NFL 2010 Offseason

My Skins Draft Grade: B With additional thoughts for my peeps here.
(1) A - Trent Williams OT, OSU: immediate starting LT that provides vertical displacement along the D-line as to allow pro-bowl running backs a chance to make a move at the second level. Best pick possible at this spot.

(4) C - Perry Riley OLB, LSU: a head scratcher , but could prove to be quality depth / future starter in a 3-4 scheme. Not really fulfilling a glaring need at this position (FS, OG), but clearly he was valued heads and shoulders above everyone else available on the Redskins big board. Also remember, L. Fletcher's not getting any younger and Riley has proven he can get almost 100 tackles in the SEC.

(6-via trade) B - Dennis Morris TE, Louisiana Tech: adding an additional athletic body at the FB (with TE background) to assist in pass protection and run blocking; short down yardage and catching out of the back-field still TBD, but looks promising as he's undersized slightly; still addresses O depth when offseason (in quantity) primarily addressed the defensive side of the ball.

(7) B+ -Terrence Austin WR, UCLA: small, fast (4.38) w-out with top 10 return skills. In the quasi-mold of D. Jackson, this is exactly the type of project required to replace Rock and ARE to put a spark in the return game. In the six round, bust or not makes not difference, this team needed some speed.

(7) B+ -Selvish Capers OT, West Virginia: Bust or steal? Well that hack Kiper had this kid going to the skins in the second round earlier this year. Perfect opportunity to be groomed behind Artis Hicks to potentially become a professional RT for years to come.

(7) B -Erik Cook OG New Mexico: safe pick. Add some guard depth behind the question mark that is M. Williams, and the potential waning of Dockery over the next three years. This is a win-win at a high-seventh selection.

Holes not filled FS (B-) Well, it was either E. Berry or this hole was not going to addressed due to lack of picks. The objective value of this position was set by KC (5th overall pick). The threshold value of the position was set by GB, when they took an above average (2nd team ACC), solid FS in Burnett in the beginning of the 3rd (71st). There was no way the Skins could have gotten a return on investment picking a FS with a fourth rounder as there was no one available worth the pick. If they stayed out of immediately upgrading their QB for the 36th overall pick, Taylor Mays could have been an option. But moving Landry (reportedly) back to his natural position of SS and having newly motivated CB's in Hall and Rogers, this is probably the best case scenario for a wild card run in 2010.

Total B. It's almost impossible to give an A to a team that was so depleted with draft picks here but the breakdown of the 6 picks - 4 OL Support, 1 KR / Speed Guy, 1 OLB / BPA is pretty solid in my opinion.

Also, fuck Mel Kiper in his stupid fucking ass. He is completely irrelevant.

 

You should have seen what I had to say after the Cutler trade. I was livid for about a week. "Who does he think he is??" stuff. Still, it's a fair point, and I've sounded biased so far.

Here's the thing: I've always felt Denver had 2 years worth of rebuilding to do from the day he was hired. Like I said before, the roster he inherited was largely mediocre. They tried to do a direct switch to the 3-4 (as opposed to running a hybrid 4-3/3-4) without all the personnel to do it, which worked out much better than anyone could have expected, thanks in large part to Mike Nolan. The hot start was a surprise, especially with the new blocking scheme. The collapse started, coincidentally, after Ryan Harris' toe injury, which put a hole in an offensive line that was already undersized. Going into this draft, many Broncos fans wanted no less than 3 interior lineman (which is exactly what they got). Defensively, the lack of depth hurt them, especially on the line. It was a matter of time before they got worn down up front, and teams ran all over them late in the year. Even with the additions of Jamal Williams, Justin Bannan, and Jarvis Green, there's some question marks, like whether Chris Baker can play NT and if Marcus Thomas will be able to switch to DE this season.

Now, do I think McDaniels has done some things wrong? Of course. It's foolish to blindly support everything a coach does. I have some complaints with McDaniels just as I had with Shanahan. No coach is perfect, much less a 34-year-old in his first head coaching position. I love the wheeling-and-dealing he and GM Brian Xanders do in the draft; I respect that they identify the players they want and go after them, mainstream "big boards" be damned. It's a double-edged sword, though: trading three picks to take Tebow, in my armchair QB opinion, is a bit much (I wasn't a fan of picking Tebow at all, actually). Then again, Buffalo was really making a push for him, so I suppose it was necessary. I'm also going to watch Alphonso Smith like a hawk this year, because McDaniels traded our 1st round pick this year (the eventual #14) to get Smith in the 2nd last year. I'm not going to make a knee-jerk reaction and call that trade a failure after one year, but Smith has a lot to prove in the next year or so.

As for McDaniels' coaching, there were quite a few questionable decisions last year. In several games (in particular, the Colts game), McDaniels would insist on running up the middle on 3rd- or 4th-and-short, when the Broncos were stopped more often than not in that situation. That's not a bad move, but again, they didn't have big enough linemen for it. Now that he has a bigger line to work with in 2010, the offense should be better. Orton/Quinn/Tebow will get the time in the pocket that he needs, and Moreno/Buckhalter will have room to run.

