The Wind-Up, Vol. 2

Breaking down the Draft, Broncos v. Chiefs. First up...

THE DENVER BRONCOS 2007 DRAFT

Jarvis Moss, 1st round: I've already addressed our first-rounder. I've also been noncommittal as to my feelings on the young man's ability. He's very high and needs to get stronger, but Jim Bates supposedly likes tall ends; in any case, we all saw the Fiesta Bowl. I'm not sold on immediate help but that might just be my disillusionment. I hope he gets 20 sacks, but four or five is probably a touch more reasonable. Elvis did ring up 8.5 last year, and who knows? Solid pick, a position of need, but I wish we hadn't traded picks to move up when we could have just waited for him at 21.

Tim Crowder, 2nd Round: I like this pick because the guy, even though I can't recall him at all despite seeing the Longhorns on TV about every week, sounds like a real old-fashioned sleeper: he's 6'3 270ish, a hard motor lunch-bucket blue-collar brings his helmet worker bee type who's a good enough pass rusher and evidently showed some more at the Senior Bowl. Street & Smith's wrote of him "strong and tough...Does a good job against the run...While Crowder is not fast and lacks a closing burst, he is very durable and productive." This was a solid, if unspectacular, pick.

Ryan Harris, 3d Round: A continuation of the Shanahan & Sundquist love affair with big-dollar schools, Harris was a four-year starter on the offensive line at Notre Dame, three of which he spent manning the LT spot without missing a contest. He has quick feet, is a good pass protector and knows how to play the position, but, in the parlance of NFL scouts, lacks "sand in his pants." Translation: he played as low as 275 his senior year, a weight that won't serve him in the pros if he wishes to stay alive. He's also Muslim--one of the many religions we tolerate here at HoG--which means that during the Ramadan fast he loses weight. Pro Football Weekly wrote "more quick than powerful, he is efficient in all areas and has the physical tools teams seek in a left tackle to play a long time in the league." He seems like a good fit for our style, so I give this pick the official HoG Thumbs The Fuck Up (to be explained in detail in a future post).

Marcus Thomas, 4th Round: We had to trade three picks to get back to this spot, including next year's 3d rounder, which is a pretty damn steep price to pay for a guy who got booted off last year's championship team. Still. He was, in the words of his teammate and our new first-rounder, "the best player" the Florida defensive line had, an opinion probably shared by a lot of scouts and personnel guys. The character issue: he was initially suspended for a pair of dope smoking violations and then broke terms of his return agreement with the Gators, an incident that, as I recall, involved he and his girlfriend attending a carnival out of town. So I'm torn. Who among us hasn't done that? Except for the "playing football for a major university and having a girlfriend" part? Anyway, ESPN's scouts inc. boys (and presumably girls) wrote of Thomas "explosive and disruptive one-gap interior defender with outstanding first-step quickness and power." Pro Football Weekly wrote "natural athlete who can naturally convert speed to power...Can be nasty...Explosive with his hands." Fuck yes. We needed some d-linemen with exploding hands. If we can keep him away from Ft. Collins' favorite leisure time activity and Six Flags, we might be in business with this guy.

FINAL ARBITRARY GRADE: B
We found some kids with ability and in particular I think that Harris and Thomas--who some people were rating as a top 10, maybe even top 5, choice before the tilt-a-whirl--could be very good players. Consider this, oh fellow Broncos fans: in five games (four starts) this year before he got kicked off the team, he had 26 tackles, 5.5 tackles for loss and 4 sacks. I believe we gave up too much, however, especially in Moss's case...and don't even get me started on how we shoulda out-thunk the Cowboys and traded with Cleveland. Grrr.

And now, for the benefit of our Administrator's kleenex...

THE KANSAS CITY CHIEFS' 2007 DRAFT
Dwayne Bowe, 1st Round: Shiver everyone's timbers! A wideout in the first round! Chefs fans can't depend on midgets and quitters forever, so King Carl adds this big pass-catcher from LSU. He's not a burner as much as he is a solid playmaker, but he went up against the best D-backs in college and did pretty dang well. In his favor, Pro Football Weekly wrote "difficult to press and knock off track...Shows good run strength after the catch and break tackles...Physical blocker, very tough...Outstanding playing demeanor, sets a tone for the offense." They also said he's not very smart and will take a few years to really understand an offense. Even so, the Chefs needed someone here, even if that someone should have had plenty of sand in his pants.

