NFL Draft Review - Part Three - by Triple Threat Sports!

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Triple Threat Sports - 8/21/2009 4:17 PM

Hello to all readers!!! It is great to be back and I look forward to a great football season in both the colleges and the NFL. This series of articles will take a look at the NFL draft, give each team a grade, and at times I will add some general thoughts about a team's season in general. The teams that got A' s and B's were up earlier, and here are the teams with the "C" grades. Those teams rated "D" or otherwise will be posted early next week.

First things first, giving a team a draft "grade" is in inexact science to be sure, as injuries, the inevitable numbers game at some spots for some teams, and even contract holdouts affect how these young players turn out. With all of that said, these grades will assume 100% health and Signability for all involved. One last note before giving my grades, and that is that different eyes view the draft very differently. One only needs to look at Mel Kiper vs Todd McShea on ESPN as proof of that. With that said, I will include the draft grades of two other sources (yahoo.com and nfl.com) at the top of each item for comparison's sake. So now lets get to it, from top to bottom. Teams that share the same grade are placed from highest to lowest overall in that category. Here we go with the teams that got some form of an "C" grade:

C+ - Baltimore Ravens (A/B)

Lots of folks in ESPN-land in love with the Ravens' first choice of Michael Oher out of Ole Miss, but I will be surprised if he plays a major role this season, and a team super close to Super Bowl contention they needed a boost from their top pick. Feel the exact same way about second choice Paul Kruger, as while he is talented and will eventually help, he is not likely to have a major impact this season. Both guys can play, no doubt, but Ozzie Newsome may have been better served to fill a more immediate need like improving an aging wide receiver corps.

C+ - San Francisco 49ers (B-/C)

Not often the fate of a draft grade rests with one guy, but that is the case here for the Niners. Before getting to that all important player, have to mention Bear Pascoe and Curtis Taylor, two second day choices that I do think have a real chance to make the roster and help out, if only on special teams, this season. However, the key to the draft is of course Michael Crabtree. The Niners have been looking for a wideout to fill the shoes of Jerry Rice, John Taylor and Terrell Owens for years, and believe they have found him in Crabtree. However, nine other teams had a chance to take the former Red Raider and passed, and names like Charles Rogers (2nd overall), David Terrell (8th overall) and Mike Williams (10th overall) had to central in their thinking when passing over Crabtree, who by all accounts is (or will be) healthy by the time training camp opens. All three of the above mentioned busts were top ten overall choices at the WR position, and they follow a surprisingly long line of highly touted WR's that have not panned out. There are a lot more like Rogers, Terrell, and Williams than there are success stories like Larry Fitzgerald (3rd overall) and Andre Johnson (also 3rd overall.) Stay tuned, and while I like Crabtree and tend to think he will be a good pro falling somewhere between Fitzgerald and Rogers, cannot go any higher than a C+ for this effort overall.

C - Tampa Bay Bucs (C-/C+)

I like the third round choice of Roy Miller, and Kyle Moore will make a nice pro in time. Their final choice, Sammie Stroughter from Oregon State, could be Tampa's return man for the next decade if he is able to put some off the field personal issues behind him. That is the good news, but the bad news in this view was the choice of Josh Freeman. Watched him play A LOT the last couple of years, and just not convinced he is an NFL level QB. He has all the combine numbers that make scouts drool, and a "football IQ" that by all accounts is very high, but he completed only 57% of his passes last year in a Big 12 conference that was not exactly defensively stout top to bottom, and was 10th in that conference in passing efficiency. Michael Bishop anyone? I hope I am wrong and Freeman turns out to be a great pro and fill the hole that has been this position since Brad Johnson left, but the jury is very much still out in my mind, and that of the other two reviewers as well, with all three grades being in the same ballpark.

C - Washington Redskins (C+/C)

Who are these guys? Picking in the upper half of the draft, the Redskins should have been able to come up with at least two players the "casual" college football fan would have noticed, and even giving Brian Orakpo the benefit of the doubt in that regard, Washington only has added one such player. Third round choice Barnes is an injury risk, fifth rounder Glenn's only impact this year - if he has one at all - will be on special teams, and the rest of the draftees will be lucky to survive past the second preseason game. With that backdrop, the only reason the Redskins do not get lower than a C is because of the free agent acquisition of Albert Haynesworth, as he will dominate the prep of most teams, leaving Orakpo to put a lot of pressure on opposing QB's, notablesince he did have 11.5 sacks as a senior last year.

