If Favre comes back, he better stick it out for a full season whether he starts, is a back-up, or gets benched several games into the season.
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Thumbs Up
To the Cleveland Browns, for going for it. Joe Thomas at #3 means the team has much-needed youth and aggressiveness on the OL. It wasn’t their biggest need, but it means they have potential above-average starters at RT, LT, and LG. Trading up to get Brady Quinn was a master stroke, a risk worth taking. And though Eric Wright has some disturbing off-field issues, he’s good enough on the field to start right away at a position of huge need, and getting a 1st round caliber talent for a 3rd and 4th round pick is great value.
To Keyshawn Johnson, for his excellent work on ESPN. For an active player to have such candid commentary and genuine opinions was quite refreshing. Keyshawn’s perspective and analysis were often more concise and more relevant than the professional talking heads surrounding him. It also reinforces just how awful Michael Irvin was at broadcasting, and why ESPN is a better place without him.
Thumbs Down
To the Tennessee Titans, for reaching with all 3 of their picks. I actually like both of their first two picks as players, Michael Griffin (S, Texas at #22) and Chris Henry (RB, Arizona at #50), but both guys almost certainly would have been available at least 10 picks later. Their 3rd rounder, Paul Williams (WR, Fresno St. at #80), is a chronic underachiever who plays slower than he times. The Titans sorely needed help at WR, LB, and on the offensive line. They had shots at immediate starting caliber talent at all those positions. Instead they didn’t trade down to get more picks or better value. If those picks were in fact the best players available on their draft board at the time, the Titans must have had a much different draft board than everyone else.
To the Washington Ethnic Slurs, for what could have been. The Skins had just one first-day pick, and I think they hit a home run with Laron Landry (S, LSU) at #6 overall. Here’s what they could have added with their other picks: at #37, a team desperate for size at WR could have landed Dwayne Jarrett or Sidney Rice or upgraded their weak LB corps with David Harris or Justin Durant. At #70, the worst pass rush in the NFL could have added pure pass rushers Charles Johnson or Brian Robison, or a whole cadre of WRs or OLs that would represent significant upgrades over their status quo. For a team perennially in salary cap hell, those middle-round draft picks are invaluable for their inexpensive talent and depth. It’s especially frustrating because the few draft picks the team has actually kept have worked out quite well.
Thumbs Twiddling
To the Miami Dolphins. The Ted Ginn pick is certainly controversial, but I believe in Ginn’s ability to impact defenses and upgrade the return game. I also thought that Miami had perhaps the weakest overall WR corps in the NFL entering the draft. I’m not sold on John Beck (QB, BYU) their 2nd round pick, but several evaluators I respect liked him a lot, and they had to address their gaping hole at QB early on. The Dolphins are gambling, but for a team bound for the top 8 in the next draft regardless of whom they picked, playing it safe was not a good option. I like both their 3rd round picks, Samson Satele (G/C, Hawaii) and Lorenzo Booker (RB, Florida St.). I’ll pass judgment on their Saturday after next year’s draft, not right away.
To the Detroit Lions. I advocated taking Calvin Johnson at #2, but only time will tell if surrounding an average QB with an iffy line and a great WR corps is a good idea. All three of their 2nd rounders appear to be reaches, but Drew Stanton gives them a developmental QB with loads of promise, and Ika Alama-Francis adds lots of needed speed at DE. Gerald Alexander (S, Boise St.) is out of my realm of expertise, but both scouts I talked to yesterday really like his fit as a Tampa-2 cover safety, and the Lions sorely need that.
Thumbs Sucking
To all the Brady Quinn drama. I agree it was a major story and deserved lots of coverage, but every player drafted between picks 8 and 22 was almost completely ignored by both the NFL Network and ESPN. I thought there were some excellent players (Adam Carriker, Darrelle Revis) and intriguing picks (Justin Harrell, Leon Hall) in that range, but they got no attention. This just adds more fuel to the flaming Notre Dame worship by the media. An extra thumbs down to all the commentators who endlessly critiqued Brady Quinn in the weeks leading up to the draft and then still seemed shocked and appalled that he was free-falling. Let’s see, you mercilessly rip a guy, and then are surprised when people take your criticism to heart. Ya think?!?
To the advertising sales departments of ESPN and the NFL Network. The NFL Network almost continually looped the same 6 commercials for their 11 hours of coverage. Anyone who watched ESPN’s coverage can recite “Total Eclipse of the Heart” and knows that a rock does in fact beat paper, time and time and time again. Give us some variety, and also give the football fans some credit, too; not all of us are beer-swilling, foul-smelling, immature handymen who don’t already know the ESPN TV schedule by heart.
