MisterC's Draft Evaluation

Top 3 Uber Draft

Seattle Seahawks

-Pete Carroll has started his post-USC career off with an excellent start.  Seattle had a lot of holes to fill coming off of a 5 win season.  Good offenses start on the offensive line and Seattle addressed that immediately by selecting one of the best tackles in the draft Russell Okung from Oklahoma State.  Next, Seattle improved their secondary by drafting the 2^nd best safety Earl Thomas from Texas.  These two picks alone would have made it in my Heck of a Draft section but Seattle was far from finish.  Like I’ve mentioned in my previous articles, I love Golden Tate the football player.  Golden is a playmaker and competitor, he will also add value to the Seahawks return game.  The next three picks, Carroll addressed the defense by selecting CB Walter Thurmond (Oregon), DE E.J. Wilson (North Carolina) and FS Kam Chancellor (Virginia Tech).  The pick with the most value is the 6^th round selection of TE Anthony McCoy from USC.

New England Patriots

-Oh Lord, here we go again!  I hear your Patriot haters, but you have to give credit, where credit is due.  The Patriots had 12 draft picks this year and somehow still acquired 10 picks for next year.  New England won 10 games last year and didn’t have many holes to fill, but because of the quality and value of their selections I had to include the Patriots in the Uber section.  The Patriots first six selections will either be starters or #1 backup someday in this league.  CB Devin McCourty, TE Rob Gronkowski, LB Brandon Spikes and TE Aaron Hernandez will be very good players in this league and will contribute to the Patriots Super Bowl run this year.  DE Jermaine Cunningham will move to OLB and can develop into a starter sometime during this upcoming season.  Special Teams is often an overlooked aspect of winning football games but not for the Patriots because they selected the strong legged punter Zoltan Mesko out of Michigan with their 5^th round pick.

Baltimore Ravens

-Ozzie Newsome is the man and continues to accumulate talent on the defensive side of the ball.  Being a Bengals fan, I almost put a hole in my expensive HDTV when the Ravens selected DE Sergio Kindle with the 11^th pick in the 2^nd round.  Baltimore doesn’t rebuild at the OLB position they reload.  If that selection wasn’t good enough, Ozzie picked up DT Terrence Cody fourteen picks later.  Note to all Krispy Kreme donut shops in the Baltimore area:  if you see Cody approaching, lock the doors and turn out the lights.

Top 3 Heck of a Draft

San Francisco 49ers

-The 49ers should be in the Uber section but this is a Top 3 not Top 4 listing.  In one day the 49ers have turned their offensive line from a weakness into a strength by selecting the massive OT Anthony Davis from Rutgers and OG Mike Iupati out of Idaho.  FS Taylor Mays believes that he is the 2^nd coming of well, himself.  Though extremely talented, Mays coverage skills are terrible but as the 17^th pick in the 2^nd round this is a good spot for him.  If this wasn’t enough, Singletary got himself another very good LB in Navorro Bowman from Penn State.

Kansas City Chiefs

-The Chiefs are in this section because of their first four picks.  SS Eric Berry (Tennessee) is a playmaker on defense and he instantly upgrades the 22^nd ranked pass defense.  Another upgrade to the secondary is the selection of another playmaker in CB Javier Arenas from Alabama.  Although this next pick was a little high, I still like the selection of RB Dexter McCluster (Mississippi) because he adds very good depth behind Thomas Jones and Jamaal Charles.  In the first pick of the 3^rd round, the Chiefs add a potential starter at guard in Jon Asamoah from Illinois.

Cleveland Browns

-The Cleveland Browns are here because of four specific selections.  The Browns improved their horrible secondary with the selection of CB Joe Haden (Florida) and SS Larry Asante (Nebraska).  The Browns also improved their offense with the selection of RB Montario Hardesty (Tennessee) and the big WR Carlton Mitchell out of South Florida.  Believe it or not the Browns got the steal of the draft by selecting QB Colt McCoy (Texas) in the 3^rd round.  It still amazes me how the so called experts believed McCoy was the 3^rd or 4^th best QB in this draft.  To me, McCoy was hands down the 2^nd best QB in this draft and his intangibles are the same as Tebow.  Tebow obviously got a lot more press because of his Heisman and National Championships but McCoy is a better quarterback.

