The best seat in the house is the view from the couch

2008 NFL Draft - Pseudo Live-Blog

6:45pm: With the first round over (and in record time - 3 hours less than last year, thank God) I'm packing it in for the night. All in all, a pretty exciting NFL Draft so far. Lots of trades, some surprises, and two outright stick-ups by the Eagles & Ravens. Glad to have been here. Let's see who wins the Chad Johnson auction tomorrow...

6:38pm: Nice, Mort makes a fried chicken joke to Keyshawn, and everyone on the ESPN set freezes mid sentence. God forbid anyone makes a joke anymore. Wonder how long it takes for ESPN to force a Mort apology and banish him to Cold Pizza (sorry - "First Take") for six months...

6:32pm: ...Or, the Jets can trade up to take a tight end. Either way, really. By the way - ESPN just cut away to the fans for a lead-in to a commercial break, and it reminded me of a mosh pit back in high school. Just a bunch of white guys, probably a little drunk, jumping up and down with their hands in the air, making general asses of themselves. God I hated high school. Almost as much as I hate these Jets & Giants fans.

6:23pm: Gotta admit, I'm a little scared right now. The Jets just traded back into the first round at #30 with Green Bay - I've got to imagine they're going to grab a runningback or receiver. Then there's the Patriots' forfeited pick, then the Giants go #32. All in all, this is going to be an interesting 25 minutes for New Yorkers.

5:22pm: Now that we've had our first major "Character issue" pick - Aqib Talib from Kansas going #20 to Tampa Bay, I'm heading out for a little while. I am interested to see how the ESPN crew, and Goddell handle the 31st overall pick - I'm wondering if they'll jsut holda moment of silence, or if they'll wait the full 10 minutes for the pick before announcing "Oh, that's right, the Patriots forfeited it because of a stupid rule that every other coach in the NFL violates in some way or another". But until that time, I'm out.

5:17pm: Yet another highway robbery... Phily trades out of the first round with the Panthers, and they pick up Carolina's 2nd and 4th pick this year, and Carolina's #1 next year! Andy Reid is either a genius or a complete moron, and I'm leaning toward genius.

5:11pm: Finally, someone woke up and took Jeff Otah off the board. The Panthers traded up with Philly to get him, causing many confused Eagles fans to hold their heads in disbelief, followed shortly by the ceremonial booing and throwing of batteries towards the stage. Nice moment here as the NFL honors military servicemen on stage... and the ESPN crew spends the first 55 seconds of a 60 second ceremony continuing to debate the Otah pick. Seems like they finally shut off the microphones right in the middle of a Keyshawn Johnson point - I'm sure he'll be OK with that...

5:01pm: The Ravens have traded back up into the first round, taking Houston's #18 overall pick. Looks like they're grabbing Joe Flacco from Delaware ahead of Briam Brohm & Chad Henne. Interesting... talk about someone raising their stock through a great showing at the combine. Mel Kiper must be thrilled about this pick - he's been pimping Flacco as a first rounder for weeks. I just enjoy typing the name Joe Flacco - seems like he belongs in a bodega in northern Jersey instead of shoulderpads in Baltimore, but whatever.

4:58pm: I'm not even going to pretend to know how to pronounce or spell the name of the offensive tackle the Lions just selected #17 overall. All I know is that they A) didn't take the best available tackle, and B) didn't select a wide receiver. I'm disappointed on many levels here.

4:55pm: Chris Mortensen with the throwaway line of the first round so far, in describing Arizona's first round pick Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie: "He only has one kidney, but GM's seem to have decided that they're OK with that." Wait... what?!?

4:47pm: And naturally, the Lions immediately trade away the pick to the Chiefs, who use it to take yet another offensive lineman not named Otah. At least this one was a guard - Brandon Albert. It's almost like the Lions are teasing me - dropping farther and farther down the board so they can justify using a first round pick on a receiver, as long as it's at like #25 overall...

4:42pm: Crap - Steve Young just proved why he belongs on the stage ahead of me. He made a great point - the Lions have the best QB in the NFC North right now in Jon Kitna... which is a really scary thought for the NFC North. Detroit has to go either runningback or o-lineman.

4:37pm: We've had three offensive tackles taken so far, and yet the consensus #2 tackle on just about every board - Jeff Otah - before this draft started is still available. How is this possible? Jake Long - OK, that makes sense. But Ryan Clady and Chris Williams ahead of Otah? Really? By the way - I've got fingers and toes crossed right now praying the Lions manage to take DeSean Jackson. It would be even better if they grabbed Malcolm Kelly - not only would they screw up by taking another first round receiver, but they wouldn't even get the consensus best one out there...

