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National Football League
Draft King Analysis
January 30, 2009
Lou Pickney, DraftKing.com
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As expected, there are more defensive ends beginning to come out of the woodwork for consideration as a day one pick. Tennessee DE Robert Ayers had an eye-opening Monday going against Ole Miss OT Michael Oher, and he followed that up by winning the game's most outstanding defensive player award with a 1.5 sack performance this past Saturday.
 | Mitch King is a "tweener" defensive line prospect. (Icon SMI)
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San Jose State DT/DE Jarron Gilbert looked good as well in Mobile, turning heads with a rare mix of athleticism and size (6'5" 287). Gilbert could end up as a solid 3-4 DE in the NFL and might end up as a second-round selection. And then there's Iowa's Mitch King, another DT/DE tweener who played well in Mobile. At 6'2" 275, King might be deemed too small to project as an elite defensive tackle in the NFL, but he is someone who could prove to be a valuable player to cover multiple spots on the defensive line.
There is a great list online of the pending salary cap numbers for the upcoming free agent market. The list also spells out when a team can use its franchise tag: between February 5-19, 2009. So while some have said that the Patriots have already "franchised" QB Matt Cassel, that hasn't happened yet -- because it can't until 2/5/2009.
As for the start of free agency, I have a correction of my own to make. I've been saying March 1 on here, but actually free agency begins at 12:00:01 a.m. on Wednesday, February 27. By rule, teams aren't supposed to talk with free agents until they are no longer under contract with their former team. The reality is a much different thing, though NFL commissioner Roger Goddell promised last year that he wants to crack down on that. The 49ers lost their 2008 fifth round pick and had to swap 2008 third round picks with the Bears due to the NFL determining that the 49ers contacted Briggs' agent (Drew Rosenhaus) during the 2007 season.
Kansas State QB Josh Freeman seems to have established himself as the #3 prospect in the 2009 NFL Draft in the eyes of many scouts (behind Georgia QB Matt Stafford and USC QB Mark Sanchez). I'm still not sure about the concept of Freeman ending up as a first round pick, but perhaps there are some teams that will be looking to trade up into the late first round and snatch up Freeman at that position. West Virginia QB Pat White is one of the more intriguing prospects, particularly with teams who might want to utilize him in the Wildcat formation while also developing him as a wide receiver.
Another intriguing prospect is Florida TE Cornelius Ingram. It's a shame that Ingram tore his ACL in August 2008, since he appeared to be the top senior tight end prospect going into the season. As it is there is speculation that Ingram could be anywhere from a late second round pick to a fourth round selection. How he checks out at the combine and at the Indianapolis combine could play into that considerably. If he shows that he has recovered (or mostly recovered) from his knee injury, he could end up going higher in the draft than many people suspect.
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