Notes from the NFL Draft

Notes from the NFL Draft

By Geoffrey Baron
The Weekly Recorder
May 2, 2008

Our reporter was present this week for the first two rounds of the NFL draft, here are his impressions from being on the scene.

Pick #6, New York Jets pick Gholston. The Jets fans actually CHEERED for a pick for once! Jets fans happy about their team’s draft choice, now I’ve seen it all!

Pick #7, New England...the place was booing and screaming “CHEEE-TERS!!! CHEEE-TERS!!!” as soon as they were on the clock, classic! I think they lost their guy by trading down to New Orleans. They didn’t get tremendous value in return, getting only the 10 pick and a 3rd rounder, given how events then transpired(as noted below) I would call this a rare misstep for them.

Pick #8, Ravens trade to Jax for #26, 71, 89, and 125 picks. I figured before the draft that if the Ravens could’t get Ryan or one of the other “big 7” by some luck then they would trade down, as the dropoff after Sedrick Ellis was substantial so the 8 pick is probably one of the worst picks to have in the round(will have to pay someone 8 pick money who doesn’t deserve it). I think this was a masterful trade and I think that Jax gave up way too much to secure Harvey. The journalists near me(I was seated next to Philly/Delaware area journalists) were all incredulous at how much they gave up. The Ravens were looking super smart at this point.

Pick #9, Cincy takes Rivers. This took me by surprise because everyone expected they might trade down with Ellis gone. The funny thing about this pick is that this is the guy NE wanted and probably thought they would get after trading down with New Orleans, but since NO took Ellis it forced the Bengals to take a linebacker instead. Sucks to be Rivers, he goes to the zoo instead of to the presumptive 2009 SB favorite.

Pick #18, Texans trade to Ravens for their 26 pick and a 3rd rounder and a 6th rounder. Ravens take Flacco. This whole situation has me seeing Kyle Boller all over again, I don’t care that Kiper thinks he’s he’s the #2 QB behind Ryan. Considering he couldn’t beat Palko for the job at Pitt, he’s a “Johnny Come Lately” that nobody ever really heard of until very recently, and everyone fawned over his “cannon arm”, it’s a lot like Boller who did the whole throwing from his knees on the 50 into the end zone thing and wowed everyone with it. Additionally he’s a system quarterback so they have to hope they can coach him up to their system instead of what he did in college. Additionally, there was no need at all for them to trade up to get him, and if by some “bad luck” someone had taken him before their 26 pick then they could have gotten the right guy instead, Brohm...and not given up a 3rd and 6th to do it(which would have left them with FOUR 3rd rd picks). So I’m not a fan ofthis pick, they couldn’t have known that Brohm would fall so far though so maybe they thought they had to make sure to get one of them. After robbing Jacksonville earlier at least they had plenty of picks to burn on this trade.

Pick #19, Philly trades to Carolina, who takes Otah. The Philly writers beside me were all swearing up a storm, Otah was the guy Philly supposedly wanted and they couldn’t believe they traded away the pick instead of taking him. The Philly writers were not impressed with Philly’s drafting in general, but like Jets fans I think they are always critical of the team.

Pick #23, Pittsburgh takes Mendenhall. The Steelers fans in the building were chanting his name even before they picked him. I and the other guys near me all thought this was a strange pick at the time as RB was not a need, but they were proven as geniuses when Sweed fell to them in the 2nd round. So if this guy is as good as people say he is and Sweed as well, the Steelers might be one of the biggest winners(the Chiefs probably get the #1 draft grade) of the draft scoring 2 impact players without being in the upper part of the rounds.

Pick #30, Green Bay trades to NYJ, who take Keller. Jets fans all cheered WILDLY when it was announced that the Jets traded for this pick...then booed LOUDLY when Keller was announced as the pick. Classic! This restores sanity after they had actually been happy with the Gholston pick.

Pick #31, New England...whoops, they cheated, this pick never happened.

Second round thoughts:

Pittsburgh getting Sweed was an absolute COUP! He was rated highest WR on many draft boards although I think it all came down to which type of WR a particular team was looking for. By getting Sweed the Steelers might have had the best “pound for pound”(IE, considering what they had to work with) draft result of the 1st day.

Cincy taking Simpson from Coastal Carolina got a lot of looks of bewilderment and snickers. The order the WRs got taken in was just bizarre so I guess the unexpected was to be expected, in hindsight. They may have been going super far out of their way to draft a “character” player here, since the rest of their receivers are a...holes.

Baltimore getting Ray Rice was polarizing, a lot of people didn’t like the pick at all. I think it was good value and gives them a heck of a backup for McGahee.

The Browns of course had no early picks so I don’t have anything to comment on for them. I suppose Quinn could kind of count as their pick for this year since that’s what they gave up to get him, so that worked out OK I guess, maybe, unless he never sees the field.