Thoughts on Draft-post here

[tomr1962]

Kalispel- Would venture to say we grade out as a B- or C +. Don't see any eyes popping open. Wr's and QB's take time to devolp so immeadiate help might not occur. Feel we improved our team as a whole. Were able to resign most of our key players to long term deals.

1.14 Shane Wilkerson SE Much needed depth at the WR spot, Toby Richard is solid at FL and is progessing.SE, Steve Zukowsky is 2nd all-time in dropped passes, the QB's aren't targeting him as often as they used too. Wilkerson may get thrown into the fire. Having solid TE's may take some of the pressure off of the rookie. Very excited about his potential .

2.13 Herb Nickolaus QB As everyone knows drafting a QB can be a complete crap shoot. Mabye the next Tom Brady or Ryan Leaf, who know's. We have lot's of young talent going into training camp hopefully someone shows up.

3.13 Jared Sampson P. Next Ray Guy? The defense had to guard against the short field all last season hopefully Jared can change that.

4.13 Trevor Bailey CB, Looks to be a pure nickel corner , strong in zone suspect in man to man. Play's the run as well as any CB coming out of college and has ball hawk skills. Could possibly start on opening day

5.14 Oliver Gowzdz FB Say that 3 times fast. Former 3rd pick Andre Truitt has not been a factor at all. Oliver appeared to be the best blocking back in the draft to our scout. We will see.

6.13 Malcom Ferguson RB Showed good hands and return skills at Georgia Tech. At 5'7" looking for him to be a Darren Sproles type back. Lacks pure speed and Elusiveness, but showed good special teams play.

7.14 Karl Trese OLB Played the run well at Clemson despite below average strength. Cover skills are just average at best. Does well on special teams. Just looking for depth with this pick.

[Pat]

Portland Phantoms
I'm not really sure how to grade my draft. I really wanted MLB Julio Durham, DE Keith Minning, or one of the two stud RBs at the 11th pick. But they were all gone by the 8th pick so I traded out. Trading down was a big theme for me this year...not sure how it worked out. I'm sure my overall grade from the game will be poor, because it doesn't take into consideration trades, but I'm not sure I really came out with that much talent.

Biggest needs
ILB, WR, G, DE

New defensive philosophy
After losing my pass rushing defensive end to FA, the defense planned for a change from a 4-3 to a 3-4.

1.11
Traded for 1.19 and 2.18.

1.19
Traded for 2.8, 4th rounder in 2010, 2nd and 4th in 2011.

2.8 - FL Donald Tatum
Finally got to pick. The Phantoms have never had a good return game, but Tatum is probably the best PR/KR in the entire 2009 draft. Tatum, out of UAB, impressed scouts with his 40 time, solecismic score, WR drills, and the highest broad jump out of all wide receivers. Besides all-league WR Sammy Slade, my receiving core is average at best. Tatum might step in right away and start. At the very least, 3rd WR.

2.10 - LG William Kozak
Kozak was the strongest player in the entire draft, bench pressing 41 reps. He had solid timed speed, running, and jumping drills, but the Tar Heel was hardly the most skilled blocker in college football.

2.18 - LG Dennis Garrett
My starting guards are probably the worst starting pair in the entire OSFL. Kozak and Garrett could be starting week one. Garrett, out of South Carolina, was known for paving holes for 4th round draft pick RB Fernando Perkins.

2.18 – FL Ken Donaldson
Donaldson stands just 5'8, but he was the second strongest WR in the draft. The former Blue Devil should be a solid slot receiver.

3.9 – MLB Luther Shepherd
This, along with my first four picks, were needs. Shepherd looks to be solid all around. Hopefully he can come in and fill one of the spots in the middle.

4.12 – MLB Nate Holmes
I was surprised to see Holmes available here, as I almost took him at 3.9. Holmes isn't anything spectacular, but he will probably come in and compete for one of the ILB positions.

4.15
Traded for 6.19 and a 4th round pick in 2010 draft.

4.20 – NT Jeff Bellis
Bellis had been in my “preference list” since the 2nd round. I really didn't need a DT, especially after switching to the 3-4, but his talent was too good to pass up here. I might even see how his skills translate at DE.

