***
Just a quick morning post for now. Someone asked if I had any type of review on past drafts and what I said about players. I found something I wrote up a few years back that covers 1998-2005. I'm writing out something on the Eagles and the 2010 draft for this afternoon, but wanted to share this stuff for those who were curious. Mistakes are included. This isn't just a greatest hits compilation.
THE GOOD, THE BAD, AND THE UGLY
(narrowly defeated The Bold and The Beautiful for the title)
1998
* I loved Purdue WR Brian Alford. I just knew he was going to surprise everyone with how good he'd be. I had him ranked 12th among WRs. The Giants agreed with me and took him in the 3rd. Complete bust. #38 in my rankings was Alvis Whitted, #41 Brian Finneran, and #50 Corey Bradford.
* Randy Moss was my #1 WR. However, I thought he'd slide due to his character issues. I had him pegged to SEA with pick 15. Instead, he went to MIN at 21.
* I had Matt Hasselbeck listed as a UDFA...and after Dave Loya of Duquesne. Who the hell is that?
* The Class of '98 may be the best collection of Centers to come out of one Draft.
1 Bob Hallen
2 Olin Kreutz
3 Jeremy Newberry
4 Todd Washington
7 Trey Teague
8 Kendyl Jacox
9 John Wade
11 Jeff Saturday
27 Cory Withrow
At least 3 of those guys have started a Pro Bowl. Kreutz and Saturday started this year's SB.
* I had Steve Foley as a 2nd Rd DE. He went to CIN as a 3rd Rd LB.
* What an awful group of DTs:
1 Vonnie Holliday
2 Jason Peter
3 Jeremy Staat
4 Leon Bender
5 Chuck Wiley
6 Mitch Marrow
7 Michael Myers
8 Julian Pittman
I'd love to tell you I missed on some guys, but the class just stunk. Aside from Holliday, there was Joe Salave'a, Brandon Whiting, and Lional Dalton.
* I had Shawn Barber rated as a 2nd Rd LB. I had Ike Reese as late 4th/early 5th.
* My #1 ILB was Takeo Spikes..."the next Ray Lewis". #5 was Jeremiah Trotter, who ran a 4.6 and did 30 reps at 6'1, 260.
1999
* The DE class featured two LB/DE tweeners...Montae Reagor at 6'2, 264 and Rod Coleman 6'3, 255. Both bulked up and became DTs.
* My #3 ILB was Barry Gardner. #4 was some guy named Al Wilson. Oops.
* I was very high on Clemson LB Rahim Abdullah. He was 6'5, 230. Could rush the passer, play the run, and showed some cover ability. Just to spite me, he forgot all that when he got to the NFL.
* The QBs:
1 Tim Couch
2 Donovan McNabb
3 Akili Smith
4 Daunte Culpepper
5 Cade McNown
- I had Peter Maas as a Day 1 pick. He was the backup at Oregon who had started in '97.
- I had Aaron Brooks rated as a late rounder.
2000
* I had Adalius Thomas ranked as the #6 DE and a Day 1 player. He fell late to the 6th Rd.
* Darwin Walker was my #5 DT. At the time, he was 6'3, 281.
* Check out these LBs:
1 LaVar Arrington
2 Brian Urlacher
3 Julian Peterson
4 John Abraham
5 Keith Bulluck
6 Na'il Diggs
7 Raynoch Thompson
8 Marcus Washington
11 Ian Gold
12 Barrett Green
13 Mark Simoneau
14 Kabeer Gbaja-Biamila
15 Dhani Jones
Very impressive group. Not all are stars, but that is a lot of talent. Quite a few NFL starts in that group. Barrett Green was a player I really enjoyed watching at WV.
* I had Tom Brady as my #3 QB...after Chad Pennington and Chris Redman. Marc Bulger was 9th.
* Ron Dayne was my #4 RB, after Thomas Jones, Shaun Alexander, and Jamal Lewis.
* I had Ron Dugans, Dez White, and Danny Farmer graded ahead of Todd Pinkston. When the Eagles spot came up, I was screaming for us to take Jerry Porter.
* WR Plaxico Burress had a huge day vs Michigan. He caught 10 passes for 255 yds in the Spartans 34-31 win over the Wolverines. Just as impressive was his blocking. He physically overwhelmed Michigan's DBs. All I could think as I watched the game was..."I want that". Between the Fall and the Spring I changed my mind and decided Corey Simon was the best player for the Eagles. Had he not been available, Burress is absolutely the guy I wanted.
2001
* Derrick Burgess was my favorite player in the whole Draft. I was ecstatic when the Eagles took him with the 1st pick of the 3rd Rd.
