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National Football League
Draft King Mailbag
January 1, 2007
Lou Pickney, DraftKing.com
Reader feedback is always welcomed here at DraftKing.com. Send your thoughts to me at LouPickney@gmail.com.
From: Justin Hansen
To: LouPickney@gmail.com
Date: Dec 29, 2006 4:53 PM
Subject: JaMarcus Russell
On other draft sites I've seen Jamarcus Russell projected as high as #2 to Oakland and I dont seem him anywhere on your first round mock. I personally love his potential and measureables but once in a while he does something so dumb it leaves you scraching your head. I personally think his talent warrants a 10-15 pick but not top 5. Why did you choose to leave him off?
Lou: My thought (and hope for the sake of his devevlopment) is that Russell will decide to return to LSU for another year. It's never easy with the early entry projections, and ultimately it falls to JaMarcus Russell to decide if he feels that the time is right to give the NFL a shot.
But given that there is already a host of QB talent looking toward the NFL Draft, I'd think that Russell would benefit from one more year of SEC football and possibly coming into the 2008 Draft as the top QB prospect (versus trying to fight Brady Quinn and Brian Brohm for that top spot.) But if Russell comes out, it will make things interesting.
You'd have a four player race for first round QB: Quinn, Brohm, Russell, and Troy Smith. But that depth could compound the difficulty in projecting what will happen, since a team might be much more willing to go with a blue chip DE or OT or whatever in round one and then try to come back in round two to get their QB.
When I finally update the Mock Draft (I've been on the road for nearly two weeks at this point, making updating it hard) I will give long and strong consideration into where Russell would go. Maybe the best path to take is to assume that all high-end juniors will come out and then eliminate them from the list as those staying in school declare their intentions as such. There's no easy answer there.
From: Colin Weidig
To: LouPickney@gmail.com
Date: Dec 29, 2006 5:49 PM
Subject: Eagles take a corner?
I enjoy your mock and your responses, so I thought you might be the best person to ask: Why do so many mocks have the Eagles going corner in the first round? The Eagles' top two corners are locked up for the long term, and are still young. There is some concern about their size, but the Eagles brought in William James to be a slot/nickel/bigger corner. They also like Joselio Hanson. I think they are more likely to address their SAM linebacker problem or bring in a safety to replace the Lewis/Considine combo. I'd be suprised if they let Griffin or Pos get by them, Willis might be a thought with Trotter's bad knees also. Thoughts?
Point taken about the Eagles corner situation. I try to have a little bit of the "unexpected" thrown into my mock, since teams don't always go for need like you'd think, but you have a valid point about Philly's CB situation. More on this in a minute, though you could be on the money with those LB thoughts.
From: Henrik Wollert
To: LouPickney@gmail.com
Date: Jan 1, 2007 7:28 AM
Subject: Dec 26th Mock (Eagles pick)
Lou.
In your December 26th mock draft you have the Philadelphia Eagles picking a corner at #25, Antoine Cason of Arizona i believe.
I have to dispute this selection though, not to be rude or holier than thou i just dont understand it from an Eagles fans point of view.
It´s true that nickel corner Rod Hood will probably leave through free agency to be a starter but he´s been banged up alot this year so his value might be low enough to take a 1-2 year offer with the Eagles. Even if he does leave they still have the option to retain William James but even if that doesnt happen i dont see them investing a 1st rounder in a corner with the amount of money and talent wrapped into Lito Sheppard & Sheldon Brown. Even if Sheldon has been a little off this year the economical aspect doesnt fit, and as we all know economics is a huge deal to the Eagles. Not locking up too much money in one position.
Depending on what happens to Free Agency, off the field issues & players on the board wich is hard to predict i´d like to offer my view on the 1st rounder of the Eagles.
I really believe that the highest needs that the FO wants to adress (emphasis on want) in the 1st round will be Safety, Defensive End or OL (Andy loves his o-linemen even if alot is locked up if there´s someone the like they´ll take him).
Personally i really hope for a safety who is interchangable between strong and free safety. Depending on if they keep Dawkins at Free Safety or move him to strong to play closer to LOS and move Considine to his natural FS place. Someone who can play the run and cover, basicly replacing Michael Lewis who i hope wont be kept depending on his price. What about Michael Griffin of Texas? Or even Zbikowski of ND if he declares even if i´d prefer him in the 2nd in that case?
If you still believe corner is the natural pick then by all means ignore this e-mail but i just had to write an essay about it, i usually dont comment on mock drafts cause almost 95% of the time they dont pick by FO tendency but pure need wich has rarely been the case, atleast for the Eagles.
Lou: One really nice thing about the mailbag on here is that when I make a pick that really stands out as being strange/unusual/out of place, the readers are quick to let me know about it. Sometimes I may disagree, but I give it due consideration, and in this case I would concur that there are other picks that represent both a value pick and a fill for a need on the team in one swoop. There's no guarantee that Cason is even coming out, though if he does we might see four CBs go in the first round of the draft.
In an unrelated note: Raiders fans, I want to hear from you. For months and months I've heard that there's no way Oakland will take a QB #1 overall. But at #1 overall, would Oakland pass on Quinn to take a RB like Adrian Peterson, or a WR like Calvin Johnson, or even a DE like Gaines Adams? The Raiders do things their own way, which puts this particular draft in a position to be really unique, particularly if the team's plans stay under wraps going into draft day...
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