Miskates made, steals to be had
Of course, drafts are truly analysed a few seasons after they take place, but I believe there will be a few teams that will regret the choices they made in today’s NFL draft. Houston drafted a solid player in Mario Williams, but passing up Reggie Bush is going to turn out to be a big mistake. Bush is the most electric player in the draft and will have the biggest impact of any player going to any team. New Orleans must not have been able to hold in their excitement when Houston passed on Bush - it didn’t take them long to get their pick to Commissioner Tagliabue.
Other teams that made bad picks include Buffalo and every team who passed on Lendale White starting from pick 20. The guy is going to be an impact player in the league, and unfortunately for him, he had an injury at the wrong time and it affected his position in the draft. I think he is going to be extremely motivated to prove all the teams who passed on him wrong. I expect him to have a great year for Tennessee.
Baltimore got some help on the defensive line with Haloti Ngata. He has been criticised leading up to the draft because he has taken the occassional play off by not giving a 100% effort. There won’t be any problem of that happening in Baltimore because Ray Lewis will be on him as soon as he notices Ngata slacking off. Watching Ngata play college football with Oregon, I was impressed with his ability to make a difference in the game. Multiple times he blocked point after conversion attempts and punts, and shrugged off multiple offensive lineman to get to the quarterback. This was a great pick for Baltimore, and I think he will have an immediate impact on their team.
The team that really lucked out was the Arizona Cardinals. Matt Leinart is a great pickup for that team, and he will be starting for them as soon as Dennis Green gets sick of Kurt Warner. Because Leinart is the most NFL-ready of all the quarterbacks in the draft, I don’t think being thrown in at the deep end will be bad for him - especially with a supporting cast of running back Edgerrin James and wide receivers Anquan Boldin and Larry Fitzgerald. Hopefully the Cardinals will be able to get some offensive line help so Leinart won’t be under pressure every down. Although Oakland drafted a solid defensive player in Michael Huff, they have the unreliable Aaron Brooks as their quarterback, and Leinart would have been a definite improvement in that area.
The Raiders are stupid but not as stupid as the Texans. The Titans will be really good again in a couple years. The Broncos got a great pick with Jay Cutler who’ll replace Jake the Snake when he starts to break down. And the Cardinals are starting to look scary (never said that before). And Da Bears friggin’ blew it big time.
Yeah, the Texans got a solid pick, but Williams is not going to be at the level of Bush, Leinart, or Young. No kidding about the Titans - Vince Young and Lendale White. White is going to be a stud in my opinion, what a steal for them in the second round. The Cardinals will push for a Wild Card this year if they get offensive line help and defensive help - they’ll have one of the best offenses in the league though.
I’m on the fence with Cutler, I honestly don’t know enough about him to seriously comment - I just have a feeling he isn’t going to live up to all the hype.
I laughed when the Bills made their picks. Oh, how I laughed.
How did they pass on Leinart?? Joey Harrington would be an improvement on both the guys that the Bills have. It’s like they were making crappy picks on purpose. They would have been able Donte Whitner in the second round and maybe the third. I can’t wait to see Sports Illustrated give them an F in their draft recap.