He's a new HC with a lot to prove and refuses to pander to anyone, and unfortunately that means appearing to be an "egomaniac" or "trying to be like Belichick." He's trying to put his stamp on this team, and I respect that. It won't always be sunshine and kittens along the way, but he took a record-setting offense to the Super Bowl, so he might know a thing or two about how to win. It just takes time to implement.

 

This is exactly what happened. The first 6 weeks of the season we looked better than the sum of our parts thanks in large part to McDaniels just out coaching people. We made our bones with some downright exceptional 2nd half adjustments, but the problems started to show up against New England. They're a very physical team and exposed the cracks (read: Hamilton and to a lesser extent, Wiegmann) along our offensive line, then Baltimore and Pittsburgh blew that crack wide open, showing the entire NFL how to beat us. At that point, the coaching and smoke and mirrors advantage is gone.

Thankfully our glaring holes have been fixed and we should be a very competitive team next year.

 

I can not tell you how happy it made me that Jimmy Clausen was drafted so late. Hopefully ESPN will now realize that even after all Kiper's insight he has no clue what the NFL franchises will do.

 

And then they have the fucking nerve, the day after to sit there and list predictions for next year. Next fucking year!!! I cannot believe the shit they predict after watching 30-60 seconds of tape on these guys. Absolutely nuts. Anyone know where there is a scorecard showing how accurate all these talking heads were?

 

In all fairness, Kiper does his due diligence. Like that article I linked on the last page shows, he at least does his homework. Mock drafts are more of an art than a science; that is, there's no one "right" way to do it, and everyone can have different views on the same rankings. Besides, it's cool that someone is giving the masses a glimpse at next year's draftees. Obviously, the rankings are very preliminary and will greatly change in the next 12 months. If not Kiper, then who?

And it's not like he's the only one looking at the 2011 draft already:

Mock Drafting: Serious Business.

 

And then they have the fucking nerve, the day after to sit there and list predictions for next year. Next fucking year!!! I cannot believe the shit they predict after watching 30-60 seconds of tape on these guys. Absolutely nuts. Anyone know where there is a scorecard showing how accurate all these talking heads were?[/quote]

I dont have any stats, but I did watch a lot of pre, during and post draft coverage and I can say that the NFL Network's coverage was 10x better than ESPN. The only redeeming insight on ESPN was Jon Gruden & Chris Mortensen. Mayock kicks the shit out of Kiper and McShay. Kiper likes to rip the kids as if they controlled where they were drafted. He also likes to rip teams that deviate from his "board".

I actually heard him say within a span of 10 minutes that the Ravens had a good draft because they didnt draft solely by need and they drafted Best Player Available (which happened to coincide with his picks) and the Dolphins had a mediocre draft because they didnt draft for need and just went with their BPA (which didnt go by his board).

 

I gotta disagree with you here Rob. Kiper is a joke in NFL scouting circles. He doesn't watch tape outside of high profile games. He calls his sources and compiles a list of how teams are roughly valuing guys, which he then skews with his own personal bias.

Meanwhile you've got tenured NFL vets like Scott Pioli saying Mike Mayock, and only Mayock, could work in the field if he wanted because he doesn't rely on what team sources feed him (which is often misinformation) he instead scouts the draft himself, watching film more than pretty much everyone, and complies his own rankings.

Mayock is more accurate than Kiper by a long shot. So is Pat Kirwan (former NFL front office man) and Gil Brandt (often referred to as the "godfather" of the draft) does too. Hell, Kirwan got 25 of the 32 first rounders right including 11 in a row at one point.

Kiper can't hold up when you look at his actual track record. He does better than the average fan but he doesn't stack up to the real professionals.

 

The only bigger joke than Kiper is McShay. He is a fucking abortion when it comes to scouting. He either agrees with Kiper or is the polar opposite. Listen to the 2 of them argue is like listening to old people fuck.

I was impressed with Cory Chavous on the NFL Network. He seemed very familiar with all the picks and had good solid opinions. What's the sense if you either like or dislike everybody? He brought up specific examples in specific games that nobody else seemed to mention.

 

I wasn't really trying to point out any bias, I just wanted to know what you thought needed to be improved. McDaniels claimed early on he wanted to spread the ball around on offense, but it seemed down the stretch, when they went 2 and 6 that Brandon Marshal was the only thing they had going for them. And If feel he is absolutely worth that 50mil contract he's playing with right now, something you disagreed with. I think the Broncos running game will vastly improve in its second year as a power running team (vs zone blocking from shananhan days). I'm still not quite sure why they traded Schefler(spl?) to the Lions, that guy is a stud.

I'm gonna second the Mike Mayock vote, for what it's worth. I am all ears when he's on NFN. Same goes for Brandt. If memory serves he's the one who helped draft that Cowboys dynasty?

And as long as we're talking about the draft, as a Green Bay fan, I'm thrilled that Bulaga fell to Green Bay. What an amazing pick up, along with our second round safety. A lot of people are talking about Seattle and the Raiders (who managed not to shit the bed until its double picks in round four) as having huge drafts, but I like all the pieces Green Bay added. Definitely see them as having an A grade draft.

