has had a long, solid career with a few good seasons, but most were average at best. Take a look at the all time number one picks. Many are well known, but how many in the last 25 years became big stars? I’m looking at maybe seven unless you add the Irving Fryars of the world.


Crap, Tony Kornheiser is here, too. Ears prepare to bleed.

Did someone actually boo Bruce Smith and Michael Vick during the Virginia Tech tribute? Actually, I’m shocked Vick was at the draft with his pending legal troubles for dog-fighting. Well, the Raiders are now on the clock, and I’m actually happy they didn’t come to a deal before the draft. It makes things more interesting if they don’t actually take JaMarcus Russell, and contrary to what “pundits” are saying, he doesn’t “have” to be the number one pick. In fact, I think the Raiders would be smart to try o trade the pick, because it’s just nuts to me to draft someone strictly on potential when you’ll end up paying big bucks for someone with only about a 25% chance they’ll be a big star. Hey, they just showed Russell throw the ball through the uprights from his knees on the 50 yard line. I haven't seen that done since they showed tape of Kyle Boller doing it when he was f irst round pick. How did that work out?

And it’s anti-climactic. The Raiders draft Russell who they didn’t call until after they took him because they wanted to be mysterious, I guess. Their motto has changed from “Just Win Baby” to “Lose, But Keep People Guessing Who We’re Going To Draft”. I guess Davis couldn’t call Russell earlier because he was lobbying the NFL to schedule two games against Notre Dame next year.

Detroit takes the best player in the draft in Calvin Johnson even though a lot of people thought they should take anyone but a receiver because of recent problems they've had drafting receivers early. Which is beyond stupid. Of the three receivers Detroit has taken early, Roy Williams has turned out fine. The other two flopped because Charles Rogers was a junkie and Mike Williams had a short track record before sitting out a year due to eligibility problems. That was a dumb pick, but it would be even dumber to pass up the best player in the draft (at a need position) just because you're afraid of some cosmic force destroying receivers drafted by the Lions. At worst, he can be traded.

Interesting. The Browns take left tackle Joe Thomas which is actually a pretty safe pick. Their line sucked, and a rookie quarterback would get killed. Small consolation for Brady Quinn who will probably stick around the green room a bit longer. Which sucks because his girlfriend is so white that she is almost translucent which hurts my eyes every time the camera goes to them.

And now we get interviews by Suzy Kolber who is the absolute worst interviewer in sports.

The Gaines Adams pick by Tampa may be traded, but it makes the next few picks Hell for Brady Quinn. Arizona and (probably) Washington aren't looking for a quarterback nor is Atlanta at 8. Which means unless someone trades down to get him, it's either Minnesota (7th) or Miami (9th). It means a loss of millions, but Young was right when he said it could be better in the long run. The Vikings have a good line, and Miami has good skill players so he may not get ruined early like so many early draft picks.

I was waiting for it, and here it is. They were arguing whether or not Arizona would take tackle Levi Brown because they need offensive line help. Mark May argued that the number five pick was too high to take him. Brown should be taken somewhere between 10-15. That's retarded. In the NFL draft, the number five player is not that much different from the number 10 and might even be worse. It's nice to say the Cardinals should trade down and grab Brown later, but that's assuming a) someone will trade with you and b) he'll still be there. The Cardinals took Brown and should have if they thought he was top 12 talent and plays a position of need.

Next up are Laron Landry to Washington, Adrian Peterson to Minnesota and defensive end Jamaal Anderson to Atlanta while Quinn still waits. They made the point that Peterson is totally healthy, but injuring both your shoulder and collarbone at two different times seems indicative of a problem. I'm looking at a couple of other sites and one said Amobi Okoye was in trouble because his college coach Bobby Petrino didn't want him. How stupid is that? To begin with, Petrino doesn't have final say because he has an involved owner and GM. Second, Petrino is a shark who is going to take a player he needs (defensive end) over a position he doesn't need as much (defensive tackle). It wasn't like the Falcons took another DT over Okoye.

Wow, the Dolphins take Ted Ginn instead of Brady Quinn meaning Quinn could drop to the bottom of the round. That means two things; Trent Green is going to be Miami's next quarterback and the Dolphins are nuts. I'm not projecting great things for Quinn, but Green is going to be 37 in the fall and coming off a major head injury. They have some talent on offense but probably not enough to where Trent Green can get the over the top. And for Ginn? I thought he would be lucky to be in the top 20. I'm not sure what Miami thinks it's doing. As for Quinn, I'd leave. Leaving would be embarrassing, but sitting for another four hours until the mid-20s with a camera in your face after every pick would be worse. He better hope someone trades up to grab him.

And here goes Amobi Okoye. He was a very popular player at Louisville. And not just because he knew where to get some good weed. Mark May rips the pick. Well, he's probably still mad because he's picked Pitt to beat Louisville the past two years and they couldn't get within 20 points.

Why is ABC running ads for Desperate Housewives during the draft? Is that really their target audience?

Smart move by the NFL to get Quinn into a private room for his long wait. I've never really understood why they keep bringing them after the Aaron Rogers fiasco when he dropped a ton. Young doesn't understand why teams drafting later who might need a quarterback aren't looking to trade up with Quinn available so late. Why? He could fall to them.

The 49'ers just took Ole Miss LB Patrick Willis who I predict will be the Defensive Rookie of the Year for 2007. Linebackers seem to transition to the NFL a bit quicker than other positions. Plus, the 49'ers defense sucked really bad meaning there are plenty of tackles to be made.

