Month: April 2006 (Page 2 of 20)

Day 2 has started and as ESPN has been advertising, these are the rounds you build solid depth for your franchise. Round 4 has seen nine wide recievers taken and two highly rated safeties chosen.

Best Value: Darnell Bing, Oakland. Bing was once projected to go in the first round behind Michael Huff. The Raiders grab him in the fourth and will immediately feel his presence on special teams. Bing has an outstanding combination of size, speed and he flies to ball. Some feel he might have trouble grasping the complexity of an NFL playbook, but at No. 101 overall, he’s definitely worth a shot.

Need Filler: Ko Simpson, Buffalo. At first glance I was ready to put this pick in my head scratchier section because of the Whitner selection in the first round. But on second thought, Ko Simpson makes a lot of sense for the Bills. Lawyer Milloy went to Atlanta in free agency and Troy Vincent is on the downside of his career. So, what the Bills did was pair Whitner and Simpson – two highly rated safeties of the 2006 class.

Head Scratchier: Michael Robinson, San Francisco. Excellent athlete, but what position will he play? He played quarterback at Penn State, and ESPN has him slated as a running back on TV and a wide receiver on their website. The Niners have had an excellent draft, but they’re going to have to figure out where Robinson will play.

Sleeper Selection: Alan Zemaitis, Tampa Bay. Some boards had Zemaitis rated below fellow Penn State teammate Anwar Phillips, but I think Zemaitis has a bigger upside. Zemaitis seemed to always be around the ball for Nittany Lions and is a playmaker. He has good size and plays well against the run, but his speed is a big question mark.

ESPN.com’s John Clayton has posted his first day winners and losers from Day 1. The first loser on his board is USC quarterback Matt Leinart. Clayton reports that if Leinart would have declared himself eligible for the draft last season, Leinart would have recieved at least $20 million in guarantees (much like first overall pick Alex Smith did last year), because he would have been selected in the top spot. Leinart slips to No.10, however, and probably will max out at 6 to 8 million in guarantees.

Some draft day winners from Clayton’s list include Denver, Arizona and San Francisco.

Last round of the day, round three. Less well-known names came off the board in this round than round two, but plenty of quality players none the less. There are still a lot of solid players left for day two.

Best Value: Brodie Croyle, Kansas City. Mel Kiper loves this guy’s arm strength and character. Kansas City makes a nice move here to sure up their backup quarterback position once Trent Green decides to hang it up. Chris Mortensen projects that Croyle could be a solid starter after two to three years of grooming under Green.

Best Need Filler: Leonard Pope, Arizona. Pope was basically snatched away right in front of Chicago, whom I believe would have loved to have seen him slip to them in the third round. Pope, however, goes to the Cardinals where newly drafted Matt Leinart will have Anquan Boldin, Larry Fitzgerald and now Pope as weapons. Not a bad offense after you throw Edgerrin James in the mix.

Head Scratchier: Brian Calhoun, Detroit. Not to keep going to the well, but what are the Lions doing? Once again, not that they picked a bad player, but Brian Calhoun? He should fit well on the depth chart along with Kevin Jones, Shawn Bryson, Artose Pinner and Arlen Harris. The Lions should have a draft day motto of: “Detroit Lion football: You can never have enough wide receivers or running backs!”

Sleeper Selection: Ashton Youboty, Buffalo. This isn’t necessarily a sleeper, because Youboty was rated right around a third round selection, but I just figured that since I’ve been hammering the Bills strategy all day that I’d give them some props. He fills a need and might start in the nickel slot as early as this season.

Well, that does it for day one, but check back tomorrow as we’ll have more draft coverage. Also, make sure to check the player profiles early next week as they will be updated with new articles on some of the top ranked players.

As the second round is coming to a close, here is a link to all of the second round picks.

Finally, some of the top names that slipped out of the first round are called. Most noteably, LenDale White goes to the Titans at No.45, teammate Winston Justice heads to Philadelphia after a trade and Jimmy Williams winds up in Hotlanta with former Virginia Tech partner DeAngelo Hall.

Best Value: White, Tennessee. ESPN has rumored all day that teams have stayed away from this kid because of workout issues and health concerns. But this is a guy that had a very productive career at USC and is a pure power back. I give Jeff Fisher credit for finally snatching White off the board.

Best Need Filler: Williams, Atlanta. The Falcons have had great success from former Hokie players and if Williams is even half the player former teammate DeAngelo Hall is, Atlanta got a steal at No. 37. Williams might have attitude issues, but he has the size and speed to take over for an often inconsistent Jason Webster on the opposite side of Hall.

Head Scratchier: My head scratcher pick goes out to the Lions at No.40. Daniel Bullocks is a fine player. But why did the Lions stand pat at No. 9 in the first round and select Ernie Sims when they could have traded back with Denver and possibly add more picks in later rounds? Then they allow two teams (Falcons and Eagles) to jump ahead of them in the second round when Winston Justice was there for the taking. I think they settled for Bullocks once Justice was off the board.

Sleeper Selection: Danieal Manning, Chicago. Manning is extremely athletic and fluid in his movements. He lacks good technique, but joining up with strong safety Mike Brown and defensive minded head coach Lovie Smith will only help Manning succeed at the next level.