Four Downs with Stock & Doc
by Ben Stockwell and Paul Hopkins
27/2/2008
 
This week, Stock and Doc offers their views on Zach Thomas going to Dallas, Grossman and Orton staying in Chicago and take advantage of the quiet time in the NFL by looking at the best players in this year's draft.
 
1st Down – Zach Thomas is a good signing for the Cowboys.
 
STOCK – FACT ! – Much as the Cowboys defence was solid this year, they really lacked impact and leadership in the heart of their 3-4 defence. Bradie James and Akin Ayodele were both solid enough but neither was either outstanding in their on-field contributions or in standing up as a vocal leader for the defence. Thomas can bring both of these to the table for his home-state team. He isn't the outstanding force in the defence that he was once but he is still an upgrade on whichever of Ayodele and James he replaces and he adds a proven veteran leader to the Cowboys defence which is something that has been lacking for them since the departure of Darren Woodson to retirement.
 
DOC – FICTION ! – I'm a Cowboys fan and beyond the leadership aspect and the low figure he's cost, I'm left with one question – why? We are loaded at ILB, and granted only really Bradie James stepped up last season, but we have a diminishing cap space and four key players to resign. We need to tie Flozell Adams down and a left tackle of his standing doesn't come cheap. If we don't resign MB3 my head may well explode, Chris Canty deserves to be extended after the season he had, and then there's Ken Hamlin. Currently under the franchise tag, he's due to cost over $4m! $4m on a safety! So we need to get him signed up and that figure reduced. So we have other pressing needs, and I certainly would not have thought an ageing ILB was one of them. I guess this also consigns Bobby Carpenter to the trash can – thank you Bill Parcells for that master stroke! I have nothing but respect for Zach Thomas, but I am a little curious about this one.
 
2nd Down – Chicago are right to extend Rex Grossman's deal to remain as the Bears' starting QB, and Kyle Orton as his deputy.
 
STOCK – FICTION ! – Grossman is simply too erratic to be depended upon as a starting quarterback in this league and to lock up two of your quarterback slots on such moderate players is short sighted and poor planning. One of these two quarterbacks would have sufficed as the starter. Grossman, yes he lead the Bears to a Superbowl but in many cases they made in spite of him, he is far more likely to throw a game away than win a game and he's just someone that you can't afford to be depending upon as your starter. The Bears should have let Grossman walk, re-signed Orton to be their game manager as their starting QB and then develop a young QB or two to take over in a year or two. This year is prime for picking up a quarterback to bring along slowly (doesn't appear to have any guys who are clearly ready to start from day one) and the Bears are simply burying their head in the sand, refusing to accept that they have a quarterback crisis.
 
DOC – FICTION ! - Oh please, I cannot possibly disagree with you. This is a complete bonehead decision. I applaud the Orton re-signing as he looks like someone who could be a more than adequate career back-up, but Rex? No way. This guy (who has been unlucky with injuries) is just a complete disaster waiting to happen under centre, be it through fumbling, bad throws, whatever. They have an anaemic rushing game with Benson, but with the money tied up in him they need to have a solid, dependable guy at QB. There is no way you can apply those two words to Rex Grossman. The Bears have a high enough draft pick to be able to take on someone like Andre Woodson, and develop him as a back-up. With these moves, as you rightly say, they're consigning a QB – if they take one – to third string duties. This is just sheer madness. Lovie, you may have got someone to sign your death warrant when you gave Rex that deal.
 
3rd Down – Matt Ryan is the best pro prospect at quarterback in this year's draft.
 
STOCK – FICTION ! – Of all the quarterbacks in this class I'd have Chad Henne as my top quarterback. I've always thought he'd make a better pro quarterback than college quarterback and he certainly has everything to go along with that hypothesis. Henne has a live arm that is equally the match of Ryan's. He has the poise and leadership in the pocket that you can't quantify this for either player much as many would like to try to do so. But the difference I see is the decision making. Ryan threw too many interceptions this past season and from watching him first hand in the ACC, something about him just doesn't sit right with me. I'm no pro-scout so I could be completely wrong, but of the two I'd rather take Henne, particularly having coped with the pressure of being the starting quarterback for four years at Michigan, one of the biggest college football programs in the NCAA.
 
DOC – FACT ! – Sorry mate, but interceptions are a flimsy reason not to be behind Ryan. You sure it's not your Terp bias shining through?!! While I like Henne myself, I'll openly declare myself to be firmly on the Andre Woodson bandwagon. But if I needed a QB and I had the choice of all of them, I would go for Ryan. Why? Simple, there's been enough scrutiny of this key position for major flaws in Ryan to emerge, and I don't believe there are any. He looks like someone who will emerge into a reasonable starter in the NFL. I wouldn't touch him in the first ten picks unless I was completely desperate but he has a good enough arm and game smarts to go in, learn a system and develop into something very capable at this level.
 
4th Down – Darren McFadden is not the best rusher in this year's NFL draft.
 
STOCK – FICTION ! – He is by far the most proven college back coming into the draft this year and has the outstanding “measurable” to go along with his outstanding body of work. He has put up three consecutive 1,000 yard seasons in the toughest conference in college football and he played as a conventional tailback much of the time (which both Rashard Mendenhall and Jonathan Stewart have counting against them). Now certainly there are things to count against him, 23 fumbles in 3 seasons is extremely poor and yes you can highlight little aspects on individual plays such as his less than satisfactory run power after contact. But for all of those individual highlights, there are five highlights of him running past a linebacker or burning away from a defensive back. If you look hard enough at tape you can make any point about any player by seeking out individual highlights. I think people are looking too hard at the tape of Darren McFadden to look for these downsides in his play.
 
DOC – FICTION ! – Depressingly, again I have to agree with you. I don't understand why it's suddenly trendy to knock this guy after building him up for so long. The guy may have skinny legs, he might have fumbling issues, but he is clearly an absolute monster waiting to be unleashed. Look at his combine time! He tore up the SEC for three years! Do these count for nothing? All these disciples of Mike Mayock need to stop listening to him, and watch the tape for themselves. They'll see what he will bring. The guy is made for the NFL. The problem with McFadden is that he will (and has) inevitably drawn comparisons with Adrian Peterson from last year. That's a tall order for any running back to achieve, let alone a rookie who is likely to be on a pretty weak team. But in the same way, he's currently being run down by Johnny know-all's, just like AP was last year – he took a tumble and look what happened to him. You'd think they'd learn from that wouldn't you?
 
Jeez, this has been a tough week, agreeing with you this often. Hopefully we can get back to normal next week, providing the men in white coats don't haul me away before then.