 

Their WR corps was very suspect, and even with Marshall they needed a #2 to line up so Royal can play the slot where he's more suited. As it is, they drafted Demaryius Thomas (who's almost as big as Marshall, with the deep threat speed that Marshall lacks) and Eric Decker (who might be the biggest steal of the draft - make of that what you will), so their passing game should see an improvement. Chan Gailey, who coached Thomas and Calvin Johnson at Georgia Tech, said Thomas is better now than Johnson was coming out of college. Thomas was redshirted in 2006 and 2007 was the only year he played under Gailey, so I'm not sure how much perspective he has.

As for Scheffler, he is a stud, but it was unfair to both him and the team to keep him in Denver where he wasn't properly utilized. Tim Lynch of Mile High Report explains why:

He's a receiving TE with not much to offer in run blocking, like Dallas Clark or Antonio Gates, which makes him a square peg in a round hole for McDaniels' system. At the very least, it's cool that Scheffler went to Detroit. With Marshall being traded to Miami and Cutler to Chicago, that means all 3 players went to play close to where they're originally from. Whether by coincidence or McDaniels honoring some requests they might have had, I thought that was neat.

I'll be interested to see how C.J. Wilson does in their system. I'm not familiar with Green Bay's DE rotation, but I'd like to see him crack it. Being a 7th-round pick, the bar isn't set very high, but since East Carolina doesn't put out many NFL guys, it'll be nice to see him and Linval Joseph succeed in any capacity. I feel like both of them went to good situations that suit their talents.



Random thought: I'm of the opinion that Tebow should be super-glued to the bench for 2010, but I thought this quote from McDaniels is awesome, particularly the bolded part.

 

Scheffler is gone because he's a world class cunt. He was wishing for the season to be over while his teammates were fighting for their playoff lives. John Elway, who is usually reserved on all things Broncos, said he'd want someone off the team for pulling that.

The guy has talent, no doubt, but he was hard to keep on the field in the Shanahan days because he was such a poor blocker, and the problem was only amplified when McD came to town with his offense that expects more blocking out of the tight ends. Even then, he wasn't even close to "stud" level, although he was a good receiver.

Exactly. In McDaniels offense you need a tall, fast field stretcher (the X receiver), a quick, shifty guy who can make something happen after the catch on those short slants (the Z receiver) and a physical receiver with good hands for the intermediate routes (the Y receiver). The receivers are generally targeted in this order. Thomas is a prototypical X receiver, as is Royal at the Z spot. Gaffney is a very good Y receiver and Decker will likely be a big upgrade there in a year or two.

The problem we had last year is that no one on the team had the deep speed needed to play the X spot except Eddie Royal, who we played there despite him being too short. Marshall was too slow for the X spot and not shifty enough for the Z spot, so we had to play him at the Y spot and focus our offense on a position that is usually the 3rd or 4th progression on any given passing play. Now we have players playing where they belong and can focus the offense on the X and Z receivers again.

This I gotta disagree with. Mile High Report usually puts out good stuff but they're wrong here. Yes, blocking is the main emphasis of tight ends in this offense, but McDaniels made great use of Ben Watson and he's practically a carbon copy of Scheffler with only slightly improved blocking ability.

Would Scheffler have ever caught 70-80 balls like he could have playing Shannon Sharpe's old role in Shanahan's offense? No, but had he improved his blocking and not been a dick he could have easily been a 50 or 60 catches a year type guy, which is better than most tight ends.

That's friggin awesome!

 

Ryan Clady tears his Patellar Tendon playing pickup basketball. Will probably be sidelined into training camp and could miss some or even all of the 2010 season.

<a class="postlink" href="http://www.milehighreport.com/2010/4/28/1449177/ryan-clady-injures-knee-in-non" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://www.milehighreport.com/2010/4/28 ... nee-in-non</a>

Good thing the Broncos have those 3 QBs and a rookie who played LT in college now.

 

Don't forget Kiper predicted that Stafford would go number 1 overall when he was a senior in high school. He's a genius!

 

As opposed to last year, when he needed bicep surgery. And just like last year, it's already May so by the time he has the surgery and recovers, it's past training camp and OTAs and he doesn't have to participate again. I believe he had surgery in May last year as well. So yeah, basically a repeat of last year, just substitute "ankle" for "bicep".

 

Well let's just hope that riding around on that tractor in Mississippi helps him recuperate sufficiently, so that he can get back to being like a kid out there, and pull just special, after just special play out of his ass, and thereby give the broadcast crews more masturbatory material for another season of inane observations.

 

Who the hell knows with this guy. According to his official site:

At this point, your guess is as good as mine.

 

Cincy signs Pac Man Jones and Matt Jones... Maurice Purify arrested in a fight. Seriously? Could Cincy make worse personnel decisions year after year? Palmer better watch out, Rapelisberger is probably gunning for his job.

Aaaaaaaand Plaxico is still a dumb ass. Imagine him lined up across from Ocho Cinco.