Four Downs with Dang & Doc
by Brian Davis and Paul Hopkins
April 29th 2010
 
This week Dang and Doc take stock of last weekend in New York City where the NFL Draft took place. Held over three days for the first time, teams were up and down the board like a big game of snakes and ladders. But who did the best over the weekend, and who did the worst? Which players benefited and which suffered? What shocks were there? Jimmy Clausen took an almighty tumble and Josh McDaniels pulled undoubtedly the biggest surprise: we get the guys' reaction to this and more.
 
Did the new three day format for the Draft work for you?
 
DANG - Despite knocking the format last week, I actually quite enjoyed it. I watched almost the whole thing over the 3 days until around Round 6, when I then couldn't find a stream or connect to NFL.com, so followed via the trackers and radio.
After Round 1, I was eager for more, but it made Round 2 on the Friday evening almost as exciting as Round 1 was on the Thursday, there were even Round 2 mocks dotting up all over the internet Friday afternoon and evening before it kicked off again and you could sense the excitement and buzz of it all happening again that night. It really added something and I look forward to it again next year. Day 3 didn't quite whet the appetite for more, but I think that was more due to the fact that the 49ers weren't picking until Round 6, but there were some names not taken on Day 2 that I was very keen to see where they went.
 
DOC – I admit it. It kind of did. As I stated last week, I didn't see the problem with changing what worked but in terms of getting more exposure – it worked. I don't see any of the teams complaining about it; they probably enjoyed having that bit more time to re-group and re-think their approaches after the first round and then again after the second and third. From a fan perspective I think the thing I appreciated most was the time as well. Previously it was hard to recall where all those players – high-profile and otherwise that you followed in college ended up. Now it was much easier to see where they went without missing the next few picks. I have to admit I got it wrong and I rather quite enjoyed it. I suppose after nearly three months without football, three days rather than two is always going to be good. Chalk one up for Random Roger.
 
Which teams were your winners and losers from the draft weekend?
 
DANG - There were quite a few winners over the whole weekend. Seattle drafted extremely well, filling pretty much every need, but what I want to know is, where was Al Davis on Thursday and Friday? Oakland had a great draft and has a decent shot at being at least .500 in 2010. We could see he was back on Saturday though, drafting the fastest guy in the draft in Jacoby Ford and a work out warrior in Bruce Campbell, but hey, Al needs to have his touch on the draft somewhere so it may as well be Day 3 after you're already on the up! 49ers, Dolphins, Broncos, Cowboys, and Lions all came out the draft as winners. As for the Losers, it was tough to come out of this draft as a loser but I wasn't overly struck by what Buffalo put together. Love the Spiller pick, but an absolute total luxury pick for a team with far greater needs. They're putting an awful lot of faith into a lot of later round picks to come through and play well for them, particularly with the Tackle and Quarterback positions, (the 2 positions I thought they'd go with in rounds 1 and 2) only addressed in Round 7. Jacksonville put together a fairly whacky draft taking two DT's with their first two picks, following their trend of taking 2 OT's with their first two picks in 09 and 2 DE's in 08 with their first two picks. But they then drafted two DE's with their next two picks. They did absolutely nothing to encourage anybody through their turn-styles in 2010.
 
DOC – In such a talent laden draft I think it's quite hard to identify teams that you can definitely categorise as winners and in particular, losers. A lot of teams combined good picks with some head scratchers. The team that I was most impressed with out of the weekend was the Seahawks. The best tackle in the draft simply fell into their lap with the sixth overall pick with Russell Okung (above). And then they sat tight at #14 and after seeing the Eagles (and Chargers) trade into spots and not take Earl Thomas, arguably the best secondary player, again he falls into their lap. Come the third round, Golden Tate again was a very good selection. For fourth and fifth round picks they injected their running game with two strong runners who immediately look like a good tandem in the backfield. Pete knows all about LenDale White and Leon Washington stretches the field. Very impressive stuff indeed from Carroll. Elsewhere in the NFC West, the Niners built an impressive cast too assembling no less than four players that were considered (at one time) first round talents, but I'm sure Dang will break down this in detail elsewhere. Baltimore as always did very well but then it's always the case with them. I'm going to give a shout out to Oakland; everyone slaughters them and probably rightly so but this year they did quite well and were very un-Raider like. Considering a lot of people thought they'd over-reach for Bruce Campbell at #8 overall, to take him in the 4th represents good value. In terms of which teams could be seen as losers; I was a little underwhelmed by what Jacksonville did. Last year they assembled a strong draft but this year there wasn't a lot there, characterised by the strange pick of Tyson Aluala – a good player but surely they could have traded down and still got him?
 
