NFL Draft: First Round Analysis Of Top 10 Picks

1. Indianapolis Colts – QB Andrew Luck, Stanford – No surprise here.  Luck was crowned the top overall pick of the 2012 draft the moment he announced he was coming back to Stanford for one more year.  Many draft experts rate Luck as the best QB to come out since John Elway and I think that is overrating him.  I do not follow the logic that Luck is a can’t miss prospect.  He is going to a team where he is replacing a legend, possibly the best QB in NFL history.  The team, particularity the offensive weapons that Peyton Manning had, have been jettisoned.  The Colts fans are used to winning and Luck will be thrown to the wolves from day one.  He has an uphill battle in front of him and it will be a daunting task to turn that franchise around.

2. Washington Redskins – QB Robert Griffin III, Baylor – No surprise here either.  Mike Shanahan and the Redskins mortgaged their future in order to get the reigning Heisman Trophy winner.  In exchange for the St. Louis Rams’ 2nd overall pick, the Redskins gave up their first round pick in 2013 & 2014.  They also gave up their 2nd round pick this year and swapped their 6th overall pick this year.  Out the gate, I believe that RG3 has the best chance to succeed.  He will have TE Fred Davis, who had a Pro Bowl caliber season in 2011 and was given the franchise tag this offseason.  The Redskins also went out and signed WRs Pierre Garcon from the Colts and Josh Morgan from the 49ers.  He should also have a solid ground game with Roy Helu and the zone blocking scheme the Redskins deploy.

3. Cleveland Browns – RB Trent Richardson, Alabama – The Browns swapped picks with the Vikings moving up from the 4th slot to the 3rd slot in order to draft Richardson.  I think this was a big overreach.  There was a chance that Richardson would have still been there at that 4 spot unless the Bucs were hell bent on getting him.  You don’t draft a RB this high unless his name is Barry Sanders, Marshall Faulk, LaDainian Tomlinson, or Adrian Peterson.  RBs have an average shelf life of 3 years and let’s be honest RBs are a dime a dozen.  Arian Foster, LeGarrette Blunt, and Fred Jackson were all undrafted RBs.  Richardson doesn’t have a lot of wiggle in his run, he is stiff, which opens him up to injuries.  For this reason I think that Doug Martin out of Boise St. was the better first round value.  Martin can run between the tackles, has the same size and speed as Richardson, he is great in pass pro, and catching the ball out of the backfield.  To put it simply he is an every down back.  The Browns would have been better served to draft Oklahoma St. WR Justin Blackmon with this pick and pick up Martin with their second first round pick.  This would have given them two quality weapons to pair with Colt McCoy.  By the way, Blackmon went 5th to the Jags and Martin went 31st to the Bucs, both would have been available for the Browns at 4 and 22.

4. Minnesota Vikings – OT Matt Kalil, USC – The Vikings made out great in the trade with the Browns.  They moved back one spot and still got the player that they wanted.  Additionally, they picked up the Browns’ 4th, 5th, and 7th round picks.  Kalil is a very talented, athletic tackle and should be the starting LT from day one.  This gives Christian Ponder the blindside protection that he needs.  The Vikings gave up 49 sacks in 2010, tied for 5th in the league.  So Kalil is a much needed addition to their offensive front.

5. Jacksonville Jaguars – WR Justin Blackmon, Oklahoma St. – The Jags traded up from the 7th spot to the 5th spot, swapping picks with the Bucs in order to draft Blackmon.  Blackmon is only the second WR to win the Fred Biletnikoff Award twice (Michael Crabtree).  He certainly is a good receiver but he often times drops passes that he should easily catch.  He also did not face a lot of press coverage while at Oklahoma State so there are questions about his ability to be successful against it in the NFL.  While I think he is a great receiver, I believe that Michael Floyd out of Notre Dame is a better receiver.  Floyd has better hands, has a bigger frame to be physical with, and runs in the 4.4 range to get downfield.  The only knock on Floyd was some off the field character issues.  Blackmon also is going to a team where there is a huge question mark at QB with Blaine Gabbert.