* I have a sheet of paper listed Interesting Players. Only 4 guys were listed. 2 of them were Correll Buckhalter and Will Peterson (now William James). Weird. I had Peterson rated as a late 2nd. He fell a bit due to character questions.
* I had LaDainian Tomlinson as the #1 RB. Pretty bold, huh? I had Mike Vick as the #1 QB. And check out this bit of special insight..."he's at his best on the run".
* I have DT Kris Jenkins listed as one of my favorite players. I have notes on him. Yet, I cannot remember a thing about him at Maryland. Most players I can picture in college and remember something.
2002
* Colorado RB cortlen Johnson is a player I really liked. Very good on screen passes. Went undrafted.
* Tennessee had a pair of great DTs. The public consensus seemed to be that Junior Albert Haynesworth was better than Senior John Henderson. I had John rated higher. He went 9th to JAX and Albert went 15 to TEN.
* I found some Wonderlic scores:
Mike Lewis - 18
Ed Reed - 14
Lito Sheppard - 20
Dwight Freeney - 35
Jeremy Shockey - 16
Donte Stallworth - 23
Javon Walker - 9
* A very early mock draft of mine had the Eagles taking C/G Andre Gurode, LB Andra Davis, and SS Jermaine Phillips. Gurode went early 2nd to DAL. The other guys went in the 5th. Ouch. At least I nailed the drafting of a SS.
* Ga Tech DB Chris Young was a player I loved. He had experience at CB and S. He was a 4.6 guy who should have never played CB. Good tackler, big hitter. I thought for sure he was a Day 1 guy. He went in the 7th and never amounted to much. Fun kid to watch.
2003
* I had Anquan Boldin rated as a 1st Rd player despite his awful 40 time at the Combine. His performance in the Sugar Bowl really blew me away. QB Chris Rix was suspended for the game and the starting QB was ineffective. Boldin moved from WR to QB and kept FSU in the game as long as he could. Georgia won, but Boldin really blew me away with his toughness and competitive spirit. He was my favorite offensive player that year.
* I had Greg Lewis projected as the #1 UDFA WR.
* S Troy Polamalu was my favorite defensive player in the Draft.
* I have some good notes on Robert Mathis, but have his measurments at 6'0, 228. He turned out to be 6'2, 235. Based on the numbers I had, he was UDFA. I noted that he was quick, athletic, and had excellent COD skills and was a disruptive defender. I left out the part about him being a starting DE on a SB winner.
* I was a big fan of ILB Gerald Hayes. He's become a solid pro for the Cardinals. I had Tully Banta-Cain as a 2nd Rd player. He slid just a tad...to the 7th.
* I had some scrub named Osi Umenyiora as a 4th Rder and another scrub named Lance Briggs as a 5th rder.
* Jason Witten was clearly the #1 TE to me. I was shocked to see Dallas Clark, Bennie Joppru, and LJ Smith go ahead of him. To this day, I don't get that.
2004
* RB Mewelde Moore of Tulane was one of my favorite players in the Draft. I loved his versatility and toughness.
* Some other non-stars I loved were DE Shaun Phillips, CB Nathan Vasher, and WR DJ Hackett.
2005
* Cincinnati LB Jamar Enzor was my favorite player in the Draft. He was a longshot type and went unpicked. He's now in NFL Europa trying to save his career. I also liked his teammate, DE Trent Cole, quite a lot.
* UVA RB Alvin Pearman was one of my favorite guys. Absolutely loved him.
___
Wednesday, April 21, 2010
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
13 comments:
Whose your favorite player in this year's draft (minus Eric Berry)?
Really fun read TL. I wish all the draft experts would write similar articles.
God bless Pearman. Your white wale.
--
The only question Tommyt...do you think you could outdraft Matt Millen?
Tommy, did you write anything about Ernie Sims when he came out in '06? I'd be curious to see that.
Thanks tommy, I requested for it :D
Nice job as usual~
I've never heard some of the name you mentioned, like Jamar Enzor who?
And I still wonder why we didn't go for Witten.
2002 was the first year I used the web to view prospects before the draft. Before that it was the previous years Lindy's magazine (if I could find one on import) which listed the top 10 juniors in each position in their opinion.
That year (2002) I used TFY draft website and was absolutely smitten by Brian Westbrook and argued constantly over his value with the the guy who ran their message board who valued as a 5th rounder David Meggett type RB.
2003 is where I came across GE99's (Tommy's) topic about questions people may have over prospects in the upcoming draft. I have bugged him ever since with all sorts of names. Anthony Carfagno being the greatest prospect never to play a down even on an NFL practise field.
This year is going to be a real disappointment. I'll be asleep rather than on a message board sharing in the excitement. If we or any team trade out of the first round, their fans will have to wait at least 24 hours to find out what is next. I don't like it. However, maybe waking up Friday morning will be slightly Christmas like.
