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16
Jul
2010
Oh yeah, the Supplemental Draft happened
Once again, mid-July rolls around, and we here at ReadAndReact are settling nicely into our summer, blissfully unaware that the NFL’s annual Supplemental Draft is taking place. Which it did, yesterday.
For those who don’t remember (or care), the Supplemental Draft is intended for players who failed to declare for April’s draft, or had other issues affecting their eligibility. This year, there were a grand total of 4 players eligible for the draft, and the Chicago Bears played it crafty, waiting until the 7th and final round to select RB Harvey Unga from BYU. They were quickly followed by the Dallas Cowboys, who pounced on Illinois DT Josh Price-Brent later in the round.
BYU Running Back Harvey Unga is now a Chicago Bear (Photo: Christopher Hanewinckel/US Presswire via ESPN.com)
As we’ve discussed here before, the Supplemental Draft is something of an enigma, in that it holds very little significance, even for draftniks like ourselves. Hell, it doesn’t even seem to be a real event — more likely a conference call or online draft, a la fantasy football. But do you think that they make some poor sucker sit through hours of calling out team names and waiting for their time on the clock to run out? I mean, there were only four players entered in this thing, and the first one was taken with the 12th pick in the 7th round!! Even if there’s only 2 minutes on the clock per pick, that works out to over SEVEN HOURS before the first pick was made!!! I guess that’s why this isn’t a televised event. Goodell certainly isn’t hanging around and watching it unfold.
Of course, every time I think about the supplemental draft, I always wonder how many players taken here have really made an impact in the NFL. Read the rest of this entry »
7
May
2010
Is JaMarcus Russell the #1 Draft Bust of All Time?
Has Jamarcus Russell failed badly enough to make him the biggest flop in league history? (Original photoshop/hack job by ArtieFufkin)
When news broke that the Raiders released former #1 draft pick JaMarcus Russell yesterday, the sports blogosphere collectively wondered weather Russell had claimed the throne as the biggest draft bust in the history of the NFL. And while it would be easy to place the Rotund Raider at the top of the list, we’re not going to hand him the crown just yet.
Until now, the general consensus has been that Ryan Leaf – the #2 overall pick of the San Diego Chargers in 1998 - is the biggest draft bust of all-time. For our money, it’s Tony Mandarich, who the Packers selected with the #2 overall pick in 1989 (you can read our previous pieces on Mandarich here and here). But most people seem to think it’s Leaf, and since both he and Russell are QB’s, it makes things much easier for the purpose of this conversation.
The guys at Shutdown Corner put together a nice statistical comparison between the two quarterbacks, and while both players were godawful, the numbers paint Russell in a more favorable light:
So based on these figures alone, Leaf has the edge (for being worse, that is … 14 TDs vs 36 INTs?!? Ouch.) And when you take into account Leaf’s locker-room outbursts and the fact that he was universally hated by his teammates, Russell doesn’t really even come close to eclipsing the train wreck that was Ryan Leaf.
For us, the question of how big a draft bust someone is always comes down to one main thing: expectations. Sports Illustrated took a look back at the pre-draft hype on JaMarcus Russell from 2007, which includes some incredible gems from some of the draft’s top prognosticators, including Mel Kiper:
JaMarcus Russell is going to immediately energize that fanbase, that football team — on the practice field, in that locker room. Three years from now you could be looking at a guy that’s certainly one of the elite top five quarterbacks in this league. …You’re talking about a 2-3 year period once he’s under center. Look out because the skill level that he has is certainly John Elway-like.”
Way to go Mel. Good call. But he wasn’t alone … at the time, Todd McShay, Terry Bradshaw, and a slew of other “experts” were all drooling over Russell’s physical skill set.
Let's face it, we all saw this one coming
But while everyone seemed to agree that Russell’s physical skills warranted a roll of the dice, there were plenty of questions about his mental state of mind from the beginning. In the linked SI article, Peter King and Gil Brandt were among those who expressed serious doubts as to whether or not JaMarcus had the desire & work ethic to be a top-level NFL quarterback.
