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Rolling Draft Day Blog - by Jeff Gollin |
7:38 pm - The
Cardinals wrapped up their 2013 draft by selecting Rutgers TE
DCJefferson with their #219th pick. Jefferson is a big fella at 266 250,
but never lived up to sky high potential after switching from QB to TE
in his freshman year. If BA and his staff can coach him up, he
could really turn out to be something, but so far, Jefferson's
production is far below what it should be.
Looking backward, the
Cards added 2 running backs, a speedy wideout, a tight end, 2 guards, a
DE/OLB, an ILB and a CB/FS. The only roster hole that remained
unaddressed is for an explosive edge-rusher.
But there's still
free agency to sift thru. No doubt, Steve Keim and his merry men are
"smiling and dialing" as they reach out to a large pool of the
Undrafted. Stay tuned.
4:45 pm - The
Cards surprised us all by grabbing another RB - Andre Ellington from
Clemson. (Note - Just as I started posting this, ESPN showed some
footage - he seems to run with a low pad-level and displayed elite
lateral speed. They say he can catch out of the backfield and plays
faster than he times. (He was another hamstring casualty at the Combine
and ran in the 4.6's instead of his pre-combine 4.4-something numbers.
(Another note - C Washington was drafted one pick after Ellington).
4:15 pm - Just
keeping up with the traded picks is a bit daunting. Cards have two picks
coming up in the 6th round - their #174 and #187. Cards used their first
of the two picks to grab their "burner", Texas A&M wideout Ryan Swope.
(Downside - small hands and concussion history). Still, a great value
for the pick (he was expected to be gone by the 4th round). We're up to
#183 on the clock. Matt Scott, Quessenberry , Barner and Poyer are still
undrafted. (Although it's not a pressing need, I hope we draft Scott.
But from a "gang-bang the OL" standpoint, Quessenberry would be a nifty
pick at #187). (Note- Beauharnais and Cornelius Washington (who can pass
rush) are still out there also). Wow!
2:15 pm - I got hung up on
attempting to fix a bunch of errant links on this site (If you encounter
any, my apologies) and didn't get back to sweating out the draft board
until we picked at #140. We were doing OK until about 6 picks before us,
when Jesse Williams, the safety,(Wolff), Denard Robinson and DT Montori
Hughes flew off the board rapid-fire. At #140, we selected Stanford star
RB Stepfan Taylor. I was impressed with
Taylor throughout his college career and disappointed when he ran in the
4.7's at the Combine. (As it turns out, Taylor had run on a sprained
ankle in Indy and returned to his usual mid 4.6 time at his pro day.
He's no blazer, but he's a complete back with good size - who can block,
catch and run between the tackles. (And let's not forget that Emmitt
Smith supposedly ran in the 4.6's. With the exception of the Mathieu
pick, this is turning out to be a very workmanlike lunch-pail initial
draft for Steve Keim and the Cardinal staff.
1:15 pm - We
started off owing picks #103 and #110 with my wish list including center
Brian Schwenke, DE Jesse Williams OT David Quessenberry and possibly a
QB like Matt Scott or Tyler Wilson. At #103, the Cards grabbed Longhorn
DE/OLB Alex Okafor (described by yours truly in his write-up as more of
an Acho-type than a Freeney-Freak (i.e. we still don't have our pass
rusher). At #110 (with my board still "untouched by human hands", the
Cardinals elected to trade back again - this time to #116 plus the
Giants' #187th pick in the 6th round. The Giants took Nassib. This time
Tyler Wilson, Barrett Jones and Landry-Jones flew off the board, but
Jesse Williams, Quessenberry and Matt Scott were still available. The
Cards instead opted to draft another offensive guard, Earl Watford of
James Madison. (I'll admit to confusing Watford and the previously
drafted Larry Warford, but recall both as solid wide-bodied guys who can
both anchor and road-grade.
Onward to #140 (barring trades) and
the hope that we somehow land Williams, Scott or Quessenberry. See ya.
9:30 am - Day 3 -
All rumors (nothing concrete) all day
long. Cards entered Day #2 with the upgrade of their OL partly addressed
with the drafting of Cooper the night before. Still to be accomplished -
adding a pass rusher, safety, tight end, a big RB and adding inside
linebacker depth. They stayed on a meat and potatoes course in
round 2 by trading down from #38 (with SD who grabbed Manti Te'o) to
#45, where they selected inside LB Kevin Minter (rated #1 ILB by several
draft guides going into post-season; I rated him #5). He's not
spectacular by Butkus or Urlacher standards but executes his
responsibilities solidly and was described by one scout as "a tackling
machine."). They then surprised the world with their #69 (3rd
round) pick by drafting "The Honey Badger" - CB Tyrann Mathieu who
brings a mixture of freakish athletic playmaking ability with a history
of off the field issues (including several substance abuse violations.
