Congrats, Donnie Avery on being drafted. Who are you again?
Okay, people. This draft has been super-crazy (just wanted to offer my 2 cents on it.) I can't wait for Kenny to talk about his Cowboys, JAG to talk about his Bengals, and for George to talk about his Colts. I'm gonna try and be polite on this one.
- How the hell is DONNIE AVERY (no offense, Don; you can play) the first WR drafted? Shouldn't Mel Kiper and Todd McShay be fired for this alone?
- How does Dallas draft Felix Jones (who's been a backup his whole collegiate career. Big ups to Felix though, since he's from Oklahoma) when the number two RB in the draft is sitting right there in Rashad Mendenhall?
- Cincinnati Bengals...didn't you all need a DT? You could've easily traded up to get Dorsey or Sedrick Ellis, yet you sat back and drafted LB Keith Rivers. Suspect, if you ask me.
- How do the Tennessee Titans draft another RB by reaching for Chris Johnson at #24 when Vince Young has NO RECEIVERS? Then you finally pick a WR in the fourth round? Vince, go tell the Tennessee management to kill themselves.
- How does Carolina not draft a QB? Jake Delhomme had Tommy John surgery, David Carr needs to go kill himself, and who the hell is Matt Moore? Draft a QB fast...
- To my Jacksonville Jaguars: you gave up your first, third, and fourth round pick to move up 16 spots for Derrick Harvey. Hmmmm....Derrick Harvey must be a ten sack a year guy to pay that much for him. My expectations have been set.
- Wow, the Pittsburgh Steelers were the only team I saw that was already a good team, and drafted like they knew what the hell they were doing. First off, they made ZERO trades and waited for people to land in their lap. They get Rashard Mendenhall, who might be Barry Foster v2.0. They get Limas Sweed (who landed in their lap), who could be Plaxico Burress v2.0, and in the fifth round, they get the '07 first half Heisman winner in Dennis Dixon. Dennis Dixon = Kordell Stewart. Everyone in Cincinnati just threw up in their mouths.
- Colt Brennan will be a starter in the NFL, watch.
- Don't sleep on the Patriots draft. Did you see what type of players they picked? Three OLBs and two CBs, and they are all fast. Look out, I might see another 19-0 run coming.
- For the Washington Redskins to have never drafted players in like six years (okay, slight exaggeration; five years haha), they somehow drafted three players in the second round who were all first round projected picks. WRs Devin Thomas and Malcolm Kelly, plus TE Fred Davis from USC. All three are players who will eventually be starters. Jason Campbell has no choice but to succeed. Shoot, with Clinton Portis and LaDell Betts, Santana Moss, Antwan Randle El, Chris Cooley, and three offensive standout rookies? Wowzers.
- I'm mad at ESPN pimping the U.S. Army and Caleb Campbell, who was drafted in the seventh round by the Detroit Lions. Campbell, a highly talented safety from Army, was projected to be a fringe late-round pick at most. ESPN highlighted his story earlier in the draft, and then it almost turned into the circus. Don't get me wrong; I'm a military brat and have full respect for our soldiers, and I WILL NOT GO INTO HOW I FEEL ABOUT THE WAR on this website, because I don't have the energy.
However, with the constant footage, and Trey Wingo gushing all over Mr. Campbell about his drafting, they brought in Rod Marinelli for an interview, and the announcers gave him a STANDING OVATION! For what? Ron Jaworski almost fell off the stage to give Caleb a standing O. Ridiculous. Caleb handled himself very well, and I would say that the whole experience has to be overwhelming to get drafted. But the fans shouting U-S-A? Really? Go sit down, applaud the pick, and keep it moving, but once again, congrats again to Caleb Campbell. You are a fine representation of the US Army, and you were drafted because you were a very good player with next-level potential. Don't let anyone tell you otherwise.
- Go buy Grand Theft Auto IV (even though that has nothing to do with the draft.)
Okay, at the time of this article, I have been moving and totally missed all things sports-related on April 28th, including the Celtics/Hawks game. All I gotta say is..."ZAZA PACHULIA!!!!!" (in a Stephen A. Smith voice.) See you back in Boston.
-Ed.