When Russell – who was the best QB in a weak draft class for the position – went to the Raiders, it seemed like a bust made in heaven. After all, Al Davis has made a living out of spending draft picks on physical specimens with questionable heads. And with Lane Kiffin taking over at the helm (if temporarily) for Art Shell, the Oakland organization was entering a dysfunctional heyday in 2007. We all knew how this story was going to play out, didn’t we?
24
Apr
2010
POST-DRAFT WRAP-UP … WAIT, THAT’S IT?
Oregon's LaGarrette Blount went undrafted ... but well rested. He later signed with the Titans as an undrafted FA (Image: Deadspin.com)
Is anyone else uncomfortable that the draft is over and it’s only Saturday? What the hell am I supposed to do with the rest of my weekend? Go outside or something??? Oh well … since Thursday night was the highest-rated draft ever, we’d better get used to this new format.
Now that Mr. Irrelevant has been picked, it’s time for armchair GMs everywhere to start second-guessing NFL executives and handing out their annual draft grades. Nevermind the fact that we’ll have no idea how this draft is going to pan out for at least 2-3 years … these type of knee-jerk assessments are what the draft is all about! At first glance, we really like what the Raiders, Seahawks and 49ers did over the last 3 days. In case you’re interested Pete Prisco at CBS has graded every single pick of the draft, and Shutdown Corner has their Best & Worst of the 2010 draft.
And just because the draft is over doesn’t mean teams are done adding players. Keep track of all this Undrafted Free Agent Signings list to see what camp fodder each team is bringing in. For your reference, here’s NFL.com’s list of the best players available after the draft.
In case you missed them through the sweat dripping off of Berman’s huge cranium, here are a few more stories of note from the weekend:
- The Raiders got QB Jason Campbell from the Washington Redskins [ESPN.com]
- The Seahawks traded for RB’s Leon Washington of the Jets and Lendale White of the Titans [NFL.com]
- The Jets released all-pro G Alan Fanceca [NY Daily News]
- The Jaguars traded for Raiders LB Kirk Morrison [PFW]
- Lawrence Taylor’s memory of the day he was drafted in 1981 is a little bit fuzzy … probably because he had 41 Coors Lights [SI.com]
23
Apr
2010
2010 NFL DRAFT – 3RD ROUND LIVE BLOG
How long will Colt McCoy last?
We’re sticking with the NFL Draft on Friday night, all the way through round 3, baby! Still plenty of talent available at this point in the draft – most notably players like QB Colt McCoy, OT Bruce Campbell and LB Navorro Bowman.
For all the hype surrounding round 1 of the draft, rounds 2-4 are where a team’s draft are really made or broken. So it’s worth paying attention to the guys who are being selected tonight.
Follow the action in the comments section, where you’ll find highlights of as many draft selections as we can find!
23
Apr
2010
THE 2010 NFL DRAFT 2ND-ROUND LIVE BLOG
April's version of Santa Claus is ready to rumble (Source: Baltimore Sun)
Round Two is just hours away, and we’re already hearing buzz about heavy trading activity at the top of the round. As always, the QB-focused media is asking where Clausen and Colt will end up–but there’s talent all over the place, and Rounds 2 and 3 are where teams are built.
To help you get up to speed for day 2, Gil Brandt at NFL.com has his list of the Top 100 players available: guys like Clausen, Sergio Kindle, and Taylor Mays are certainly going to be hot properties this evening. At this hour, both Cleveland and Buffalo are negotiating with St. Louis for the 33rd pick in this year’s draft–which guy are they after?
As always, we’re following the action right here. Artie and TheDarkHorse will be filing commentary, breaking news, and analysis from around the league.
Want in? Click the comments section to join the conversation.
22
Apr
2010
THE 2010 NFL DRAFT 1ST-ROUND LIVE BLOG
The hour is now. The future of the league is being shaped this evening as the 2010 NFL Draft gets underway in New York, New York. (Source: AP)
If you’re an NFL fan… today is Christmas Day.
