2008 NFL Draft Picks

The 2008 NFL Draft was pretty interesting. It was full of interesting picks as well as trades and very strategic planning. Here is the first round results for the 2008 NFL Draft.

1 Miami: Jake Long OT
2 St. Louis: Chris Long DE
3 Atlanta: Matt Ryan QB
4 Oakland: Darren McFadden RB
5 Kansas City: Glenn Dorsey DT
6 NY Jets: Vernon Gholston DE
7 New Orleans: Sedrick Ellis DT
8 Jacksonville: Derrick Harvey DE
9 Cincinnati: Keith Rivers LB
10 New England: Jerod Mayo OLB
11 Buffalo: Leodis McKelvin CB
12 Denver: Ryan Clady OT
13 Carolina: Jonathan Stewart RB
14 Chicago: Chris Williams OT
15 Kansas City: Branden Albert OG
16 Arizona: Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie CB
17 Detroit: Gosder Cherilus OT
18 Baltimore: Joe Flacco QB
19 Carolina: Jeff Otah OT
20 Tampa Bay: Aqib Talib CB
21 Atlanta: Sam Baker OT
22 Dallas: Felix Jones RB
23 Pittsburgh: Rashard Mendenhall RB
24 Tennessee: Chris Johnson RB
25 Dallas: Mike Jenkins CB
26 Houston: Duane Brown OT
27 San Diego: Antoine Cason CB
28 Seattle: Lawrence Jackson DE
29 San Francisco: Kentwan Balmer DE
30 NY Jets: Dustin Keller TE
31 NY Giants: Kenny Phillips FS

The first six picks were pretty straightforward. It seemed as the draft started thats what everyone predicted it to do. I knew who was getting picked when. After the top 6 it got a bit more interesting.

New England was able to trade down a bit, but still reached with their pick Jerod Mayo. Kiper and other analysts had him going later in the round. I didn't realize how much needs New England has, so they could of done better.

Baltimore did great with trading down to get more choices. Baltimore traded with Jacksonville. Jacksonville traded all the way down to pick #8 to reach for Derrick Harvey which may prove to be too much.

Baltimore in turn went after quarterback Joe Flaco since Matt Ryan was already chosen.

San Diego was pretty much certain to pick an offensive lineman or corner back. Most people had them selecting Brandon Flowers. Instead they went with Antoine Cason. That led to Brandon Flowers dropping to round 2. He was selected 35th overall by Kansas City.

This draft definitely made the AFC even more interesting. Especially the AFC West and the AFC South.

First Draft Pick of 2008

Well the mystery of the first pick was given away a little premature.

The Dolphins signed Jake Long to a 5 year deal worth 57.5 million.

Long is brought in to build the offensive line hoping to give whichever guy is quarterback some protection. He should also help the running game which struggled after Ronnie Brown went down.

Was this the right choice for Miami?

Well so far I think it is, but only time will tell. Who will be draft pick #2?

Jared Allen Traded for Load of Picks

The Kansas City Chiefs are officially in rebuilding mode after trading Jared Allen to the Vikings. Pro Bowl defensive end and last years sack leader nets the Chiefs a load of picks.

The Chiefs get:

• First round pick (17th overall)
• Third round pick (73rd overall)
• Third round pick (82nd overall)

The Vikings signed Allen to a 6 year 73.26 million dollar deal.

This is a questionable trade for both teams.

Kansas City gains a ton of great picks, but loses their defensive leader.

Minnesota is giving up a lot of picks when they have a few needs other than lineman. I don't know if the running game will be enough to make them real contenders.

Mel Kipers Top 25 in the 2008 NFL Draft

As the NFL draft gets closer, there is more and more talk about who will be drafted where. Mel Kiper JR has put together his top 25 players in the 2008 NFL Draft. This list is as of April 11th and should continue to change until draft day.