Game Four: Boston v. Atlanta
Comments
16 Responses to "The Draft rant: part two"Colt Brennan got destroyed by Georgia. Did you that? That was Colt Brennan killing himself after the debacle that was the Georgia/Hawaii Sugar Bowl. UGA all day bae-bay.
Jones
- Todd McShay top 8 WRs were actually pretty good except for Avery and Manningham, he had 6 of 8 right:
Prerank, Name, Actual
1 Devin Thomas 2
2 Limas Sweed 9
3 Malcom Kelly 8
4 DeSean Jackson 7
5 James Hardy 4
6 Jordy Nelson 3
7 Mario Manningham 14
8 Eddie Royal 5
McShay had Avery as a Day 2 pick...
- Dallas drafted RB Tashad Choice in addition to Felix Jones, I bet Choice gets a decent number of carries too.
- what, What, WHAT were my Niners thinking with their draft? Kiper gives them a C+. The only player I've heard of is Larry Grant from THE ohio state. I'm pretty disappointed with this off season, they signed aging Isaac Bruce, injured DeShaun Foster (who I love, don't get me wrong), and overrated Justin Smith, then have a lackluster draft. I'm not holding out hope for this team.
- Everybody is riding the Vikings c**k this offseason, but AP could NOT have been better last year, do people honestly expect 200+yds from him every game?? And Jared Allen is 1 DUI away from being suspended FOR THE ENTIRE SEASON. I like their John David pick because TJack is NOT going to succeed in the NFL, but the rest of the draft was uneventful for them. They are going to face a LOT of 8 man defensive fronts because they have NO passing game (TJack throwing Bernard Berrian, Robert Ferguson, Sidney Rice, and Visanthe Shiancoe???). They might win the Division but they are NOT a darkhorse championship team.
- Your Jags made a STUPID move trading up to get D Harvey.
- Mendenhall is good but he is not the same type of runner as Barry Sanders, my friend. I love the Sweed and Dixon picks by PITT though. I hope Dixon supplants WorthlessBerger.
- I'm glad ESPN pimped the Army pick for 2 reasons:
1) I had no idea the armed forces had enacted that rule (imagine if David Robinson would have been allowed to go straight to the NBA instead of having to fulfill his 2 years of Naval service!)
2) I love my country and armed forces, unlike you, Ed.
- Are my Spurs gonna be able to finish off the Suns or is this going to be the first ever comeback from 3-0 in NBA playoff history?? I'm nervous. First round playoff series' aren't supposed to be this evenly matched.
- Is Smotlzy going to be ok?? Please, Ed, tell me he's going to be ok!?
Since we're talking about the NFL Draft it only seems right to talk about CFB recruiting too. tOSU and USC are cleaning up:
- OSU has 6 Rivals top100 recruits already
- USC has 4 (3 5Stars, including the #1 player, super recruit Matt Barkely).
Gustie 13 - There's no need for me to respond to the error you made when you mentioned USC in the same breath with The Ohio State University. You and the rest of the world will understand when we roll 40,000 deep into the LA Coloseum on Sept 13th. I think the Trojans are going to catch a case of Laurenitis. It's fatal and there's no cure.
As far as the Bengals go, I support their tough stance with Chad Johnson. They made him the 2nd highest paid WR just two years ago and he got over $10 mil up front. Now he doesn't want to play for a measly $3mil due this season?
Trading him not only hurts us with the cap, it sets a bad precedence. If you don't like your contract, act a fool, get traded and get new up front money to blow (hopefully not on blow itself, goodness).
Twelve teams made the playoffs last year. Miraculously, none had Chad Johnson on its roster. The team with the great CJ went 7-9. I'm not blaming Chad, just pointing out that, yes, it's possible to win without him.
If Chad wants to sit at home, fine. Tell him to return the prorated portion of the bonus (about $4mil) and forfeit his salary. We'll try to make it without you.
JAG
gustie13...glad to have you commenting on the boards sir. First off, are you serious? Look at the actual pick versus projected. Sweed and Kelly were drafted 7 and 5 spots lower than their projection. Avery was a super shocker. Royal, Nelson were reaches or just projected wrong. Point is, either ESPN's analysts should be fired and hire me (yes) or the top WR's were overhyped and everyone is closer than people may think.
Now, Minnesota is getting a ton of attention but I think that Green Bay is still the team to beat regardless of The Favre Effect.
