The NFL pre-draft maneuvering has begun, with Washington acquiring another first round pick from Denver in a trade in which Washington gives up their 2006 first-rounder, among other picks. One of the sites I use to follow the draft is a Canadian-based web site called the the Great Blue North Draft Report. The main page is written in a daily diary/blog format with the latest rumors and amateur speculation. That appeals to me since that's essentially what the rest of us are doing too. A lot of the other "experts" just take themselves entirely too seriously.
For starters, it's tough just keeping up with the personnel changes in the NFL in the off-season, so GBN's Free Agency Scoreboard is a helpful, at-a-glance summary. Their Mock Draft has a lot of trades factored into it, and I think they're probably right about that happening, although maybe not quite as many as are projected here. And the links page is an excellent portal to other NFL Draft information and speculation. At the moment, GBN has the Browns trading down to #7 and taking Shawne Merriman. I'd be very happy with that scenario.
All the people who have been saying for weeks how hard it will be for the top three teams to trade down may be proven wrong by Saturday, especially if the two QB's go 1-2, and the Browns are left holding the pick that so many teams want to use on Braylon Edwards. As far as I can see, the worst case scenario for Cleveland is if Alex Smith and Edwards end up going 1-2, either through trades or not, and we're left with minimal leverage since the two hottest commodities will be gone.
Why am I feeling inadequate for blogging about the Draft instead of the Pope?
Posted by dan at April 19, 2005 04:09 PMEvery year about a week before the draft GBN does a "trade mock" where they put in every conceivable trade that's been rumored. I remember seeing it last year and wondering what the heck they were thinking. They have a more realistic one on there now, but it still has us trading down. The only guy I really wonder about down the road is Mike Williams. I think we'll really kick ourselves if we let him go.
Posted by: Al at April 22, 2005 09:12 AMI stand corrected. They changed it again yesterday and I didn't notice. Now they have a whole ton of trades again.
Posted by: Al at April 22, 2005 09:13 AMI also sometimes question what the GBN guy(s?) are smoking, but I do think there will be more trades this year than normal, and am still hoping that we are able to trade down to where it makes more sense to take Merriman, Barron, Clayton, etc. (#10-18)
Posted by: dan at April 22, 2005 12:09 PM