5.11
Traded for 5.21 and a 6th round pick.

5.21 – RB Marcus Thomas
Running back wasn't a huge need for me going into the draft, but it was far from a strength. Thomas out of Michigan, adds some depth.

6.7 - SS Kyle Stickney
I needed a backup SS and Stickney had a good combine.

6.10 – RDE Roman Farley
Farley is more of a 4-3 defensive end, but I had him on my board since round three. He was one of the faster defensive ends in the draft.

6.19 – RCB Ernest Farr
I needed to get at least one corner in this draft and waited until the end of the 6th round to get it. Farr had average combine numbers on everything. If he can be average in the league, I will be pleased.

7.19 – FL Darnell Ponds
Ponds looks like he could be a decent return man. Maybe, maybe not.

Well, I ended up adding 12 rookies, and five future draft picks. I brought in three new WRs, two new guards, two new MLBs, and two new DEs, all filling my four biggest needs. I'm usually a supporter of drafting BPA versus needs, but with this many mid-level picks, I think filling needs is an OK risk. I also think my division is pretty wide-open this year, and hopefully these guys provide me with some much needed help at those specific positions.

[Guest]

We mortgaged our future this year in Yuma, in hopes of building an unstoppable machine right now instead of buying the parts one at a time. This is a risk I don't like taking, but I feel like our team is young enough to handle a couple years without any significant picks and I wanted to get the best I could now to try and fit a title or two in our window.

1.4- Traded all but the kitchen sink for this pick, but RB Dean Boshier drew rave reviews from my scout and looked every bit like he could be a force for the next 7-10 years. He'll be expected to handle 3rd down duties and split carries with veteran Horace Tatum for a year, but is likely to earn more playing time along the way if he shows the skills my scout thinks he has. He adds another dimension to the offense with his receving skills and our team hasn't had a real running game in our first 3 years, so this is a highly anticipated pick.

1.19- Traded up again to grab our favorite DT in the draft, Donovan Kovel. Kovel doesn't look like a world beater, but has the skills we want in a 3-4 NT, and if he is as advertised, he will start immediately. Our scout wouldn't stop talking about his youth and potential.

3.31- Picked up CB Sammy Pauley here, and hopefully we can groom him to be our future nickel CB and possibly more. We don't expect a lot from him, but he has some skills and could be a surprise.

4.5- WR Johnnie Boult comes in with a red flag, but he appears to have better talent than his draft position would indicate. If he can come in and get along with everyone else, he could be a future starter, but for now, he looks like the front runner for the 4th WR spot.

6.25- T Leland Alcott is someone our scout liked a lot, and he had a solid combine, but nothing special.. At this spot though, we couldn't pass up a solid backup candidate at a very important position.

7.26- K Brenden Waddington was brought in to challenge our incumbent K Reese, who has all the leg in the world, but can't seem to find his accuracy to go with it.. We decided we would rather bring in a guy who can be accurate, even if it means sacrificing a little distance in return. If Waddington looks good in training camp, he will get the nod.

[Andrew]

1.12 (12) FS Winfred Norris

Traded up to get Norris, in what I think was a very fair trade. Norris will probably move to CB where I think he will excel. His 40 time was as fast as the fastest CB's in the draft and he had a better agility drill. He also is fairly small at 6-0. 203 lbs so should be able to make the switch. This will help our pass defense tremendously since we were already strong at LCB and both safety positions. Last year teams abused my RCB and I never figured out how to effectively gameplan to help him out.

2.19 (51) FL Renaldo Rodriguez

I doubt he'll be anything spectacular but had some nice combine numbers so hopefully will add another option on offense. I desperately wanted to find some more help for QB Edgar Cote, but this draft just didn't have much at WR.

4.24 (120) RB Michael Yeager

None of the top RB's slipped so we took a chance on Yeager. He was one of the fastest RB's in the draft and also posted a good Sole test and Bench press score during the combine. Hopefully he can be a good complement to Philip Lincoln who is more of an inside runner.

