With their First pick in the 2006 NFL draft....
As promised here is my take on the 2006 NFL Draft. I am writing this post as I watch the draft in PIP at the same time as watching my Jays get smacked by the Yankees.
Thanks to my insomnia I watched several hours of the combine leading up to this years draft as the NFL network had the darn thing on loop for about a month. It was the first time I got to see what kind of drills the players were put through and to be honest the quarterback and wide receiver drills are the only ones that held my attention. Wide receivers in this draft may not be the most outstanding but we do have some real star potential at multiple positions in this years draft and 3 teams are going to be very happy with their new quarterback selections from everything I have heard and seen.
Let's backtrack a bit though and I think it would suffice to say these past few months leading up to today have been drama filled and bordering soap opera status. Going back to the rose bowl it was Matt Leinart who decided to return for his final year (we will later see that this has probably cost him about $12 million in guaranteed contracts) up against Vince Young who emerged victorious and instantly talks began of who would go first in the draft. In the weeks ahead, there was the release of the results from the Wonderlic test taken by prospective players that started raising questions of Vince Young's ability to succeed at the Pro level. The blogosphere was eating this up and there were several sites that jumped on this story which was later refuted and the proper scores were given to the teams eventually. This story dragged on long enough to set up as a lead in for the Reggie Bush saga. Matt Leinart must have been feeling left out with all the attention on Vince Young and Reggie Bush he decided to make some news of his own. Leinart stepped out with hotel heiress and socialite Paris Hilton and became gossip column fodder for a few weeks.
All this and none of the above mentioned players made it as the #1 overall pick in this year's draft. If you want a detailed rundown pick by pick you can check out Deadspin as The Mighty MJD breaks it down with some humor. As for me... Well I actually wanted to do this post pre-draft but the Houston Texans threw out a curve ball at me and most of us who have been following the days up to the draft. The Texans officially ended the speculation of who would be drafted first a day before the actual draft by signing Mario Williams, a defensive end out of North Carolina State. This move subsequently messed up all the mock drafts done up by the analysts and experts and little 'ole me. I shouldn't have been so surprised I guess... During the summer, I was sure the Texans were going to go out and draft Vince young but they effectively put an end to that idea by extending David Carr and effectively taking them out of the picture as one of the teams who be in the quarterback race. So they passed on Young, who would have definitely been a fan favourite as he played his college career in Texas, then they can't reach an agreement with the top running Back in ths draft and basically leave the New Orleans Saints a ton of options as they were next in line to draft.
In the NFL more than any other professional sport, teams take on the approach of drafting for need rather than the conventional Best Player Available (BPA) scenario. You could be drafting #2 and you have all the choices in the world but you are going to go with the guy who fills your team needs even though there may be players on the board who are better but play positions you already have. With this in mind the New Orleans saints were in a great position as they had a lot of holes to fill and by Houston picking Mario Williams I think the Saints won the draft as they got Reggie Bush. Tennessee was next up and unless there was some major trade going down they were in the perfect position to pick their replacement to Steve McNair. The Titans picked Vince Young and failed wonderlic or not he is going to be their quarterback of the future. (Incedentally, word is that Vince modeled a lot of his game around McNair and even trained with him on several occasions.) The Jets were up next and they took a safe route even though I personally feel they could have done some moving around as they were in a good position with two picks in the 1st round and considering their last season was a disaster, this was a good chance as any. The went with an Offensive tackle in Ferguson and with that I am going to assume they are comfortable with their quarterback situation and are expecting Chad Pennington to be back on course this season.
The Packers got the news earlier in the week that Bret Favre was going to return to the team for the following season and with the news that Lavar Arrington was going to the giants they went out and got a guy who was widely known to be one of the safer picks in the draft in A.J Hawk. Hawk will be used immediately in the starting lineup and should be a solid pick for the cheeseheads. The 49ers pick was known to most a long time ago and he was a very emotional one too ... Tight End Vernon Davis. His potential has been compared to Jeremy Shockey and Antonio gates and I expect him to fit in with a young quarterback who they selected 1st overall in last years draft.
The next few picks shocked me ... I was so sure Oakland was going to go for a Quarterback and with Leinart and Cutler still on the board they went with a safety Michael Huff. Even more shocking was the Buffalo Bills picking Dante Whittner who is also a safety and in this case it was obvious the Bills were drafting for a specific position and just drafted the #2 safety on the board since Huff was taken. Detroit went with a Linebacker and then the Cardinals were on the clock ready to get the steal of the draft. Picking 10th they still had Leinart on the board and went with him and I think this might be a good fit overall and he will be a very successful quarterback with the right coaching he might not make much of an impact in his rookie season though. Following this beauty was a trade by the Denver Broncos they traded up with the Rams which set them up to go for Jay Cutler. A bit of a shocker as Jake Plummer was their guy and even though he didn't have a great championship game last year he was in the upper echelon in QB's last season but this sends a message for sure. Plummer better get his A game ready because before you know it Jay Cutler may be the starting Quarterback of the Denver Bronco's.
The Ravens went with a Defensive tackle to help make some room for Ray Lewis to do his thing and for that Haloti Ngata was the perfect pick. Following him were a few more defensive linesmen and my team, The Philadelphia Eagles who had thought they might have to trade up to get their guy found him still on the board when they were on the clock and went with DT Broderick Bunkley. The Rams got a cornerback with their pick and the Vikings settled for a Solid Linebacker. Known as "America's Team", the Cowboys got themselves a linebacker of their own and to boot Parcels coached this kids dad so he should have an idea of what he is headed for. The Patriots went with a running back even though Dillon still has the legs but they clearly went for a guy who was a solid first rounder and didn't worry so much about position. To Replace LaVar the Redskins got themselves a solid Linebacker and I was surprised he was still on the board and should be able to fit in right away. A few picks later the Steelers who earlier this off-season traded away one of their best wide receiver selected the best WR in a weak receiver draft in Santonio Holmes. POINT?? The rest of the 1st round played out pretty much how I had expected.
For a full list of the draft picks you can always go here and follow around the links there to get more in depth analysis as well as reactions for the picks in the first round and more. I leave you with a Vince Lombardi quote and I will be back tomorrow with my analysis of the first round of the NBA playoffs.
"Individual commitment to a group effort - that is what makes a team work, a company work, a society work, a civilization work" - Vince Lombardi
