***UPDATE*** ZoneBlitz.com’s take on 2008 NFL Draft Needs have started going live–check them out here.

I’m sure all of you readers (both of you) have been wondering why it’s been all Andy as of late, and no Tony. Well, truth be told, I’ve been busy working my real job, working behind the scenes here at ZoneBlitz (you have no idea how much time went into making all of the links on the page red), and actually taking a trip down to Florida to catch a little spring training action.

That’s right, the guys at ZoneBlitz are actually baseball fans too. Kind of.

Anyway, the week before I left, I finally swung into my local bookstore, and grabbed a few draft publications. Why? Even though I know they are outdated before they even go to print, and largely useless when it comes to team needs and mock drafts, I do it every year, because I’m a sucker.

But this year, they actually serve another purpose…

…because this year, I figure I’ll use them as a starting point for my own mock draft, by compiling the data from them, updating it based on free agency moves and my knowledge of the game, and see how I do compared to them (and probably my brother). My guess? We all probably get less than a quarter of the picks right–but I’ll have fun in the process.

Before I delve into any of the actual data being compiled, which will start later this week, I thought I’d give a quick review of the three publications I picked up:

Lindy’s Pro Football Draft – Lindy’s pre-season magazine is always a must read for me, although it will be different this year given that I think this will be the first year I won’t be preparing for a sim-league draft. Their draft publication has always seemed a little hit and miss, but this year I think they did pretty good. Kept the team needs short and sweet (which is nice since they’re always wrong), reviewed more or less the full roster for each team, and had a nice recap on last year’s draft, as well as an overview of the success in the last five. They also have some decent player reviews, and limit their mock to two rounds. I’ll give it a B-plus.

Pro Football Weekly 2008 Draft Guide – While not as flashy as Lindy’s, PFW does put out a solid pub. They keep their mock to one round, which is nice, and also offer solid player reviews. Their team reviews feature a list of guys on both sides of the ball that they consider a good fit for that team’s system, but unfortunately, they spend a bit too much space on team needs, listing the top 5 for each team, and using pretty much the whole team page just for that. Their 2009 Draft sneak peak is nice, as is their fantasy preview for 2008 rookies, but also advertising a “Free Gift” on the cover (and then giving a code for a free PDF download of a couple of draft issues, which could easily be swiped by non-buyers in the store…not that I’m encouraging that) is kind of dumb. Overall, I’ll give it a solid B.

Sporting news Draft ’08 – Here’s some surprising (and potentially disappointing) news that I didn’t realize until the third or fourth time I flipped through this one on the plane–American City Business Journals Inc., parent company of Street & Smith’s, purchased Sporting News last year. And inexplicably (in my opinion) chose to “blend” the two under the Sporting News banner. Disappointing, as Street & Smith’s was one of the better preseason pubs that I can remember, dating back to the old black and white copies that my brother and I would wear to tatters in the mid 80’s.

And disappointing because if this is the first effort, they missed the mark. By a lot. First, they have a three round mock draft–most publications probably miss on over 50% of their first round mock, but they’re taking it out to the third? Second, they promote “425+ Player Profiles”–but only the top few at each position are detailed, while the rest are scaled back to Strengths/Weaknesses/Bottom Line. True, PFW does that for all profiles–but at least they’re consistent. Also, on the player rankings–way out of whack. Michigan’s Jake Long isn’t the top ranked OT–he’s actually ranked #3, and given a 2nd round grade. DE Derrick Harvey out of Florida is ranked as the 6th best DE, and given a 3rd round grade–I’ve not seen him fall outside of the first round in any mock. Ohio State DE Vernon Gholston, whom I’ve seen some talk of as a possible top 10 pick, ranks #5 as a 2nd round grade. Meanwhile, Calais Campbell, whom almost everyone agrees has huge potential, but is a work in progress, gets the #2 ranking, and a first round grade.

Moving on to their team reviews, pretty much entirely devoted to needs, and listing a minimum of six for every team–many with up to eight, despite a lot of teams not having that many picks. And seriously, do I need to know that Denver’s 8th top need is a punter? Originally one of the nicer points of the magazine, they do offer a two deep-depth chart for each team, with each player ranked as Elite, Solid, Adequate, or Fringe. But again, some of the rankings are way, way off. Joseph Addai, merely solid, while Marion Barber and Frank Gore are elite? Brett Favre as solid, while Tarvaris Jackson (and Bryant McKinnue) is elite? Even my purple Viking blood doesn’t buy that. I give them a D at best.

But what do I know?