6. Dallas Cowboys – CB Morris Claiborne, LSU – The Cowboys traded up to get the player they wanted.  When they initially announced the trade, I thought it was to get Alabama safety Mark Barron.  So the fact that they did it to pick Claiborne was a surprise to me.  They went out and signed Chiefs’ CB Brandon Carr to replace former starter Terrance Newman and their other CB Mike Jenkins is in the final year of his contract.  Jenkins has been somewhat of a disappointment after being drafted in the first round of the 2008 draft.  The arrival of Claiborne might signal the end of Jenkins’ tenure with the Cowboys and at least for this year a demotion to nickel corner.  Claiborne is a compete CB, he has great ball skills and is not afraid of contact in run support.  Rob Ryan’s defense is reliant on having CBs that can hold up in man coverage, Claiborne paired with Carr now give Dallas the ability to use their exotic blitz schemes.

7. Tampa Bay Buccaneers – S Mark Barron, Alabama – It was expected Morris Claiborne would end up as a Buc and Mark Barron would be a Cowboy, so it is kind of funny that the opposite happened.  The Bucs got a quality safety in Barron.  He played in a complicated scheme in Bama and was an enforcer against the run.  He doesn’t quite have the range of an Ed Reed but not many do.  Will need to match up against some high powered passing attacks playing in the NFC South with Atlanta, New Orleans and Carolina.  He has the tools to get the job done and should have a very successful pro career.

8. Miami Dolphins – QB Ryan Tannehill, Texas A&M – Miami finally got their first round QB, the only problem is that it was a HUGE reach.  While Tannehill has a huge upside, he is not worthy of a top 10 pick.  He is closer to a 3rd or 4th round pick at this point in his career.  He is a very athletic guy, starting at WR for two years prior to moving to QB.  However, he only had 19 starts at the QB position and is still very raw.  Hopefully the Dolphins have a plan to bring him along slowly.  Throwing him in early will be a disservice to him and the franchise.  He needs at least 2 years to develop and to really learn how to play the position.  Mike Sherman, his offensive coordinator at Texas A&M, is now the new offensive coordinator for the Dolphins.  This should bring him familiarity with what the play caller is looking for and an understanding of the offense right out the gate.

9. Carolina Panthers – LB Luke Kuechly, Boston College – Kuechly was a tackling machine at Boston College racking up 532 tackles in 3 years and 191 tackles in 2011 (102 solo).  In 2011 he also won the Lombardi Award, the Lott IMPACT Trophy, and the Bronko Nagurski Trophy before declaring for the NFL Draft.  He has great instincts and pass coverage ability.  He should be a great addition to the Panthers defense when paired with Jon Beason who is returning from an Achilles injury.  I don’t know if he is on the level of a Ray Lewis when he came out, but he is rated as one of the best LBs to come out in a while.  The Panthers need the defensive help as they lost many games in 2011 as the result of poor defensive play.  They also need some help in the secondary and there was some talk that South Carolina CB, Stephon Gilmore, would go here.

10. Buffalo Bills – CB Stephon Gilmore, South Carolina – The Bills should be much improved in 2012 on the defensive side of the ball.  They signed Mario Williams away from the Texans and Mark Anderson away from the Patriots to improve their front 7.  If Shawn Merriman can stay healthy and regain form, their defense gets even scarier.  To help in the secondary they drafted South Carolina CB Stephon Gilmore, a very solid player.  He didn’t play a lot of man press in college, instead played a lot of off man and zone.  Will need to be solid in man at the NFL level, especially in a division where he will see the Patriots twice per year.  He is a very smart player, has 4.4 speed and great overall athleticism.  Has great height at 6′ 1″ to match up against taller receivers in the league and is great in run support, not afraid to mix it up.  This is a solid pick for the Bills but I believe that Janoris Jenkins, who excels in man coverage, might have been a better corner to go after.  Jenkins has a number of red flags from his time at Florida that caused his stock to drop.  So taking that into account you can understand taking Gilmore here.

