Saturday Afternoon Tight End

Well this is a little unorthodox, "Saturday Afternoon?" you say, well as we all know last Saturday and Sunday was the 2008 NFL draft, which is a pretty big deal! I thought it would be best to wait a while to analyse the draft and see what happens once the honeymoon period is over and the rookies settle into the first week at their new teams. I've been hearing news stories all week which have excited me, and tomorrows "Sunday Morning" column, will be bumper!

But for now, I'm gonna concentrate on the Draft, it was a big deal and had many big deals in it. Don't forget that this was a record breaking year - there were more trades this year than there have ever been before - 34 trades broke 2004's record of 33. yet there were no really big shocking trades - there were some bad ones [Baltimore setting the bar for bad trades this year!] and some unexpected ones, and we'll see their affect later on.

Firstly though, lets just remind ourselves of the top 10 picks this year, starting with "Mummy" Miami...."Mummy i want Jake Long Now!....I cant wait until saturday i want it now!"

1. Miami - Jake Long, OT Michigan
2. St. Louis - Chris Long, DE Virginia
3. Atlanta - Matt Ryan, QB Boston College
4. Oakland - Darren McFadden, RB Arkansas
5. Kansas City - Glen Dorsey, DT LSU
6. NY Jets - Vernon Gholston, DE Ohio State
7. New Orleans (From 49ers through Patriots)- Sedrick Ellis, DT USC
8. Jacksonville (From Ravens)- Derrick Harvey, DE Florida
9. Cincinnati - Keith Rivers, LB USC
10. New England (From Saints)- Jerod Mayo, LB Tennessee

So Miami ended up taking Jake Long, the big 6ft 7 OT from Michigan - they signed him on April 22nd - 4 days before the draft had even began! They signed him to a 5 year deal with $30 million guaranteed..Boy do they like this guy - and i can see why! The guy is massive, yet tough and agile. He is a mammouth blocker who always performs at a very high level. His highlight reel is longer than Lord Of The Rings and his attitude can intimidate defenders. Plenty of people in america think that the Dolphins were wrong taking Jake Long - they have much bigger issues such as the QB problem - Running back inconsistency and Defensive meltdown. Yet anyone who has anything to do with the NFL will know that the base/building blocks/main component - any fancy name for "starting point of building a sucessful team"...will know that the Offensive line is the start, and the playmakers can only "playmake" if they are given the chance to. Lets say Miami had taken the top QB in the draft, Matt Ryan. What would they have now? Heres what they would have....(1)A great leader....(1.1)A great leader with no protection...(1.1.1)A great leader with no protection - who gets sacked a lot. That doesnt sound like the "Base" of a sucessful team - NO! Jake Long will give Lemon a chance to prove himself - i saw the guy play in Wembley last year and he does seem to sink down behind centre and sort of "ask" for the ball in a very english way! With the knowledge that he has a number one pick protecting him i would hope Lemon can regain the hard nosed "HIKE!" growl of the more confident QB.

So with Jake Long off the charts before the draft had begun, the choice was St Louis with their 2nd pick - Chris Long (Not Jakes Brother!) was a very good pick for St Louis - a team which has never been famous for their DE's speed or power. Long combines both of these - putting up a 4.78 on the 40 yd dash at the combine and bench pressing 370 Lbs - perfect mix of speed and power. He was likely to go in the top 5 in my opinion and the Rams were likely because they especially have defensive needs. They were a team last year that no-one could quite figure out why they were doing so badly - maybe the ageing offense...not really, some of their players had good years - it was the defense - 28th in the NFL for points allowed, and they allowed them because of bad CB's and lack of pressure from the defensive line. Thats why Long will be an instant playmaker - his reputation as a sack machine precedes him (14 sacks in his senior year in Virginia) and i would expect to see him start almost immediatley - making plays where they count - 3rd down and in the redzone.