1. Glenn Dorsey DT
2. Darren McFadden RB
3. Matt Ryan QB
4. Jake Long OT
5. Chris Long DE
6. Sedrick Ellis DT
7. Vernon Gholston DE
8. Ryan Clady OT
9. Branden Albert OG/OT
10. Rashard Mendenhall RB
11. Chris Williams OT
12. Jeff Otah OT
13. Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie CB
14. Aqib Talib CB
15. Phillip Merling DE
16. Keith Rivers LB
17. Jerod Mayo LB
18. Felix Jones RB
19. Leodis McKelvin CB
20. Devin Thomas WR
21. Jonathan Stewart RB
22. Mike Jenkins CB
23. Derrick Harvey DE
24. Joe Flacco Sr. QB
25. Kentwan Balmer QB

Who are your top draft picks?

Just Leave LT Alone

The world already knows that LaDanian Tomlinson was limited to only 3 plays in the AFC Championship game with the New England Patriots. Fans, announcers, and former football players have called LT on sitting out.

Just Leave LT Alone

The backlash has been plastered all over the newspapers, internet, and television. Fans have expressed their disappointed with the San Diego Chargers star running back sitting out. Not only did he sit out, he basically turned off. He remained on the sideline with his helmet on throughout the game. He barely moved.

Just Leave LT Alone

Sportswriters have jumped to Tomlinsons side providing many great articles that LT must have been seriously injured not to play. He's never missed a game. If he didn't have it, and couldn't play that should be enough. Just Leave LT Alone!

I completely agree 100%, but as a fan, I still think he should of played. Not necessarily a Charger fan, but more, a football fan. I wanted the best teams to win Sunday. Without LT on the field I don't think the Chargers had a chance to be the best team. With Rivers hobbling around and Gates coming in and out of the game, just trying to play, it was hard to watch LT on the bench.

I read several articles about all the things they needed to do to beat the Patriots. They did all of those things. Except, have a productive game out of LT that should of included 100 yards+ and a TD.

As a fan, and a sports blogger, I am torn between the two. It's already been a week already and in San Diego we are still getting the LT backlash of him sitting out. Within reason, LT was too hurt to play, I understand that. However, LT has been nothing less than excellence, especially lately. As a diehard football fan, I still believe LT should have played, whether it was reasonable or not. We expect nothing but the best of our sports heroes. LT is just that. When you have several Chargers banged up throughout the year, and players like Owens who managed to play with a broken ankle or leg. It's hard to watch one of the greatest running back, spend the biggest game of his career, on the bench.

It's still time to leave LT alone.

Week 16

You don't get much time off between articles at this point in the season.

The Thursday night game is already two days away and we just had the Monday game.

This Thursday's game is a fantasy footballers dream. The Pittsburgh Steelers against the St. Louis Rams. My reasoning behind this is that they each have very reliable starting players. With the Steelers you have Roethlisberger, Willie Parker, Hines Ward, the entire defense and even Santonio Holmes. For the Rams you have Torry Holt, Issac Bruce, Steven Jackson, possibly Marc Bulger and even their defense at times.

The Rams enter the game with a record of 3-11. Very poor for this team. Over the past year or so they've begun a fast decline down the standings while the Steelers quickly rose past peoples expectations. The Rams' O-Line has allowed 44 sacks this season, all but 11 being placed on starting quarterback Marc Bulger.

Bulger is up to a rousing total of 2,008 passing yards with 7 touchdowns and 11 interceptions. Bench him. Steven Jackson doesn't even have 1,000 yards on the ground yet. In the offseason he was way overrated as he was ranked the highest of one in the league in the running backs subcategory.

Flipping over to the Steelers.

They've gotten big games out of Big Ben this year. His five touchdown game against Baltimore in week 9 was truly impressive. Since 2004 when he took over he's shown quite an array of passing skills. He can maneuver the ball over the heads of defensive backs and linebackers and in to the hands of his receivers.

