#6 Pick – Cincinnati Bengals: Offensive Tackle Andre Smith (Alabama) - Is this another “there goes the neighborhood” pick for Cincinnati? I like Smith’s upside, but there are certainly some off-the-field concerns, so maybe he will fit right in with a Cincinnati team that has been nothing but trouble over the past few years. With that being said, the Bengals could use help in a lot of places on the field and the offensive line is a good place to start. Grade: B #7 Pick...
Read more about 2009 NFL Draft Grades: Round 1 Picks 6-10 2009 NFL Draft Grades: Round 1 Picks 1-5 - April 27, 2009#1 Pick – Detroit Lions: Quarterback Matthew Stafford (Georgia) - The Lions obviously have high hopes for Stafford, and the young QB will have all of the pressure in the world on him coming into the the 2009 NFL season. I wish Detroit all the best with their selection, but they must have seen something in Stafford that I didn’t. Stafford was a good, not great, college quarterback, and I simply do not see him as the savior of the organization. Now, I understand the logic behind the...
Read more about 2009 NFL Draft Grades: Round 1 Picks 1-5 2009 NFL Draft Quarterback Rankings - April 24, 20091. Matthew Stafford (Georgia) - Big surprise here, right? With all the coverage that the NFL Draft gets these days, you’ve probably already heard nearly everything there is to hear about this guy, including the fact that nobody is really sold on him being a franchise quarterback. This is an unfortunate situation for the Detroit Lions. They have to do something to wash the bad taste of the 0-16 season out of their mouths, and the only logical thing for them to do is to take a quarterback,...
Read more about 2009 NFL Draft Quarterback Rankings Washington Redskins 2009 Mock Draft - April 24, 2009Jim Zorn’s first season as head coach had its share of ups and downs. The Redskins got off to a 6-2 start before plummeting in the second half with a 2-6 finish. Some say owner Daniel Snyder has become a more patient man, but the time is now for the Redskins to make a move. With several veterans, most of them on defense, either hitting free agency or in most cases pregnant with unwieldy salaries, the team faces a tough battle to maintain a high level of play without much money so spend on free...
Read more about Washington Redskins 2009 Mock Draft Tennessee Titans Mock Draft 2009 - April 24, 2009The Titans were picked to finish in the bottom half of the AFC South last season, but after winning their first 10 games of the year, Tennessee cruised to the division title and top seed in the AFC playoffs. They managed this feat despite QB Vince Young losing his starting job after only one game. That shows how good of a coach Jeff Fisher really is, as he minimizes distractions, communicates with his players and gets his team focused. Music City Miracles has a 7 round mock draft for the Titans,...
Read more about Tennessee Titans Mock Draft 2009 2009 NFL Mock Draft: Tampa Bay Buccaneers - April 24, 2009After a disastrous collapse late last season, the Glazer family decided it was time to make some changes. They fired Jone Gruden and GM Bruce Allen almost three weeks after the season. Raheem Morris, who was named defensive coordinator Monte Kiffin’s replacement on Christmas Day, was promoted to head coach. Pro personnel director Mark Dominik was named GM as well. Tampa heads into the offseason with needs on both sides of the ball. The Bucs were 9-3 at one point last year, but it’s defense unraveled...
Read more about 2009 NFL Mock Draft: Tampa Bay Buccaneers 2009 NFL Mock Draft: Seattle Seahawks - April 22, 2009It wasn’t a pleasant season in Seattle in Mike Holmgren’s final year at the helm, but the Seahawks enter the offseason in prime position to make headway in the upcoming draft with a 4th overall pick and two of the top 37 selections. Seattle will head into the 2009 draft with its highest pick since selecting QB Rick Mirer second overall in 1993. Jim Mora grabs the reigns from Holmgren, and the Seahawks should stick to their “best available athlete” approach in the draft, with numerous needs...
Read more about 2009 NFL Mock Draft: Seattle Seahawks 2009 San Francisco 49ers Mock Draft - April 22, 2009After taking over as head coach mid-way through last season, Mike Singletary led the San Francisco 49ers to a respectable 5-4 record through their final 9 games. He improved the team’s morale in only a short period of time, and thus the Hall of Fame linebacker was rewarded with a new four-year, $10 million contract in a joyous locker room after the team’s final victory. 27-year-old Jed York was assigned team president, and he along with Singletary will be calling all the shots. As expected, Singletary’s...
