From Sam Bradford to Tim Toone, the 2010 NFL Draft is in the books.
As usual, after the first six or seven picks, things went haywire from a prediction standpoint. Some teams thrived under the new three-day format, others failed as usual.
In my opinion, it’s not entirely fair to say who won and lost the draft, as every team feels that got all the players they wanted or could have. However, I base these drafts on what I saw on game film.
So, we’ll take a look at the winners and losers, the steals and the reaches, and a few names to keep an eye on for the 2010 season and beyond.
Best Drafts
1. New England Patriots
Coming into this draft, the odds on who would have the best draft had to be 2:1 on New England. With five picks in the first three rounds, and not nearly that many glaring needs, it was obvious they were going to thrive. Tight ends Rob Gronkowski and Aaron Hernandez will play early on, and Brandon Spikes and Devin McCourtey could be opening day starters. Plus, I love the pick of Zac Robinson. He could be the next Matt Cassell.
2. Carolina Panthers
I think that if I was an NFL GM, I would draft very similarly to the Panthers. Almost every year their board is close to my board on many picks, and even though many others find it very average, I feel they were winners every year. Either way, it’s tough to argue against them this year. They got Jimmy Clausen, who I felt was the best quarterback in this class, int he 2nd round, picked up Brandon LaFell, my 4th rated wide receiver, in the 3rd round, Eric Norwood, my 3rd rated outside linebacker, in the 4th round, and addressed the secondary for depth in the latter rounds. A great all around job and don’t sleep on the Panthers this year.
3. Arizona Cardinals
It’s hard to really fill your needs with capable rookies in a draft, but I think that’s exactly what the Cardinals did here. They really needed to have a pro-ready draft this year with the losses of Antrell Rolle, Karlos Dansby, Kurt Warner, and Anquan Boldin all gone this off-season. They finally got a steady nose tackle in Dan Williams, they replaced Dansby with Darryl Washington from TCU in the 2nd, they replaced Boldin in the 3rd with a favorite of mine Andre Roberts, got a pass rusher in O’Brien Schofield from Wisconsin, and a developmental quarterback with Joe Flacco/Drew Bledsoe potential in John Skelton. Great values in each round, they could still be atop the NFC West.
Worst Drafts
1. Cincinnati Bengals
I’ve heard some liked this Bengals draft, but in my opinion, they took too many chances as usual. Jermain Gresham is immensly talented, but he has 4.8-4.9 speed, he can’t block, he needs to bulk up a little, and he doesn’t have a true positon. So he’s a risk in round one. Carlos Dunlap doesn’t have an NFL lower body and could get eaten up early in his career if he gets on the field. Jordan Shipley worries me because he played in that spread offense, isn’t extreamly quick or fast, and might have trouble in seperation. They got some good values late, but I could easily see this draft busting fairly quickly.
2. Atlanta Falcons
With their 1st rounder, I think they got a medium risk, high reward player. Sean Weatherspoon is very outgoing, almost to the point of being like a TO, minus the locker room cancer…as of now. They have a great group of players, so he could be quieted down. But, after that, they took four players I wouldn’t have drafted in Corey Peters, Joe Hawley, Kerry Meier, and Shann Schillinger. Dominique Franks was a decent pick, but he’s a little raw and might never develop into anything more than a safety/cornerback mix.
3. Houston Texans
The fact that the Texans are on here shows that I don’t feel that many teams had bad drafts. That likely thanks to this draft class being so deep. But because I had to pick a third, I’ll stick with Houston. First off, I wasn’t sold on Kareem Jackson, I thought he was more of a 2nd round prospect and no way was he better than Kyle Wilson. Also, they added players where they really didn’t need the help, such as tight end with Garrett Graham, linebacker with Darryl Sharpton, and kick returnman with Trindon Holday. All three can help with depth, but they could have used an offensive lineman somewhere here or some more secondary help.
Best Values
1. Jimmy Clausen, Quarterback, 48th to the Panthers
As stated before, the Panthers really stumbled onto something by landing Clausen in the middle of round one. Clausen, in my opinion, will disprove those character and leadership concerns early on in his tenure. He could be the opening day starter for this team and with great protection, great running backs, and some solid receivers in Steve Smith and Brandon LaFell, don’t put the Panthers down for a losing record quite yet.
2. Dez Bryant, Wide Receiver, 24th to the Cowboys
Based on my board, Bryant shouldn’t have left the Top 10. But his character concerns again pushed him down boards. Jerry Jones compared him to Randy Moss, not for his character issues but for his athletic talent. It ends up, he might have been right on both, but if you had to ask the Vikings if they would draft Randy Moss again, they would have said yes in a heartbeat.
