An Actual Post: Quick Hit On The First Round

Because, you know. Why not?


Biggest Winners

Cleveland Browns. Got a huge haul from the Falcons and then pulled in one of the players from the deepest position in the draft. I don't know a lot about Taylor but he's a guy who would have gone in the teens a lot of years.

Houston, Detroit, St. Louis. With the weird run on quarterbacks in the top twelve, three of the most talented prospects dropped to these teams in the early teens. Rick Smith, Martin Mayhew, and Billy Devaney are thanking their respective spirits and deities right now.

Cam Newton. Just think, 8 months ago he hadn't taken an NCAA snap in two years and had attempted a total of 12 passes at that point. Now, depending on collective bargaining, he's worth somewhere between $50 - $80 million. And we still have no idea what kind of player he will ultimately be.

Biggest Losers

Atlanta Falcons. This may seem lame, but this really is a zero sum game to me. If Cleveland won, then Atlanta lost. They made a Ricky Williams-type deal for a player they don't really need. I love Julio Jones. I think he has as much potential as any receiver since Calvin Johnson. Thing is though, the Falcons already have Roddy White and Tony Gonzalez and Michael Turner. It is hard to see what Jones will provide that is so much greater than what Michael Jenkins already provides. Sure, great prospect and he might be a great player for 15 years. But to give up that much you need to get that key guy at that key position. Jones doesn't really represent either.

I lurked through a Falcon board and the fans don't seem too happy, even the ones putting a brave face on this. They are consoling themselves with the dreams of compensatory picks next year.

Minnesota. Hard to say where they really had Ponder. Gosselin had him going #10OA to Washington. Still, I have to believe that they died piece-by-piece as Locker and then Gabbert slipped off the board. And then died a little more when they couldn't trade out of the pick. I have no idea what kind of NFL quarterback Ponder will be, but from a pure draft-value perspective this is a disaster for Minnesota.

Ryan Mallett. I coined the phrase 'pulled a Clausen' last night, shamelessly stolen from Kingpin. I coined it specifically for Mallett. To pull a Clausen is to leave school as a junior quarterback with a shitty attitude and puffed up expectation of ones worth. This dude is probably going to be the 7th QB off the board and maybe not til the third day. Way to go Ryan!

Biggest Gambles

Carolina. Cam Newton has star power coming out of his ears. Whether or not he can actually be a good quarterback, or great quarterback, or elite quarterback? Who knows. The Panthers are in disarray. The team is coming apart at the seams already. Steve Smith is old, their running back tandem has lost effectiveness, Julius Peppers is gone. It is hard to see that the infrastructure is there to support him. There is going to be a lot of pressure to get him on the field early and his learning curve is enormous.

Baltimore. Kind of hard to argue that a team drafting #26 is really gambling with a guy like Jimmy Smith, but Smith is a pretty bad dude. And by "bad" I mean bad, not good bad. He did enough drugs to get himself caught. He knocked up women and walked away. He stiffed his first agent out of $30 grand and then fired him when he couldn't get more. Last night I was listening to the pundits with their typical tired story, telling me how Ray Lewis would get/keep Smith straight. I really kind of wonder if Lewis still has that cache. Smith could really pay off. He could continue to be a bad dude and still pay off. Or he could be ruinously disruptive enough to wreck a Raven season or two.