NFL Draft: Are You As Excited As I Am?

This is one time of year that I look forward to every year.  While I do miss the traditional Saturday and Sunday format of the NFL Draft, I still LOVE watching it.  It is that time of year that we all get to play armchair GM.  We get to rejoice or moan at the picks our favorite NFL team make.  We get to evaluate the picks that other teams make, especially those teams in the division of our favorite team.  We get to speculate at which team made a solid pick, who will be a bust, who was a reach, and who was a steal.  We get to scratch our heads about why some picks are made and just plain laugh at others.

Let’s face it, the draft is often times a crap shoot.  You can measure how tall a guys is, how much he ways, how fast he runs the 40 yard dash, how many times he can rep 225 lbs on the bench press, and the level of competition he played against.  One thing you can’t really measure is heart and circumstance.  Will he get hurt?  Will his head get too big?  What is the state of the franchise he is going to?  Is he a fit for the system.  Will the coaching staff use him right?

How good would Alex Smith be now if he hadn’t had a new offense and offensive coordinator every year?  Would Emmitt Smith be the legend he is if he had been drafted by the Jets that year and Blair Thomas got drafted by the Cowboys?  Did Ryan Leaf have enough talent to be considered in the class of Peyton Manning the year they came out?  How did 32 NFL teams repeatedly miss on Arian Foster and Fred Jackson over 7 rounds?  Why wasn’t Rod Smith drafted?  There are some many variables and so many what ifs that go into these things including the environment the player is being drafted into and the system.

This year, as with years past, will present many questions.  Is Andrew Luck really a can’t miss prospect?  He is, after all, going to a completely depleted team.  RG3 is going to have better weapons around him straight out the gate and a Super Bowl winning coach.  Is Trent Richardson really the next Adrian Peterson or is it just hype?  I think that Doug Martin will be the better pro back.  He has more wiggle than the stiff Richardson.  Who is the better corner Morris Claiborne or Janoris Jenkins?  In my opinion the answer is Jenkins.  He provides great run support and is a better at man press coverage, a skill that is needed as more teams put an emphasis on the passing game.

One thing is for sure, only time will answer these questions.  Let the speculation, rejoicing, and heartache begin.

Not Much Wrong With Gregg Williams’ Pre-game Speech

Gregg Williams has been suspended indefinitely by the NFL for his part in a bounty program

What was so wrong with then New Orleans Saints Gregg Willaims’ pre-game speech prior to the divisional playoff game against the San Francisco 49ers?  Not much.  Apart from the ACL comment surrounding 49ers’ receiver Michael Crabtree, there wasn’t much there that doesn’t get said prior to every college and professional football game across the nation.  If you think otherwise, you are sadly mistaken.  The only reason the ACL comment was an issue is because Crabtree didn’t have a previous ACL injury.  If there was a prior ACL injury then you want to test him out to see how tentative that player is when you get physical with him.  Since there wasn’t a prior ACL injury then the comment seems to be encouragement to create one.

Let’s get one thing clear, football is NOT a contact sport, it is a collision sport.  Football players are modern-day gladiators who have a goal to inflict pain on their opponents.  Let me be clear, there shouldn’t be an intent to disable our maim, but there is intent to physically punish and physically deflate your opponent.  We are taught to physically impose our will on our opponent.  You want them to be intimidated by how hard you hit.  You want them to have a slight moment of hesitation when they see you coming or line up against them.  You are taught to drop the hammer.  Lay the wood.  Run through them at full speed.  This is what football is about.  To pretend otherwise is foolish.