Don't ever talk about the Jags again.
As far as San Fran is concerned, I don't think that they're doing as bad as you say. The brought in veteran leadership to a very young team. Issac Bruce knows Martz's system better than anyone, and DeShaun Foster will relieve some of the rigor that Frankie Gore goes thru. Reggie Smith will be a stud wherever he plays, and Balmer has the strength to be a poor man's Bryant Young. You have the best young LB in Pat Willis, Frank Gore, Nate Clements, and now veteran leadership. If they could just get the QB together...
JAG - If Ohio State beats USC I'll shave my head. Ok, no I won't. But I'll be contacting you about a wager of some sort. And Gustie13 has Ohio State ties so be easy on him fam.
As far as Chadrick is concerned...to be honest, I would DEFINITELY trade Chad just for the reason you said. They were 7-9 with him yet he put up his usually superb numbers. The Bengals need pash rushers and O-Line help. Cincy struggled because Carson was getting hit constantly and the Bengals couldn't stop anyone. Trade Chad for Lito Sheppard straight up, I don't understand why i'm the only one who sees this as logical. You get a pro bowl DB, and then you might even making a run at another disgruntled receiver. Just my 2 cents.
-Ed.
Jag,
My best friend and I will be among the '40,000 deep' for tOSU @ the Coliseum, already have our tix. But you can't argue with USC's recruiting classes and performance the past 6 years. They are LOADED at QB with Sanchez and Mustain and they have a QB who is the ONLY jr to win Gatorade POY just waiting to be BMOC when he arrives (Matt Barkley).
Giving tOSU the benefit and starting with their nat'l championship year, they are 66-11 over the past 6 seasons, USC is 70-8, and against stiffer competition. It pains me to say it (because I'm also a UCLA fan), but USC is the premiere college football program right now.
*Fyi all, here is a great website that has every NCAA team's record for every season: http://www.jhowell.net/cf/scores/byName.htm
I'm pretty happy the Bengals have told Ocho Stinko to stick by his word and sit out. Its sad when teams have to bend to the players wishes when they're being babies.
I tell you what Ed, I would have let you take ANY position (except RB, too easy) in the draft and you would not have gotten 6 of the first 8 selections right.
GB is going to take a couple steps backward without Favre. I like Ryan Grant and Greg Jennings, but before last year's 14-4 record they were 12-20 the previous 2 seasons. Last year was an aberration.
Dixon, the next Kordell? As a Bengal fan I can only hope so! Does that mean one good season to go along with 8 bad? More picks than TD's and a completion % around50? I think the only thing better is if he turned out like another one year Oregon wonder QB...Akili Smith-and he didn't come out as dameged goods!
Not a Cowboy fan but, a few years ago 2 RB's from the same school went in the 1st round (Brown & Williams) out of Auburn in 05 and the back up had a better season.
Gustie - Glad to have another Buckeye in the fold. I've been something of a lone wolf howling in the wind out here but I did my best to hold it down until reinforcements arrived.
Yes, USC has a great program with tradition, talent, championships, superstars, the whole ball of wax. No one can mention the top 5 greatest college football programs without USC.
However, I've been to three National Championship games in the past six years rooting my Buckeyes on. Funny, don't remember seeing USC. Maybe their invitation got lost in the mail. No need to argue about this now; everything will be crystal clear on 9/13.
Don't have my tix yet. I'm jealous but I'm workin' on it.
What should Tressel do with Pryor? I would be inclined to redshirt but if he's as good as the hype, how can you keep him off the field?
Boeckman doesn't inspire me at all. I think we've seen the best he has to offer. He can blow it up and massage his stats against Northwestern and Indiana but disappears in the big games.
JAG
Jag,
I'll be honest, I wish tOSU hadn't made the championship game last year. I wish some other team had made it vs LSU while tOSU played in a diff BCS bowl and blew out whomever they played. That would have put them in a better position this year, which I think is going to the best team of the past 3 years. But now OSU is going to have to work EXTRA hard to make the nat'l championship game this year because detractors are just going to say 'Why should we send this team to the Championship game again just to watch them get blown out?' Third Times a Charm - Pat Forde
Speaking of tOSU, how about the way they've stepped up in the nonconf dept?? People give them a ton of crap because this past year they played Youngstown St, Akron, Kent, and Wash, but people forget 2 things:
1) Non Conf games are scheduled 5-10 years in advance.