Beginning with the Rams first-round selection at 7:32 p.m. EST, we’ll be following the entire first round, pick by pick.
READ AND REACT IS IN THE HOUSE. ArtieFufkin will track ESPN’s coverage of the event. TheDarkHorse will follow the draft on the NFL Network. (We may even see cameos from steverodgers and C-O-U-R-T-N-E-Y!)
We’ll be trash talking, assessing the action, and also taking a look at tomorrow’s 2nd and 3rd rounds–where, in a deep draft like this one, there will be tremendous competition between the teams to get “their guys.”
There’s a sense around the league that this could be a wild night–we’ll be commenting on the action as it happens, and look forward to chatting with you. Click the comments section to join in the action.
22
Apr
2010
A BEAUTIFUL DAY – The 2010 NFL Draft is here
The day has finally arrived.
This is a day of destiny for hundreds of young men across the country.
For all the media hype, the over-analysis, the anticipation–today is really just a beginning, a starting place, for tomorrow’s NFL. The sobering truth is that many of these players will be out of the league by 2014. Many will fail to live up to the expectations–and they won’t be worth a fraction of the millions of dollars teams invest in them. Some of today’s “can’t fail” prospects will fail tremendously, unequivocally. We know that the draft exists in a vacuum, where almost everyone involved must turn away from odds, the reality of it all, and believe their team is about to turn the corner.
What’s promising is that teams GETTING IT RIGHT tonight are shaping future playoff and Super Bowl franchises. Drifting fanbases *all* feel hope tonight, all speak wildly, all have newfound reasons to believe their teams are on the rise. It’s a day when we don’t see the future clearly–and don’t want to.
One thing is for sure: Today is the day we officially put 2009 away–and move boldly toward the 2010 campaign.
We’ll be posting stories throughout the day, until 7 p.m. EST, when we’ll shift gears over to our 2010 NFL DRAFT FIRST-ROUND LIVE BLOG.
Some news items at this hour:
* Is this for real? It just seems crazy to me–we’re not buying it: Michael Smith reports that “Mike Holmgren just told me he’s calling the Rams one last time about #1. Willing to deal most of 2010 picks, pick(s) in 2011.”
* From Schefter’s Twitter: “A source close to situation says it is ‘extremely unlikely’ the Pittsburgh Steelers will trade quarterback Ben Roethlisberger.”
* PFT reports that Rams G.M. Billy Devaney told Chris Russo of Sirius Mad Dog Radio that the Rams haven’t received any legitimate, serious offers for the top pick: “I’ve got to be honest, it’s been just kind of bogus stuff,” Devaney said. “I’ll tell you this, we have not had a firm offer at all. It’s just kind of dancing around like would you think about it if it was right? But I’ll tell you nobody’s called today. So the longer this goes, obviously, it appears more likely that we’re going to keep the pick.”
*Florio is suggesting the Browns might PASS THEIR PICK (simply not make a pick, in order to avoid overpaying for a reach). We don’t see that happening.
* PFT is also stating that TIM TEBOW WILL GO IN THE TOP 15. Bob Tebow, Tim’s father, told a Jacksonville radio station last week: “If the Jaguars don’t take him at 10, he’ll be gone by 15.”
* Schefter is also glowing about the chance to walk across town to the NFL Draft with the one-and-only Mel Kiper.
* Adam Schefter, per Twitter, tells us that the Rams asking price for the #1 pick is steep–probably too steep for anyone to play.
* We are already hearing that there is buzz for Berry going before #7. It starts with Washington at #4. Florio and Gregg Rosenthal at PFT suggest that Berry could end up a Redskin–or go to Philly, if they do trade up.
