What Were They Thinking?
- (NFL.com) Biggest tragedy of the Draft was letting Mr. Curry fall to number 4
Every year, a franchise makes one of those boneheaded decisions that makes you question their sanity,and you start to think maybe you would be a more competent drafter than these professionals. Well, needless to say, I had a few of those moments today.
The first surprise for me was the Chiefs selecting Tyson Jackson at #3. I was thinking: are you kidding me? He is good, but you can’t tell me he is better than Aaron Curry, and up until last week, he was nowhere on the top 10 radar. Defensive linemen who cannot rush the passer do not deserve top 15 consideration. Jackson didn’t show the pass rush ability that Richard Seymour of the Patriots demonstrated on his way to becoming a number 6 pick.
Second, but not surprising to my readers was the befuddling decision of the Al Davis to select Darrius Heyward-Bey at #7. The guy is very raw, and should not have been chosen in the first round, let alone being chosen over Michael Crabtree as the top receiver of the draft. Apparently, speed demon receivers haven’t made much of a splash in the NFL because outright speed is not a replacement for crisp route running as a means to separate from defenders. By the way, did you see the look on Bey’s face when he was picked? I’ve never seen a more sour face than that kid, and for good reason. Nobody wants to willingly play for Al Davis!
Third gaff might be the Bengals choosing Andre Smith over Eugene Monroe. In my opinion, Monroe is on his way to being one of the best tackles in the NFL, and Andre Smith is a RT at best. The guy has about 50 pounds of excess fat, and if you trim off some of that, he gets down to about 300 lbs and is 6’4. Suddenly, that isn’t the imposing run-mauler that teams bargained for. Sure, he does have great talent, but he is a question mark in my book. Monroe would have been the better fit to cover Carson Palmer’s backside. What is it with the Bengals? They can’t seemt to keep their hands off of questionable players.
More analysis to come tomorrow (I’m getting sleepy now).
I don’t know if I can agree with the Tyson Jackson critique. I mean the man is 6-foot-4 295-pounds and he’s not fat or non-athletic. He’s a freaking beast in my book and he’s a pretty fast and has a good burst for a man his size.
Most DEs his size aren’t as athletic as he is, I’d even argue that DEs his size are a dying breed in the NFL. Aaron Curry would have been a good pick there, but Jackson to me is more tempting in the 3-4 defense than Curry is. I don’t know if Curry has quite that burst off the edge that some of the other guys have. Curry is an all around great player and can go side line to side line, but as Mike Mayock like to say, I don’t know how well he runs the curve.
I think running the curve for both Curry and Jackson is about even, and Larry English may have been the best of that in the draft. Jackson though is still that monster kid that sorta reminds me of Reggie White.
Im not saying its a terrible pick, but it did surprise me. Frankly, most 3-4 ends that I can think of went in the lat first or 2nd round. Guys like Igor Olshansky (2nd round), Marcus Spears (around 20th pick), Ty Warren (mid first round) dont seem to go that high. I figured Jackson would fall in line with that trend.