Atlanta - A team without hope - A team without promise - and a team which has been through hell over the last year. They needed hope and a fresh start. They had two real options on draft day - either Gholston or Ryan and they went with the Boston College QB. This was one of the most important, not nescessarily safest though, picks of the draft because this guy is not designed to intergrate into Atlanta - he's the new Face of the franchise and will be for years to come. You can look at Ryan's throw power and how accurate he is when throwing the ball out of the pocket but the real "turn on" for the atlanta scouts was his (as they put it on the NFL network) "Off the chart intangibles" and these are the most important things that Atlanta needed in a QB. Some analysts thought that Atlanta might take Gholston in round 1 and wait until round 3 and take Henne or Brohm but that would have been a mistake. Those two are great QB, but they lack the leadership and resiliance of Ryan. This guy is not the kind of player that would be shaken by the poor rookie season that Manning and Brady suffered, he's a long term solution to a long term problem in Atlanta. He's a playmaker, a safe bet when it comes to team image, which is what they need to repair the huge damage done by the Vick trial and Petrino fiasco. Ryan is a fresh start in Atlanta - a new beginning and the perfect fit to aid the situation. He probably won't play immediatley - will need a little time to adjust to NFL level plays and playbooks, but has an advantage as being the best QB coming out of college, at reading defenses in many years - therefore i would think he'll be the starter QB in Atlanta by the end of the season.

"Finally, the best player in the draft is taken!" were the exact words spoken by the crew on the NFL Network when Darren Mcfadden was taken by the raiders. But i disagree. Yes he is lightnigng quick and agile with a stunning college CV, but he just doesnt seem "special". Maybe it's because he's entering into Adrian Petersons shadow as this years top rookie or maybe because the raiders were not the best fit for him. Whatever it is it doesn't feel right. This pick came straight after Atlanta took Ryan remember, after all of the happiness and delight for Atlanta, we get Mcfadden being taken to the raiders. RB was never their problem in Oakland, they never had an impact running game, but it was never poor either. Last year the Raiders averaged 130.4 yds per game which was 6th in the NFL. Mcfadden will not make the same impact as other players - i'm sure he will start with the season, but i have doubts in my mind about his future. He is indeed hugely talented but i wouldn't be surprised if he becomes this years "rookie mistake" made by the raiders, if he can't make plays or (more likely) can't hold on to the ball.

An LSU player comes in the top 5 picks again - what a surprise! LSU has always produced quality players and when the Chiefs selected Glenn Dorsey with their number 5 pick, they knew precisely what they were getting. I could describe Dorsey as strong, powerful and even agile but they would be general words you can apply to any DT, and Dorsey deserves more. This guy is courageous, brave, determined and fearless - you don't hear those words very often used in the NFL, but then again there are so few players like Dorsey - he's been triple teamed, injured, chop blocked and STILL came out fighting! He was injured in college, ironically by a nasty chop block which sidelined him for several weeks, yet he came back stronger than ever - Kansas do have ageing line syndrome and Dorsey is the kind of player that can anchor their defensive line for years to come. He's reliable and special. He's what makes the draft the draft - picks 5 to 6 couldn't be more different and its because of the passion of Dorsey and intelligence in Kansas.

Everyone's agreed that the Jets had one of the finest draft classes of the year. The pinnacle of their picks was this guy - the versatile "ghost" Vernon Gholston. He's an interesting player at DE, unbelievably talented and arguably the most talented Defensive player in the draft, yet the only question - and most likely reason he slipped to pick 5 - is his consistency. I don't mean his ability to play, he's useful in most defensive line positions - after really showing off superior strength at the combine, he could easily take on any OT, its more to with his off the field persona and all round ethos towards football. He's like an airshow - bring out the big fireworks for the special occasions, but after that - taking it easy with daily flights. Gholston has to give it 100% consistently - something he wont miss the opportunity to do, because if he does, he could make such an impact - rookie of the year could be a possibility. (He's a plamaker and i see him starting immediatley)

