It's shortly after midnight on the Saturday morning of NFL Draft weekend. At this point, I should be crawling into bed and getting ready for an all-day marathon. Instead, we're two days and three rounds into the draft. It's just not right. The NFL Draft used to be an event, where fans all followed intently thoughout the day on Saturday, and more casually in the later rounds on Sunday.
It looks like the new format, which brings the first round in primetime on Thursday and the second and third rounds on Friday, will be here to stay, at least for the short term. The TV ratings are good. I don't have to like it though.
A few quick hits from the draft, and then a deeper look at my team, the New Orleans Saints:
-- I really like what the Lions have done. Ndamakong Suh is about as can't-miss a defensive tackle prospect as there ever has been, and he's a great start at #2. They traded up at the end of the first round to take Jahvid Best at #30. Best, I believe, is the second-best running back in the draft and will have a better career than Ryan Matthews, who went 12th. They also got Amari Spievey, a defensive back from Iowa, at the top of the third round, and he'll give the Lions depth at corner and safety. The Lions have a fourth-rounder and three seventh-rounders today to add some more depth.
-- Other teams whose drafts I liked were the Chiefs, the Raiders (surprisingly), the Bengals, Cowboys and Jets. KC picked up two starters (S Eric Berry and CB Javier Arenas) and a major contributor (RB/WR/KR Dexter McCluster, who should get 10-15 touches per game in a variety of ways) in the first two rounds. Oakland, known for reaching for players with less-than-stellar production but great potential, picked up perhaps the second-best defensive player in MLB Rolando McClain at #8. Cincy grabbed stud TE Jermaine Gresham at #21 and a solid WR in Jordan Shipley in the third round, along with a steady CB Brandon Ghee at the end of the third round. The Bengals, of course, can't go a draft without taking a shady character, this time choosing Florida DE Carlos Dunlap in the second round. Dallas had just two picks but grabbed a future Pro Bowler in WR Dez Bryant at #24 and a future starter at ILB in Sean Lee. The Jets, meanwhile, were ecstatic that CB Kyle Wilson, a top-10 talent, fell to them at #29 at the bottom of the first round.
-- I just can't figure out what's going on in Denver. The Broncos trade their Pro Bowl quarterback last offseason. This offseason, they jettisoned perhaps the best receiver in the NFL and their starting tight end. Then, they traded down in the first round and traded back up twice for two reaches. I'm not sold on Demaryius Thomas as a future star receiver (although the choice of Eric Decker in the third round was a good one), and then the Broncos snatched Tim Tebow at #25. I like Tebow. But at 25? It's safe to call that pick a reach, and coach Josh McDaniels essentially has tied his future in Denver to Tebow's development as a quarterback. I'm not sure I would be willing to do that if I were in his shoes.
-- Congratulations to D'Anthony "Boo" Smith, the defensive tackle from Louisiana Tech, for being drafted in the third round by the Jacksonville Jags. Boo is a great kid who represented by alma mater wonderfully for the past four years. Now he joins two other Tech grads, Josh Scobee and Luke McCown, in Jacksonville. If only the Jags would trade for Ryan Moats now.
-- Now to my Saints: I'll just borrow a phrase from the immortal Vince Lombardi. "What the hell's going on out there?" You know, winning a Super Bowl, especially at a place with such a dismal past as New Orleans, will get you a lot of leeway. I'm trying to keep that in mind. But I'm just not getting this draft. I understand the premise that you take the best player available if you can't get a trade offer you like, but that idea also doesn't consider the fact that your team has needs. And the Saints haven't filled their needs through the first three rounds. They have glaring needs at linebacker, both depth and the big hole at the starting strongside linebacker spot with the departure of Scott Fujita. Yet, through three rounds, there have been no linebackers chosen, despite a myriad of options available.
