It must be a weird feeling sitting in the green room at the NFL Draft. Every year the top prospects are awaiting the moment of their young lives with an entire nation and even parts of the world having their eyes on them. How do you react to certain news? What do you do the entire time in front of legions of TV cameras? For some the experience and the excitement ends real quick as they are among the first selected, living up to their pre draft hype and the high expectations that were placed on them by family members, teammates, coaches, fans, scouts and officials. Others have to wait a little longer, just ask Brady Quinn. The Notre Dame standout had to wait all the way until the 22nd pick in last year's draft until he finally got chosen by the Cleveland Browns. You have to wonder how many self doubts that guy had about a year ago concerning his production, his career and his pre draft work. This year none of the members in the green room had to wait too long as the NFL went six for six with their choices of the top prospects.Everyone knew that massive offensive tackle Jake Long from Michigan would go number one to the Miami Dolphins. After that you could hear all the usual rumors and rumblings about potential deals, trades and moves that always swirl around at this time of the year. If every expert would earn a dollar for every false rumor they reported, well, then I guess they wouldn't have to work for another day in their lives. But that's also the great thing about the NFL Draft in particular. You almost never know what's gonna happen (except for when the top picks are getting their phone calls) and in a matter of seconds the fortune of a franchise can turn around. The teams with the highest picks certainly hope that they did just that with their top picks this year.
Howie Long's son Chris went to the St. Louis Rams at number two. Which seems to be a great pick due to all the great attributes the young defensive end brings to the table, you'll never know how it's gonna turn out in the future. Long is a great kid yet I question if he has "it" to really be a dominant defensive player in the NFL. He won't make mistakes and this and that but drafting a player that high you want something special from him. We'll see, I'm far from an expert so we'll just let time decide... At three the Atlanta Falcons went with quarterback Matt Ryan out of Boston College and at four the Oakland Raiders once again did something very "Raiderlike". Despite having many holes to fill on their roster, they selected Arkansas running back Darren McFadden. Sure, he gives them an explosive All-SEC-backfield with last year's number one pick JaMarcus Russell, but you wonder what they will do without a defense or any help from the outside. At five and six we saw the last two guys in the green room go off the board as defensive tackle Glenn Dorsey (LSU) went to the Kansas City Chiefs and Ohio State's pass rushing specialist Vernon Gholston was selected by the New York Jets in front of a usually large green and white crowd.After that the wheeling and dealing began as the Patriots traded back, the Ravens traded back, the Saints traded up, and the... and so on and so on. I don't want to put anyone to sleep by going through every draft and every trade. Some moves were questionable, others seem to be great on paper. The Chiefs for example added another highly touted player in Virginia offensive lineman Branden Albert at fifteen, which definitely did not only make NFL Network's Charles Davis happy. Another team that looks like true winners are the Dallas Cowboys as they added an explosive compliment to Marion Barber at running back with Felix Jones (Arkansas). They also got help in the Roy Williams reigned secondary by selecting Mike Jenkins, a true cover corner from the University of South Florida. So far so good, today we will see how the rest of the Draft pans out and which teams may get a late round steal and send their fans to the bars once again, either in order to celebrate a great day for the franchise or to forget another wasted opportunity to right their ship. Look out for more Draft Coverage at the Sportbar in the next few days...
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