NFL draft review

Many may have thought that day three of the draft would be a bit boring, or a bit slow, but that wasn’t the case at all. There was lots of movement between teams, Seattle and Oakland making the biggest deals.
There were a number of quarterbacks left to come off, that many people see as the “better crop of QB’s in the class,” including myself.
Seahawks deal for White and Washington
Running back LenDale White is now reunited with his head coach from USC, Pete Carroll in Seattle, following a trade with the Titans that sent White, defensive tackle Kevin Vickerson and two draft picks to the Seahawks, for a fourth and a sixth-round picks.
Seattle also acquired running back Leon Washington and a 7[SUP]th[/SUP]-round pick from the Jets for a 5[SUP]th[/SUP]-round pick. Washington is a versatile back that can return on special teams and be a change of pace guy. Leon is coming off of an injury and is expected to start the season on the P.U.P list, (player unable to perform).
The Seahawks had a great draft, coming away with offensive tackle Russell Okung and safety Earl Thomas in the first-round and wide receiver Golden Tate in the second-round. It will be interesting to see how the Seahawks play this season. A lot of their success will rely on the health and arm of quarterback Matthew Hasselbeck, or possibly Charlie Whitehurst should Hasselbeck struggle.
Campbell finds a home in Oakland
Ever since Easter night, when Andy Reid announced that the Philadelphia Eagles had traded quarterback Donovan McNabb to the Washington Redskins, Jason Campbell knew his days were numbered. There has been much speculation as to when Campbell would get traded, who would trade for him and what his worth was.
Those questions were all answered today, when the Redskins sent Campbell to the Oakland Raiders for a 4[SUP]th[/SUP]-round draft pick in 2011. Campbell will be an immediate upgrade to an Oakland team that hasn’t had a quarterback since Rich Gannon’s last good year in 2002.
Two years ago, Al Davis drafted LSU quarterback JaMarcus Russell with the first-overall pick. If you follow football at all, you know the book on Russell; he’s lazy, he doesn’t take it seriously, he’s not a leader, etc. He does have a very strong arm and, well that’s about it.
Bruce Gradkowski took over for Russell in late November last season as the starter and beat the Cincinnati Bengals. He followed that game up by beating his hometown team, the Pittsburgh Steelers. He suffered an injury in his fourth start against the Washington Redskins and was replaced again by Russell. Russell would get injured and the Raiders finished the season with Charlie Frye under center.
The Raiders have a few weapons on the team and with a game manager like Campbell, they may just creep up on a few teams this season.
Morrison says good-bye to Oakland
In a separate move, the Raiders sent linebacker Kirk Morrison and a fifth-round pick to the Jacksonville Jaguars for a fourth-round pick. Morrison will be an impact player for Jack Del Rio and his Jaguars this season.