4:29pm: The Panthers take Jonathan Stewart at #13, leading ESPN to run a quick montage of Stewart's running plays from Oregon. I think in the nine clips they showed, I counted seven different Ducks' uniforms - each of which nearly gave me a seizure. We're nearing the moment of truth for the Lions... I'm giddy just thinking about Roger Goodell saying "With the 15th pick in the 2008 NFL Draft, Matt Millen has committed career suicide and selected DeSean Jackson."

4:25pm: After Buffalo & Denver make largely non-descript picks, it's Carolina, Chicago & Detroit. Anybody else hoping that the Lions get stuck with taking "Best Available"... and it's a receiver? I'm openly rooting for this to happen.

4:17pm: Random funny note - the ticker at the bottom of the screen running each team's "Key loss" and "Key addition"... for Seattle they list the Key Loss as "PK Josh Brown". Really? He was the biggest loss? Not the 2005 NFL MVP Runningback that the Seahawks cut last week? Also, Chris Berman just said the patriots were going to get a 15 yard penalty for "holding the Mayo". God I loathe him - not only was the joke unfunny, but I can't remember the last time I saw a 15-yard holding penalty in the NFL.

4:13pm: Love the Jets fans trying like hell to drown out the Patriots' pick... And love the pick of Jerod Mayo here for New England. Corner or LB - had to be one or the other. I thought Mayo would go 9th to Cincy, but certainly not upset with landing him 10th. The extra 3rd round pick from the Saints should come in handy as well.

4:11pm: In theory, with Buffalo & Denver holding the next two picks, the Pats could maybe afford to move down again here, since neither of those teams need a corner. But I still expect them to take Rodgers-Cromartie here and try to shore up the hole that Asante Samuel left in going to Philly.

4:07pm: Good Lord - the Ravens absolutley robbed the Jaguars for that pick! They moved down 18 spots in the first round, and picked up three more picks for their trouble? Harvey better turn into an All-Pro in the next three years...

4:01pm: The Jags take who? I mean, I've seen this kid Derrick Harvey play, but I can think of a couple d-lineman still on the board who have got to be better than him. Maybe it's the hometown discount thing - the kid did go to college 20 miles away from Jacksonville. And I'm extremely disappointed to see Keith Rivers celebrating at his house with the Bengals on the clock. Was really hoping he'd drop to the Patriots at #10 overall. But I'm not complaining if they end up with Rodgers-Cromartie, and I'm sure they won't be either. They had 2 guys in mind, and as long as they get either of them, they've got to be happy.

3:56pm: OK, I don't think anybody saw a Jacksonville/Baltimore trade coming. I thought the Ravens might move down if Matt Ryan was gone, but that's an awful steep move to 26th. Maybe they'll package a bunch to come back up and get a QB, but Brian Brohm or Joe Flacco should both be available around the mid 20's... this could work out very well for them, both in gaining picks and saving salary money.

3:53PM: ...and the Saints take Sedrick Ellis. Of course they do.

3:51pm: "There has been a trade between the New England Patriots and New Orleans Saints. The Saints are now on the clock..." How am I not on stage instead of Steve Young? What analysis does he really bring that I couldn't?

3:43pm: Hmm... Jets & Patriots back to back... nah, no chance the fans at Radio City get fired up for the next twenty five minutes... Jets take Gholston. Excuse me while I go fashion a nice little noose for my stupidity... Actually, no. I'd like to see who the Pats take, or if they take anybody, before I go hang myself for missing an opportunity like this.

3:35pm: You know, I'm legitimately pissed at myself. Bodog.com, among other sites, was offering all kinds of odds on the top 10 picks in the NFL Draft (obviously with Jake Long off the board). So far with the Chiefs grabbing Glenn Dorsey, I'm five for five, four for four in actual "unknowns". If the Jets take Gholston and the Pats trade with the Saints to grab Sedrick Ellis, I'm quitting while I'm ahead.

3:27pm: Wow - 4 for 4... I know, I'm stunned too. But honestly, was there ever a doubt that the Raiders would take the home run offensive threat with the questionable off-field personality in Darren McFadden? I mean, that had to be like a 23/27 favorite on the board at The Mirage this morning...

3:13pm: Just flipped on the draft (don't ask... got busy)... looking pretty good from yesterday's post. Got the #1 & #2 pick correct so far, Long & Long. Let's see where the Falcons go... loving the ESPN montage here showing all the shit Atlanta's been through in the past 12 months. Tough year.

Labels: Draft, Live Blog, NFL, NFL Draft

posted by Big D @ 3:13 PM