HOUND

Edge has had a ton of carries. I still think he's got air in the tires but he's not the proverbial "spring chicken". Arrington looked terrible last year. Maybe he develops into a better player but he gave no indication or reason for optimism. Forget about Shipp. Maroney wasn't a need pick but considering some mocks had him at the end of the first, I think where the Cardinals got him represented excellent value.

That's about the 5th time I've done that ........ this week.

If we end up signing Lavar, it wouldn't surprise me to see a backloaded deal. I forget who was explaining it but the 50+ million dollar deal Julian Peterson signed with Seattle is more likely to be a 2-3 year deal worth much less. It allows the Seahawks some outs. The Poston's wrote that deal. It wouldn't surprise me to see them write a similar one for Arrington with NY.

When did thug=black? Not sure I follow this logic.

I'd love to see a follow up story 6 months from now when Junior brings home his next report card.

3rd Round Best: NY Jets - C Greg Eslinger. Some feel he, not Mangold, is the best Center in the draft. I don't agree with that assessment but I still feel he's a tremendous talent. He is the best pulling interior lineman in the draft. He fits better with Atlanta and Denver's zone blocking scheme but the Jets are more than happy to get him to replace Mawae. Buffalo- DT Dusty Dvoracek. Bills are more than happy to take a gamble on this guy. They need the help up front. Dallas - DT Rodrique Wright. The guy can be an enigma. But he also has the tools to be the best DT in the draft. Dallas gets a gem here in the 3rd round. Atlanta - Pat Watkins is a steal this late. It's rare to find a safety prospect with his size who also has the speed to hang with top receivers. It's a mystery to me why you don't see Watkins name higher in mocks. This was one of the best value picks of the entire mock. Indy - Colts pluck another highly regarded gem at the end of a round. This guy's speed in Indy's offense? Look out. I didn't list any bust picks for round 3 as just about every player taken at this point has some warts. As for best drafts, I'd say the Colts and Buffalo performed the best.

Round 2 Best and Worst Selections: Best: Arizona - Laurence Maroney fell 9 picks into the second round. The Cardinals get a better back than last year's flop JJ Arrington. Buffalo - The Bills made a major gamble in round 1 when they took TE Leonard Davis and didn't address the o-line. The gamble paid off in the second round when they collected Texas Tackle Jonathan Scott. St Louis - D'Qwell Jackson at 46 is excellent value. The Rams really needed to address D after selecting Cutler in round 1 Indy - Josh Bullocks at the end of the second represented excellent value. Teamed with Bob Sanders, the Colts are going to punish some receivers. Worst: San Diego - WR Derek Hagan. For a guy who most scouts term a possession receiver, this guy had a major case of the dropsies during Senior Bowl week. Admittedly people are divided on Hagan and I'm not in the camp that likes him. Maybe I'm being harsh on this pick but I think better receiving talent was out there. San Francisco - LB/DB Thomas Howard. I think he's a major project. He also may end up as a safety in the NFL. That's not good news for the Niners, seeing as they took Huff in the first round. Cincy - DT Jonathan Lewis. Once again the Bengals drafted need instead of talent. Lewis is 3rd round talent in most mocks. Jacksonville - CB Daniel Manning. He's got good triangle numbers and most scouts like his upside but he's widely considered a 2nd DAY, not round, selection.