Fast Willie (Parker) is the teams leading rusher, no surprise, with 1,317 yards but only 2 touchdowns. He is quick but gets pounded easily by defensive backs equally as fast.

Fantasy Notes

1. Roethlisberger is a definite start every week. Like I mentioned earlier he had a five touchdown performance. Luckily he's been able to refrain injuries so far this year.
2. Steven Jackson, Mr. Overrated, is now a bench in my mind.
3. Torry Holt and Issac Bruce are starts depending on who else you have on your roster.

My pick: Steelers

- Rex

Bears @ Vikings

Tonight is the clash of the Peterson's.

Adrian versus Adrian, that is.

The Minnesota version of AP is a highly touted rookie and has a clear shot at the Rookie of the Year award in the NFL. He has exactly 1,200 yards in only 11 games at the running back position. Where as the Bears' has only 291 yards.

If I were a betting kind of fellow I would put my money on the Bears and I'll tell you why.

The Minnesota Vikings team as a whole have only complied 14 interceptions in their 14 games thus far. The Bears are mainly a passing team due to the unreliability in their running backs. The Chicago wide receivers have a total of 3,214 yards which is great for Chicago. The main threat for the Bears is speedy Bernard Berrian and Devin Hester (who can flat-out out run anyone in the league in my opinion). If quarterback Kyle Orton can get his passes over the defensive backs I can see Chicago pulling away quickly.

Speaking of Orton, he'll be out to prove himself as a legitimate NFL quarterback. Like I said, if his passes are what they could be he may get the nod for next week as well. I've seen him play quite a lot, what with living near Chicago, so I know when he's on top and when he's hit rock bottom.

But heres what I think about Minnesota.

The Vikings offensive attack is mainly based around running back Adrian Peterson, whom I mentioned earlier. The Chicago defensive line has been banged up to this point and have allowed 1,601 rushing yards, 224 of which came from Peterson on October 14th.

The wide receiving core of the Vikings has been over shadowed by the terrific running ability of Adrian Peterson so I'll spend a little time on them.

Former Bear Bobby Wade is the team leader in the yards category with 451 and is averaging 11.3 yards per reception. Sidney Rice, however, is the leader in touchdown catches with 4 and 386 yards. Quaterback Tarvaris Jackson, in my mind, has yet to show his true throwing ability and tonight is probably not the night to start that. The Bears' defensive backing has been quite impressive so far and they can keep pace with speedy receivers.

My pick: Bears, due to their spectacular line backing core and their defensive backs.

Fantasy Notes - Most fantasy leagues are winding down, but oh well...

1. Adrian Peterson is still nursing his leg from his injury. I'm not taking anything away from his ability but he may not be on-par with what hes capable of. I don't have him on my roster but if I did I'd be a little wary when starting him.
2. If you have the Chicago Bears as a team you may want to look into starting them. I'm posting this real, real late but I'll say it anyway: start 'em. You'll get a boat load of points from Devin Hester's kick returns if they dare kick/punt to The Windy City Flier.
3. Kyle Orton may not be a bad start tonight. If you have him benched or if you see him on the wire go ahead and slot him in a backup position. This all depends on how many quarterback slots your roster allows you to maintain. If it's only one then I'd let him rot on your bench.
4. Sidney Rice doesn't look so bad right about now. If he's on your bench go ahead and slot him in.
   

Congratulations to all who have won their championship games. My current championship is down to a thread as I need Chester Taylor of the Vikings to score 7 points and I win my first ever.

Until next article,

- Rex

Bears and Redskins

I will slowly start to climb out of my hole and begin to peek at whats going on in the NFL, then actually post on this blog I have been so kindly invited to write on.

As we all know, the Bears play the Skins tonight. This would be Thursday.

The thought of the Bears playing on Thursday night is a very big thing here in Chicago and all the offensive problems have been set squarely on the shoulders of Rex Grossman. Not all the problems have come from the quaterbacks.