One of my very best friends is a Saints fan and an avid "Reggie" fan - when he told me the saints had taken Sedrick Ellis i wasn't surprised. In my opinion Ellis is the best DT in the draft, and he was lost in the media sea of Glenn Dorsey support. Clearly that has affected his draft value and this has meant he slipped to 7th pick, clearly people have forgotten the tremendous Senior year Ellis had. Dorsey may be a good all rounder but Ellis is a specialist - He is the best pass rusher ever out of USC and his talent is unquestionable at this skill. Ellis was an unknown in his junior and Sophomore year in the USC line, even though he anchored the Defensive line and made more than the plays he had to. New Orleans has had enough Defensive line issues to deal with - Charles Grants stabbing in Atlanta - and Brian young getting old. I would hope to see Ellis replacing Young at DT, would be a worthy trade and would give New Orleans' line the pass rushing ability they became envied for in the 2006-2007 "return to the Superdome" year after their return game against the Falcons.
Good pick, and remember - in any other draft [without Dorsey] Ellis would be top pick DT material.

This is going to be a classic case of "i know why you did it, but - you did it wrong!" - Jacksonville made the worst descision of the draft in this round - they traded with Baltimore, (bad descision anyway) and got Derrick Harvey (Worse Descision). Why did they do it then? well my guess is, they saw their two interior coke machines - Henderson and Meier - thought "hey, no-one ever runs at them and gets very far - so where do they go, AROUND THE CORNER!...so if we draft a DE then maybe we can improve the D-line even more!" NO NO NO NO!! What they've done, if anything, is put massive pressure on this guy to perform, massive pressure on the other DE (Spicer or Hayward) to perform and have failed to think that if the opposition cant run the ball, they wont keep trying - they will pass more! Harvey himself - he didnt shine at college in Florida, but thats never a good benchmark for the future - he's tough strong and quick, but, because of the situation Jacksonville have put him in, its going to be his resilience and determination which will carry him through his rookie year. Bad Pick Jags - the trade wasnt the worst idea - but if you were determined to do defense - CB Dominick Rogers-Cromartie was still on the board - what a missed opportunity!
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QUICK PICKS...
16 - Arizona - CB Dominick Rogers-Cromartie - Superior Pick, this made Arizona's draft. Quick Agile, best CB available, i can see him Kick returning this year.

18 - Baltimore - QB - Joe Flacco - Perfect Fit for Baltimore - after McNair retired they so desperately needed another QB and they got a great one in Flacco, he has the arm power of an NFL starter, and the accuracy is coming - given the opportunity (good defense!), could be brilliant.

20 - Tampa Bay - CB Aqib Talib - Bad Pick, Tampa are in need of CB's and they made the right basic decision, but if you read into it - Talib has a history of off the field problems and its alot of weight for him to carry into Tampa. Can't get cocky, and John Grunden MUST keep him focused.

22 - Dallas - RB - Felix Jones - Speed Speed Speed, you can see what Dallas were after - a cheap RB who can give them a new dimension. Jones was the quickest back available and was a steal at pick 22. He can make defenses look twice - reminds me of Reggie Bush. Great Value pick.
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AND TO FINISH....

This year's been a mighty fine draft
Miami couldnt wait
And Baltimore Laughed.

Matt Ryan brought a fresh start
Glenn Dorsey brings his big big heart

The "Long" boys went numbers one and two
Whist we forgot poor Serick Ellis......Who?
(The guy after Dorsey from LSU)

Not much rhymes with Flacco and McFadden
I really tried to rhyme them, no wait....i haven't!

So now we look to the year ahead
Now can we judge what the analysts said?
Does Matt Ryan have a great Head?
Can Jake Long Bring the "Dread"?
Can teams put their woes to bed?
Or are their problems even more widespread?
Were any teams badly mislead?
Maybe their coaches will be seeing red?