Jets S-T-E-A-L Sanchez; what are Raiders doing?

by | Apr 25, 2009 | 2009 Trades, NFL Draft

Wow.

Eight picks into the draft and the Zoneblitz mock draft is shot.

The New York Jets, as many expected, moved up to make a play at a quarterback. The shock to me is how little it took for them to move up from 17 to 5 in order to grab Mark Sanchez, the USC underclassman. The Jets give up the 17th pick, a 2nd round pick and three decent-at-best players – must’ve been guys Eric Mangini, former Jets and new Browns coach, liked while he was in the Big Apple.

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The Browns want WHAT?!?!?! for Edwards?

by | Apr 22, 2009 | 2009 NFL Free Agency, 2009 Trades, NFL Draft

Bahahahaha hahaha hahaha!!!

…

Bwahaha haha hahah haha

Sorry. Just flipped on ESPN and Sal Paolantonio reported that the Cleveland Browns are willing to trade butter-fingered wideout Braylon Edwards to the New York Giants – in exchange for defensive end Mathias Kiwanuka AND a first-round draft choice.

Yes, that’s correct – Cleveland wants a first-round pick AND a starting quality defensive end for a wide receiver that dropped as many passes as he caught last season.

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Mock Drafts Are Dumb – So Here Is Ours…

by | Apr 21, 2009 | NFL Draft

Is this mock draft right? No.

Were there probably some obvious omissions? Perhaps (see Josh Freeman – you can call it an obvious omission if you want. But we don’t think he’s first-round worthy – just our opinion – feel free to tell us why you disagree).

But at the end of the day we think this mock is … well, we think this mock draft is no worse than any other. It’s the only one we’ll do. We have day jobs, so we’re not going to adjust ours every four hours like Mel Kiper does with his.

We set out to write this mock draft a few days ago. Since we got started, one major trade (Peters to Philadelphia) forced a re-write. Certainly other moves are in the works.

That’s why mock drafts are generally worthless. They’re time killers for people who don’t want to do their real work. With one trade or one free agent signing, this whole body of work will be out of date.

So, here’s ours. Like it? Don’t like it? Let us know where we went wrong.

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Singletary takes strange issue with Stafford

by | Apr 1, 2009 | NFL Draft, NFL Random Thoughts

It was impossible to not admire Mike Singletary when watching him patrol the middle of Chicago’s defense while I was growing up.

The constant camera shots of his wide eyes eventually got a bit nauseating, but the passion with which he played the game was impressive.

But his statements and actions since he ascended to the head coaching position in San Francisco have been nothing short of bizarre.

At first it was a little bit refreshing. When he banished underachieving tight end Vernon Davis to the locker room during his first game as the head man it seemed as though football had found a coach that could keep today’s highly-paid players in line. His postgame speech might have raised an eyebrow or two – he hit the issue and lashed out at Davis a little more than one might have expected him to, but it seemed as though he was making a point.

Then it came out that he mooned his team as part of an inspirational halftime talk. Hmm. Okay. Weird … but he’s just developing as a coach.

Now he’s virtually written Georgia quarterback Matthew Stafford off of his draft list because Stafford reportedly didn’t want to go into detailed discussions about the divorce of his parents?

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Bradford Staying is the Right Call

by | Jan 15, 2009 | College Football, NFL Draft

Heisman winner Sam Bradford announced yesterday that he is going back to school for his Junior season.  It will be his fourth season in Norman, given his red-shirt season.

This morning on my way in to work, the morning crew on the local sports radio station all pretty much agreed that he was making a mistake, since some experts (like Todd McShay) have Bradford pegged as the likely #1 overall pick.

But Bradford made the right call, if he wants to be a successful NFL quarterback, by going back to school.

Although I believe it would be a mistake, it’s possible that the Lions would have taken Bradford #1 overall, and he would have (eventually) signed a nice, fat contract, and likely been set for life.

Many people, including my die-hard Sooner alum/fan neighbor, insist that it is his mental makeup that will make him a success at the next level.  But even against Florida in the national championship game, Bradford just looked average.  Add to that what looks to me to be a strange throwing motion, and only two years of experience–and that coming in a shotgun heavy version of the spread offense, based somewhat on the offense Mike Leach installed in 2000 (which has produced gaudy numbers at the NCAA level, and several QBs who have gone on to do nothing in the NFL), and the likelihood of Bradford succeeding out of the gate in the NFL drop.

Add to that that he would likely be joining one of the worst teams in the NFL, and he would be sure to fail.

2008 NFL success stories Matt Ryan and Joe Flacco might have some teams (and their fans) thinking that throwing rookie QBs to the fire is the way to go.  But they would be sadly mistaken in the case of Bradford.  Both Ryan and Flacco played four years of college, had success in offenses better suited to the pro game, and had that success surrounded by talent that was not as forgiving of mistakes as the OU talent pool.

So Bradford made the right call–at least one more year of college experience, a chance for a second Heisman, another chance at a national title, and hopefully some offensive scheme tweaks (if Bob Stoops wants to improve his reputation as someone who gets players ready for the next level–I count four Sooners from the Stoops era who are NFL stars, and only a handful more that have made any impact), and he could go on to NFL stardom.

Tebow’s NFL future not at quarterback?

by | Dec 20, 2008 | NFL Draft

My brother and I are certainly not NFL scouts. Nor did we stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night.

But we do occasionally pretend we know something about the game. One topic we discussed lately was the future of Tim Tebow in the NFL. We agreed that while many mock drafts on the Internet done by people of varying credibility see him as a first round draft pick, neither of us see him being a star quarterback once he turns pro.

Apparently a few others agree. CBSSportsline.com’s Gregg Doyel penned a column in October predicting that he would not be a stud QB in the pros. And I was listening to ESPN Radio’s Freddie Coleman on my way home tonight. He had draft expert Mel Kiper on and out of the blue he said the same thing.

It seems Tony and I aren’t the only ones that have noticed the weird, slow windup Tebow takes before he throws the ball, nor are we the only ones to think that while Tebow is a class act on and off the field and no doubt a tremendously entertaining and fantastic athlete, his arm strength is just below that needed to star in the NFL. There also are doubts about his ability to fit into a pro style offense.

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