22
Apr
2010
I WANT TO MOCK RIGHT NOW… I’M DARKHORSE AND I CAME TO GET DOWN
Everybody's wondering -- where will Tebow go? (Source: AP)
With the NFL Draft mere hours away, I’m mock drafting a wild first round. For my money, a mock draft is more fun when it includes trade activity–a big trade in the first round rocks the boat, and renders “non-trade” mocks impotent. I’m throwing it down right here, boys–tonight’s gonna’ be a wild one.
The key to this evening’s first round, in my opinion, is Kansas City and Seattle. If these guys go offensive tackle at #5 and #6, the first round could unfold methodically–minus the drama. But, if either one selects Texas safety Eric Berry, it leaves the Cleveland Browns alone on the dance floor. As a Browns fan, I’m planning for Berry to be gone (I don’t believe Scott Pioli will take a safety at #5, but I think Pete Carroll is game). I *do* believe the Browns are very high on Berry, and (unless they go Clausen, which would surprise me) G.M. Tom Heckert will push to trade down if their guy’s been picked. If this happens, I believe two teams will to go after Jimmy-Boy Clausen at #7–mainly because they fear him going to Buffalo at #9 (and maybe even Oakland at #8).
With this in mind, one trend I believe you’ll see tonight is a run on the (potentially over-hyped) quarterbacks. If Clausen goes early, a handful of teams will panic and consider moving up to take Colt McCoy. Bottom line: Selecting the right QB on draft day can change your franchise for 15 years, and it’s too tempting for QB-less teams to ignore–even though it rarely works out, and can cripple a team. This is the Holy Grail. With Bradford, Clausen, and McCoy gone midway through Round One, the spotlight will shift (or, burn that much brighter) on Timmy Tebow. Will a team take a chance on Tim? Find out below. I also think we’ll see a number of teams (like Philly and Dallas) aggressively go after their guy. Dallas, in particular, is not going to let the Randy Moss debacle happen twice–they will go after the draft’s only game-changing, mercurial WR with a vengeance.
I’m no expert at this (who is?). Feel free to rip me to shreds. These fan draft boards are vastly different than those held by NFL teams. We may capture the top 10 players, but I’m not sure we can predict a thing past that–so, why not have fun with it? (Note: Trade activity is marked in red.)
MOCK DRAFT LOCKED on 4/22/10 at 1:17 PST
R O U N D O N E
1. St. Louis (1-15) - Sam Bradford, QB/Oklahoma
2. Detroit (2-14) - Ndamukong Suh, DT/Nebraska
3. Tampa Bay (3-13) – Gerald McCoy, DT/Oklahoma
4. Washington (4-12) – Trent Williams, OT/Oklahoma
5. Kansas City (4-12) – Russell Okung, OT/Oklahoma State
6. Seattle (5-11) – Eric Berry, S/Tennessee
7. Cleveland (5-11) – TRADES THE PICK – With Eric Berry taken, the Browns trade the pick to San Francisco, for the Niners 1/13 and 2/49, and a late-round pick (I don’t buy into the value chart this time around).
7. San Francisco (from Cleveland) – Jimmy Clausen, QB/Notre Dame
8. Oakland (5-11) – Bryan Bulaga, OT/Iowa
9. Buffalo (6-10) – TRADES THE PICK – Buffalo trades the pick to Miami for Miami’s 1/12, a later-round pick, and the rights to Chad Pennington.
9. Miami (from Buffalo) – Jason Pierre-Paul, DE/South Florida
10. Jacksonville (7-9) – TRADES THE PICK – The Jaguars trade the pick to Philadelphia, for the Eagles 1/24, 2/37, and later round picks.
10. Philadelphia (from Jacksonville) – Earl Thomas, S/Texas
11. Denver (from Chicago 7-9) – TRADES THE PICK – The Broncos trade the pick to Dallas, for the Cowboys 1/27, 2/59, etc. (I’m not sure they could pull a 2nd from Dallas, but let’s go with it.)
