MM: Free agency to the draft

Another Monday, another edition of my mumblings.The free agency period is in full swing. Draft season is upon us. TFDS is covering it all.

The luster has already faded from the free agency period. It did not carry the fast and furious high drama of most years. With the 4th and 5th year players being held in place as restricted free agents, there are nearly as many players available as normal. Besides, reducing the number of free agents available, it has also kept the players from their normal pay-raise.

There as been an expectation that there is going to be a glut of unrestricted free agents on the market in 2011, assuming that there is going to be a football season. Most analysts believe that the unrestricted free agent threshold will fall back to four years from the current six.

Either way, there will be some action on the restricted free agent market. Teams are just kind of waiting and looking at each other seeing who is going to be the first to jump and set the market. Be very surprised if Kirk Morrison is still a Raider by next year.

With the draft upcoming, the focus is shifting away from those with pro experience and towards the college ranks. Once upon a time, the draft was just a low key affair. The teams met and chose the players they wanted, and went home. Now, it is a multi-day multinetwork over-hype extravaganza. The NFL has furthered the hype by breaking it up into three days and putting the first two rounds on prime time. (In the East Coast, anyway.)

This has put a crimp in many of the usual draft parties. They would normally run all day on Saturday. However, now the first round is going to be all by itself on Thursday night.

Of course, once the picks are in, the second guessing will begin. Well, with the results of the Raiders recent drafts the second guesses have come to fruition. JaMarcus Russell, Darren McFadden, and Darrius Heyward-Bey have been massive disappointments. Because of that track record, no matter who the Raiders select, it will be second guessed until he is successful on the field.

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I would like to welcome our new friend Bret Armstrong. He is going to be contributing some work, and providing a fresh point of view. Make sure to give him a ‘warm welcome’ in the comment box, when his first article gets published.

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If you haven’t seen it, Levi posted his own three round mock draft. No truth to the rumor that he has adopted the Mel Kiper, Jr hairstyle.

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jackass comment of the week:

On the mock draft post:

written by Mr. Dixon, March 12, 2010

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Classic film of the week:

Airplane!

This is one of the funniest movies ever. It was featured on the AFI’s (American Film Institute, not the band) list of top 100 funniest movies ever. It stars Robert Stack, Lloyd Briges, Julie Haggerty, and Leslie Nielson. Each of those actors were known for their serious work, but were perfect choices for playing it straight against an oddball script. Some of the jokes are dated, the “He never has a second cup of coffee at home” advertizing campaign is long lost to history, and there is no such thing as smoking tickets anymore. Surely, you will love this movie. Levi adds, “This is a great film, but stop calling me Shirley.”