Williams encouraged his players to hit 49ers’ QB Alex Smith in the chin.  I was told to do the same thing prior to every game that I ever played in.  If you are hitting the QB in the chin that means you are getting to him and burying your face mask squarely in his chest.  This means the top of your helmet is banging his chin.  This is a legal hit.  These are also hits that make the QB get unsettled in the pocket.  He loses confidence in his offensive line’s ability to protect him.  He gets happy feet.  He throws the ball sooner than he should which gives the defense the opportunity to intercept the ball.

Kill the head and the body will follow.  Again, this is something that I heard all the time.  If you take away what a teams does best, they begin to lose confidence in their scheme and there is a scramble to adjust.  In this case, Williams was talking about shutting down the 49ers’ ground game led by Frank Gore.  He saw Gore as the head of the 49ers offense.  Shutting him down would place the 49ers in obvious passing situations and allow the Saints’ defense to do what they do best, blitz.  The perception was that the 49ers couldn’t beat the Saints with their passing game.

Too much is being made of this speech when there is little there.  You have former players like Warren Sapp saying that he would have stood up and said something.  I highly doubt that is true.  After all, he goes by the nickname the QB Killa.  Does this mean that he kills QBs or his this metaphoric?  Sapp is also known for his blind side hit of Green Bay Packers offensive lineman Chad Clifton.  The hit ended Clifton’s 2002 season.  It may have been a legal hit according to the rules but it was a hit that many football players would say he didn’t have the guts to go head up with him.  Sapp’s response to the criticism was, “In the trenches, we play a different game.  We play a game that none of you are familiar with. We do things to each other that only linemen are allowed to do to each other.  He needed his head on a swivel. He understands that now.”  Yet, he was the guy that would have stood up to Williams and called him out?  Sapp embraces the violent nature of the game.

While I do not condone the bounty program that Williams was involved in, I do not see anything so outrageous in his pre-game speech outside of the ACL comment.  At this point it is just a bunch of piling on.  The truth is we all love the big hits and the way the players throw their bodies around with reckless abandon.  This is why we watch and why we will continue to watch.

Dwight Howard Is Worse Than LeBron James

Since LeBron James made “The Decision” to leave the Cleveland Cavaliers for the Miami Heat, he became one of the most vilified athletes in the world.  What Dwight Howard is doing in Orlando with the Magic is worthy of more scrutiny.  Howard has spent the better part of this NBA season holding the Magic franchise hostage.  Howard demanded to be traded, his camp publicly identified teams that he would accept being traded to, and used the threat of using his Early Termination Option (ETO) to force his trade demand.  This put the Magic in a position where they needed to trade him or let him walk away at the end of the season, getting nothing in return.

I look at guys and they don’t look like they want to play. I told them at halftime, If you don’t want to play, just stay in the locker room, because it don’t make sense for a team who we should beat to just demolish us. – Dwight Howard

Howard publicly blasted his teammates for a second time (first time was against the Boston Celtics) after a loss to the New Orleans Hornets as if he had the moral high ground to do so.  Here is a guy that had been talking about wanting out of Orlando, criticizing the efforts of his teammates in public.  Did he ever stop to think that they had grown weary of the circus that he had created?  All he had to do was keep his mouth shut about his trade demands and the possibility of using his ETO.  Instead he behaved completely opposite of the public image he had built for himself prior to this season.  He said and did all the wrong things, becoming a cancer in the locker room and within the organization.

I have gotten some bad advice. I apologize for this circus I have caused to the fans of our city. They didn’t deserve none of this. I’m sorry from the bottom of my heart. I will do whatever I can to make this right and do what I was put in Orlando to do…This has been a very hard time, for me, my family and all of us. The fans deserve a better hero and I will make that happen. I love and appreciate my fans and this city. – Dwight Howard

After creating this circus around his teammates and the organization, he suddenly has a change of heart?  Why put everyone, including the fans, through all of this if you aren’t all in one way or the other?  Wouldn’t you be better served just to keep your mouth shut?  This made Howard look even more like a dumbass.  To top it all off, he then blames his dumbass behavior on the “bad advice” that he was given.  If he was dumb enough to listen to this bad advice, I hope he was smart enough to fire the person(s) that was giving him the advice.  It sure seems he wasn’t smart enough to think for himself either way it goes.