It's a risky proposition for the Cardinals - certainly an abrupt
departure from previous front office policy of drafting "clean" players
and avoiding controversy - but Coach Arians, Michael Bidwill and Steve
Keim obviously felt that, if they (and teammates that included former
LSU buddy Patrick Peterson and Larry Fitzgerald) could keep him on a
tight leash within a good environment, they could put Tyrann's issues
behind him and he could make a big difference in the Cardinal secondary.
Word out of Tempe is that they'll try him first at free safety.
Cards pick 6th (#103) and 13th (#110) in the 4th round. My Adjusted Top
13 Board includes, Schwenke C, Jesse Williams DT, Quissenberry OL, T.
Wilson QB, B Jones C, M Scott QB, Okafor DE, Hughes DT, Holmes, DT, K
Greene LB, Franklin RB and C Washington. (And because boards vary
greatly from team to team and fan to fan, I'm getting nervous about when
we might want to take a shot at the LB Beauharnais or RB Lattimore).
Stay tuned
9:30 pm -
I reset my board for #46 to #69. Hunt, Brown and Swearinger come
off the board. Alford comes off. Still there are B Moore, Jenkins,
Goodwin and Watson. With the the #69 pick in the 2013 draft, the
Cardinals select - cornerback Tyrann Mathieu. Wow! High risk/high
reward - not something the old regime would have even remotely
considered. First thought was that he'd probably be used as a
nickel-slot corner to match the Percy Harvinsand Tavon Austins of
the NFC West. But I'm now hearing that they may try him at FS.
Ultimately, I could see him paired with PP21 as a #2 starter. I
then worked on readjusting my #70 - #110 Board and called it a
night.
6;30 pm -
Cyprien is first to go. Hunter and
Slay (not high on my board) are taken (Good for us). Cards up at
#38 and "bam!" they trade the pick with SD who take Manti Te'o.
(Taste bile in my mouth). We move down to #45 and pick up a
#110. Meanwhile the Jets take Geno. (I'll refrain comment for
now). Still on my Board - Hunt, D Moore, Watson and Jenkins. When
it's our turn, Hunt, Moore, Jenkins and A Brown are still on my
board. Maybe we'll trade down again. Cards opt for Minter (more of
a lunchpail guy than Te'o, but 2/10ths of a second faster with a
less visible media profile.
Noon -
Spent most of the day bringing various
boards up to speed. Took my bride out to lunch (to free up
the evening from family obligations). Returned by 2. Minor
TV buzz that Cards may be interested in Geno (Really? A short-pass
guy in a BA offense? Really?) My adjusted #8 - #38 Board suggests
that we'll get a good player at #38, but it could go in any
direction.
9:24 am - Day 2
- It's gonna be a busy day - re-adjust
the boards, post the results, check out the mocks etc. etc. Most
exciting activity will be to scope out the first 6 picks of Round
2 to figure out what the Cardinals will do at #38. Without much
thought, the top 6 remaining players on my adjusted board figure
to be Margus Hunt, Demontre Moore, Tank Carradine, Johnathan
Cyprien, Geno Smith, and Arthur Brown with DJ Swearinger, Monti
Te'o, Sio Moore, Tyler Wilson and Alex Okafor other possibilities.
Catch you all later.
8:00 pm -
Go! I'm hoping (without much confidence)
that the Cards grab an OT like Lane Johnson and, barring that,
will settle for Cooper or Warmack. For this to happen, at least
two non-OL's will have to fall and/or Philly would have to trade
the pick to an Austin-seeker or to us.
KC waits til the last minute and picks
Fisher (Dang! I forgot to switch Fisher and Joeckel in the ASFN
mock draft contest...Jax is up (figures to entertain trade
offers). They take Joeckel. Will Oakland trade? I see Big Al's
brother mouth the words "trade" from the draft table inside Radio
City Music Hall. Yup; Miami (Bye bye L Johnson). But no! They grab
Dion Jordan. Eagles now up - either they trade to a team who wants
Lane Johnson or they stay put and take him themselves. Kelly grabs
Johnson. Detroit has been said to love Warmack but also needs a
pass rusher. Boom! Ziggy Ansah! With Ansah and Jordan off the
board (& Cleveland likely to take a QB or Milliner) things are
looking good for getting Cooper. Surprise!