Top 3 Okay Draft

Cincinnati Bengals

-The Bengals had a very interesting draft and in a few years this could be Marvin Lewis’ best draft.  Since the Bengals didn’t have any major holes to fill on their roster, they were able to draft players on potential rather than need.  This strategy has not always worked out well for the Bengals, hello WR Jerome Simpson.  The potential of TE Jermaine Gresham (Oklahoma), DE Carlos Dunlap (Florida), CB Brandon Ghee (Wake Forest), LB Roddrick Muckelroy (Texas) and WR Dezmon Briscoe (Kansas) are immense.  The Bengals also made a good selection and gave Carson Palmer another potential weapon in WR Jordan Shipley (Texas).

Carolina Panthers

-Fans you may believe I put the Panthers in this section because of the selection of QB Jimmy Clausen (Notre Dame) but you would be wrong.  The Panthers are here because of the QB Tony Pike (Cincinnati) selection in the 6^th round.  Tony has a greater potential upside than Jimmy Clausen.  Clausen has maxed out his potential, he will obviously improve but he is close to his ceiling.  On the other hand, Pike has room to improve in every aspect of his game, including physically.  Sometime this year Clausen will be starting but Pike is the future for Carolina.

Philadelphia Eagles

-The Eagles had a busy three days with 13 draft selections and an unbelievable 4^th round.  They drafted all defense with their first 5 draft picks, drafting pass rushing specialist DE Brandon Graham (Michigan) and playmaking FS Nathaniel Allen (South Florida).  I also like the selection of RB Charles Scott (LSU) to go with LeSean McCoy.  Another two selections that I really like are DE Ricky Sapp (Clemson) and WR Riley Cooper (Florida).

Top 3 Soon to be Unemployed Head Coach Draft

Denver Broncos

-Josh McDaniels, you are not Bill Belichick and you have proved that with this draft.  The worst aspect of the Broncos draft is obviously the first two selections in WR Demaryius Thomas (Georgia Tech) and QB Tim Tebow (Florida), both in the first round.  Thomas is obviously a physical specimen but he played in an option offense where he didn’t run NFL routes and is coming off of a broken foot.  Denver then trade their 2^nd, 3^rd and 4^th round picks so that they could move back into the 1^st round and select Tebow.  Tebow would have been there for the Broncos to select in the 2^nd round.  Not only did the Broncos select him too high, but they also selected a QB that has never played in a cold weather game or snow, and they bring him to Denver, Colorado?  McDaniels’ career will be based off of this pick and unfortunately for McDaniels it won’t look good.  McDaniels even stated that Tebow will not start this year but he will be used in the Wildcat formations.  Tebow will eventually move to the H-back position but it probably won’t be until the next Broncos coach is hired.

Buffalo Bills

-I’m going to keep this as short as possible because that’s all that the Bills deserve.  After finishing 30^th in passing, the Bills addressed this in the draft by acquiring RB C.J. Spiller (Clemson) in the 1^st round and WR Marcus Easley (Connecticut) who doesn’t have very good hands.

Jacksonville Jaguars

-I can say with absolute certainty that the Jaguars will have a losing season and Jack Del Rio will be job hunting this time next year.  This is one of the worst drafts I have seen in recent history.  The Broncos had a horrible draft, but compared to the Jaguars, the Broncos drafted Elway, Terrell Davis and Shannon Sharpe again.  First, the Jags spent their first four picks on defensive linemen, none of which were picked at a value spot.  DE Tyson Alualu would have been there in the 2^nd round.  Yes, I understand that the Jags didn’t have a 2^nd round pick, but the Jags are about to pay a Rolls Royce price for a Ford F-350.  Second, the Jags offense finished 18^th in the league and only drafted a running back in the 6^th round.  Out of all of the talented WRs, OLs and TEs in this class, the Jags decided not to draft even one.  Jacksonville’s owner must be seriously thinking about relocating to Los Angeles.