Cedric Benson is out for the remainder of the season so the lesser of the two Adrian Peterson's in the NFL is now at the running back position for the Bears. Last year in 16 games Peterson had only 41 yards on 10 carries. This year in twelve games he's rushed for 256 yards on 74 attempts and through the air has 335 yards with 40 receptions. 591 all purpose yards.

Now, switching over to the Redskins.

They're coming off the tragic and unfortunate death of Sean Taylor, so the team will want to play well.

Antwan Randle El and Santana Moss have combined for 1,094 yards and 82 receptions. Not too shabby for the Redskins.

Middle linebacker London Fletcher has 100 tackles exactly and no sacks. The Bears have allowed 38 sacks this year so maybe tonight will be Fletcher's chance to get his first sack of the '07-'08 season.

Defensive end Andre Carter, however, leads the team in sacks with 8. Against the Bears' somewhat weak O-line I'd say he gets 2 tonight.

Fantasy Notes

1. Tonight would be a good game to start the Redskins' defense. I'd say they get 4 sacks as a team which can be a plus in most point leagues.
2. Des Clark may be a good start for tonights game. He caught a TD from Grossman against the Giants so he may be looked to for a few touches tonight.
3. Start Brian Griese. Depending on who else you have I'd go with him.

Oh right. My pick: Redskins, but barely.

Final thing here; I was digging through my football cards and I found a Devin Hester rookie card in almost perfect condition. Thats why you save the rookies.

-Rex

Sean Taylor Dies at Age 24

Washington Redskins safety Sean Taylor died after being shot in the leg. Taylor was shot Monday, the bullet piercing an artery causing massive blood loss. It's sad to think how much life he had to live and how much more football he had to play.

Many don't know but this was the second time that Sean Taylor's house was broken into, in the last 2 weeks.

Not only will Sean Taylor be missed as a person, his presence in the Redskins defense will also be missed. Taylor was tied for the NFC lead for interceptions with 5, and was known to be a hard hitting defensive back.

Taylor's No. 21 will be painted in a grass parking area leading into Redskins Park in Ashburn, Va. No. 21 will also be painted in front of the Redskins Hall of Fame store.

"I am devastated over the loss of Sean Taylor," Miami coach Randy Shannon said. "When he was a student at the University of Miami, I got to know him as a person and as a football player. He was passionate about everything he did and was a great friend to his teammates. My thoughts are with his family."

He will be missed by former coaches, football players, and the fans. RIP No 21.

Fantasy Football Rankings after Week 11

Quarterbacks

Tom Brady
Tony Romo
Derek Anderson
Ben Roethlisberger
Brett Favre

Who would of expected Anderson, Big Ben, and Favre on this list instead of Palmer, Manning and Brees

Running Backs

Brian Westbrook
LaDainian Tomlinson
Adrian Peterson
Joseph Addai
Willis McGahee

The running back category is definitely lacking, Peterson and Addai top this list and have each missed at least one game. Ronnie Brown ranks 6th and he's been out since week 8.

Wide Receivers

Randy Moss
Terrell Owens
T.J Houshmandzadeh
Braylon Edwards
Reggie Wayne

Moss and Owens are on pace for record breaking seasons. How much I don't want to see Jerry Rice lose a record, these guys are making it look easy and fun to watch.

Tight Ends

Antonio Gates
Jason Witten
Kellen Winslow
Tony Gonzalez
Heath Miller

To play a tightend has been hit and miss for some. I was big on Witten after watching the Cowboys go to their TE time and time again in preaseason. Even though San Diego is struggling, Gates is easily the best TE in the game.

Defense

Patriots
Lions
Chargers
Packers
Giants

It's good to look at lists like this. Two weeks ago I was able to pick up the Lions. They are leading the league in turnovers. If your regretting the Ravens defense, the Lions are a great substitute at this point.