NFL First Round

Due to being at a family gathering, I wasn't able to live blog the draft this year (although I certainly watched it). I just had a few thoughts about it. I liked the new 10 minute (as opposed to 15 minutes in the past) time limit for the first round. As people in the fantasy league know, I think you should be able to think ahead enough to have a few ideas of who you want. What I don't like is only having two rounds on day one. It was better with three. It split things well. Plus, it gives more players a chance to point out they were a first day selection. It's all about the ego, baby.

The draft started off with an offensive lineman. It continued on that way. Out of 31 picks, eight were offensive tackles. Well, one, Branden Albert of Virginia, was listed as a guard, because he played all but two games at guard in college. Yet, he's projected at left tackle in the NFL which confuses me why this guy was such a high rising prospect (guards and centers almost never go in the first round). If you're not good enough to start any season at left tackle at Virginia, how easy is it to do at Kansas City?

I was surprised how much Minnesota was criticized by sports writers for trading away their number one pick (along with two third round choices) for defensive end Jared Allen from the Chiefs. How can you criticize that? Consider it this way, the Vikings gave up two third round picks to essentially draft Allen with the 17th overall pick. Allen is the best defensive end in the country. During the draft, Jacksonville gave up two thirds and a fourth to draft defensive end Derrick Harvey (9th overall) who some think doesn't play hard all the time. So, Minnesota gave up less to get a proven NFL star than Jacksonville did to get an unproven player with knocks against him. Who do you think got the better deal?

There's a reason Dallas hasn't won a playoff game in 12 years. Jerry Jones sucks at drafting. I realize he went to Arkansas himself, but how smart is it to lock onto a player from that school in the first round when that player is at the same position as your Pro Bowl running back?

Of course, the Steelers did the same thing with Rashard Mendenhall at the very next spot. Granted, Willie Parker is coming off an injury and the Steelers always like having more than one back. Plus, I like Mendenhall a lot, but with flux at the offensive line, I think they could have waited on another back. However, on the plus side, they did get the big receiver Ben Roethlisberger wanted when Limas Sweed dropped into their lap in the second round. Maybe Ben will stop whining about this.

The intrigue of the first round was the cat and mouse game with the Jets and Patriots. Apparently, the Jets were paranoid that the Patriots would trade up just to get ahead of the Jets to draft whoever they thought the Jets wanted out of spite. Good way to plan your draft board. Spend all your time worrying about another team instead of just taking someone. Then draft Vernon Gholston who looks really good standing on a football field or in workouts, but never was that productive in college.

And finally, we have the quarterbacks. I watched Matt Ryan play several games in college and contrary to popular belief, he had a few really bad games. He's a good quarterback, but I'm not so sure the guy is such a sure thing. In fact, if Boston College had risen to #2 in the country at one point last year, I don't think Ryan gets such hype. I wasn't surprised that Brian Brohm dropped into the second round. Somehow he had a better season this past year, but since an atrocious defense caused UL to go 6-6, Brohm got blamed. Plus, for all the talk about NFL teams and their talent evaluations, they often suck at evaluating quarterbacks. Brohm was labeled (even by detractors) as the most pro ready QB in the draft. So, what happens? Baltimore trades up to draft Joe Flacco out of Delaware in the first round. This is a guy who transferred from Pitt to Delaware because he didn't think he could beat out Tyler Palko. Tyler Palko? You've got to be kidding me. You're going to trade up to get a guy who wouldn't even try to beat out Tyler Palko?

The reason Flacco rose so high was that he had the strongest arm. Strong arms are nice. The first round is littered with strong arms. They are usually listed as first round flops. Think names like Kyle Boller, Ryan Leaf, Jim Druckenmiller. Jeff George is one of the most successful first round quarterbacks who had a "big arm" which should tell you something. Then look at the top quarterbacks in the NFL. How many big armed gunslingers are there? Not many. There's a reason for that. Throwing the ball 75 yards is impressive, but if you've overshot your receiver by 15 yards, it's not that productive. The most successful quarterbacks are the ones who can throw accurately, because the point is to get the ball to the receiver. I would have taken Chad Henne over Joe Flacco.

Well, at least Brohm went to a team that's well run. And by going to Green Bay, it could work out well for him. Considering how much the Packers begged Favre to stick around the past couple of years, they can't be completely sold on Aaron Rodgers. Steve Young said it was bad for Rodgers because he had more pressure. So what? The NFL is full of pressure. Deal with it. If Rodgers fails, Brohm doesn't have the stigma of replacing a legend. He's just replacing Aaron Rodgers.