Here's my assessment of the best and worst picks of each round. This isn't a "who's the best player, rather it's who got excellent value/addressed a need, etc,: 1st round Best Picks: Titans win the lottery with Reggie Bush falling into their laps! Baltimore was the beneficiary of Haloti Ngata's fall New England nabbing Ernie Sims at 21 was pure gold. Indianapolis likely never thought Chad Greenway would be available for them at the end of the first round. Worst: Detroit - Vince Young. Young's an exciting player but he's also a project. Forget about starting him this year. The Lions may find they already have a starting grade QB in McCown. I simply don't think Detroit was in a position to gamble on a QB after the failed Harrington experiment. If they were going to take a signalcaller first round it had to be a sure thing. Young is NOT a sure thing. A+ for keeping it real though. Millen typically makes the "worst" lists on draft day. You held up your end! Cleveland ... I've already explained this one in detail in another thread but Manny Lawson over Ngata was a mistake. Oakland ... I like Bunkley but I don't like him over Ngata. San Diego - Jason Allen is a major injury risk. You simply can't make that gamble in the middle of round 1. Tampa - I'm already on record as labelling Tye Hill a bust. There are plenty of people who don't agree with me and that's fine. But this pick makes the list since he took Hill over Cromartie. Cincy - Darnell Bing does NOT carry a first round grade. The Bengals got too caught up in need and overlooked much more talented players.

First, I'd like to thank Money and those who helped him out. Overseeing stuff like this can be a real pain in the ass. Thanks for putting it together, even if you did try to sabotage Pizan during one of your darker hours! Second, I'd add that despite all the missed picks I thought the mock proceeded pretty well. Participation will never be 100% so it's unrealistic to shoot for it. I post on a couple of other boards with a bunch of sports diehards. Those boards have a more mature audience and a faithful following but the mock we did there had missed picks too, so don't beat yourself up too bad Money. Lastly, I thought the Green Bay Packers had far and away the best draft

Self-Promotion time ... In 2005 the Green Bay Packers had the league's 23rd ranked rush defense. The drafting of A.J Hawk alone will improve that number. Suddenly the Packers have 2 playmaking linebackers (N. Barnett) who can wreak havoc on the opposition. In round 2 we went with DE Mathias Kiwanuka. Methinks he was great value at the spot. Some say Kiwi will only be a pass rush specialist at the next level. I don't know that I'm convinced of that but even so, in a worst case scenario Green Bay has added another defensive playmaker that will put pressure on opposing offenses. Current pass rush specialist KGB has a 5 million dollar cap charge in 2007. By next season I'm confident Kiwi can take his job. The Pack can either cut KGB or restructure him to a much friendlier deal. DE Aaron Kampman was re-signed. His sack and tackle numbers have improved just about every season. These guys form the nucleus of a revamped Packer front 7. I was extremely tempted to select DT Rodrique Wright in the 3rd. He's the ultimate boom/bust player. He'd provide a strong interior presence and would keep blockers off my playmaking linebackers. However the inconsistencies and laziness he displayed his senior season pushed me in another direction. Besides, former 3rd round pick DT Kenny Peterson may still fill the spot so maybe the need isn't as dire as perceived. Instead I went with WR Martin Nance. I also strongly considered Demetrius Williams here but I liked Nance's all around game better. 26 TD's over the course of a college career at wideout, despite missing significant time in 2 seasons is a major accomplishment any way you look at it. Driver is getting up there in age. Javon Walker hates me. Terrence Murphy, the speedy wideout of the future may never play again after a frightening neck injury last season. This pick was effected a bit by need but Nance was hardly a reach at this point of the draft. I'm exceedingly pleased with my catch. I wish we could do a 4th round.

80 seems high in this case.

Actually given the way the Texans lost games last season, you could make an argument that they DID draft Storm and tanked their games in an effort to win the Reggie Sweepstakes!

I've said it more times than I can count, but I'll say it again .... Eli, Big Ben and Philip Rivers will be better NFL quarterbacks than anybody who has been drafted since their class, including this year. I'm even willing to toss the 2004 draft in there too but I can't because of Carson Palmer. All the percieved warts Eli may have are predominantly a result of inexperience. I'll say this, there are at least 20 franchises that wish they had the "QB Problem" we supposedly do.

Well if we draft an OLB in the first and select Alston in the second, we'd be drafting a backup too. I don't see us re-signing Greisen. We haven't even offered him a contract.

Completion percentages aren't typically stellar for young starting QB's. I also haven't seen a throw that Eli can't make. That being the case I think improving accuracy is simply a case of getting more experience.

