Quarterback considerations
National Football League
Draft King Analysis
February 16, 2010
Lou Pickney, DraftKing.com
Reader feedback is always welcomed here. Send your thoughts to Draft King at LouPickney@gmail.com.
Brand new for today is an overdue update to the Draft King 2010 NFL Mock Draft. What makes sense now might not so much once free agency starts, though with the forthcoming "final year of the CBA" rules going into effect, trying to make sense of what will happen in free agency as far as spending goes remains to be seen.
If you haven't done this yet, I highly recommend that those of you on Twitter add Daniel Jeremiah to your follow list. Ditto for bookmarking his website, movethesticks.com, which has all kinds of great insight. Jeremiah has worked as a scout for the Baltimore Ravens and Cleveland Browns, and he is strong at breaking down tape and giving educated, insightful analysis about draft prospects. It's one thing for someone like me to give an analysis of the information that's out there, but it's another for someone who has worked as a scout to give his take on the draft.
Worth noting: NFL teams have until February 25 to use their franchise and/or transition tags. We're about to proceed into the great unknown, a season without a salary cap or a salary floor in a terrible economy. Anticipate big names like Karlos Dansby and Julius Peppers to pull in huge money if they, in fact, end up as unrestricted free agents as expected. But there won't be as many top-flight unrestricted free agents out there as some might expect, and while owners like Daniel Snyder and Jerry Jones will likely be spending money like crazy, there will be plenty of others who will exercise some fiscal responsibility.
Looking at the first round of the April 2010 NFL Draft, there are some interesting things worth noting at quarterback:
-It's a two player race for the top QB spot between Oklahoma's Sam Bradford and Notre Dame's Jimmy Clausen. My gut tells me that Bradford will go #4 to the Redskins, while Clausen's destination remains unclear. He could potentially go #1 overall to St. Louis (unlikely but not impossible), end up as a top ten pick, or slide down the draft board like Aaron Rodgers and Brady Quinn did in recent years. It's unclear at this point how that will play out.
-Colt McCoy is probably the #3 QB prospect, though the X-Factor Tim Tebow could end up going above him. Both guys performed well at the college level, and the sentiment among scouts/experts seems to be that McCoy is the stronger NFL prospect at this point, though Tebow is such a wild card that it's difficult to make a prognosis on him. I could see a team trading into round two to draft Tebow, and as Darrius Heyward-Bey showed last year, it just takes one GM/owner to buy into a player for him to go higher than where the majority of pundits think he will go.
-Central Michigan QB Dan LeFevour is a sleeper pick that I like, and he seems more likely to be a round 3-4 pick based on what I've read. LeFevour was a shining star in the MAC over the past couple of years, and his strong performance at the Senior Bowl in Mobile last month should help his draft status. If Seattle opts to go with defense and RB with its two first round picks, a player like LeFevour could be a nice pick-up on down the line.
Look for more in the upcoming days on some of the position battles. In the meantime, it's mailbag time.
From: DA Decker
To: LouPickney@gmail.com
Date: Wed, Feb 10, 2010 at 9:28 AM
Subject: Saints
Now that something that I never thought would happen in my lifetime (Saints winning the Super Bowl) has happened, what are your thoughts for the Saints draft and trying to make it to Dallas next year. Their run defense was shaky and they had issues converting on 3rd and short. What direction do they go in? A playmaking LB would help. Defensive line help would go a long way too. What about LeGarrette Blount in the late rounds? He would have a great mentor (Drew Brees) to help him along. WHO DAT!
Lou: I'm happy for the Saints and their fans. The city of New Orleans has been through some tough times since Hurricane Katrina ravaged the gulf coast, and for Louisiana natives and long-suffering fans, I'm thrilled.
I agree strongly with the sentiment of the Saints going with a playmaking OLB at the #32 spot. Sean Payton has been loyal with Scott Fujita and Scott Shanle at the OLB positions (they both followed him from Dallas to New Orleans), but both guys turn 31 this year and the Saints would benefit tremendously by adding a top-flight outside linebacker who can play the position in a 4-3 defense. Defensive line makes sense as well, particularly considering how the Saints were exposed in that department during the regular season when injuries struck.
As for LeGarrette Blount, he is a player in the Jamal Lewis mold, bigger than the typical RB and skilled enough to play the position effectively. Blount was a potential first round pick before he sucker-punched a member of Boise State's football team last season, but he did his best to make up for his mistake and was producing for Oregon by the end of the season. He would be a solid addition for the Saints, a potential major steal who could fit in very well with the team's mix-and-match running back approach.