Turk McBride, 2nd Round: the Sporting News' 19th rated defensive tackle played at Tennessee and is not the Junior Siavii fatass type the Chefs have seemed to enjoy drafting the past few years. He was only a one-year starter, which no one likes, but according to The Sporting News "makes plays all over the field...Holds his own at the point of attack." Pro Football Weekly said he "lacks mass...Is not very stout to handle the inside run." They also said that he's "an undersized warrior who leaves it all on the field." Try-hard guys are better than the kind King Carl usually drafts but this was probably a reach in the 2d round.
DeMarcus "Tank" Tyler, 3d Round: If the last few months of the last NFL season should have taught us anything, it would be that you don't want to take chances on character-risk defensive tackles nicknamed "Tank." And he wasn't in trouble for burning one down at the fair: he assaulted a cop in '06 and was ejected from the Southern Miss game that same year for spitting. He has, in the words of every fucking draft magazine I own, a wicked amount of upper-body strength and won this year's combine bench-press competition. The ESPNites claim that he "excels in one-gap schemes, where he can use initial burst and power to penetrate and disrupt...Fires off ball quickly and uses good leverage...Flashes ability to penetrate, disrupt runs in the backfield." But this guy has more flags up than a signalman. PFW really laid it down on him, thusly: "a big, strong, top-heavy nose tackle in a similar mold as St. Louis Rams 2001 first-rounder and current Carolina Panther Damione Lewis. Will likely be overdrafted in a weak DT class and go in the tank once he gets paid. Very likely will not pan out and won't even be stacked on good NFL draft boards." Really. They said that.

Kolby Smith, 5th round: Every year I geek myself out for this, only to be blindsided by names like Kolby Smith. Mel Kiper's hair could probably tell you his height/weight ratio, but I was sunk. Didn't ring a single bell. He was Michael Bush's backup at Louisville and started a few games after Bush was injured in 'o5 and then was part of a rotation last year. ESPN called him a "versatile prospect who can contribute as a runner, receiever, blocker and on special teams" and Street & Smith's said that he is "effective between the tackles...able to break tackles...runs with good vision and balance." Fact remains that he was never the number one in college, but we'll cut the Boyardees some slack with this one. Fair 5th round value.

Justin Medlock, 5th Round: What's funny is, this team plays a few hundred miles from Boulder, where the single most impressive college placekicker I have ever seen, Mason Crosby, singlebootedly kept the Colorado Buffaloes from being shut out for two consecutive seasons...and they pick a kicker from UCLA with Crosby still on the board. Man, that is just effin' nutty. Medlock is "not a long-range bomber, but very reliable on short kicks" according to Street & Smith's, and PFW wrote "had a good senior year, but overall his leg strength may not be good enough to make it." Just...effin'...nutty. I think King Carl scouts from his chair like I do...but with help from a Demerol addiction.

Herbert Taylor, 6th Round: An offensive tackle from TCU. Even though my CSU plays TCU every year, I never noticed this guy...although that might have been because TCU usually was up 35-0 by the end of every 1st quarter and by that point I'd be organizing stamps by color and year of issue. The Sporting News wrote that Taylor "is a top athlete who makes every finesse block in the book...has great knee bend, agility and body control" and ESPN claims that he's "perfect for a zone-blocking scheme." Um, do the Chiefs run a zone-blocking scheme now? Honestly, I don't know--for the last few years they were all old-style man-to-man. PFW, those killjoys, said he projects as a "versatile backup" but we'll give Kansas City the doubt's benefit on this one.

Michael Allan, 7th Round: Ironic that the most clever, high-value pick in the Chefs' draft was their final one, a tight end from that powerhouse Whitworth. This kid definitely impressed people at the combine, and ESPN says he's "fast enough to work the seam and track balls downfield...Makes tough catches in traffic...Runs hard and flashes ability to pick up yards after contact." Doesn't seem to be much of a blocker, which the Chefs need as Dunn ages, but still, a very solid 7th round pick.

FINAL ARBITRARY GRADE: C+
Too much reaching with McBride and too much potential for mayhem with Tank; Bowe could be a very good player and Allan and Taylor could make it but drafting Medlock, with Crosby on the board, was indicative of a serious drug problem in the Chefs' front office.