3. Charles Brown, Offensive Tackle, 64th to the Saints
In my Top 20 and one of the few tackles in this draft class I thought could be a left tackle in the future, Brown may be in a great place to develop into a left tackle in a few years. With Jermon Bushrod and Jamal Brown there for the 2010 season, Brown can develop behind them. But by 2011, he could force the team to reevaluate who their left tackle of the future is.
Biggest Reaches
1. Tyson Alualu, Defensive Tackle, 10th to the Jaguars
I think it was obvious that Alualu would be here, and for good reason. If the Jaguars traded down 10-15 slots, Alualu would have still been there and they possibly could have packaged up to get back in the Top 40 to get another solid prospect. But, they stuck at their spot and reach for a prospect. While Alualu should be okay in the pros, I don’t think he’ll ever live up to his Top 10 status.
2. Trent Williams, Offensive Tackle, 4th to the Redskins
I stated before that Charles Brown was one of the few tackles that I thought could be a left tackle. Trent Williams wasn’t one of them. I didn’t see a consistent job of sliding and keeping his base to warrent me thinking he could be a left tackle. He fits well for the system and likely he would have gone 6 anyways, but I think the Redskins will be sadly dissapointed.
3. Dexter McCluster, Running Back/Wide Receiver, 36th to the Chiefs
McCluster was a favorite prospect of mine because he can help a team in so many ways: 3rd down back, speed back, slot receiver, screen pass receiver, kick returner, punt returner, and any other special packages. However, if I have a Top 40 pick in the draft, I’d like a guy who can start for me right away, and McCluster might never be able to be that guy.
Sleepers to Watch
1. Eric Norwood, OLB, South Carolina – Carolina
Norwood was one of the best pass rushers from the linebacker spot I’ve seen in a long time. He could do well being a rotational and situational pass rusher early on, but I feel he’s a starting calliber guy in a year or two.
2. Dan LeFevour, QB, Central Michigan – Chicago Bears
Optimum Scouting’s 3rd rated quarterback, I had a 1st round grade on LeFevour and I stand by that. He’s a little bit raw, but I feel he’s a gutsy, accurate, and nimble quarterback who has a mix of Donovan McNabb and Chad Pennington in him.
3. Arthur Jones, DT, Syracuse – Baltimore Ravens
Most didn’t like Jones as much as I did, he could be the first starter from this Ravens draft class. A versatile threat, he should be able to challenge for the 5-technique spot early on in his career.
4. Jonathan Dwyer, RB, Georgia Tech – Pittsburgh Steelers
Without Najah Davenport and Rashard Mendenhall beind injury prone, the Steelers need a power back to completement him and Mewelde Moore. Dwyer was a 2nd round talent on my board, and could be a rookie contributer.
5. George Selvie, DE, South Florida – St. Louis Rams
Because he’s a 7th round pick, there is little pressure or expectations to succeed for Selvie. But Selvie has never met a challenge he felt he could do, and I wouldn’t count this kid out for anything.
Final Notes
-While on our board, Tim Tebow was ranked out of the Top 50, we understand that he wasn’t a reach at pick 25 to the Broncos. With McDaniels history with Tom Brady and Matt Cassell, he’ll be out to prove that he can develop Tebow in the same mold. At 25, it was a little high, but he wouldn’t have left round one.
-Another guy not high on our board, Colt McCoy (121st prospect on our board) at pick number 85 may have seamed like a god-send, but his falling wasn’t all that surprising to us. It’s tough to discern pre-draft rumors from actual possibilities, and all along it seems NFL teams viewed McCoy close to where we did.
-While I wasn’t a fan of many of the Seahawks picks (loved Okung, but Earl Thomas, Golden Tate, and Walter Thurmond all are high bust options), I thought the fact that they brought in LenDale White and Leon Washington to go along with Justin Forsett was huge. After passing on Spiller at Ryan Matthews in the draft, I think they made good enough moves to give the running game some respectability.
-The question of where Campbell would go was a likely down to two options: St. Louis and Oakland. Oakland won out, giving up a 2012 4th rounder for the talented quarterback, and he’ll likely challenge Bruce Gradkowski early on. I think the Rams are fools for letting Campbell slip out, because Bradford could barely make it through a 13 game college season with NFL talented protection. The question of his ability to start 16 in the NFL is one that remains to be answered.
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