I won't argue that the Texans shouldn't pick Bush but ticket sales have nothing to do with that decision.

Where did I argue athleticism? My reason for liking Hodge over Alston is due to what I feel are superior skills in defending the run. I already stated Alston has the better cover skills, which the agility drill results support. However Alston has difficulty fighting off blocks. He doesn't find his way through traffic well. Hodge on the other hand is a pure run stuffing MIKE. He's a liability in pass coverage so I don't think he'll ever be an everydown player. But he can be a valuable backup to Pierce, something we're currently lacking. We all saw how the defense performed without Pierce so my feeling is that if we can get a solid interior backup it's not a bad move. It makes even more sense if we pick up Ryans or Carpenter in the first round as we won't have nearly as glaring a need on the outside. However if we don't go OLB in round 1 than I'm a bit more open to the idea of Alston in round 2.

Texans are one of the top revenue generating franchises. They don't need Bush to sell tickets.

Agreed Martin. I really can't fathom how anybody can be down on Manning at this point. Wish I could've joined you guys... for the beer

The one thing I never understand about value boards is the inflated status of quarterbacks. IF players are being ranked solely on their talent at the position, it just seems as though QB's get way more respect than they deserve. For example, last year you'd struggle to find a value board that didn't have Alex Smith in the top 5. Yet last years QB class was mediocre compared to other years. I think this year is better but still not elite. There isn't a can't miss prospect at the position yet guys like Leinart and Young still make top 10 on value boards. I just don't see it. I don't think there's been a QB drafted in last year or this year, that is good as any of the top 2 from 2005. Please don't take offense at this Armstead as I'm not pointing a finger at your board. This is just a trend I've noticed in value boards that irritates me. If it's me, there isn't a QB even in the top 15 players in this years class.

Excellent pick for the Jets here. Eslinger is a steal at this slot. Also, the Jets have a hole to fill with Mawae's departure. Kendall can go back to playing Guard. This pick should pay big dividends.

I tend to think Dvoracek won't be there when we pick in the 4th either. He's responded well since his off field stuff and his talent is definitely first day caliber. I tend to agree you can make an argument for both Alston and Hodge. Alston is definitely the headier player. He has better coverage skills too. Hodge is the better tackler and works through traffic much better. Alston is the more well rounded prospect but Hodge IMHO is the far better run defender. I will agree that if we didn't go LB early then Alston makes more sense to address the outside deficiencies. Hodge projects as solid depth behind Pierce and a Special Teams contributor. I think the complaint Armstead makes here is valid. Too many sources, especially ones that do mocks, rank players to make thier mock projections appear accurate. When it comes down to it, there really isn't such as thing as "taking a guy too early". If a team latches on to a player who ends up being a contributor and said player was a projected 5th rounder but the club took him in the 3rd did they make a mistake? I tend to say no. Of course there's no way to rate this at the time of the draft so everything really is conjecture. If we couldn't speculate, what really would there be to talk about?

Looks like it was a valid concern.

Like I said, I agree that Bush deserves to be a higher rated prospect than Eli was. I also agree that if we're judging talent, Bush wins out too. My reason for bringing up Mandarich is to mirror your comments about Bush. He didn't have a perceived weakness, much like your boy Bush, yet he still flopped. There's no such thing as a guarantee.

I won't argue that Bush is the higher rated prospect but the discussion pretty much ends there. There simply is no such thing as a guarantee. Comparing Eli's development to date isn't a supporting argument either. QB's always take more time to develop. Most rookie running backs, assuming they can pick up the blitz, can pay immediate dividends. Tony Mandarich was considered the best Tackle prospect the NFL had seen in years. The guy flopped horribly. Sure he was on steroids but it was as if the guy had never played before. His footwork changed overnight. He went from a perfect Offensive Tackle prospect to a useless hunk of flesh in under a year. People still can't explain it.