NFL - Are you ready for some Football - Draft and Off Season

[Imran Siddiqui]

Can you believe that earlier in the last college football season there were some that actually speculated on Woodson being the #1 pick in this draft? Wow.


And the Giants get him in the 6th.

[Imran Siddiqui]

And Mike Hart to the Indianapolis Colts in the 6th. He'll make a great pairing with Addai.

[Lord Avalon]

Read this in the Freep today:

Mendenhall's haul

We saw at least one (thousand) mock drafts that had the Lions picking Illinois tailback Rashard Mendenhall at No. 15. It didn't happen, but Mendenhall should still get a big pile of cash from the Steelers, who nabbed him at No. 23. And his mom, Sibyl, plans to keep the dough in his pockets.

"I'm good at saying no -- real good," she told the Chicago Tribune. "There's going to be a lot of nos, a lot of disappointed people. You can't take care of everybody. We've already sat down and talked to aunts, uncles, cousins. We had to. Everyone was making their list and checking it twice, thinking he's going to be Santa Claus, and it's just not going to be like that.

"We had to say, 'Don't quit your day job. If you have a raggedy car, you'll still have a raggedy car next week.' "

You go, mom!

[Imran Siddiqui]

On ESPN, they said Wheaton and Mount Union have had a player taken in this weekend's draft, but NO ONE from Alabama has been picked.

[Ben Kenobi]

Hmm, I see the Bolts picked up another CB. I can remember a time not so long ago that was our weakest position.

I hope they can grab some linemen.

[Imran Siddiqui]

Well it's going to be hard to grab "some" anything, since they only have one more pick .

[Lord Avalon]

Lions picked Army S Ca-leb Camp-bell

[Imran Siddiqui]

Btw, Madden '09 just included a new feature that I think a lot of people here will like

[Ben Kenobi]

Well it's going to be hard to grab "some" anything, since they only have one more pick

Seeing as we got both Dielman and Jamal as UDFA.

[Ben Kenobi]

Jacob Hester--probably won't make it as a fullback, but could be a brilliant third-down type back, whether he is running, blocking, or catching

He lets the Bolts drop two roster spots. Yay!

[-Jrabbit]

No QBs drafted by the Bears. I wonder what the plan is for QB3...
maybe Culpepper?

[snoopy369]

Nah, they'll sign someone as a UDFA, or use that Florida guy we drafted last year perhaps.

[Guynemer]

Mario Manningham in the seventh round?


Seriously?

[Koyaanisqatsi]

Originally posted by Imran Siddiqui
Btw, Madden '09 just included a new feature that I think a lot of people here will like

The irony, of course, is that that picture is of the unidentified cameraman with the Jets that was supposedly shooting the New England sideline...

[snoopy369]

Well, 6th round compensatory picks. Close enough.

I still think the Bears should've used a pick on him, but the two WRs they got look pretty good in any event. The 7th round choice in particular - if he stays healthy he's a HUGE benefit for Rex (amazing hands, tall/big, strong across the middle).

[-Jrabbit]

Just read some guy raving that he (Marcus Monk) will be the next Marques Colston. (Of course, the guy is a massive Arkansas fan, but hey, these are the times for unreasonable hope, right?

[snoopy369]

Oh, I like Monk a lot, but the comparison:

Rex Grossman -> Marcus Monk

Drew Brees -> Marques Colston

has one significant shortcoming But who knows.

[-Jrabbit]

Bears have stated they are signing 2 undrafted QBs. Here's the first:

Bears signed Southern Illinois QB Nick Hill and Western Kentucky WR Curtis Hamilton.

The Bills told Hill they'd take him with the No. 251 pick, but at the last minute went with CB Kennard Cox. Hill is a top-notch athlete and was an accurate passer at SIU. This is an ideal landing spot for the southpaw.

Source: Chicago Sun Times

[snoopy369]

Nick Hill definitely had some upside... he was someone the Talking Heads thought would be a good fit, and I think I agree. Would certainly be nice to have a top notch athlete at QB...

[Koyaanisqatsi]

All right, the Pats got their missing piece as a UDFA!

(oh yeah, and that LB guy from Tennessee might be useful too.)

[-Jrabbit]

Local Chicago area kid makes good!

[Ming]

Originally posted by -Jrabbit
Bears have stated they are signing 2 undrafted QBs. Here's the first:

Bears signed Southern Illinois QB Nick Hill and Western Kentucky WR Curtis Hamilton.

The talking heads on ESPN this morning were talking about how Hill is equal to a 5th round pick (even though he went undrafted... )

I was surprised the Bears didn't draft a QB... But when they signed Hill, he was as good as anything they would have gotten late in the draft. So not bad overall.

Not really an exciting draft, but a solid one for the Bears.

However listening to the Angelo, you had to wonder what he was smoking. He rambled on that they had drafted 5 starters. And then went on to say that it might not be this year, or ever, but that they drafted 5 guys who can start.

[snoopy369]

Barring a miracle (ie, a playoff appearance and at least one playoff win), I think Angelo's out after this year. Some of his draft picks are nice, but his overall strategy is so weird...

[Ming]

I'm not so sure of that... He did bring the Bears to a Super Bowl just two years ago. That cuts him a lot of slack.

[-Jrabbit]

Vikings have grabbed Illini LB J Leman as a free agent.

[snoopy369]

I think a lot of people don't credit Angelo much for that superbowl, though. To a large extent that superbowl was more luck than anything else - the combination of things that happened that year was pretty impressive (ie, the AZ game). The offense wasn't particularly good that year, hasn't been particularly good since ... 1985? Angelo needs to reverse that trend, and he hasn't done much to do that yet...

[SlowwHand]

Dallas writers are saying KC had an "A+" draft, followed by St. Louis, Detroit and CHicago with an "A".
They gave the Cowboys a "B". The rest of the teams fairly well split betwen "B" and "C".

[snoopy369]

Dallas writers are marginally insane, then. Neither DET nor CHI had an A draft. DET's 1st rounder is enough to guarantee a B- or lower, IMO - note it was by FAR the lowest rated by the folks I've seen (a C by Mel Kiper) and got an F from the general public

I think KC and PIT had the best draft, though some (BAL, for example) may have done well but were more risky (Flacco I don't see as a solid pick but he COULD be good for them, for example).

[SlowwHand]

They're not limiting to 1st round, they're saying overall.
They give the Steelers a "C", based mostly off Mendenhall, which btw, they're ripping Jerry Jones a new ******* for taking Felix Jones.

Mendenhall was the steal of the draft at No. 23. Teaming with Willie Parker, the Steelers will have two offensive speeds – fast and faster. The play-action game will never be better. QB Dixon has Slash-like potential.

[snoopy369]

I'm saying overall as well. However, the 1st round pick has a large effect on the overall draft grade in my mind, because it is by far the most likely position to give a starter (and a star). DET picked so badly at their first round that they'd have to have had very good later rounds to make up for it, which they did not (they certainly had decent rounds past the first, but not great).

PIT had a great first two rounds, and Dixon is a great pick in terms of potential - he may fail miserably, but that's okay, they can afford to have him fail (Roeth); he could also be a great QB, which would be just as well.