The Browns grab Mingo paving the way for
the Cards to grab Cooper; but I'm greedy. I had concocted a
scenario whereby the Jets or Buffalo (said to be interested in
Austin) could be pitted against one another and enable us to trade
down one or two spots. With Cooper and Warmack on the board (&
Austin presumably one of the picks between #7 and #9) we could
trade down for a 4th or 5th pick and still get one of the two
guards.
But the Cards stand pat, paving the way for StL to trade up with
Buffalo and steal Austin from the Jets. (We coulda been a
contender). The Cardinals played it safe and took one of the
cleanest, safest picks in the draft in offensive guard, Johnathan
Cooper.
Meanwhile, I was able to squeeze in the Finale of Project Runway.
(The put-down artist - Michelle - shouldn't have won, but that's a
whole different story. Night Night.
7:00 pm -
Rumors: Atlanta targeting Mingo. Giants
have zero'd in on Werner, Watson and Rhodes (& not
Ogletree)...Idzik and Rex singing Kumbaya...Niners are trying to
move up to grab an "impact player." Other than that, a lot of Red
Carpet fluff. I Google PT vs. ET time differentional. It
says "3 hours" (I beat the ASFN Deadline by 0:03 minutes...
5:00 pm -
McShay came up with his final-final
mock: Joeckel or Fisher, Jordan, Trade Down or Floyd, Lane
Johnson, Ansah, Geno and Cooper. Broke for dinner.
4:00 pm -
NFL Live came on-air. Talking heads
(Jaws and Bruschi) emphasized QB's being overdrafted (Philly or
Buffalo?) and Jacksonville desperately needing a pass rusher.
Te'o to Bears rumors supported by report that Bears have spent a
lot of time with Te'o and that Te'o has been asking reporters a
lot about what the Bears are like.
The Austin to Buffalo (or higher) rumors continue to bubble. Which
raises an interesting trade-down possibility for the Cardinals:
The three teams hottest on Austin's tail appear to be the Rams at
#16 or #22, Buffalo at #8 and the Jets at #9. The Cards could hold
any of the three teams hostage (because Buffalo would be afraid of
StL or the Jets leapfrogging them into the #7-hole and both
Buffalo, the Jets would have to get ahead of Buffalo to secure
Austin and the Jets would be afraid of being circumnavigated by
Buffalo at #9 or StL coming up from #16 or #22.
The ideal trade for the Cardinals would be to swap their #7 for
Buffalo's #8 or the Jets' #9 while picking up an extra 4th or 5th
round pick (according to one trade value chart). If they swapped
picks with Buffalo, they'd still get the player they wanted at #7.
If they swapped with the Jets, they'd get one of the two highest
players on their board (with the better than even likelihood that
Buffalo would draft a QB anyway). These trade fantasies seldom
occur anyway, but it's fun to dream.
According to Mortensen and Schefter, KC appears to be taking
Fisher but nothing's been confirmed. Jacksonville seems likely to
take the "other OT." There is a lot of trade-chatter: Austin
remains the hot player. Oakland rumored to want to trade down and
the Niners and Falcons seeking to trade up. There could be a run
on QB's starting as early as the middle picks of the first round
with teams in the second round seeking to move into the 1st round
in order to get the benefit of the 5th year on 1st round
contracts. That's it for now.
3:30 pm -
Andy Reid gave away nothing. Austin was quoted as saying
"The Jets have a plan for me."
2:00 pm -
No new info or buzz.. NFL Network repeatedly went around the horn
to various NFL cities and reran their stories each time around.
SIRIUS (Murray and Gannon) were running color stories on draft
prospects.
The Michelle Beisner Cardinal Tape Loop:
(1) The Cards allowed 58 sacks last year. (2) They want one of the
three tackles. (3) They probably won't get any. (4) If so, they'd
probably turn their attention to pass rusher or trade down. (5)
Whether they'd draft a guard is unclear.
I made a last-minute revision to my ASFN 7 Round Mock entry
(subbing Goodwin for Thornton in the 3rd round) but (depending on
whether or not NJ is 3 hours time-difference from AZ or whether
it's 2) I may have missed the deadline by 55-minutes.
8:30 am Draft Day Morning - -
Thurs. April
25, 2013 -- No overnight deals (I guess holding the draft in the
evening makes it easier to do deals in daylight hours leading up
to the draft). First thing I did was check the local dailies.
