Category: NFL Draft (Page 38 of 102)

Jaguars need Clausen, Bryant to fall in order to shop pick

April 16, 2010 / Anthony Stalter

Jaguars GM Gene Smith confirmed on Thursday that the team has been shopping the 10th overall pick in this month’s draft. The Jags don’t have a second round pick and would like to recoup one in a trade, but in order for them to have success swapping picks on draft day they’ll need a couple of predominant prospects to fall.

Jacksonville is still very much a candidate to select Notre Dame’s Jimmy Clausen, although it appears that they’d rather trade the pick and stick with incumbent starter David Garrard. But if Clausen falls past Oakland and Buffalo, then there may be a team in the teens that would be willing to move up in order to snag the potential franchise quarterback.

The same could be said for receiver Dez Bryant, whose stock is apparently falling but could still be a hot commodity on draft day. Bryant is clearly the best receiving prospect in the draft, although his character concerns have scared away multiple teams. Denver seems like the most practical landing place for Bryant and considering they pick 11th, the Jags could shop their pick to a team that wants to get ahead of the Broncos.

Perhaps the most intriguing team that may want to deal with the Jaguars is the 49ers, who have two first round picks (No. 13 and No. 17). If they have doubts about Alex Smith, they might pull the trigger on Clausen by moving ahead of the Broncos and Dolphins. Of course, they could always stay put as well and hope Clausen falls to them at No. 13.

A couple of teams could be interested in Bryant, including the Titans (No. 16), Cowboys (No. 27) and/or Bengals (No. 21). All it takes is one team to deal with and if both Clausen and Bryant fall, the Jaguars’ phones might be ringing off the hook once they get on the clock.

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Seriously interested or smokescreen? Browns talk to Rams about No. 1 pick.

April 15, 2010 / Anthony Stalter

ESPN.com reports that the Browns have had discussions with the Rams about the No. 1 overall pick.

“We’ve actually played a little phone tag,” Heckert said. “We’ve talked to them throughout the process and have been at workouts with the Rams people and kind of mentioned stuff to them. Just talks. We’ve talked to all the teams ahead of us and all the teams immediately behind us.”

Mike Holmgren is a big believer in Oklahoma’s Sam Bradford, although he was quick to suggest that the Browns will likely go in another direction.

“He’s the whole package,” Browns president Mike Holmgren said. “Whoever gets him is going to be a lucky team.”
“Absolutely we love the player, as do a lot of people, but in the real world we’re probably going to go in a different direction there.”

Teams rarely (if ever) divulge their draft plans, so it’s interesting that Holmgren would talk up Bradford this much. He must know that there’s no way the Browns will move up to get him, so it’s wise for him to talk Bradford up in order to generate more interest in the No. 7 pick.

Think about it, if Holmgren makes other teams believe that he’s interested in taking a quarterback that high, he might be able to get a package deal for the seventh pick and move out of the top 10. Jimmy Clausen will presumably be available at No. 7 and if teams are worried about the Browns taking him, then maybe they’ll be willing to part with extra picks in order to jump ahead of the Raiders, Bills and Jaguars – three teams that may be interested in Clausen and that pick directly behind Cleveland.

Holmgren has been known to deal first round picks in the past, so if he wants to do it again this year, he needs to use Clausen as bait. If he’s able to find a trade partner for the seventh overall pick, then he swap first rounders, pick up a cornerback, safety or offensive tackle later in the first and then still get a quarterback like Colt McCoy in the second. It makes sense – if he can find a trade partner, that is.

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Will the Browns trade their first round pick?

April 15, 2010 / Anthony Stalter

Steve Doerschuk of the Canton Repository speculates that the Browns could wind up trading their first round pick (No. 7 overall) based on Mike Holmgren’s draft history.

Is it a stretch to anticipate an 80-percent chance that Holmgren will pull off a trade involving the Browns’ first-round pick?
Not necessarily. In Holmgren’s 10 years as head coach in Seattle, the Seahawks made eight trades involving Round 1 selections.
Is that information deceiving in that Holmgren doubled as GM and head coach in only five of those years?
Quite the contrary.
In Holmgren’s first four seasons as GM, 1999-2002, he made five trades involving Round 1 picks — all involving first-round choices that hadn’t yet been made.
Within his first three months with the Browns, Holmgren has traded out two past first-round picks, quarterback Brady Quinn and linebacker Kamerion Wimbley.

It’s incredibly hard to trade out of the top 5, but it does get easier for teams that want to trade out of the top 6-10 picks. If the Browns want to trade down, quarterback Jimmy Clausen might be the key to them doing so. If a team wants to jump ahead of the Raiders, Bills and Jaguars in order to nab Clausen, the Browns are sitting in the perfect spot at No. 7. The only catch is that the Raiders (No. 8), Bills (No. 9) and Jaguars (No. 10) are the three teams that are most likely to pull the trigger on Clausen in the first round.

In my latest mock draft, I have the Browns selecting Tennessee safety Eric Berry at No. 7, although Florida cornerback Joe Haden and offensive tackles Anthony Davis (Rutgers) and Bryan Bulaga (Iowa) are possibilities as well. (Assuming Russell Okung and Trent Williams, the top offensive linemen in the draft, are off the board.) If Holmgren chooses to stay put at No. 7, it’s very likely that he’ll land a prospect that can contribute right away.

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Dez Bryant off Jaguars, Browns’ draft boards

April 13, 2010 / Anthony Stalter

The Florida Times Union reports that Oklahoma State’s Dez Bryant has been removed from the Jaguars draft board due to character concerns, while SI.com’s Peter King says the Browns have also taken the wideout off their board.

From the Florida Times Union:

“I would say that we remain open-minded,” Jaguars coach Jack Del Rio said. “Like running back, we’d take a receiver. I think we could use a guy to bring into the mix to compete. So I wouldn’t rule out that position.”
But it might be safe to do so in the first round. According to multiple NFL sources, the Jaguars eliminated Oklahoma State’s Dez Bryant – widely regarded as the top receiver prospect in this year’s draft class -from their draft board because of concerns about his character (Bryant missed 2009 because of an NCAA suspension for violating NCAA rules).
“I just made a mistake,” Bryant said. “Dez Bryant’s a great person to be around. He loves the game of football. He can’t wait to get back on the field and do whatever to help the team.”
The reports about Bryant’s character appear to be all over the board. There have been some that claim he has a “diva” attitude, while others suggest that his character flaws have been overblown.

Rest assured, talent will win out – it always does. Randy Moss was still taken in the top 25 (No. 21 to be exact), even though he had more character concerns than Bryant did entering the 1998 draft. Michael Crabtree was still taken in the top 10, even though reports surfaced that he too had a “diva” attitude. I’m not suggesting that Bryant will become the next Moss, but he certainly has as much potential as Moss and Crabtree did when they entered their respective drafts.

In my latest mock draft, I have Bryant going to the Dolphins at No. 12. That’s the lowest I see him dropping later this month, regardless of whether or not some of these reports are true that he has questionable character.

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