New Orleans selected cornerback Patrick Robinson with the last pick of the first round. He looks great on paper, but he struggled with consistency at Florida State. That's usually not a great trait to have entering the NFL. It's the second year in a row the Saints have picked a corner in the first round, so that doesn't bode well for last year's pick, Malcolm Jenkins. There was talk then that he'd end up at safety, and that appears to be the case with this pick. Still, the Saints have an emerging playmaker in Tracy Porter at one corner and Jabari Greer at the other corner with Randall Gay as the nickel back. Depth is good, but you usually don't try to build depth in the first round. You normal look for immediate starters there. I understand injuries piled up in the secondary last year, and you can never have too many guys who can cover in this league, but I thought the Saints had bigger needs than cornerback.
The Saints picked an offensive tackle at the end of the second round in Southern Cal's Charles Brown. The best part of this pick, according to my wife, is the guy's name is CHARLIE BROWN! Yes, my wife, ladies and gentlemen. She'll be here all week. I'm a big USC fan, and if I haven't heard of the guy, he's probably not that good. And it's not like there's a glaring need at offensive tackle. Jon Stinchcomb is an entrenched starter at RT. Jamaal Brown is a Pro Bowler at LT, even though he's a restricted free agent who is coming off an injury and likely will be traded. Jermon Bushrod filled in admirably for Brown last year while he was injured. Zach Strief also plays a lot as a sixth offensive lineman during running situations. Maybe the Saints plan to trade Brown for a linebacker, or maybe they plan for him to play one more season while Charles Brown learns. Again, there were much bigger needs than a fourth offensive tackle.
And my least favorite pick happened at the end of the third round, when the Saints grabbed Miami tight end Jimmy Graham. Graham has great size and physical tools, and his upside is tremendous. But he's a basketball player who only played one year of football in college. Yes, San Diego struck gold with Antonio Gates, a basketball player from Kent State. But Gates was an undrafted free agent. Graham is a big-time reach in the third round, particularly when there were other more established tight ends like Pitt's Dorin Dickerson, LSU's Richard Dickson, Florida's Aaron Hernandez and USC's Anthony McCoy still available. Heck, I'm willing to bet that Dennis Morris, Louisiana Tech's tight end, has a better NFL career than Jimmy Graham.
The Saints have three picks in today's final day of the draft -- a fourth, a sixth and a seventh. Here's hoping two of those are linebackers and a third is a developmental quarterback who can battle with Chase Daniel to become Drew Brees's backup.
Leaving the draft, let's finish up with some NBA playoffs talk. We're about halfway through the first round, and a few things have stood out so far:
-- The Jazz just keep on winning. Two starters, Andrei Kirilenko and Mehmet Okur, are out of the series against Denver with injuries. Yet, the Jazz have taken two of the first three games and have the upper hand in the series. The star of Friday night's Game 3 was Paul Millsap, the team's sixth man and backup power forward who played at Louisiana Tech. Millsap posted career playoff highs of 22 points and 19 rebounds to help mask a subpar game from starting power forward Carlos Boozer. Deron Williams has emerged as a challenger to Steve Nash as the best point guard in the NBA, and he's the clear leader of this young team. But the Jazz's role players, led by Millsap, have really stepped up. Rookie Wesley Matthews, who was undrafted, has stepped in as the team's starting two-guard, and young center Kyrylo Fesenko have filled in nicely for the two injured starters. And the other two wing players, starter C.J. Miles and reserve Kyle Korver, have played strong as well.
-- It's time for Dwyane Wade to get away from South Beach. Yes, he won a title there. But this team is terrible. There's not a single player starting next to Wade who should be a starter in the NBA. It's really depressing, especially considering how hard Wade plays and how much he's done to keep the Heat in the games against Boston. But Boston leads the series 3-0 and is well on its way to a sweep.
-- The Chicago Bulls pushed Boston to the limit last year, and they've already taken a game against Cleveland, the NBA's best team during the regular season. How does LeBron James respond? Can he lift the Cavs over the next two games to close the series out in 5, or will Chicago continue to hang around and make this a series?
-- The OKC Thunder, the young but supremely talented eight seed in the West, stole Game 3 from the defending champion L.A. Lakers. Most analysts I've seen have the Lakers responding to win Game 4 and closing the series out in five. I think Kobe is fading and Kevin Durant is ready to step up and make this a seven-game series. The main question is can the Thunder steal a game in L.A.? If they can, they might just make it to the second round.
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