Which players were your winners and losers from the draft weekend?
 
DANG - Winners for me; Jerry Hughes has landed in almost the perfect place, an absolute brute of a pass rusher at TCU, he now gets to learn from two of the best in the trade in Mathis and Freeney, he should immediately be involved, replacing the not so fierce Raheem Brock. Terrence Cody and Sergio Kindle for me are winners of the draft as well. I like Cody to be kicked into shape in Baltimore, and alongside Kindle will bring the ferociousness of the Ravens D that we have all become familiar with, seemingly ever since their conception in to the NFL. Dez Bryant should fare well in Dallas as well, that's if Eugene Parker and Deion Sanders don't advise him too much and he gets on the field before week 8. In terms of $ lost, Jimmy Clausen loses hands down. He was projected to earn around $26m if taken in the middle of R1, however, dropping down to pick #48 in R2, he's “only” set to earn around $2.6m.
In terms of the situation he ended up in, Jimmy Clausen loses again. He's already trying to challenge Matt Moore for a start, who looked like a reasonable starter at the tail end of last season when he replaced the inept Jake Delhomme, but not only that, the Panthers also drafted another 2 quarterbacks after Clausen. One of them being Tony Pike from the Cincinnati Bearcats, who despite only starting around a dozen games in College, has a lot of upside and good size to go with it as well. The other (Damanti Edwards) will likely be a convert into a Wide Receiver or possibly used in Wild Cat packages, but Clausen simply has to perform immediately if he's to start and even if he does, he's going to be looking over his shoulder at those behind him.
 
DOC – Jimmy Clausen fits under both here. Clearly he lost a lot of money by tumbling to the middle of the second round. But did he not at the same time win? Carolina need a QB but yet has enough around them to be competitive. It's ideal for him. Dez Bryant also landed on his feet getting to go to Dallas. He's got a top QB throwing him the ball; other players to draw the coverage and the right environment that should help him make everyone who passed him over regret it. They're my main ones. Tebow too but I'll come onto him later. Another name I'll throw out there was undrafted. But LeGarrett Blount has a chance to do something in Tennessee. Now that they've traded LenDale away they're left with Javon Ringer and precious little else behind the amazing Chris Johnson. Blount offers something that Ringer doesn't and could work as an alternative to Johnson quite effectively. I know he brings his own issues and baggage but he now has some serious motivation to overcome them. I do hope he can. Losers – I've got a few – Bruce Campbell and Everson Griffen was meant to be first round talents. But ended up going in the fourth costing themselves many millions of dollars. Same with Jevon Snead. After a pretty grotty year considering the pre-season hype he came out a year early and went without being selected, eventually signing on as a UDFA in Tampa Bay. I wonder if he regrets that? Two other losers from the weekend are Marshawn Lynch and Albert Haynesworth. Neither of them got traded and neither of them is particularly wanted in their current places. The Bills taking CJ Spiller pushes Lynch further out of the picture and when you consider what the Hawks gave up for White and Washington, its telling that no-one was prepared to offer anything in that ballpark for him. And as for Fat Albert – can the Redskins not even give him away?
 
The best and worst picks in the first round were?
 
DANG - Best pick in round 1 for me would be Ndamukong Suh. The Detroit Lions got the best player in this draft with the 2nd pick of the draft. This guy could be on track for a big, big career in the NFL. The Detroit Lions will be back this year and Suh will be a part as to why, Offensive lines in the NFC North are not going to know what's hit them. Along with Oakland above, I'm looking at around .500 this year for the Lions. Everything is starting to point in the right direction. Franchise quarterback, Star Wide Receiver, Strong Running Game, Strong Defensive line, Young Defensive backs, and good special teams unit. There's still work to be done on the O line and Linebackers but the Lions have turned the corner. Suh and Jahvid Best will play an enormous part in showing that this season. I don't want to knock Jacksonville for taking Tyson Alualu as he clearly fills a need, but I really do feel they could have traded down a number of picks and still got him, as we saw, there were a lot of trading partners to be had in Round 1 and they could have picked up further picks along the way. Patrick Robinson wasn't the best way that the Saints could have gone with their pick, last year's first rounder Malcolm Jenkins could well move over to safety, but I thought they might address their Defensive line with this pick with the secondary not being their most pressing requirement.
 
