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National Football League
Draft King Mailbag
March 31, 2007
Lou Pickney, DraftKing.com
Reader feedback is always welcomed here at DraftKing.com. Send your thoughts to me at LouPickney@gmail.com.
From: Krobot53@aol.com
To: LouPickney@gmail.com
Date: Mar 28, 2007 11:47 PM
Subject: Cowboys
As you know I strongly feel that you have the most correct (in my opinion) mock draft on the web. But being the Cowboys fan I am, I strongly disagree with the pick of Patrick Willis pick, unless you think we would turn him into a pass rushing OLB with his 4.4 speed. Even then I'm still not crazy about the pick, I think our 4 linebackers are pretty set with Ware, James, Ayodele, and Carpenter with Ellis as edge rush specialist. I still see us going DB (Revis, Houston, Meriweather, or Griffin) or WR in Round one. The only other I would warrant being worthy would be Adam Carriker to give us a better pass rush DE to fit in our 3-4. Love the rest of the draft and Thanks as always.
Lou: You make an excellent point about the Cowboys looking good at LB, though I do wonder if Dallas might want to improve its blitzing possibilities with a player of Willis' caliber.
As for Carriker to Dallas, that would be interesting. I imagine that such a move would be predicated on Wade Phillips' confidence in Carriker as a pass rusher, but clearly he is the strongest 3-4 DE prospect in the draft.
With the signing of Ken Hamlin as a free agent, it would seem that the Cowboys likely would not be inclined to go DB in round one, but a pass rushing front seven defensive player or a WR would make sense.
From: Anthony Joynes
To: LouPickney@gmail.com
Date: Mar 29, 2007 5:23 AM
Subject: raiders at #1
I love your site I’ve been checking daily for the past few years and think you nail most teams dead on. I am a huge fan of the raiders and almost jumped ship last year when they passed on the great qb’s and hopes they don’t mess it up this year. I think the best thing for them is to trade down with Cleveland, they want Russell and we can get a later round pick out of that trade and use it for other needs. I don’t think that Cleveland takes Johnson I really see them taking Quinn or Thomas at LT which leave Johnson at number three at for the raiders to snag the best player in the draft, combine him with moss and porter and the way that they can stretch defenses it wont matter who the quarterback is. I see them picking up David Carr in free agency and reuniting him with Kiffin. What are your thoughts of this happening or for them to just take CJ number one and getting Carr or another QB LATER?
Lou: If Oakland is sold on JaMarcus Russell over Brady Quinn, I don't know that they would risk trading down to #3 with Cleveland and potentially miss out on him. Getting draft information out of Oakland is not an easy thing to do (even by NFL standards), but the one piece that has been revealed is that the Raiders refused to promise not to take a QB with their first round pick when negotiating with Jeff Garcia.
Much like what he did with Jon Gruden in early 2002, I see Al Davis only moving the #1 pick if a team makes a blockbuster offer (and not shopping the pick around.) Otherwise, the Raiders stand pat and take the QB they like the best, which would appear at this point to be JaMarcus Russell.
By the same token, it's still entirely possible that Oakland could take Calvin Johnson at #1, though I think Russell has to be the odds-on favorite to go #1 at this point. The San Jose Mercury News quoted new Raiders head coach Lane Kiffin on Russell, "(Russell) makes about every throw you can imagine. It's like a video-game player. You know how all of a sudden they do things on video games that you're not supposed to do in real life? Well, that's him." If that's not a ringing endorsement, I don't know what is.
From: Nicholas Patterson
To: LouPickney@gmail.com
Date: Mar 29, 2007 5:23 AM
Subject: raiders at #1
Hey Lou, with Jarrett running 4.62 and 4.67 40’s on his pro day, do you see him dropping to late in the first round? Do you think other receivers could possibly move ahead of him? Thanks. Nick
Lou: It's possible that we'll see teams look at speed over on-field success and pass-catching skills, and maybe Ted Ginn, Jr. will go over Jarrett (Ginn is the biggest wild card in the draft, in my opinion), but if Jarrett falls below the likes of Robert Meacham and Dwayne Bowe and Sidney Rice, I will be very surprised.
From: Paul Evans
To: LouPickney@gmail.com
Date: Mar 31, 2007 12:44 PM
Subject: Mock Draft --Dallas Pick
Hi Lou! Great site as usual and I've really enjoyed reading it over the years. This year is no different!
I'm not sure I can see Dallas taking Willis in the first round. Dallas is paying high dollar to their starting ILBs, Bradie James and Akin Ayodele. It would seem unlikely that they would bench a high dollar ILB to play a rookie like Willis and there's
no point in using a first round pick on a backup LB. Willis wouldn't have a shot at OLB with Ellis and Ware entrenched there. Burnett and Carpenter are already fighting for playing time. Why add another LB to fight for playing time? Plus, the last 2 drafts have found the Cowboys drafting LBs: Ware 2 years ago and Carpenter last year. What are the odds that Dallas drafts 3 LBs in 3 straight years?
With the signing of Ken Hamlin to compete with Watkins at FS, it looks as if Safety is not a 1st round must either.
I think the most obvious choices for Dallas would be a Nose Tackle to split time with (and eventually replace) Ferguson, a WR (like Meacham) to eventually replace Owens or Glenn or a guard/tackle (like Justin Blalock) that could eventually take over for the aging Flozell Adams (or take the Right Guard spot of Leonard Davis if Davis is used as the replacement for Adams).
Considering the problems with the Dallas line the last few years, I lean towards them taking a lineman and then perhaps a WR in the 2nd round depending on who might still be available. It could, of course, go the other way with a WR in round 1 and then perhaps a lineman later, but the failed Jacob Rogers and Stephen Peterman picks from a few years ago may sour them on doing that.
Lou: Point taken about Willis. You may be right about the Cowboys still considering another offensive lineman, though I would think that we'd be more likely to see that come in a later round on day one as opposed to the first round.
Would Dallas actually use Leonard Davis as a guard after paying him so much money as a free agent? Perhaps, but I suspect that Dallas didn't bring him in with the purpose of playing interior line.
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