A SLICE OUT OF SPORTS
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Draft Winners
Apr 30, 2007 | 9:08PM | report this

Not going to grade every team (I'll leave that to the draft-niks who don't have a life), but here's a quick mention of a couple of teams I thought did great. Also, hard to grade who were the losers until 3 years down the line, unless you're Mel Kiper who likes to criticizes the teams who made his mock drafts look foolish. So here a several teams I thought did very well:

#1 Minnesota Vikings - Not bad when you get potentially the best offensive player (Adrian Peterson), and WR with 1st-Round talent in the 2nd (Sidney Rice). I also think they got a steal in the 3rd with CB Marcus McCauley from Fresno State. If you flip his junior and senior seasons, he could have been a top-10 pick. Before the year, alot of people had him rated as the top corner in the draft. WR Andrae Allison in the 5th round could also be a steal. Could be this year's Demetrious Williams.

#2 Carolina Panthers - able to trade down and still fill their #1 priority by drafting their best LB available, Jon Beason. With Dan Morgan and Chris Draft questionable, this was a position the needed to address. Also, Beason paired with Thomas Davis and Nail Diggs gives the Panthers a couple of fast, heat-seeking missiles who pack a whallop. Plus they held on to Kris Jenkins. Sometimes the best moves are the ones you don't make.

They also got great late round talent. Ryan Kalil will be their starting center for the next decade. Charles Johnson is a tremendously talented pass-rusher who could eventually replace Mike Rucker.

This leads to my favorite draft moment, involving Keyshawn Johnson. After tooting fellow USC WR Dwayne Jarrett's horn merclissly, so much that Steve Young had to intervene to prevent Keyshawn and Mel Kiper Jr. from having a BIll O'Reiley/Jeraldo Rivera type moment (If you haven't seen it, heres the link, pretty funny: http://youtube.com/watch?v=tLPuGuaZTx8) I can already picture Keyshawn pointing his finger in Mel's face and saying "Speed doesn't matter! IT DOESN"T MAKE A DIFFERENCE!!!"

Anyway, after repeatedly saying Dwayne Jarrett is a huge talent who is the next Keyshawn Johnson, how funny/awkward was it when the Panthers picked him in an obvious move to eventually be Keyshawn's ultimate replacement? I love the draft and I kept waiting for Mel Kiper to get some digs in about the Panthers' looking to get younger at the WR position.

I love the draft.

#3 Indianapolis Colts - while Anthony Gonzales might have been a reach, he's the perfect slot receiver and replacement for Brandon Stokely. Tony Ugoh in the 2nd is great value at a position the Colts must be solid at. Daymeion Hughes is another corner who was one of the top players at his postion entering this year and is a proven playmaker. He'll make the loss of Jason David absolete.

*While many fans and experts alike will argue the Browns are the big winners, acquiring tackle Joe Thomas along with Brady Quinn and a potential steal in CB Eric Wright, I don't like what they did quite as much as other teams. I like the Brady Quinn pick for Clevelend, he's better than anything they could sign or draft next year, whether they have a top-5 pick or not.

If Eric Wright can stay clean off the field, the I agree he'll be a good pick. However, with the way the NFL and Roger Goodell has handled things, I think that's a big risk.

While Joe Thomas will solidify their OL for the next 10 years, I didn't like this pick for them. Just last year they gave Kevin Schaeffer $40 million to play LT. That's an awful lot of money to pay a RT. Combine that with the money thrown at Eric Steinbach and the injury plagued LeCharles Bentley, I think the money they've invested in their offensive line (plus the $18 million or so guarenteed to Joe Thomas) is a big risk to take given Thomas's durability questions as well.

3 Comments | Add a comment   categories: Demetrious Williams, Marcus McCauley, Adrian Peterson, Minnesota Vikings, Jason David, Indianapolis Colts, Anthony Gonzalez, Carolina Panthers, Keyshawn Johnson, Mel Kiper Jr, ESPN, NFL Draft, NFL, Jon Beason, Dan Morgan, Chris Draft, Thomas Davis, Nail Diggs, Kris Jenkins, Dwayne Jarrett
 
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sliceman
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