Teams with two first rounders mostly do well

by | Apr 22, 2010 | NFL Draft

After trades before and on draft day four teams ended up with two picks in round one.

I like best the day the Seattle Seahawks had, which may not be surprising given that they were both in the top 14. The Hawks first nabbed Russell Okung, who will likely step in on day one to replace Walter Jones, when the Seahawks’ star left tackle makes his retirement official. The second pick, safety Earl Thomas, has 4.3 speed and was being talked up by some of the draft experts on ESPN as the best safety in the draft. He’ll immediately make the defense better too.

The San Francisco 49ers had a good day as well. There had been some talk that they might go for a speed back like CJ Spiller to complement Frank Gore. Instead, with the Clemson back off the board early, the 9ers nabbed two stud offensive linemen to make holes for Gore instead. Anthony Davis from Rutgers is a 325 pound anchor who will also help protect whoever ends up at quarterback while Mike Iupati, the guard from Idaho, will also be a road grader.

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Jags fans can’t be thrilled with Alualu pick

by | Apr 22, 2010 | NFL Draft

The Jacksonville Jaguars struggled with attendance in 2009 enough to the point where rumors had the team several months ago considering drafting Tim Tebow in the first round just to get the locals interested in the team again.

They clearly decided Tebow wasn’t worthy of going with a top 10 pick and based on the reports it’s not surprising. They may still be able to get him in the second round if they want him.

But I can’t see fans in Jacksonville being all that excited about the team selecting defensive tackle Tyson Alualu instead. . That’s not to say the University of California product is a bad player – he may be a very solid lineman. Not that Mel Kiper is the end-all, be-all, but he had Alualu ranked as a late-first or early-second round pick.

Yahoo Sports had him as the 69th best player overall.

The Jags need defensive line help, no doubt. But it seems as though they might have been better off trying to swing a trade to move down eight to 10 spots and safely taking him there.

Either way, it’s hard for me to see this pick putting fans in the seats.

Florio rips Montana for nothing

by | Apr 22, 2010 | Hall of Fame, NFL Draft, NFL Random Thoughts

Mike Florio at ProFootballTalk.com trashed Jim Kelly a few weeks ago when the old Bills quarterback said he’d have no problem recommending Florida quarterback Tim Tebow to the Bills.

Florio criticized Kelly for the recommendation because Kelly has never been a scout – despite the fact that Kelly acknowledged in his answer to a question that he had never been a scout and couldn’t guess where Tebow should be drafted (Then just a few days later Florio chipped in with draft advice of his own … who are you going to listen to more? Florio or Kelly? I thought so.).

Today Florio puts 49er Hall of Famer Joe Montana in his sites. Montana was asked by NFL.com about Jimmy Clausen, the Notre Dame quarterback who could fall in the draft due, at least in part, to concerns about his attitude.

Montana’s response? “He came in with a little bit more of an attitude than most people wanted, but if you don’t have an attitude, you don’t make it in the league,” Montana told NFL.com. “You can’t be timid and shy.”

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Stecker hangs up his cleats

by | Apr 21, 2010 | NFL Random Thoughts

We’re not likely to become a site that recognizes every player who decides to retire. But I was struck this morning reading that Aaron Stecker is hanging up his cleats for good.

Stecker was far from a star. He ran for more than 1,500 yards for his career, not in any given season. He also contributed about 1,200 yards receiving. He played on special teams a lot as well.

He missed out on the New Orleans Super Bowl run last year when he left for Atlanta after five years in the Big Easy. But he did win a ring with Tampa.

I think the reason I liked Stecker was that he always stayed out of trouble and he seemed to pop up when it mattered. Couple backs get hurt. No problem. That’s what we’ve got Stecker for. Guys like that are invaluable on good teams.

He went undrafted out of Western Illinois but managed to string together 11 years in the NFL. As he put it in the New Orleans Times Picayune, “I lasted longer than a lot of running backs who got drafted before me.”

Well done.

NFL schedule released

by | Apr 20, 2010 | NFL Random Thoughts

The day the NFL schedule is released isn’t quite as exciting as opening Sunday or as important as the NFL draft.

But for some reason I still get a kick out of finally getting a chance to see when the Vikings are going to be playing division rivals or who we get to watch at Thanksgiving.

Speaking of which, I think the NFL put together some really decent Turkey Day matchups this year.

The Lions still aren’t very good yet but they should be better. They’ll be the underdog to New England without any question, but they should be in better shape to at least give the Patriots a game this year.

I love the rematch between the Super Bowl Champ Saints and the team that knocked them from the ranks of the unbeatens after 13 straight victories, too. And closing the evening with a playoff rematch of the Bengals and Jets is good too.

One of the most anticipated games of the season will take place October 3 when Donovan McNabb goes back to Philadelphia as a member of the Redskins. Yet it’s the rematch in D.C. that gets Monday Night Football billing on November 15 … that one seems like a bit of a missed opportunity, though it will probably keep Philadelphia fans from throwing up on Redskins fans on national television.

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