Speaking of firing people, it seems that Howard was lobbying management to fire his coach, Stan Van Gundy.  In a very odd chain of events, Van Gundy was speaking to reporters during a recent Magic practice, when he stated that he was told by Magic upper management Howard wanted him out as coach.  Apparently, Howard must have heard some of the discussion because he felt it necessary to interrupt the media session which seemed to irk Van Gundy who excused himself.

This move to lobby for Van Gundy’s job is another bad PR move by Howard.  So I am going to guess that his bad advisers are still on his payroll.  This move to get Van Gundy fired exposes Howard as a controlling, spoiled athlete.  If he was so unhappy with the performance of Van Gundy or with their relationship, why retract his trade demand?  Why sign a document to waive his ETO?  If you are man enough to demand that he be fired behind close doors, then be man enough to stand up and say that you did it!  It is very clear that Howard is not who we thought was.

For your viewing pleasure, the Stan Van Gundy’s media session:

Ryan Unable to Turnover A New Leaf

Ryan Leaf's booking photo

Before the 1998 NFL Draft, there was much debate about who would be the better professional quarterback – Ryan Leaf or Peyton Manning.  My answer back then to all my friends was Manning over Leaf.  I remember one of those friends calling me a few years back to recall the football debates we had as college teammates and telling me that I called this one right (as I often do! ha!).  It wasn’t that I didn’t think that Leaf wouldn’t be a good NFL QB, I just thought from the games that I had seen, Manning would be better.  There was no question that Leaf was a talented, strong-arm QB coming out of Washington State.  In retrospect the biggest question shouldn’t have been about his talent but his mental capacity.

Leaf went from signing a 4 year contract worth $31.25 million with the San Diego Chargers as the 2nd pick of the 1998 draft, to being out of football after 4 years.  To be fair, a part of his exit was due to a wrist injury during the 2000 season.  The biggest reason for his quick exit was his immaturity.  You can’t forget the confrontation that he had with San Diego Union Tribune reporter Jay Posner, which Junior Seau had to intervene in.  There was the shouting match with general manager Bobby Beathard that resulted in a suspension.  There is also the belief that he lied about a hand injury to get out of practice to go play golf.

In 2006 Leaf became a volunteer QB coach for West Texas A&M University.  It seemed that he had gotten his life together and had come to terms with his missed opportunity.  At some point Leaf got addicted to pain medication; it could have developed as result of his shoulder injury, a wrist injury, or another injury he sustained in football.  Two years later, in November 2008, his secret addiction would be exposed.  He was sentenced to 10 years probation for breaking into a player’s home to steal pills and obtaining more than a thousand pain pills illegally.

It had seemed after this situation that Leaf had overcome his addiction and found a comfortable life back home in Montana.  Then this weekend, on March 30th, he was arrested after the U.S. Postal Service tipped the Central Montana Drug Task force a month earlier about suspicious deliveries to Leaf’s home.  Leaf was apparently receiving packages of pain pills twice a week from Florida for which he was paying $500 to $700 per delivery.  He was asked to come to the Great Falls Probation and Parole Office  where a search discovered 20 oxycodone pills that seem to have been stolen from one of his friend’s house.  After posting $76,000 bail, he was released .

Just a few short days later, on April 2nd, Leaf was arrested again for breaking into a home and and being in possession of pills not prescribed to him.  He was discovered by the owner of the house, he told the owner he was at the wrong address and was in the house by mistake.  The man later noticed that there were three missing bottles of prescription drugs and called the police.  The description that the homeowner gave, lead police back to Leaf.  A search of Leaf’s home turned up 89 hyrdocodone pills but did not turn up the pills the homeowner reported missing.  A warrant obtained by law enforcement for Leaf’s GPS records, place him at the home at the time of the burglary.  The GPS data also places him at 5-10 other homes in the area.