DOC - The best picks for me came at #2 and #3. Suh and McCoy are fabulous talents and the Lions and Buccs cannot fail to have nothing but years of high-level performance from these two fine young men. I really liked the Kareem Jackson pick. I rated him highly at 'Bama and consistently had him in my first round mocks. I didn't having him going that high simply because I wasn't certain many teams were all that high on him. But the Texans continue their move towards building a side ready for the post-season and I really like the pick. As I will wax lyrical later – Dez Bryant is a great value pick for Dallas. He is a top ten talent; if not top five from this year's class and to get him in the early twenties is brilliant. As I mentioned above, both the Hawks' pick in the first round – without them doing anything I add – were brilliant. And then there's Ryan Matthews who I've been raving about for a while now. I'm really not quite sure he was worth what the Chargers gave up for him. Indeed, I am not quite sure that San Diego needed to trade up as high as they did. But it just shows they're as high on him as I am. Great selection. The worst? Well, it might be a bit hypocritical of me to slate them for this when I've praised others over-rating some players – but Tyson Aluala was a major reach by the Jaguars. The biggest risks are attached to the selections made by the Broncos – Tebow and Thomas has the potential to pay off big time. But then at the same time they could be the death knell for the organisation and those who made those choices.
 
OVERTIME!
 
If the Rams had known Jimmy Clausen was going to drop that far, do you think they should they have taken Suh instead at #1 and picked up Clausen at the top of the second?
 
DANG - No, it's too risky worrying about what other teams are doing to take that risk when you don't have a franchise Quarterback. Bradford has wooed everybody in his workouts and Pro Days with the bottom line being, he was simply too good to pass up for the Rams at 1. He will have a very steady, strong career, with Pro bowl appearances chucked for good measure, of that I'm fairly confident. Clausen on the other hand, despite landing in a reasonable place will not be a Pro Bowler. I'd wager good money that it Clausen landed up at the Rams; he would not have a Pro Bowl career either. Getting Saffold in Round 2 immediately upgrades the Rams' offensive line to give Bradford some extra protection, for which if the Rams had gone the other way, would have then risked waiting until Round 3 to find somebody to protect its franchise Quarterback and frankly, Roger Saffold will be a better Tackle than Bruce Campbell or Shawn Lauvao. The Rams went the right way for me. Bradford and Saffold score slightly higher than Suh and Clausen.
 
DOC – Yes, I think they should. Despite the chatter and the talk, as I've said above I think Jimmy Clausen is a serviceable starter. And actually I think now he's in Carolina he's set for a better career than Bradford is. There wasn't a great deal of difference between the two for me. Take either and I don't think there's a vast amount of difference in what they'll do. On the other hand Suh has the potential to have a Hall of Fame career. Sam Bradford does not in any way have that potential. He's slight, he's injury prone, and he's only played well when behind an absolute monstrous offensive line at Oklahoma which he won't get at St Louis if at all. It would have saved them money and weight of expectation on Bradford's shoulders to take the sure fire thing and get their next QB much lower. Of course, even though most expected him to take a tumble based on recent weeks, you can't criticise the Rams too much. With the number of holes they needed to fill in this draft, trading up to the back of the first just to make sure they got Clausen would have cost a fair bit. All in all, it's easy in hindsight. They've made their decision now.
 
Undoubtedly the most talked about pick of the weekend was Tim Tebow being drafted to Denver. Josh McDaniels was already under pressure and now has taken a massive gamble on the quarterback on which his tenure in Denver is going to be judged. Will it pay off for him?
 
DANG - Tim Tebow wins. He might not start straight away, but when was the last time you saw somebody as committed, as keen to knuckle down and just get on with being an integral part of teams game plan? He has the same attitude as Peyton Manning, a winning attitude. I'm not saying he'll be anywhere near as good as Manning, but if he can be half as good, then he'll do just fine in the NFL.
McDaniels certainly seems to be an admirer of the school of thought that “it's my way or the highway” and he's going to stick with it until it makes or breaks him. Tebow now has incredible pressure on his shoulders to perform and a public clamouring to see him play in the NFL, can he handle the pressure? Without a shadow of a doubt. Will he be the man that makes or breaks McDaniels' career? Tough one, but I think so now. I'd very much like to see Orton continuing to start, with Tebow having his own package of plays put into the playbook; some form of the Wildcat would suit him perfectly. I certainly see him being involved that way, but I don't see him starting as a QB in 2010. 2010 should be a developmental year with Orton starting then at least look at improving on 8-8 then re-assessing the situation in going into 2011, the Denver Broncos owe McDaniels at least that now.
 