11. Dallas (from Denver) – Dez Bryant, WR/Oklahoma State
12. Buffalo (from Miami 7-9) – Colt McCoy, QB/Texas – Buffalo reaches for McCoy, but doesn’t want to lose him.
13. Cleveland (from San Francisco 8-8) – C.J. Spiller, RB/Clemson
14. Seattle (from Denver 8-8) – Ryan Mathews, RB/Fresno State
15. New York Giants (8-8) – Rolando McClain, LB/Alabama
16. Tennessee (8-8) – Dan Williams, NT/Tennessee
17. San Francisco (from Carolina 8-8) – Derrick Morgan, DE/Georgia Tech
18. Pittsburgh (9-7) – Mike Iupati, OG/Idaho
19. Atlanta (9-7) – Jared Odrick, DT/Penn State
20. Houston (9-7) – Joe Haden, CB/Florida
21. Cincinnati (10-6) – Jermaine Gresham, TE/Oklahoma
22. New England (10-6) – Taylor Mays, S/USC
23. Green Bay (11-5) – Anthony Davis, OT/Rutgers
24. Jacksonville (from Philadelphia 11-5) – Sergio Kindle, LB/Texas
25. Baltimore (9-7) – Charles Brown, OT/USC
26. Arizona (10-6) – DeMaryius Thomas, WR/Georgia Tech
27. Denver (from Dallas 11-5) – Brandon Graham, DE/Michigan
28. San Diego (13-3) – Kyle Wilson, CB
29. New York Jets (9-7) – Kareem Jackson, CB/Alabama
30. Minnesota (12-4) – Maurkice Pouncey, C/Florida
31. Indianapolis (14-2) – Jerry Hughes, DE/TCU
32. New Orleans (13-3) – Everson Griffen, DE/USC
R O U N D T W O
33. St. Louis – Jahvid Best, RB/California
34. Detroit – Bruce Campbell, OT/Maryland
35. Tampa Bay – Patrick Robinson, CB/Florida St.
36. Kansas City – TRADES THE PICK – The Chiefs trade the pick to the Browns for Cleveland’s 2/38 and a later pick.
36. Cleveland (from Jacksonville) – Tim Tebow, QB/Florida
37. Jacksonville (from Philadelphia, via Washington) – Nate Allen, S/South Florida
38. Kansas City (from Cleveland) – Chad Jones, S/LSU
39. Oakland – Terrence Cody, NT/Alabama
40. San Diego (from Seattle) – Jonathan Dwyer, RB/Georgia Tech
41. Buffalo – Rodger Saffold, OT/Indiana
42. Tampa Bay (from Chicago) – Sean Weatherspoon, LB/Missouri
43. Denver (from Miami) – Golden Tate, WR/Notre Dame
44. New England (from Jacksonville) – Carlos Dunlap, DE/Florida
45. Denver – Navorro Bowman, LB/Penn St.
46. NY Giants – Matt Tennant, C/Boston College
47. New England (from Tennessee) – Sean Lee, LB/Penn St.
48. Carolina – Damian Williams, WR/USC
49. Cleveland (from San Francisco) – Devin McCourty, CB/Rutgers
50. Kansas City (from Atlanta) – Brian Price, DT/UCLA
51. Houston – Cam Thomas, DT/North Carolina
52. Pittsburgh – Brandon LaFell, WR/LSU
53. New England – Toby Gerhart, RB, Stanford
54. Cincinnati – Daryl Washington, LB/TCU
55. Philadelphia – Arrelious Benn, WR/Illinois
56. Green Bay – Morgan Burnett, S/Georgia Tech
57. Baltimore – Corey Wootton, DE/Northwestern
58. Arizona – Koa Misi, LB/Utah
59. Denver (from Dallas) – Chris Cook, CB/Virginia
60. Seattle (from San Diego) – Vladimir Ducasse, OT/Massachusetts
61. NY Jets – Dexter McCluster, RB/Mississippi
62. Minnesota – Aaron Hernandez, TE/Florida
63. Indianapolis – Alex Carrington, DE/Arkansas St.
64. New Orleans – Brandon Ghee, CB/Wake Forest
4
Apr
2010
Happy Easter! At this point, we’re just waiting for the draft
Kiper Bunny is coming to town
Early April is generally a pretty slow time for NFL news. There have been a few minor moves and signings, and we had our annual player caught with gun story, but in general, things like the Final Four, MLB opening day, Easter with family (and for some of us, reruns of Hard Knocks on Hulu) are more interesting this time of year. And at this point, everyone is really gearing up for the draft, which is less than 3 weeks away.