Since Leaf was still on probation in Texas for the 2008 incident, there is a significant chance that his probation will be revoked by Texas officials on top of the criminal charges he now faces in Montana.  This is such a great fall for one of the most highly touted NFL prospects ever.  Addiction to pain medication is a serious problem, not just for athletes who battle with injuries but for the public as well.  It is estimated that over 7 million people in the United States abuse pain medication.  Let’s hope that Leaf gets the help he needs to overcome his addiction.

Nike Unveils New NFL Uniforms

The Seattle Seahawks have embraced the innovative designs that Nike provides

As expected, Nike unveiled uniforms for the 32 teams of the National Football League. Nike outbid competitor Reebok in 2010 for the apparel rights to outfit NFL teams beginning April 2012 by putting up a reported $1.1 billion to land a 5 year deal. Reebok was the official apparel provider of the NFL for a 10 year period that began in 2001 and ran through the 2011 NFL season.

With the exception of the Seattle Seahawks, there were no significant changes to team uniforms. This is kind of disappointing to me as a fan of college football. I like the tradition of the legacy uniforms that we have come to know. At the same time I was also hoping that the teams would have special alternate unis in the mold of the Nike Pro Combat designs we have seen from Boise State, Virginia Tech, and Oregon. While there is still a chance that we may see these designs down the road, it would have been an even bigger splash for Nike’s re-introduction into the NFL market.

Apart from uniforms, Nike also introduced equipment such as gloves and fan apparel. I have already per-ordered my new 49ers t-shirts & New Era cap through NFLShop.com.

For more on the new Nike uniforms and fan apparel please click here.

UnSaintly Bounty Hunters

The punishment for the Saints is far from over.

The New Orleans Saints, head coach Sean Payton, assistant coach Joe Vitt, and general manager Mickey Loomis are all appealing the stiff penalties handed down by commissioner Roger Goodell.  Also penalized but not currently appealing is former Saints defensive coordinator Gregg Williams.  Williams was the administrator of the bounty system for which the penalties were handed out.  The penalties are as follows:

• New Orleans Saints is fined $500,000 and will give up two 2nd round draft picks
• Sean Payton is suspended for the entire year beginning April 1st and loss of $5.8 million of his $7 million salary
• Mickey Loomis is suspended 8 games beginning beginning April 1st
• Joe Vitt is suspended for 6 games beginning April 1st
• Gregg Williams is suspended indefinitely beginning April 1st

I do not expect Goodell to lessen the penalties, it is his goal to send a message to the rest of the league to prevent this happening again.  Also the league gave every opportunity for the Saints to put a stop to this program that was in place from 2009-11.  Instead of putting an end to the program after many warning, the Saints misled NFL investigators and participated in a cover-up.  To make matters worse, there was a paper trail documenting the bounties.  In light of these things I believe that the penalties were warranted.

What remains to be seen is how Goodell will punish the 22 to 27 players that have been implicated in the program.  The NFLPA is stating that the league has failed to hand over anything that would be considered direct evidence of involvement.    It is possible that some of these players could also see a year-long suspension.  The full list of players involved have yet to be released but linebacker Jonathan Vilma was specifically named in the NFL report for putting up $10,000 towards a bounty on then Minnesota Vikings QB Brett Favre for the NFC Championship Game.  With a list this long, any penalties could be very damaging for the Saints franchise during the 2012 season.  It could be very difficult for them to field a team.  There is also a question of whether some of the offensive players were contributors to the pot.  Drew Brees and Reggies Bush are reported to also be implicated according to a few of the rumors out there.  As previously stated the list of players involved hasn’t been released so this is just speculation.

It is also possible that those involved could also face criminal charges.  Reports out this evening state that the NFLPA has hired a lawyer for the players involved to protect against criminal cases.  The league has also advised the players to have a union rep and a lawyer present when they are interviewed by league investigators.  This thing could get pretty interesting fast.  Stay tuned.