Finally, Tommy I'm not sure when you will unlock the 2010 draft thread over on the Scouts Notebook, but remember us international fans who will living off scraps on Thursday.
I love reading articles like this...especially when most people boast that they never miss on picks. It made me think of a couple questions. At the pro level it makes sense that it would be financially advantageous to have scouts cover a region, but from a talent evaluation standpoint, I would have to believe that people can have a special eye for certain positions. At the pro level, do they ever get to a point where you have your board coming together and have your resident DE expert help with final rankings (or maybe it would happen even earlier)? Do you have a position(s) that you feel you do a better job evaluating? Just curious as I await my football form of the Christmas season.
Peter King has us trading up with the Dolphins for the 24th and 37th pick, and selecting Derrick Morgan.
Personally I can see that trade happening if the cost is less, but 24 and 37 is entirely too much this year.
Why I think the Eagles trade back, rather than up:
http://mcnabborkolb.tumblr.com/post/538805617/why-the-eagles-will-trade-out-of-the-first-round
any list like:
http://eaglesblitz.blogspot.com/2009/04/eagles-and-draft.html
for 2010
RE: Peter King
I don't think the Eagles will give up #37 to move up 12 spots. I think that pick is virtually untouchable in the halls of Novacare, if only because it will be forever linked to McNabb and you don't want to McDougle the pick.
That said, there's a good discussion going in the EMB about a hypothetical trade with the Rams. The deal would be #24 and #121 (4th rounder) for the Rams' #33 and #65. The thinking is if St. Louis takes a DT at #1 they will still need a QB and get anxious to get back into the first for Colt McCoy and pay the 50 point premium (MattWill's language) to get him. That thinking is based upon the Carriker trade as a "make room" move for a DT as well as the relatively "safer" pick of a DT and members' of the Rams' staff coveting McCoy more than Bradford.
Lot of variables, obviously (McCoy going in the late 1st being the biggest I think), but I'd do that swap in a heartbeat and bat leadoff in rounds 2 and 3. I'd also probably take less than #65... maybe just swap 3rds.
As far as the haul we'd get, there's good precedence for gouging teams that move from the 2nd back into the first - we did it to Carolina, Dallas did it to Cleveland for Brady Quinn... etc.
Thoughts on this insanity?
@JCC her's Tommy's and Matts notes on Sims in 06:
Matt's Notes on Ernie Sims
Listed at 6' 220lbs. Shows great speed and and the range to be a threat sideline to sideline. Looks fluid in his hips and has above average coverage skills for a LB. Actually has a natural backpedal dropping into zone coverage and looks like a SS at times. Very athletic and agile. Good motor and never gives up on the play. Seems to play with alot of instinct. One of the most impressive things about Ernie is how physical he is on the field considering his size. Looks like he loves contact. Throws his body around with reckless abandon. Engages blockers before they can get to him and therefore sheds well for a player of his size. Solid tackler that wraps up low to bring his man down. Explosive at times when blitzing and pressures the QB well. Frankly, there isn't much not to like about Ernie. Obviously doesn't have ideal size for an OLB however, if he was a couple inches taller and 20 pounds heavier I think we'd be talking about a Top 5 player. As it stands I see him as a guy who could go in the Top 10, but won't last past 21.
Tommy's Notes on Ernie Sims
Only a Junior. Moves exceptionally well. Very agile, nimble. Ripped. Big hitter. Excellent COD ability. Very intense. Might be too aggressive. Might remind you a bit of Greg Lloyd. If he was bigger, would be an ideal MLB. Plays with good knee bend. Wrap up tackler. Good effort. Will chase plays. Takes bad angles at times. Can explode off the ball. Tremendous burst. Size is a concern. He's about 6'0, 225. He plays SLB for FSU. Runs well. Can hit/tackle with the best LBs in the country. Very agile. Great COD ability. Played SLB at FSU. Didn't make many plays, but LB Coach Kevin Steele said that he always graded out very high. The problem was that not many opportunities came his way. Had an assault case last summer and that has to be checked out. Was charged with Domestic Battery and Non-violent Resisting Arrest.
If the arrest was simply a one time incident and he's turns out to be a solid kid, could go as high as pick #9 to Detroit. I wish he'd made more plays. He hasn't shown a nose for the ball, but has the physical ability to be a force on defense at WLB. Will bring attitude to the field as well.
http://scoutsnotebook.com/modules.php?name=rn_outside_linebacker&page=erniesims.html
I remember when Trent Cole was drafted, I had never heard of him so I went online to see who he was. The write up I found said something like he’s too much of a tweener, too small for DE and not fast enough of OLB, however if a D-coordinator can find a way to use him in the right System he will be very productive and well worth the pick.
Post a Comment