5.22 (150) QB Zach Zimmerman

Didn't participate in the combine so didn't really have much to go off here other than his board rating. Figured it was worth taking a shot here since we really just needed a 3rd stringer.

7.20 (212) LCB Ernie Conley

A surprise draft pick here since he was way down on most people's lists, but with Vince Shapiro retiring we needed a punt returner. Conley had the best broad jump in the draft so hopefully he can fill that role nicely, despite his slow 40 time.


Overall
Norris was a huge pickup who I think has the potential to be better than any of the CB's in the draft. We went with mostly role players in the rest of the draft. If Rodriguez turns out to be decent I will view this as a solid draft for Boston.

[Lintyfresh85]

I thought I'd offer up my opinion on Pearl Harbor's draft...

1.9- LDT Tommy Becker: Becker was by far and away the best running stopping DT in the game. At first I actually wasn't looking at DT as I figured Becker wouldn't have a shot to drop to #9, when he did, I grabbed him as soon as possible. While he's one of the dumbest players I've ever seen, and that brings down his pass rush strength and pass rush technique everything about him screams STAR. Great run defense, great endurance, punishing hitter. If injuries don't strike him, he'll be great. He'll start next to Jose Booker my first pick from last year's draft at DT.

1.23- MLB Ken Vargas: We traded up for this pick. Mainly because ILB was our main weakness heading into the draft and Vargas was rated the second highest ILB in the draft. He comes with the questions of not running a combine, but his bars and our interview on him gave us enough hope that this kid can be a star. He's already pretty developed so that helped with our decision making. He'll battle starter John Boyer at MLB for the starting spot in camp.

2.12- SE Fernando Rodney: WR was our third biggest need for the team and I decided to take a plunge and get one early, even though our second biggest need was CB and at this time there was quite a few good CB's still available. I went with Rodney because I was impressed by his combine numbers and my scouts had him as very under rated. He also should be a good route runner and has excellent hands.

3.11- FS Bernie Jordan: Bernie wasn't really on my radar when the draft started but I picked him up with the 11th pick because I was excited to see such a quality player be available this late. Bernie will challenge for the starting spot right away.

3.18- LCB Levon Hancock: Levon was definitely a need pick. CB was my second biggest weakness and Levon was someone who I think can help in the coverage game right away. He'll either be starting or in the nickle package right away.

5.9- LCB Darnell Gnida: This pick was a mistake. I'll admit that. After not drafting for a round, I forgot who I had already selected. Thinking that I had not gone CB yet I picked up Darnell. When I realized I had just picked a CB with the pick before, it was too late. But as a rival GM said "With two CB's you doubled your chances of one of the two working out". So that's a positive.

6.12- K Donnie Sanyika: Donnie was the second best kicker in the draft. While Ryan Cimellaro was real good for us last year, going 21-24, the guy just wasn't a weapon outside of 45 yards. Sanyika has a cannon for a leg, and he'll be in a battle with Cimellaro for the kicking job.

6.21- WLB Lee Frederick: Lee is an interesting player. He's not much of a coverage or run stopper guy, but this man should be a beast when it comes to rushing the passer. He'll most likely be a rush end on my passing packages.

7.11- SE Kim Crist: Kim is a long shot to make the team, but I liked him because he should be able to hold onto the ball, something second year QB Walter Whiting could really use.

Can't wait to see how FOF grades my draft.

[tarcone]

The Phoenix Riders draft:

2-27-- DE Larry Grier, UC-Davis. Grier is undersized and lacks great skill. Will get a serios look to start opposite RJ Gabbard.

3-4-- DT Kevin Wansley, Temple. A quick and agile big man to help stuff the middle. Will compete for a starting job.

4-8-- RB Fernando Perkins, South Carolina. A 3rd down back to help newly acquired Chad Lane.

5-7-- QB Lorenzo Kaplan, Ohio State. Coming to camp to compete for the starting job and franchise quarterback.

7-5-- DT Deron Austin, South Carolina. Another big quick, agile defensive tackle. Could a pair of rookies man the middle of the Riders 4-3?