Read more about 2009 San Francisco 49ers Mock Draft 2009 NFL Mock Draft: San Diego Chargers - April 21, 2009With one of the league’s most talented rosters, the Chargers enter 2009 with few serious personnel needs. San Diego managed to win the AFC West and make the playoffs last season even without Pro Bowl LB Shawne Merriman, the defensive leader who missed basically all of last season after undergoing knee surgery. But an 8-8 record shows that upgrades are needed at a few key positions. The defense could use an infusion of youth after finishing 25th in the league. Getting Merriman back will help, but...
Read more about 2009 NFL Mock Draft: San Diego Chargers St. Louis Rams: 2009 NFL Mock Draft - April 21, 2009The Rams set a franchise-record for losses last season with 14, and were outscored by 233 points in the 2008 regular seasons. Sweeping changes by owner Chip Rosenbloom in the offseason ensued as he phased out GM Jay Zygmunt who stepped down after 27 seasons. Longtime team president John Shaw now has a lesser role as well. Billy Devaney is now the new GM in charge of revamping this organization and running the search that ended with Steve Spagnuolo being named the team’s fifth head coach since moving...
Read more about St. Louis Rams: 2009 NFL Mock Draft 2009 Pittsburgh Steelers Mock Draft - April 17, 2009Remember when some experts picked the Cleveland Browns to win the AFC North? As it turned out, the Steelers weren’t ready to give up their reign. The Ravens re-emerged as a much bigger threat to Pittsburgh. Picking the Steelers to fall out of contention anytime soon is a dangerous game. Their defense is stout, they have a franchise quarterback in Ben Roethlisberger and a rising star in head coach Mike Tomlin. Here are the top five needs I feel the Steelers need to address: 1.) Offensive Tackle...
Read more about 2009 Pittsburgh Steelers Mock Draft 2009 NFL Mock Draft: Philadelphia Eagles - April 17, 2009The Eagles were faced with some big decisions to make this offseason on free agents Tra Thomas, Jon Runyan, and Brian Dawkins and also QB Donovan McNabb, who is scheduled to make $10 million for each of the next two seasons. Philly let Thomas and Dawkins go to the Jaguars and Broncos, respectively, and have yet to re-sign Runyan who has been a staple at center on the offensive line. Eagles president Joe Banner said the team will keep McNabb and head coach Andy Reed after the season, and that McNabb...
Read more about 2009 NFL Mock Draft: Philadelphia Eagles 2009 NFL Mock Draft: Oakland Raiders - April 16, 2009The Raiders enter the offseason with serious concerns on both sides of the ball. Tom Cable will have his hands full, but he’s been given the opportunity by Al Davis to resurrect this team after a decent finish last season. The club has to be optimistic after QB JaMarcus Russell led it to back-to-back victories to end the season. The No. 1 overall pick in ‘07 draft showed improvement and they hope he is on the verge of taking his game to the next level. Top priorities for Davis are to find Russell...
Read more about 2009 NFL Mock Draft: Oakland Raiders 2009 NFL Mock Draft: New York Jets - April 15, 2009The Jets sold out in free agency last season, throwing caution and cash to the wind. Kris Jenkins, Calvin Pace, Alan Faneca, Damien Woody and Brett Favre were the big names, but unfortunately these names didn’t amount to much for Gang Green on the field. A 9-7 record and a second straight season without a playoff berth later, Eric Mangini was handed his walking papers. Now it’s up to Rex Ryan to prove Big Apple is ripe for a second football power. Jet’s Insider likes New York to take...
Read more about 2009 NFL Mock Draft: New York Jets NFL Mock Draft 2009: Green Bay Packers - April 2, 2009The Packers didn’t waste any time making changes in the offseason after a seven-game plunge in the standings that was the most dramatic in team history. They released six coaches eight days after the season, including defensive coordinator Bob Sanders. GM Ted Thompson will be looking to upgrade the league’s youngest team, which will be the case for a third straight year, with four of the first 100 picks in the draft. They have a first, second and two third round selections upcoming. NFL...
Read more about NFL Mock Draft 2009: Green Bay Packers Houston Texans 2009 NFL Mock Draft - April 2, 2009The Texans are attracting quite a few fantasy football fans because of their powerful, balanced offense. But their first postseason birth has remained elusive for several reasons. A sub-par defense tops the list, followed by a knack for sloppy play on offense. It’s safe to say that this is a pivotal season for head coach Gary Kubiak and GM Rick Smith. Texans fans and owner Bob McNair have shown considerable patience as the club struggled to find its ways. Now, it’s time to take the next step...
