A few of my favorite picks:
1.3 Brandon Marshall, Minnesota Vikings
I let my feelings be known on draft day and in the mock—Marshall is the most valuable player in the draft. Ryans and Cromartie are more “ready” but Marshall will still impact the game more than either when he gets going, and he can still be a 1k yard receiver in his rookie year. You only need one training camp to add a point each to SPD and ACC so they’re both at 99, then if you wish you can improve on the 92 AGI or just dump the rest into AWR and CTH until he gets to a point where he’s taking care of the rest pretty quickly, and then you can focus on other pass catchers. I’m thinking that’s about 3 TCs before he hits his final form and be the Moss the actual Randy Moss wasn’t for whatever reason while in Minny before getting shipped off to the Steelers.
1.5 Vince Young, Minnesota Vikings
I definitely didn’t see thing coming bc they already had Bollinger who they’ve worked a lot on, but I get it. Young, if done properly, will be much better than Bollinger at the same point in their careers. His THA doesn’t really need to be touched as you pumped everything into awareness, and by age 26/27 he could have AWR in the 90s, and it’ll be the start of a golden era for Minnesota if my Lions haven’t found a QB of the future of our own. For some reason, I think Young got less love in this draft process, and while going number 5 is fine, he probably should have gone earlier to a QB needy franchise.
1.8 Leonard Pope, Oakland Raiders
Part of why I liked the pick was the aggressive move up to grab him, and I’m not convinced the Saints were targeting Joseph anyway, despite him being a stud and at a more valuable position. Looking at their roster construction, a focus was placed on height for the receiving corps, with huge wideouts taken early in the first round and even a slight reach in the 2nd last season with 6’7” Estes, who underwhelmed in his rookie campaign. There is no better fit that Pope, who is an absolute freak. That receiver corp would have been frustrating to play after a little seasoning. Nevertheless, he’s a Raider, and he should be a damn fine receiver who I can’t wait to watch play next year.
1.22 Gabe Watson, Miami Dolphins
It got a little awkward during the draft when the trade went down, mostly because they believe the Dolphins will stink up the joint than anything. That’s because for where Watson went and what he could become, you can’t knock the pick unless you just want to hate. He’s nearly 340lbs with 80 SPD. After his sophomore progression, if he also gets the two training camps he is eligible for, Watson could be 83 SPD—99 STR—70 AGI—77 ACC. There is no comparable interior defender in the league and it’s not even close. With those measureables I might stick him at left end in a 34 system and watch him wreak havoc. Even if he stays at DT, he should be a destructive force once he hits his potential. If it weren’t for the unusually deep DT class, Watson may have gone earlier.
1.32 OLB Clint Ingram, Kansas City Chiefs
Ingram isn’t a freak, but he’s pretty high up there on the athleticism chart. He will be among the upper tier as a rookie, and be among the elite few in a couple of seasons, especially if he gets training camp work. I also like the pick because it finishes the linebacker rebuild after selecting Derrick Johnson last year, and middle linebacker D’Qwell Jackson with pick 28. It’s gone from meh to among the best physically, with the potential to be a dominant core in short time with a little development.
2.9 OLB Tim McGarigle, Baltimore Ravens
Anytime a linebacker can hit 90 SPD, you take notice, even if he’s a relatively tiny one at 6ft. His AGI is great but his ACC is just above average, but you can live with it, especially if you can put him through training camp. Even without one, 90 SPD/82 STR/88 AGI/83 ACC is pretty damn sexy any way you slice it. Ravens got a potential playmaker here in the early 2nd round.
2.14 HB Michael Robinson, STL Rams
I thought he might fall under the radar, and I almost mocked him to the Rams before they traded their 21st overall pick to the Packers who ended up stealing my target with it. If he’s to be their future lead back, he needs as many carries as possible early to work on the lacking awareness and BTK, but the foundation is solid enough that his floor is a pretty good backup if all goes wrong. The ceiling is a better version of my starting running back, Kevan Barlow.
2.19 TE Anthony Fasano, Dallas Cowboys
I was starting to think his private workout really bombed after I saw pick after pick and he was still on the board. While it wasn’t great, it was still pretty good, especially for the second half of the second round. This is very good value for his kind of athleticism, and he will provide Brees with another weapon out of the gate in the 2006 campaign.
“Let the hate begin…”
1.7 QB Jay Cutler, Jacksonville Jaguars
I don’t hate Cutler, I hate where he went. I was confused because they burned through 73 private workouts but they felt this was the best course of action. I believe they panicked went Young came off the board and reached because they felt like they needed a franchise QB early. Generally it’s obviously better to get them working early, but Cutler wasn’t that good to pass up, say, TE Leonard Pope who went with the very next pick, or CB Jonathan Joseph for that matter. The clear course of action for me was to wait to draft a QB later, or skip it until next season while building up the blue chip position player numbers. I probably would have hoped for the best in the next QB class to be honest and done BPA.
1.12 CB Devin Hester, Chicago Bears
As the Lions GM, these kinds of picks make me happy. Hester is nowhere near a first round talent in my opinion, even if he was mocked there a couple of times. His lack of speed is disrespectful to the real life version. I guess it was nostalgia, but I am actually trying to win rather than rebuild my childhood team, though I get a light reach to make that happen, this was way too much for the 12th overall pick.
1.17 CB Jarrett Bush, Cleveland Browns
While I think he has long term starter potential with playing time and training camps, he just wasn’t good value at this point in the 1st round for me. He’s got average speed with potential to be above average, very poor awareness, with plus height and a side of youth. There were plainly much better options at 17.
2.3 DE Ryan LeCasse, Washington Redskins
Maybe I’m missing something, but this was like a 4th-5th round talent going in the early second. I think this was a situation were a reach was made based on need instead of best player available. His best attribute is his acceleration, and even that is nothing special, just good, and that’ll be after his sophomore progression.
2.24 K Stephen Gostkowski, Arizona Cardinals
If you’re drafting a kicker in the second, I sure hope he’s a weapon, and this guy with his 86 KPW ain’t. I would have signed some veteran kicker, or waited, because he should have been available in subsequent rounds. I really no likey, and that’s not because Will was holding the 2nd overall pick hostage for my beloved Sean Taylor.