Surprise! No mock in the Asbury Park Press. But the NJ Star Ledger
had one as did Gary Myers in the NY Daily News. (I've found that
Myers uses a wide range of contacts within the NFL and media to
usually bury everyone else for mock draft bragging rights). I also
caught up with the NFL Network "group mock" and Mayock's latest
mock from last night. These should provide enough tea-leaves: For
example, the names most mentioned with regard to the Jets are
Mingo and Austin. You keep hearing Ogletree and Fluker in the same
sentences with the Giants. Ditto Manti Te'o and the Bears. There's
more and more sentiment about the Eagles grabbing Lane Johnson if
they keep the pick (or trading the pick to another team who would
probably draft Johnson at #4).
But there are differences - Myers has the Cards drafting Jordan.
The Star Ledger has us grabbing Ansah. Todd McShay has Cooper
going to the Cardinals. My gut tells me that (a) there will be a
load of trades at the top of the draft, and (b) it's time to
adjust various mocks, boards etc. to last minute changes that
"just feel right." This is not easy - I'm guessing that the Cards
are 45-45 to draft Cooper or Jordan in the first round (with
Jarvis Jones a 10% darkhorse). See you later.
7:00 pm Wednesday Night - -
Wed. April
24, 2013 -- I started the evening with a bummed out feeling from
being attacked by an arrogant blogger on ASFN "who didn't think I
was contributing to the conversation." It's one thing to voice
your own opinions on a forum, but totally out-of-line to assume
the role of "Editor" and personally attack the nature of someone
else's writing style. At the onset of what should have been a
joyous 3 or 4 days of enjoying the draft, what this dude did was
tantamount to "peeing in the soup." Anyway, it's made be just a
bit sad. Goes to show you that even Cardinal fandome has its share
of knuckleheads.
Cards signed
4 free agents - wide receivers Jarrett Dillard (Rice) and
Robert Gill (Texas St.), TE Alex Gottleib (William & Mary) and OT
Paul Fanaika (ASU). The first announced signing listed Fanaika as
an OG, raising the possibility that the Cardinals had
decided to forgoe drafting an OG (like Cooper or Warmack) high in
the draft - even if the top 3 OT's were taken. (There has been a
lot of buzz on tv suggesting that the top 5 offensive linemen will
all be off our board by #7.).
No deals yet, but the scuttlebutt is there's an unusual amount of
trade chatter among teams seeking to trade up or trade down. Mike
Mayock shrewdly observed that "Philly at #4, controls Lane
Johnson." Several teams (including the Cardinals) desperately need
LT help and probably will try to trade up. Or the Eagles could
decide to keep the pick and draft Johnson, themselves.
Several teams apparently are afflicted with "Austin Fever", and
Tavon has moved from a mid-20's possibility to as high as Buffalo
at #8. Plenty of trade buzz here.
The Niners have 13 picks, but don't expect them to add 13 players
to an already talent-loaded roster. More likely, they'll try to
package picks in order to move up in the draft to grab specific
players they've targeted. (And remember, supplemental picks can't
be used in a trade).
Dallas buzz is that they need offensive line help (Cooper,
Warmack, Fluker, but could take Vaccaro if all three linemen were
unavailable. Or it could all be part of Jerry Jones' previously
announced trade-down strategy.
Buffalo talking about Barkley if Nassib is gone - but I can't
believe they'd consider either as high as #8.
What would it take for the Cards to go up and get Johnson? One of
the legendary "trade value charts" sets Philly's #4 spot at 1800
points and the Cardinal's pick at #7 at 1500 points. The Cards
would have to come up with 300 value points and/or a player to
make this trade happen. The advantage to Philly would be that
they'd only have to move down 3 spots. To make the trade work with
picks-only, the Cards would have to part with their 3rd round pick
(#103) (worth 245 points) plus their 5th round pick (#174)
(worth 36 points) plus possibly a future late pick in 2014. Or
this might be the time to dangle Brian Hoyer out there as trade
bait. But if they don't trade a player, the deal would boil down
to: Is it worth a 3rd and 5th round pick to swap #1's and
guarantee Lane Johnson. (I hate to part with draft picks, but
would not be totally against that trade).
The other possibility would be for the Cards to trade in the
opposite direction - i.e. if Ansah, Lotuleilei, J Jones, Warmack,
Cooper or even Eifert or Austin were still on Steve Keim's "Seven
Players We're Happy to Draft" list, I could see us trading down 2,
3 or 4 spots with teams - eager to trade up to grab a hot
commodity like a Lotuleilei, Austin or Eifert - and still get one
of the guys on our list.
9 pm - there's nothing new, and I'm wrapping up the day. Big day
tomorrow.
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