There are mocks-O-plenty as prognosticators pretend to have a clue as to how the draft (in its new 3-day format) is going to play out. Meanwhile, teams fine-tune their value boards and conduct background checks on their top prospects. We’ve heard plenty of reports from pro days of the top college players, but sorry, we simply refuse to write about Tim Tebow before he actually does something in the NFL. He gets plenty of ink already.
So, before we head out to round up eggs and candy from the neighborhood kids, we’ll leave you with a few links from the past week:
- 8 USA Today analysts provide their 1st round mock drafts
- According to ProFootballTalk, everyone in the NFL hates Todd McShay
- Giving a little love to the unsung soldiers. The New York Times lists the best Right Guards in the league.
- Washington Redskins Chris Cooley and Fred Davis appeared at intermission of an NHL game this week. And raced each other. On tricycles. Poor sportsmanship ensued. Here’s the video, from Gunaxin:
Happy sunday!
2
Mar
2010
Oh yeah, the combine is happening
These stopwatches mean millions of dollars to players at the NFL Combine (Photo: Ben Liebenberg/NFL.com)
You’ll have to forgive us for our recent lapse in NFL coverage … we were swept up in Winter Olympic fever for the past few weeks, and kind of forgot that the NFL Scouting Combine started last week. And yeah, we actually had something better to do than watch a bunch of grown men run around in their skivvies. So sue us.
Otherwise known as the “underwear Olympics”, the Combine is the annual meat market where NFL teams poke and prod at the latest round of prospects like so much cattle, sizing up their chances of success at the next level. It’s where Wonderlics, route trees and body lean become the talk of the day. A place where a mediocre player can rise from obscurity with a 4.3 40-yard dash time, and where an all-American LB can tumble down the draft charts because he’s a few inches too short.
As you might be able to surmise from our tone, we don’t put as much stock in the combine as some others. I mean, it’s a useful tool to get an up-close look at these athletes, who teams are about to invest millions of dollars in … but it should really only be one piece of the larger puzzle. How someone performs on an indoor track in a sterilized environment should not be viewed as a direct reflection of how they will perform on Sunday. Sure, there are some physical tools that you simply can’t teach, and certain teams (ie., the Raiders) are always going to take a chance on gifted athletes, whether they can actually play football or not. But if a kid is ranked in your top 10 at the end of the college season, after being a playmaker his entire career, there’s simply no way a slow 3-cone drill time should drop him off of your board.
DTs Gerald McCoy of Oklahoma (left) and Ndomukong Suh of Nebraska are 2 of the top prospects in this year's draft (Photo: Ben Liebenberg/NFL.com)
I’ve watched a few hours of the combine over the past 2 days, and I guess I’ll have to leave it to the Kipers and Mayocks of the world, who make their living off of this event. And don’t get me wrong, you can definitely gain some affirmation on your feelings about a player one way or another from these workouts – and especially the interviews. I just feel that often, too much value is placed on these measurements over actual gameday performance.
And with that, I leave you with a few Combine-related links:
- Tim Tebow’s 2010 Combine performance set to Iron Maiden [Deadspin]
- NFL Network’s Rich Eisen prepares to run the 40-yard dash [NFL.com]
- *UPDATE* Clemson RB CJ Spiller’s blazing 40-yard dash of 4.27 seconds … actually clocked in at 4.37 seconds. Whoops.
AFTER THE JUMP, WATCH RICH EISEN RUN THE 40-YARD DASH … IN A SUIT