Since being drafted five years ago, Morrison has made every start (79 straight) and led the Raiders in tackles for the past four seasons. In an interview today, Morrison commented that once the Raiders took linebacker Rolando McClain with the 10[SUP]th[/SUP] overall pick, he pretty much knew he was the odd man out in Oakland.
It should be noted that he had no bad feelings towards Oakland and wishes the team success, except when they play the Jaguars this season.
McFadden the latest ex-Steeler to return to Pittsburgh
Cornerback is a concern in Pittsburgh with William Gay and Ike Taylor, so the Steelers looked too sure up the defensive backfield a little more, when they brought back Bryant McFadden. McFadden, who spent last season in Arizona and started his career five years ago in Pittsburgh, is now reunited with most of his teammates from the Super Bowl season in 2008.
The Steelers were predicted to take a defensive back in the early rounds of the draft to fill a need, but they held off until the fifth-round, when they drafted cornerback Crezdon Butler from Clemson. In the early rounds, the Steelers focused more on offense, drafting center/guard Maurkice Pouncey 18[SUP]th[/SUP] overall, wide receiver Emmanuel Sanders in the third-round and offensive tackle Chris Scott, with their first of three fifth-round picks.
In rounds two and four, the Steelers drafted two defensive ends; Jason Worilds and Thaddeus Gibson. They tacked on linebacker Stevenson Sylvester, running back Jonathan Dwyer, wide receiver Antonio Brown and defensive tackle Doug Worthington. Overall, it was a very productive draft for the Steelers and most importantly, it shows they are going to move forward with Ben Roethlisberger as their quarterback. At least for part of the season, after he completes his six-game suspension.
The other quarterback class
It was a lock that Sam Bradford would go in the first-round, Jimmy Clausen was supposed to go in the first-round (Rd. 2 – 48[SUP]th[/SUP] overall, Panthers), Colt McCoy fell down the boards a bit (Rd. 3 – 85[SUP]th[/SUP] overall, Browns) and no one really knew where Tim Tebow would go, as early as the first or as late as the third (Rd. 1 – 25[SUP]th[/SUP] overall, Broncos).
The best of the rest of the class: Fordham’s John Skelton (Rd. 5 – 155[SUP]th[/SUP] overall, Cardinals), Cincinnati’s Tony Pike (Rd. 6 – 204[SUP]th[/SUP] overall, Panthers), Central Michigan’s Dan LeFevour (Rd. 6 – 181[SUP]st[/SUP] overall, Bears) and Northwestern’s Mike Kafka (Rd. 4 – 122[SUP]nd[/SUP] overall, Eagles).
Tony Pike was the third quarterback drafted by the Carolina Panthers this season, preceded by Clausen and Armanti Edwards. In a move that shocked a lot of people, Carolina released Jake Delhomme after naming Matt Moore the starter this off-season. It is speculated that Edwards will be used more as a utility-type player.
It is out of this group of four that I feel will produce the best quarterback out of the draft. Andy Reid and the Eagles know a thing or two about quarterbacks; drafted Donovan McNabb in 1999, 2[SUP]nd[/SUP] overall and then Kevin Kolb in the 2007 draft, with the 36[SUP]th[/SUP] overall pick.
Kafka will learn the Eagles system for the next few years under Kolb and when he is ready to take over, I think we will see something similar to this year, either Kolb will be traded or Kafka. Of course, this all relies on Kevin Kolb performing at the level the Eagles believe he is going to, when they named him the starter.

The rest of the class: Oklahoma State’s Zac Robinson (Rd. 7 – 250[SUP]th[/SUP] overall, Patriots), Appalachian State’s Armanti Edwards (Rd. 3 – 89[SUP]th[/SUP] overall, Panthers), Tennessee’s Jonathan Crompton (Rd. 5 – 168[SUP]th[/SUP] overall, Chargers), Oregon State’s Sean Canfield (Rd. 7 – 239[SUP]th[/SUP] overall, Saints), Troy’s Levi Brown (Rd. 7 – 209[SUP]th[/SUP] overall, Bills), UAB’s Joe Webb (Rd. 6 – 199[SUP]th[/SUP] overall, Vikings) and Florida Atlantic’s Rusty Smith (Rd. 6 – 176[SUP]th[/SUP] overall, Titans).
A few of the guys in this group of quarterbacks will benefit from the system they are in and who they are learning under; Robinson will be Tom Brady’s understudy, Crompton will learn under Philip Rivers, Canfield will watch Drew Brees work and Joe Webb will more than likely get to watch Brett Favre do his thing.
I look for one of these guys to be game-ready and really good in about three to four years.
The Primetime Draft is a success
People may lie and start rumors, but numbers don’t and the numbers say that the viewership was up over 30% from last year and more than 50% from 2008.
The three-day format was a huge success for the NFL and they have no intentions of changing back anytime soon. The first-round of the draft was held on Thursday night in primetime, on the NFL Network and ESPN. The second and third-rounds were held Friday night and it concluded with rounds four through seven most of the day Saturday.
It may have been the format or even the talent that was coming out, but this was one of the more exciting drafts in recent memory. There were many teams who performed well and filled a lot of team needs during the three-day extravaganza.

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