C - Indianapolis Colts (B/B-)

The other two reviewers are likely being swayed into higher grades based on past performance of Bill Polian, as while of course I respect him a ton for previous drafts, this one leaves a bit to be desired. Start with the choice of Donald Brown out of U Conn. Many are comparing him to other Polian picks like Marshall Faulk, Edgerrin James and Joseph Addai, but to me Brown is not on the same level of those three. He had gaudy stats as a senior to be sure, but seeing as how U Conn did not play a great defensive team all season, and in fact played only two games against ranked foes in Brown's final two seasons there, scoring just ten and 21 points in those two games. Just think the step up to the NFL will be quite tough on him. Indy's second round choice of Fili Moala makes a ton of sense, as he will take up a lot of room from his DT spot, freeing things up or the Colt LB crew. An interesting pick came in the sixth round in Curtis Painter. Jerked around by the now retired Joe Tiller at Purdue, Painter has good size and could very well be the third stringer this year, with a move up the depth chart in the not too distant future not a big surprise.

C - Cincinnati Benglas (B-/B)

Andre Smith and Rey Maualuga are good players, simply no doubt about that. The enthusiasm for these selections, of course, is the off the field issues for both guys. It boggles the mind how the Bengals, THE BENGALS, can take guys with character issues, let alone two of them at the top of the draft. It is almost like, as has been speculated elsewhere, that Cincy simply does not factor in character when making choices, and goes in with blind hope that Marvin Lewis and his staff will be able to steer players away from trouble. With the track record this coaching staff has in such affairs, where this confidence comes from is a mystery to me, so much so that in this view character should be the FIRST thing the Bengals look at, not the 25th or so. Maybe both of these two will be perfect citizens, but if not, it is not like the team was not aware of the potential pratfalls of each. With the exception of local product Kevin Huber at Punter, the rest of the pre seventh round choices (Micheal Johnson, Chase Coffman, Jonathan Luigs, Morgan Trent, and Bernard Scott) all come with significant drawbacks as well; Coffman will have to develop as a blocker, Johnson must give 100% at all times (something he did not do in college) Luigs (who may start at Center) has strength issues, Trent is just not any good, and Scott (is this possible?) has a rather long history with the police and has been kicked off of THREE teams since high school, come to think of it I guess he fits right in. The pure talent of the two top picks, plus the potential value of three players I like in the final round, keep the Bengals at the C level here, but this could easily turn out to be a(nother) bungled Bengal draft.

C- - Arizona Cardinals (B+/B)

The defending NFC champs had eight choices in this draft and only four of them rate a "Plus" grade, and none of that quartet gets a "Good" grade from me. I am a massive Ohio State fan, but the first round selection of Chris "Beanie" Wells was a reach in this view. He will offer the Cards more of an inside the tackles presence than they have had in the past, but he has to stay healthy for that to happen, something that proved difficult for him throughout college and could get even worse now that he is facing top level athletes every week. Not impressed with Arizona's 2nd, 3rd, and 4th round picks, fifth rounder Herman Johnson (OL) is massive and could help in the long run, and seventh round choice LaRod Stephens-Howling should send a portion of his signing bonus to Darren Sproles, as the success of the Chargers back has made each team try to find someone like him, and Stephens-Howling (5'7" - 180) fits that mold here. The reviewers giving the Cards B's certainly like Wells more than I do, and he certainly is the key to this draft.

C-/D+ - Kansas City Chiefs (A-/C+)

I was a teacher for a few years before the lure of sports full time took me away, and the hardest thing to do was to decide between a C- and a D+ for a student on the fringe. Back then I had to make a choice, but here I do not, so I am going to split my grade and place the Chiefs haul in the limbo land between a low C and a high D. I have positively no idea what the reviewer that awarded the A- sees in that draft that I do not, but discrepancies like that are why I provided other views. Here are my reasons for the low grade. Top choice Tyson Jackson was projected to go later in the round than the third overall pick, but he is a talented player that will fit in nicely with the new 3-4 system the team is going to. New GM Scott Pioli envisions Jackson as a Richard Seymour type player, and that is pretty good company. However, after that choice things went downhill. Third round choice Alex Magee will be a marginal pro at best, Ohio State product Donald Washington should still be in Scarlet and Grey, and cannot escape the feeling that two sixth round and the first of KC's seventh round choices, from McNeese State, Tennessee State and Miami (Oh) respectively, were small school reaches meant more to show how smart Pioli is than players that will really help. Finally, not a good sign when Mr. Irrelevant is one of the better picks among a team's draft, but that is the case with Ryan Succop, who will compete for time at both Punter and Kicker, and could win one of those jobs. Not a total disaster, especially if Jackson pans out, but more could have been done to help this team rebuild.

Hope your enjoyed this portion of the article. Have a Great Weekend, and let us help you do so with our Pay After You Win selections!

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