2) Last year was the ONLY year in a 15 year span staring in 2005 that tOSU will not play an elite college program in a non conf game. 05-06 Texas, 08-09 USC, 10-11 Miami, 12-13 Cal, 14-15 VaTech, 16-17 OU (Ed, you're going down) 18-19 Tennessee. I guarantee no one else plays those caliber of teams non conf in a 15 year span.
As for Pryor, I wonder if the best part about signing him is that Missagain doesn't get him. I don't know how successful he will be as a starter at tOSU because we just don't run an offense suited to him. Sure Troy Smith did well but he really blossomed when he learned to stay in the pocket.
That being said, I think the best thing would be to use him like a Tebow/Perilloux change of pace QB this year to give opposing D's something to think about.
gustie - You have a valid point about the pollsters having a likely bias against the Buckeyes. However, the early USC game mitigates that to some extent. If we go out to Cali and beat the Trojans, there's no way we'll be denied our rightful place.
However, on the flip side, if we lose that game, the pollsters will bury us deep in order to make it nearly impossible for us to come back.
Of course, they tried that last year, dropping us to #7 when we lost a close one to Illinois. Incredibly, all six teams above us lost over the next three weeks.
You never know.
I'm glad we played LSU. You always want to be in the deciding game and have a chance to be the best of the best. If Robiske doesn't drop that easy TD pass that would have put us up 14-0........... Sorry, let me snap out of it.
People sure have short memories. We won the National Championship in '02 so it's not like the choker tag applies.
We shall return to set everyone straight. In 106 days, the world will know what you and I already know!!
JAG
As much I hate to say it, Ohio State is really really good. They've had two really bad matchups in the National Championship game and haven't fared well. Point blank Ohio State doesn't play enough good teams in the Big 10, and the last non-conference game I remember them playing was...Texas, I think. The USC-Ohio St. winner will have the pole position for the 'chip. USC is loaded but you have to take their punch and give one back. Their green at QB and WR, so its up for grabs.
But you know OKLAHOMA is going all the way this year baby. Sammy Bradford and Demarco Murray are bringing the 'chip back to Norman. Lets go!
-Ed.
MARK IT DOWN...UC WILL beat OU AT OU!!!!! Period. Call me crazy, I don't care, it WILL happen!!!! Spread offense, maybe the best secondary in the NCAA and a d-line that brings some heat. Check the recievers out...top notch. I'm liking the Cats to win10 or 11 this year.
No way does OU lose to the Cincinnati Bearcats. They'll get to Norman, and be scared straight before kickoff.
I lost a lot of respect for the Big East when I went to the UC-UConn game last fall. Lots of dropped passes and missed tackles.
I came in thinking pretty highly of teams like UC, Lou, WV, and USF, but left thinking the Big East was a step behind the SEC, PAC10, Big 12, & Big10.
UC took WVU to the wire with their starting QB ailing last year. OU went on to get blown out by WVU in the Fiesta Bowl. UC is returning 16 starters from last year,5 of the 6 that aren't back spent last weekend in an NFL rookie camp. They are now 2 years into Coach Kelly's spread offense. UC has more than enough talent to knock of the Sooners. I do agree that the atmosphere may be bigger than what these kids have seen, but I think they're ready.
Rashad Mendenhall got jacked right after the Draft. If you're gonna survive in D-town, then you gotta be realer than that. We made the right choice by takin' Felix.
Allow me to address some of the comments (I know I am late):
@flonupe11 Colt Brennan got killed, because his line was scared straight, not because he committed suicide on national television. His O-Line were MORTIFIED as soon as they lined up against an SEC D-Line. I've rarely seen anything like that in my whole damn life.
@gustie13 As much as I love Dennis Dixon, he's not in the same neighborhood as Ben Aura. The only thing that they have in common is they both play QB, but that's Ben Aura's team all day long.
@jag I agree with you on how the Bengals are handling Ocho Cinco, but I don't know about that whole "Trojans catching a case of the Laurinitis." If there is one team that fears NO ONE in college football, it's the University of Southern California Trojans.
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