DOC - Nobody can say that Josh McDaniels is not going to do things his own way. After purging the Broncos of arguably their most talented players since he took over, after seeing a 6-0 disintegrate into failing to make the playoffs he pulled a move that nobody saw coming and took the most talked about and polarising player entering the 2010 Draft. Because of what he gave up to take Tebow, because he took him in the first round meaning Tebow is getting first round money, the clock is now ticking on Tebow. We've said before in the column as have many, many other pundits that Tim needs time to sit and learn for a good few years and then he might have a shot. Now, because of all this he has to condense and accelerate that into a much shorter period than before. Now he's in a position where perennial mediocre starters Kyle Orton has a year and Brady Quinn, well I'm not sure what Brady Quinn has, are ahead of him and realistically you are looking at Tebow needing to start no later than the beginning of 2011 (assuming we have football and he hasn't already become the starter). The expectation is huge for this guy and the whole of the football world is watching him. I've said before that Tebow's determination and application are second to none and if anyone can do this, then it is this guy. And McDaniels is clearly one of the best coaching talents in the league when it comes to quarterbacks, so these two are going to be forever intertwined in trying to prove pretty much everyone wrong. Its no small feat to say this will define Josh McDaniels career in the NFL; in two years we'll know if it will make or break him and Tebow.
 
How did you grade your team's draft?
 
DANG - I blogged about the 49ers shortly after the draft here and since then, things have changed a little as UDFA LaGarrette Blount has gone back on his verbal agreement to join the 49ers and has gone to Tennessee, which, when you think about it now, does make a lot of sense with the RB's that the 49ers have and the Titans trading Lendale White away. To recap on that blog though, I like what the 49ers put together, they had needs, they addressed them and they were aggressive in addressing them. Anthony Davis will possibly be the best OT that comes out of this draft. He's a slight Work in Progress type guy but Coach Singletary always gets the best out of those types of players and he'll be flexible in being able to plat LT or RT. Mike Iupati was a fantastic pick, I had a man crush on this guy way back into last year, so was chuffed to bits we picked him in Round 1, he will be the next Larry Allen in the NFL. Taylor Mays is probably the best player athletically in the whole draft; he's going to be a nice option to come in to replace Michael Lewis after he's picked up his first concussion of the season. A fair bit of work required on Mays, he needs to learn to wrap up and finish tackles, taking better angles, than trying to make 10 highlight reel hits a game. Navorro Bowman was a bit of a luxury pick, but he was previously tipped for Round 1 so we got ourselves a nice pickup in 3, but I feel we might have gone for a Cornerback with this pick, but Bowman should become a special teams ace to start with and then compete with Scott McKillop as the long term successor to Takeo Spikes next to Patrick Willis. Round 6 pickups of Tight End Nate Byham and RB Anthony Dixon show further proof of Singletary's stamp on this draft of wanting to play smash-mouth football. Arizona State WR Kyle Williams will compete for slot duties. A solid effort with lots of options and should see at least 4 starters with everyone contributing in some form.
 
DOC – I liked it. It had to be more leaning towards getting impact players. As I said last week, last year we amassed 11 players to stock up the roster so this year, particularly given that the Cowboys got to the Divisional playoffs we just needed to secure impact players. And when you say impact player – Dez Bryant (apart from CJ Spiller) is the impact player from this year's draft. His ability is phenomenal and despite all the hoo-hah about his conduct and whatever else it was, he's not a bad person and doesn't get into the wrong type of trouble off the field. At #21 and with the price given up, I think he represents great value. Sean Lee in round two was fantastic value. He fits the scheme perfectly and looks to be the long-term successor to Keith Brooking inside. Owusu-Ansah I know absolutely nothing about but every report I read on him is incredibly positive. It excites me that we picked him. The picks after that? Well, I don't know anything about them – they've got a tough job to make the roster so we shall see. All in all, very solid. No major mistakes and three players have the potential to become integral parts of the Cowboys for the next decade.