The Draft and The Weekend

Logan Mankins

Since I only watched about five minutes of the draft, because I was working, but mostly because it's as interesting as a chia-pet, I had to look up how the Patriots did today.

I had heard that they took an offensive lineman in the first round, which I thought was strange since going into the draft that was one of the areas of least concern. The departure of Joe Andruzzi is definitely a loss but I felt pretty certain that they would go for a defensive back early. I think it's even stranger now that I've read more about Logan Mankins and his injury problems and that he was projected to go somewhere in the late second or early third rounds.

I have to believe that this pick was precipitated to a large extent by the selection of five defensive backs before the Patriots first pick at 32. With Marlin Jackson and Fabian Washington both going off the board in the 20's Belichick and the Patriots must have felt that replacing Andruzzi was a better option than taking Stanford Routt who went to Oakland (who also took Washington) at number 36 or Corey Webster who went to the Giants at 43, both of whom are reportedly "project" players.

The Pats didn't pick again until number 84, where they finally took their DB Ellis Hobbs from Iowa State. If you've heard of Ellis Hobbs before this you are most likely from Iowa. According to Scouts Inc. he is nothing more than an undersized, sub/nickel package guy, which probably means that under Belichick he'll either be cut on day 2 or will be in the Pro Bowl.

The other five picks are obviously of less note. Nick Kaczur at 100 was the most positively touted player. He's been called the hardest working offensive lineman in the draft and a very "coachable" project, which is definitely something the Patriots demand. James Sanders, a safety out of Fresno State at 133 has gotten some good grades for playing above his size and speed, which is another great love of the Patriots but according to Scouts Inc. he always needs protection behind him (BAD for a safety).

The last three players selected by New England were Ryan Claridge an outside linebacker from UNLV, Matt Cassel a quarterback from USC (sidenote: did the Pats just get confused and pick the wrong Matt from USC or did they really draft a guy who has ridden the bench for the past 2 years?), and Mr. Irrelevant Andy Stokes a tight end from William Penn at the dreaded number 255.

From my very moderately educated perspective this draft report does not impress, especially in terms of needs addressed. If the Patriots were going to take a flyer on a guy with injury issues and questionable potential in the first round why didn't they do so to at the position of greatest need, defensive backfield, especially when they knew they weren't going to pick again until 84 where there would likely be no top end skill position but plenty of big line prospects remaining? I'm sure that every pick was researched and agonized over by the Pats brass and that their reasons are better than my questions, but I'd love to hear why the only weakness they really had was not addressed in the form of the first round selection. Hey, how can I not trust Belichick and Pioli at this point?

Although I really find the 48 hours of draft coverage painfully dull there were a few things I found interesting about the proceedings.

The 49'ers selection of Alex Smith has got to be hard to swallow for San Fran. fans. You can almost imagine the scene in the 'Niners war room on Saturday morning. A whole bunch of, "Fine! We'll just take the damn kid even though we really just want to wait until next year to get Matt Leinart...God this is going to blow up in our faces." They now have to pay top pick money to a guy who would have been the 4th quarterback taken last year, ouch.

Jason White joined the Charlie Ward Club as the only Heisman winners not drafted. Just nobody tell Jason that Charlie was making millions in the NBA. Sorry buddy.

Aaron Rodgers got about as lucky as a guy can get but still probably had the worst day of his life. He's lucky because now he gets to be the successor to Brett Favre in Green Bay instead of battling with Tim Rattay for the right to start in San Fran. and get the snot beat of him every game for 2 seasons. Of course it was also the worst day of his life because earlier in the week he was supposed to go number 1. It's gotta be real lonely in that back room when everyone else is gone and you're there for 2 more hours and with each pick that passes you by you can feel your wallet getting lighter and lighter and lighter...

The Dolphins pulled a great bait and switch on Braylon Edwards, telling his agent the day before the draft that, "there are no guarantees but there is strong interest" in selecting Edwards and then taking Ronnie Brown at number 2. The fish were trying to do what every team should have been doing, drum up trade interest in their number 2 spot by suggesting that they were going to take someone that other teams wanted. Basically they were just trying to get out of the way of a number 2 pick in a painfully weak draft. Too bad everyone below them knew that too.

Detroit is LOADED at wide receiver and definitely got the steal of the draft in Mike Williams at number 10. You heard it here first, this kid will be the best player to come out of this draft and it isn't going to be close. With Roy Williams and Charles Rogers the Lions will have the best receiving core in the NFL soon, yes Indianapolis that's right, they will be better than you. Now if Joey Harrington could get his shit together...

Mike Shannahan apparently thinks that he can turn ANYONE into a decent running back. There is no other reason you would take the walking nightmare named Maurice Clarett. Of course you have to take someone when you don't make your first pick until number 56.

BC was shut out in the draft this year. No players selected. There was however a player taken by the Patriots from William Penn...not our finest moment. Sorry other Matthias, looks like you should have gone to class eh buddy?

NBA Playoffs blog later.