I'll admit to not being one of the many draft-obsessed football fans across the country. It's not that I don't get the allure, I do. The unbridled enthusiasm of a clean slate and the rebirth that picking a handful of new players can bring even the most downtrodden of franchises is something this Jets follower can relate to with little problem. It's just that seven hours cooped up inside with Chris Berman, Chris Mortensen and Sean Salisbury on a warm day so that I can find out something that I can spend the next five months getting my bearings with isn't that appealing an option.
I was surprised to see that the Jets moved up twice with trades in the first two rounds although I wasn't unhappy with the results. I thought they should focus on defensive additions and both Darrelle Revis and David Harris fit that bill. Revis, a cornerback from Pittsburgh, was rated below Leon Hall on many draft boards but having watched Hall, a technically sound if eminently burnable corner, a lot in college I'm more excited by the prospect of Revis. Tall, rangy and a strong tackler, Revis was ranked 10th overall by Scouts Inc. and he's also got punt return skills. The price to get him - a first, a second and a fifth with a sixth coming back - is steep but not steep enough to make me forget the strong draft a year ago.
To move up for Harris, the Jets traded their other second, a third and the sixth from the other deal for Green Bay's 47th overall and a seventh rounder. I'm very happy with this pick. Harris was the last of four Wolverines taken in the first two rounds and, to my eyes, the best player of the four. He was the surest tackler and centerpiece of a Michigan defense that earned a lot of praise and is a big-hitting and reliable tackler. He should slot in alongside Jonathan Vilma perfectly and allow the older player more room to manuever in the 3-4 defense. The crop will be small for the Jets, they have only a sixth and a seventh rounder to use today unless they make another trade but Revis and Harris were both very good college players at very high levels who fill holes in the Jet defense. That's about all you can ask from draft day.
Some other thoughts:
- The Brady Quinn thing is quite amusing to me. Every year there's the guy who falls and Mel Kiper and Peter King and whoever pull their hair out but then go on to compliment the picks made by other teams. If Quinn is so good and such a great prospect why aren't the other 31 teams in the league getting killed for passing on him? Why just the Dolphins? Last I checked there were five or six great QB's in the NFL, no other team would have a reason to pass on someone of Quinn's talent if he was so good as he's made out to be. I'm not saying he isn't going to be a good quarterback but he went #22 for a reason and every team should take a hit for passing him up or none of them should. That said, if I do become a draft watcher in the future it will be because of the prospect of seeing players like Quinn and Matt Leinart sweat to death waiting for a team to call their name. Andrew Perloff of SI.com wonders if more players won't skip the draft but I don't know how the league or ESPN would ever let them do that. It's the only good theatre going on. To Perloff's credit, he's one of the few calling out several teams for passing on Quinn. I might not be as bullish on his talent but he's right to play it the same way all the way.
- That doesn't mean that I'm with Miami's choice to pick Ted Ginn Jr. at nine. If you are picking a wideout in the first round he better walk in the door as the best one on your team, not going to happen with Chris Chambers in Miami, and he better be a unique talent like Keyshawn or Calvin Johnson. Ginn is a nifty returner, a speedy weapon and not worth that high a pick. The Dolphins got a quarterback in the second round, BYU's John Beck, and he could be better than Quinn but that doesn't excuse reaching for Ginn.
- Johnson is a great looking prospect but the wrong play for the Lions. Mike Martz will devise an offense that puts up numbers with Johnson and Roy Williams streaking down the field but they don't have the defense to make those numbers stand up and didn't do it any favors by taking the streaky Drew Stanton of Michigan State in the second round.
- Dallas had the best first day. They wheeled and dealed like Jimmy Johnson was still on the tiller and found themselves with two first round picks next year, theirs and Cleveland's which figures to be decent, and seven picks today to go with two yesterday to bolster Wade Phillips' first roster.
- If the rumors are true and the Patriots have indeed struck a deal for Randy Moss then the AFC is going to be very difficult to win for anyone not named Bill Belichick. It would be the crowning piece of an outstanding offseason for New England as they've filled every hole on their roster with Pro Bowl level talent. And if the rumor is true it will add another pick to Oakland's larder and another chance to add to a pretty great draft. They got their quarterback of the future in JaMarcus Russell, their quarterback of the present in Josh McCown in a trade and have taken five other players at five other spots to stock the weakest roster in pro football.
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