Draft Recap

I don’t care who you are, how much you think you know about college or professional football, you CAN’T give draft grades until these players actually reach the field. Think I’m wrong? Check this out…

“Jamarcus Russel was the obvious pick here. A safe pick for Oakland due to his size and arm strength, a perfect fit for what Oakland is looking for in their offense this season.” –Adam Schefter, NFL.com, 2007

Now most football fans who watch the NFL Network and ESPN know that Schefter is the most connected guy in the NFL rumor mill. And as you can see, he was obviously wrong on his rating of Oakland’s first round selection in 2007.

By the way, it took me a lot of time to get that quote. Seems like the guys at nfl.com likes to hide their draft grades after the draft is over. Probably so bloggers like me won’t embarrass them in front of the three people who read this blog.

So I’m not going to give grades here, I don’t believe in them, they’re rarely accurate, and just a waste of time. But, I will break down the draft strategies around certain moves we saw over the weekend, which obviously gives you some insight of what certain NFC East teams are thinking of their team.

Washington Redskins take a gamble on high ceiling, not skill.

The Skins’ move to grab Trent Williams with their fourth overall pick is a bit of a risk in my opinion. Don’t get me wrong, it was a good pick and Williams is a great athlete for his size, and that’s why he was picked ahead of Oklahoma State’s Russell Okung.

Okung is the stronger of the two. He uses more brute strength to block defenders, rather than agility and ability to slide and move his feet. Okung is the finished product. He will start one day 1 for the Seattle Seahawks because has shown that he can bring it on the field.

Meanwhile, Williams is the potential star better of the two. Not today, but possibly over the course of time. Now, Williams is the more agile of the two, but when you compare him to Okung, Williams still has some catching up to do.

What that tells you is the Redskins are willing to wait a year or so for Williams to be the better tackle. It’s a risk, especially when you’re talking about protecting Donavan McNabb’s blind side. By the way, McNabb has only completed a full season, four times in his 11 year career, mainly due to injuries.

It’s a risk, and technically any draft pick is a risk, but that shows you the thought process of the new era in Washington.

New York goes Defense, but don’t get who they want

If you watched the draft live, or even watched it online at NFL.com, you saw the Oakland Raiders pick bring the crowd to an uproar. If you didn’t know, the NFL Draft is done in New York City, home of the Giants (well…sorta). Oakland was up for their pick…and they take: middle linebacker, Rolando McClain.

New York Giant fans are now allowed to be upset to a degree. But I must now remind you of the most important rule in the NFL Draft.

Draft Rule #1: Never show your hand.

For many football fans, they know for a fact that teams try over and over again to put out false information, false rumors, and anything else they could do to fool everyone. Not the Giants.

Weeks leading to the draft, it was obvious that the team from East Rutherford was eyeing Rolando McClain (as I also stated in my rankings blog). They made it obvious with the release of former starting middle linebacker, Antonio Pierce, and then never signing a replacement.

By the way, congrats to the Raiders for actually drafting a good player, and not just the fastest one available (sorry Darrius Heyword-Bey).

Then, out of seemingly nowhere, the Eagles traded up in the draft to steal defensive end, Brandon Graham, before the Giants would’ve taken him with their pick. Gotta love that division rivalry right?

The Giants were able to pick up Jason Pierre-Paul though, and if it wasn’t for his somewhat raw rush defense, might’ve been the best pass rusher in the draft. The Giants then continued to bulk up the defensive line, drafting a monstrous 328 pounder in Linval Joseph with their next pick.

It tells you that head coach Tom Coughlin and general manager Jerry Reese are still bitter with their defense’s performance in the ’09 season. And as the old cliché goes, games are won and loss in the trenches. So bulking the D-line makes a lot of sense. But I’m pretty sure that the team would’ve still loved for Rolando McClain to fill the glaring hole that’s still left in the middle of their defense.

Eagles fill many roster spots previous held by Veterans

The Eagles have gotten very young this offseason. The release of RB Brian Westbrook and OT Shawn Andrews created holes that needed to be filled. The signing of Mike Bell filled the RB spot, but Shawn Andrews’ replacement was never signed nor drafted. But outside of that, the Eagles walk away from the weekend feeling very successful in their draft.

As I stated earlier, the Eagles traded up for DE Brandon Graham, seemingly so he wouldn’t go to the Giants. Graham is the best pass rusher coming out of college, and the Eagles hope that his exceptional first-step quickness will translate into negative places against the offense.

With the “Donovan McNabb pick” the Eagles drafted Nate Allen, free safety out of South Florida. Allen displayed great ball-hawking skills in college, so much so that the Eagles are comfortable enough to ignore his lack of hitting power. Allen is a finesse player, much like a coverage cornerback, but the Eagles will trade in big hits for interceptions anyday.

The Eagles then filled spots all over the offense and defense with different players throughout the draft, moving up and down at will (They somehow managed to get four 4^th-round draft picks, pretty impressive). The Eagles drafted a total of 13 players in general manager Howie Roseman’s first draft

You can tell the Eagles were going for roster depth in this year’s draft. Outside of Graham and Allen, none of the other 11 rookies are obvious starters on either side of the ball. The Eagles know that they are chasing the Cowboys and Giants this season, and they are making good moves to help in the hunt.

Dallas gets high profile receiver, but that’s all

Many people knew that Dallas worked out Dez Bryant, and that Jerry Jones was interested in him, but not many people thought he’d fall so far, nor that The Cowboys would trade up to get him.

The move was very impressive, as Dallas didn’t have to give up much to move up those three spots. It was especially impressive since Dallas was able to use the 24^th overall pick on someone who was heralded as a top-10 talent.

Dallas was able to draft the best available player rather than the highest need on the team roster. And that’s something that many teams aren’t willing to do.

After the draft was said and done, Dallas still has holes at safety and kicker, and they seem very confident that those replacements are currently on the roster already…something I don’t believe is true.

Jerry Jones wanted to make a big splash in the draft, and he did. A pick in the first-round that was only overshadowed by the Broncos reaching and taking Tim Tebow (big mistake btw). Dallas needs answers at two spots that have killed them in the past, and unless something happens soon, they are no closer to the superbowl like they’d like to think.