Koppen has re-signed. We all know nothing will happen with Welker until just before training camp opens. So, we can all pull out our calendars and start (if you haven’t already) crossing off the days until the NFL Draft opens and Roger Goodell walks to the podium as a mix of unenthusiastic applause salted with boos rises from the crowd. Has the NFL ever thought of having Billy Crystal host the draft? “Luck be a first pick tonight! Luck be a first pick tonight! If Mel and Todd think you’re the QB of the future, Luck be a first pick tonight!”
Maybe Jimmy Fallon? "Stanford's where I'm coming from. My lucky number's one..."
The Patriots don’t need to worry about Andrew Luck vs. Robert Griffin III, but the Colts do. Not so much because there are concerns Luck might be the next Ryan Leaf but that RGIII has more of that most desirable and indefinable qualities, “upside.” I don’t know that either Indianapolis or Washington has enough spare parts to make either one of these Quarterbacks of the Future a Quarterback of the Right Now. Still, I would think the expectation for both QBs is that they would start from Day 1 and that they will be compared starting on opening day 2012 and throughout their careers. Fifteen years from now, the Peter King Bot will produce a table showing their YPA, TD, Comp% and Super Bowl Wins side by side. No doubt one will suffer by comparison to the other.
I have to admit that if I were an NFL owner or general manager, that I would invest in a psychic. Building a time machine seems out of the question in the near term and certainly much more expensive. I’d probably go with three psychics like in “Minority Report” but I’d give them each their own office rather than force them to lie in a bluish liquid bath of electrolytes while wearing nothing but their underwear all day.
While I am happy to watch the top of the draft with amusement, I am suffering in anguished anticipation for picks #27 and #31. The Patriots Team Site has a Mock Draft Tracker that summarizes the various mocks in the Google Machine. A few thoughts…
· Wisconsin center Peter Konz should be dropping off the updated mocks. With our Two Dans (Connelly and Koppen) signed center seems like something of a luxury, certainly in the first round. Since Konz remains on but one mocker’s mock as of this post (Albert Breer’s) this may hardly be regarded as a bold statement on my part. Perhaps better said that even with the potential retirement of Matt Light and Brian Waters the Patriots look pretty good on the offensive line.
· Boise State DE/OLB Shea McClellin will be drafted by the New York Jets. The odds of this increase with the number of mocks (currently 5 on the Pats Draft Tracker) giving McClellin to the Patriots.
· North Alabama CB Janoris Jenkins, a man with more baggage than the Whitman brothers carry with them on “The Darjeeling Express,” shows up on 3 mocker’s boards. Supposedly, the Patriots’ strong “locker room culture” makes this choice worth the risk but I think that angle is over-argued. It certainly didn’t work with Adalius Thomas or with Albert Haynesworth.
· There’s a fair amount of consensus on New England’s needs; DE/OLB, Safety, Cornerback, D-Line depth and a wide receiver that is tall and fast. Most mocks seem to use one of the first rounders on the defensive front seven and the other on the back four. I’d be tempted to draft the best available DE/OLB with each of the four first- and second-round picks. Melvin Ingram and Quinton Coples should be long gone by #27 but Whitney Mercilus, Courtney Upshaw, Nick Perry, Vinny Curry, Andre Branch, Chandler Jones, Dont’a Hightower, Bruce Irvin and Shea McClellin might all be on the board (well, unless the Jets take McClellin, of course) and those are all names I’ve heard connected to the Patriots. When all of those guys are gone, then you take the best S/CB/DT/WR available. I’ll be hoping it’s a tall, fast wide receiver.
A little bit of fun. One of my all-time favorite pop songs. Fast forward to the 2:00 mark (unless you enjoy self-aggrandizing concert patter). If anything, the harmonies sound better than on the original…
No comments:
Post a Comment