Close the Window, I Feel a Draft Coming

It's that time of year again. When every football fan becomes a college football expert. When we decide which teams will be any good next year. When Mel Kiper Jr. is at his annoyingest. Also, I will continue my annual tradition of not doing a mock draft. It's not that I don't enjoy them. I love 'em. I live and die by each one as if they're real. It's simply that I don't know enough about any of these players to do one. Id probably just end up copying someone elses. So instead, here's some pre draft thoughts.

Far be it for me to compliment a football analyst, but Jon Gruden's QB camp special on ESPN last Thursday was so great. For many reasons, not the least of which were seeing him really piss of Tim Tebow when he called him Mike Alstott. What was great about the show was that it took you where you rarely get to go: the film room. Gruden sat down with the top four QB prospects individually and broke down their college film with them. Talking about everything from mechanics, to reads, to protection, everything a QB should do. What made this fantastic, though, was that it was done as if there were no cameras around. Well, not entirely. They didn't swear or anything, but they talked to each other as football people. It wasn't dumbed down for the audience. I loved that. Too often, analysts act as if the viewers don't know what they're seeing. They simplify everything. They should go the other way and let the viewer try to keep up, If not all the time, then at least specific shows. I mean, I learned more from an analyst during that hour than I have in the past ten years.

With regards to the draft. I have a few guidelines for teams. THe first, and most important, is that teams shouldn't worry about what the media an/or general public will think. If a team thinks that an available player is worth their particular pick and can't move down while the media's projected the player to go lower, the team should just take him. Suffer the criticism for a little while then prove everyone wrong. A few years ago, the Titans took Chris Johnson with the 24th pick. At the time, the seemed to be about the right spot to take him. He was the fifth back taken after McFadden, Stewart, Felix Jones, and Mandenhall. Say the Patriots took him at twelve or the Panthers took him instead of Mayo or the Jets took at him at 6 over Gholston, they'd have gotten ripped for reaching so far. Yet given what he's become and what those teams are, the public would've been proven wrong there. So teams need not worry themselves about what ianalysts say. There's a reason why they're not GMs.

Next, if you think a QB available is a franchise QB, you have to take him. You don't get too many shots at a franchise QB, unless of course if you make a habit of passing on QBs. You don't want to pick that high ever again. So while you're there, take a QB.

While it sucks when your team trades away a pick when they're on the clock, I do love the idea of trading a round two pick for a round one next year. Except for this year, I guess, because there might not be any football next year.

Alright, Ill talk nore after the draft.

Peace