A good draft if I et any quality out of the picks. I would love each pick to fullfill what I would hope they bring to the table. Cant wait to see them.

[Bigsmooth]

Well, I know these ratings will change drastically, but for now, I'm very pleased with this draft:

1.1 QB Roy Parrish - 55/84
1.31 DT Monk Newsome - 27/66
2.2 OT Sherman Hall - 29/76
3.1 DT Preston Benson - 22/59
3.27 SLB (moving to MLB) - 22/58
4.2 P Harry Alenduff - 59/70
5.1 WR Herb Wyant - 25/49
6.2 TE Quentin Arnold - 27/54
7.1 CB Roosevelt Leoni - 20/43

[Acid]

1.11 - CB Rodney Westbrook 38/52
3.23 - P Tracy Damon 48/58
4.22 - LG Nicky Phillips 14/61
5.11 - RT Harvey Turnbull 14/55
6.6 - SE Darrin Willis 18/49
6.20 - DE Jerry Kohn 21/51
7.19 - FS Ray Brinson 14/40

Considering most of my picks were for depth and used on a lot of raw prospects, I'm pleased with these numbers (even though they'll change).

[Delandis]

1.5- - LB Joel Wild 48/60
2.1 - TE Johnny May 27/50
2.4 - CB Darryl Whitfield 25/68
4.1 - LB Jackie Dukes 12/29
4.3 - CB Chester Lichenburger 14/31
5.29 - K Lamont Reglin 48/72
6.1 - QB Kim Henry 7/44
7.2 - DT Oliver Sugita 12/46


Looks like I bombed in the 4th round, but other than that, pretty decent I'd say. I'm really hoping Darryl is really the truth because he would be that missing piece in our secondary.

[UNC_Pete]

Well here is my first draft ever really so not sure how I really faired just yet:

2.31 Antoine Holmberg, WLB (27/57)
4.31 Reynard Winters, RT (17/35) Worst pick
5.31 Eugene Vasquez, FB (19/58)
6.31 Luke Potchynok, TE (24/50)
7.31 Norbert Kaye, RDT (26,34)

Biggest Needs:

WLB, FB

Antoine will probably get the starting nod on the weak side this year. Winters isn't scouted as I expected but I got good 5th and 6th round value it seems. Can't expect too much left in the 7th..

[Z]

Uh, crap.

1.2 Eric Poliska, OT (54/86)
3.8 Neal Thomas, WR (15/25)
4.7 Darnell Fitzgerald, QB (9/23)
6.5 Bryan Edwards, WR (13/30)

I was sold on Fitzgerald. I can't believe he's that bad. Hopefully my scout's wrong.

[Pat]

2.8 - FL Donald Tatum - 21/57

2.10 - LG William Kozak - 19/28

2.18 - LG Dennis Garrett - 23/59

2.18 – FL Ken Donaldson - 17/26

3.9 – MLB Luther Shepherd - 22/43

4.12 – MLB Nate Holmes - 24/51

4.20 – NT Jeff Bellis - 26/42

5.21 – RB Marcus Thomas - 21/24

6.7 - SS Kyle Stickney - 23/39

6.10 – RDE Roman Farley - 22/40

6.19 – RCB Ernest Farr - 17/50

7.19 – FL Darnell Ponds 16/33

-----------------------------------

I'm surprised Kozak and Donaldson are so low. I hope they progress as we get closer to the season.

[Acid]

I told you not to draft Kozak.

[Pat]

I told you not to draft Kozak.

When you take that many shots, some are bound to miss.

[Lintyfresh85]

Pearl Harbor is very pleased with how the draft turned out...

1.9: DT Tommy Becker 52/70
1.23: MLB Ken Vargas 39/65
2.12: SE Fernando Ramsey 28/57
3.11: FS Bernie Jordan 22/46
3.18: LCB Levon Hancock 20/61
5.09: LCB Darnell Gnida 18/33
6.12: K Donnie Sanyika 38/69
6.21: WLB Lee Frederick 21/33
7.11: SE Kim Crist 12/50

Only real bust seems to be Gnida, someone I didn't mean to pick in the first place... I'm really pleased with how things turned out... so far.