Wait a second. The knock on Quinn is that he has accuracy issues and showed up small in big games? JaMarcus Russell was very erratic until the Sugar Bowl, and LSU didn't even win the SEC West last year. You know why? Ten points against Florida. Three points against Auburn. Until the Sugar Bowl, Russell didn't just come up small in big games. He disappeared. It's mind boggling that he is now seen as such a sure thing. Of course, the knock on Peyton Manning was that he never won a big game in college.

The Jets traded up to get cornerback Darrelle Revis, and I saw something unusual - Jets fans cheering their draft pick. Although one of them looked like a complete chump when the name was called. The look on his face made me think he didn't even know who Revis was. Yet, he was cheering. Usually Jets fans boo even when they recognize the name.

I thought they were putting Quinn in a private room. Yet, here is Suzy Kolber interviewing him about his free fall. Of course, the draft is in New York, so Suzy is probably trying to avoid Joe Namath.

The Steelers draft OLB Lawrence Timmons out of Florida State. I'm officially unenthused. A one year starter at Florida State who was honorable mention All-ACC. Not first team All-ACC. Not second team. Honorable mention. The Bengals get lucky as cornerback Leon Hall is still available. They probably didn't expect him to still be around this late so despite his lack of arrest record, Cincinnati grabs him.

Well, after a couple nondescript picks, the Browns save Brady Quinn by trading up to get him. Actually, I think KC would have taken him with the next pick. It's been some type of turnaround for him. The crowd booed him lustily (it's not what you think, Phil) when he was introduced before the draft started. He was loudly cheered when he was finally drafted four and a half hours later. That's real sweet. Cleveland gave up next year's first round pick and a second this year. Since they rated Quinn a top ten pick and considered him at three, the first round pick doesn't matter (and another bad year gets the Browns' coach and GM fired). As Berman said, it's just a year early. So, in reality, they gave up a second round pick to essentially get two top ten picks. That only becomes bad if Quinn flops or next year's first round deep and talented or two first round picks aren't enough to get them out of the cellar (a distinct possibility). Perception begins to look bad when the Cowboys are drafting in your top five slot. Of course, Mortenson isn't helping things by comparing the trade to the one the Ravens did to get Kyle Boller. About the only thing Boller has done is video himself throwing a football 60 yards from his knees. Just like JaMarcus Russell.

I just remembered an little tidbit. Brady Quinn is represented by "super-agent" Tom Condon. Matt Leinart fired Leigh Steinberg a couple of weeks before last year's draft because he was worried he was sliding down draft boards after he was originally expected to be top three. Yet, with Condon, he dropped to 10th. So, in the past two first rounds, Condon has represented a free falling quarterback. Maybe they should drop "super-agent" when they mention Condon.

Are the Patriots going to get heat for drafting Brandon Meriweather? I mean, aren't the Patriots supposed to only have high character players? The irony is that the NFL has been pushing better character, but this year, the draft class doesn't have a lot of guys with those issues. Meriweather is one that does. He had the big Miami/FLA Int. on-field brawl and a gun incident. Actually, to be honest, I wouldn't be that concerned with the gun incident. Someone just shot his friend, and he fired back. What was he supposed to do? Wait until the guy shoots him? They say the concern is that he even had a gun. Well, my guess is that Meriweather and his friend are pretty damn glad he had one. Now, I do think the brawl is a concern. He didn't just fight. He waited until a teammate took a guy down and then stomped on the guy's back. Pretty bush league if you ask me.

Dallas and Philly just made a trade. Isn't that one of the signs of the Apocalypse?

Maybe the Falcons should have taken Brady Quinn.

The Saints take University of Tennessee receiver Robert Meachem, but when they showed his draft party, he didn't look all that excited. It must be terrible to be a wide receiver drafted by a team that likes to run a high powered offense and needs a replacement for their long time top receiver Joe Horn. Of course, maybe he agrees with Steve Young that the Titans should have taken Meachem at 19. Could be true, but when I heard the rumor why the Titans passed on him, I figured he was better off anywhere but Tennessee. Word is the Titans are trying to trade for Detroit receiver Mike Williams. The same Mike Williams that the Lions have been ridiculed for drafting in the first place. With those types of decisions being made, do you really want to be there?

Well, we're at the end of the first round as Indianapolis takes Anthony Gonzalez. So, what can we take away from the first round? Well, LSU had four players taken. How come they finished third in the SEC West? Oh right, their "can't miss" quarterback managed a total of one touchdown drive against Florida and Auburn. So, what was the biggest surprise of the first round? Well, Alan Branch has disappeared. At one point this DT from Michigan was seen in the top 10 of all the mock drafts. Granted, he was beginning to drop based on a complete lack of work ethic and the possibilty that he was playing on broken legs. However, I went back to several mock drafts and the lowest I saw him was Kiper at 21 (Clark Judge at CBS Sportline didn't have him in the first round, but it's Clark Judge so he probably just forgot). Brady Quinn's drop was quite surprising. I'm still not sure Quinn's going to be a star, but if I had to bet my life on which quarterback has the longer career, I would pick Quinn over Russell. Yet, Quinn's drop wasn't the biggest surprise to me. The biggest surprise was that Keyshawn Johnson did OK as an analyst. When I saw him, I had visions of another Michael Irvin who forcefully inserted himself into every discussion while making absolutely no sense and screamed "MEMEMEMEME". While I didn't agree with a lot of what Keyshawn said, he only had a few moments of self-centeredness and really only engaged in debate when asked directly for his opinion.