Draft Eve..The Night Before The Draft

Here we are less than 24hrs. away from the draft (the equivalent of Xmas Day for NFL GM, Coaches and Owners) and there is still a lot left to be determined.
It’s funny how taking Jake Long has now caused more questions than answers for the top six teams. Had the Dolphins selected Chris Long then it was pretty much a forgone conclusion the rest of the top six would have gone the following way:

• Miami—Chris Long


• St. Louis—Jake Long


• Atlanta—Glenn Dorsey


• Oakland—Darren McFadden


• Kansas City---Matt Ryan


• NY Jets----Vernon Gholston
  
  Now it could go any combo of the following:
  
  
• Miami—Jake Long


• St. Louis—Glenn Dorsey or Chris Long


• Atlanta—Matt Ryan or Glenn Dorsey


• Oakland---Vernon Gholston, Darren McFadden or Chris Long


• Kansas City—Chris Long, Vernon Gholston or Matt Ryan


• NY Jets---Darren McFadden—Matt Ryan or Vernon Gholston
  
  

Amazing how one surprise move (Miami drafting Jake Long) could change some many lives and draft plans.

Some thoughts on trades or pending trades leading up to the draft.

Dallas and Pacman….Interesting that Jerry would go as high as a #4 when he was the only team in the running. At least it appears he’s covered his bases by guaranteeing getting the same round pick next back from the Titans if Pacman stays suspended. Granted now with the reports it’s still not finalized who knows what happens there.

Hates off to the Chiefs for moving Jared Allen. He wasn’t happy, made a lot of money and had a few questionable things happen over the past few seasons that made him expendable. They can now load up with the extra picks and hopefully replace him someone like Chris Long who isn’t a character risk.

Dewayne Robertson headed to Denver….Hmmm the Broncos taking someone else’s defensive line castoff. Haven’t we heard this before? Robertson is a huge underachiever but hopefully gets his game together with a fresh start in Denver.

Leave it to the NFL to fix one problem (change the time between first round picks to 10 minutes) but then create a new one by moving the most anticipated day for NFL fans from 12 PM EST to 3PM EST. Why!!!!! Let’s hope Commissioner Goodall realizes his error and settles at 1PM EST (12PM EST) for the 2009 NFL Draft. I will be very interested to see what the rating look like for this year’s draft as I’m betting they will be down from the past years.

My suggestions to our fearless Commissioner regarding the draft are:

Start allowing the draft to rotate cities (why allow NY City fans the only change to attend the event).
Change the start time to 1PM EST
Seriously consider moving the draft to early March (before free agency starts). No one can ever provide a legit answer to why it’s held so late in April.

Did you ever wonder why?

Anyone ever wonder why football guys say such things as “the draft is a crap shoot”, “it takes some luck to build a winning team”, and “the draft is an inexact science” but then someone needs to explain Bill Parcells, Mike Holmgren, Tom Coughlin, Dick Vermeil, Jimmy Johnson, Marty Schottenheimer and Dan Reeves to me. Coaches who went to different teams built them up and got them to the playoffs and many to the Super Bowl.

What should be said instead is “NFL owners are sometimes to cheap to hire the best guys in the business and cut corners with only average coaches” and “heck we just buy Kiper’s book and use that instead of our scouting”.

A few predictions sure to go wrong tomorrow:

1. Dallas will trade down from the #28 pick in the first round with either Baltimore, Atlanta or Miami and get a second round and fourth round pick in 2008 and a pick next year. Moving out of round 1 will save Dallas money and with so many WRs still on the board they can get the guy they want.
2. Washington will trade with someone to get out of the first round
3. Chris Long might just be this year’s Brady Quinn although I think it’s more likely he’ll be Matt Leinart and fall to the bottom of the top 10.
4. None of the WRs (Boldin, Chad or Roy Williams) will be traded.
5. Jeremy Shockey will be a Saint by the end of the weekend (an oxymoron like Jumbo Shrimp)
6. Lito Sheppard will be traded. Eagles would love to ship him the AFC
7. 1st round will take way longer than it should
8. Kiper and McShay will argue worse than a divorced couple
9. Jason Taylor will get traded to Jacksonville or Tampa Bay
10. As soon as the Packers pick comes up Brett Favre will be mentioned.
11. Devin Thomas will be a Buffalo Bill by 5:30 EST
12. Giants will draft as if Michael Strahan is retired.
13. Mario Manningham and Vince Young will never appear on Jeopardy.
14. Al Davis will have a white jump suit on tomorrow.
15. Saints won’t trade into the #2 pick.
16. Everyone on both ESPN and NFL Network will stick up for the Patriots and Belichick as if someone was accusing a family member of a crime.
    

Well it's almost that time. Check back over the weekend as I'll adding my reviews and comments from the action each day. Feel free to post your thoughts or send me an email.

It's Draft Time!!!!!