Clayton, Brown and Pac Man Jones
National Football League
Draft King Mailbag
February 24, 2005
Lou Pickney, DraftKing.com
Reader feedback is always welcomed here at DraftKing.com. Send your thoughts to me at LouPickney@gmail.com.
From: Matt Marcantonio
Sent: Wednesday, February 23, 2005 7:38 PM
To: Lou Pickney
Subject: Your Mock
I don't think Mark Clayton is the WR the Steelers are looking for. If I were the Steelers I would want a WR to replace Plaxico . So a guy like Chris Henry in round 2 makes a lot sense. A taller WR for the Steelers to fill Plaxico's shoes seems right.
I like Patriots pick but I really want Mark Clayton!
Lou: I could see the Steelers going into the free agent market to fill the WR spot opposite Hines Ward and then looking to the draft for another WR. As for the draft, Roddy White would fit the Plaxico Burress tall receiver mold, but that's not necessarily what the Steelers are looking for. It just so happened that Burress was a tall receiver, it's not as if the team was predicated on having a WR with height to execute effectively.
As it is now, I project the Steelers adding some youth to their defensive line. They could be a candidate to trade down for a team looking to jump up for a specific player late in the first round. Pittsburgh has the luxury of not having any one position glaring (besides the #2 WR spot, but as mentioned that can be addressed through other means).
With the Patriots, if Mark Clayton does fall to them, that would be quite a windfall, though his popularity is rising and it seems more unlikely at this point that he'll be there toward the end of the first round. But there should be a wide selection of capable LBs on the board (both inside and outside), which will allow New England to inject some youth into that position, should it choose to do so. If a good WR falls to them, there will still likely be LB talent on the board at the end of round two, and if history is any teacher then we should be in for a surprise with what New England ends up doing.
From: Andrew Nadler
Sent: Thursday, February 24, 2005 10:36 AM
To: Lou Pickney
Subject: Ronnie Brown
I like the site, although I have one big discrepancy. You have Ronnie Brown falling to the Jets at 26, however, Kiper and just about every other publication has him as the first or second RB off the board and never have him being picked below the 7 or 8 spot. What makes you think that he'll fall so far? Basically theres no way hell drop below the top 10 picks so maybe you should consider redoing your mock. Same goes for Pac Man, no one has him below the top 10 either.
Lou: Look at last year's draft, where the three RBs that went in the first round went at #24, #26 and #30, respectively. This is a bit of a different situation, with Cedric Benson likely to go high, but due to team needs varying and the expense inherent in drafting first round RBs (at least in the top half of the first round), sometimes teams are very careful about drafting RBs so high. With the Arizona Cardinals rumored to be trading OT L.J. Shelton to Buffalo for RB Travis Henry, there's one less team that'll be in the running for a first round RB. Ditto for Seattle, which franchised Shaun Alexander. Oakland could use a RB, but their first rounder is en route to Minneapolis. In fact, since you wrote this morning, I've updated the draft, and Ronnie Brown doesn't even go in the first round in my latest mock.
Shocking? Not really, when you look at team needs, who's out there, and what's likely to happen. I anticipate that you might see a trade similar to the Kansas City/Detroit trade of 2004, where a team moves into the bottom portion of the first round to get a good RB (like Detroit did in landing Kevin Jones).
As for Pac Man Jones, I had him slated in the Top 10 at one point, and he could go there. Some have him ranked above Antrel Rolle, and it should come down to how the two fare in workouts and how teams compare the two as talents. You might see the Redskins take Jones at #9, though I think it's far more likely that Washington will pick up a free agent CB and draft a DE in that position.