Read more about Houston Texans 2009 NFL Mock Draft 2009 NFL Mock Draft: Detroit Lions - April 1, 2009Well it can’t get any worse in Detroit after going 0-16 last year, so the only direction they can go is up. This is a roster in serious need of an overhaul. There are only a handful of must-keep players. The Lions are weak up the middle at QB, DT and LB and new head coach Jim Schwartz has a defensive background, but turning this team around could take a few seasons. The quick turnarounds in 2008 with Atlanta, Miami and Baltimore offer optimism, but none of those teams experienced an 0-16 campaign...
Read more about 2009 NFL Mock Draft: Detroit Lions Denver Broncos: 2009 NFL Draft Projections - April 1, 2009After 14 seasons under the guidance of head coach Mike Shanahan, the Denver Broncos have decided to go in a different direction in 2009 by bringing in coach Josh McDaniels from the Patriots. He was the former offensive coordinator there, and will direct much of his attention toward fixing one of the league’s worst defenses. He and defensive coordinator Mike Nolan are expected to install a 3-4 defense and a major personnel change needs to be in place if such a scheme is to work effectively. The...
Read more about Denver Broncos: 2009 NFL Draft Projections 2008 NFL Draft Busts - May 4, 2008With the 2008 NFL draft in the books we figured we would take some time and do a little deeper look into the draft and give you the players who we think got picked way to high for the value they are going to bring to their NFL teams. Its no surprise that in each draft there is players who come through and become the players scouts believed them to be, but there is almost just as many times that scouts are wrong, and a team misses out on a chance to improve their franchise. While we know it takes...
Read more about 2008 NFL Draft Busts 2008 NFL Draft Losers - May 2, 2008Each and every year there are teams that walk away from the NFL Draft and look like they really hit it big with some great selections throughout the draft, but where there are winners, there are usually losers as well. We have already broken down the teams who we thought had the 5 best drafts, so we decided it was a good idea to look at the other end of the tunnel and pick our 5 worst drafts. Teams can have big first round picks, but if they fail to make any other big splashes in the later rounds,...
Read more about 2008 NFL Draft Losers NFL Draft Winners – 2008 - May 2, 2008The 2008 NFL Draft was full of surprises and movement all over the board, as it seemed like every team was trading to move up and get the guy they needed. While no one will know which teams were the real winners of the draft until a few years down the road, we are going to pick out the top 5 teams who we thought really improved their team with a strong weekend in the draft. Everyone knew that Miami was going to take OT Jake Long from Michigan with the #1 pick, as they had him signed before draft...
Read more about NFL Draft Winners – 2008 Baltimore Ravens 2008 NFL Draft Needs - April 21, 2008The Baltimore Ravens are coming off a pretty poor season in which they finished 5-11 at the bottom of the AFC North. The team was the 8th worse team in the whole league, which means they get the 8th pick in this year’s draft. Things went from bad to worse when Steve McNair announced his retirement, meaning Kyle Boller is back in the starting lineup and will likely get another shot at leading the team to victory. The team has only added two new faces in LB Brendon Ayanbadejo and CB Frank Walker....
Read more about Baltimore Ravens 2008 NFL Draft Needs Cincinnati Bengals 2008 NFL Draft Needs - April 21, 2008Last year had to be a tough one if you are a Bengals fan, the team collapsed at the end of the 2006 season to miss the playoffs by one game. They looked like a team that was just about to get things rolling, and then they went 7-9 in 2007 and finished behind the Cleveland Browns for 3rd in the AFC North. To add to the struggles the team best play maker in Chad Johnson doesn’t sound like he wants to play for the Bengals anymore. This would be a huge hit to a team that has to score to win games....
Read more about Cincinnati Bengals 2008 NFL Draft Needs Cleveland Browns 2008 NFL Draft Needs - April 21, 2008The Cleveland Browns were the surprise team last season as they were so close to making the playoffs for the first time since 2002. They tied the Steelers for the best record in the AFC North at 10-6, but wound up missing out because of a tiebreaker. That just goes to show how hard the AFC can be, as it seems its becoming more of regularity for a 10-6 team to miss out on the playoffs. The Browns have been fairly quit this offseason but have added some solid pieces in OG Rex Hadnot, DT Shaun Rogers,...
Read more about Cleveland Browns 2008 NFL Draft Needs Pittsburgh Steelers 2008 NFL Draft Needs - April 21, 2008The Pittsburgh Steelers first season without former head coach Bill Cowher was a pretty good start to the Mike Tomlin era. They ended up finishing the season at 10-6 tied with the Cleveland Browns for the best record out of the AFC North. The Steelers edged out Cleveland by a tiebreaker and went on to the playoffs, where they lost a close one to the Jacksonville Jaguars. The Steelers haven’t been that busy this offseason as they have only added 3 new faces from last years team. They added LB...
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