A few weeks ago I covered some of the top Quarterbacks in the 2010 draft, now heres a few guys they may be throwing to. This years draft class is relatively weak in the WR department but there is some serious talent coming from the NCAA regardless. Heres, in my opinion, the 4 best WR's in the draft:
1. Dez Bryant - Oklahoma State
Dez Bryant in my opinion is the most talented WR entering the draft. As an Oklahoma State Cowboy, Bryant was often brought up in Heisman talks. That was until he was suspended by the NCAA for "fail[ing] to openly disclose to the NCAA the full details of his interaction with a former NFL player not affiliated with OSU." That former NFL player is Deion Sanders, the former CB/WR superstar. Despite his suspension, which spanned over the majority of the 2009 season does not seem to be hurting his chances in the NFL, as many teams are looking at him with great interest. Dez Bryant is a tall receiver with good hands who runs good routes, which seems to be a trend for #1 receivers lately. If the Broncos get rid of Brandon Marshall, theres a chance they might pick up Bryant, as their styles are pretty similar.
2. Golden Tate - Notre Dame
Golden Tate is a WR from Notre Dame who is shining through a somewhat weak draft class (when it comes to WR's). He constantly causes frustrated defenders to miss him with his speed and quickness (4.42 40). He's very explosive off the line, reaching his top speed after a few yards and his hands are excellent, which shows in his ability to avoid fumbles and dropped passes. I expect Golden Tate to go in the 1st round, or early 2nd round at the LATEST.
3. Arrelious Benn - Illinois
Benn's size and speed make a great combination as a receiver. He's a physical receiver who knows how to separate himself from his defenders and create yards after the catch. He is frequently compared to Anquan Boldin, who had tremendous success in Arizona. He is also a very reliable kick returner. I expect to see him go in the early to mid second round.
4. Demaryius Thomas - Georgia Tech
Demaryius Thomas may be somewhat of a sleeper in this draft class. Hes coming from Georgia Tech which has a heavily run-based offense. Because of this, his stats are very misleading when it comes to gauging how good of a player he truly is. I believe that he will be taken in the 2nd or 3rd round, and will probably surprise some of the NFL analysts in the 2010 season because I'm sure he's going to have an impressive rookie year.
Sunday, March 21, 2010
2010 Draft: Wide Receivers
Monday, March 15, 2010
Offseason: The State of the Broncos
The team with more recent flops than a game of Texas hold-em is once again leaving me confused as hell this off-season. Being a Broncos fan, I can't help but take a week to discuss their off-season changes. Last year the Broncos saw some MAJOR changes in the off-season, with the firing of Mike Shanahan, the hiring of Josh McDaniels and a whole lot of drama with Jay Cutler and Brandon Marshall. Although this year's off-season hasn't been in the news as much, it is still a pretty eventful one.
The Broncos just acquired Brady Quinn from the Browns in a trade. The trade involved a 2011 6th round draft pick, a 2012 "conditional" draft pick (What every a conditional draft pick may be), and Peyton Hillis, the Fullback who did a great service in Denver when converted to Halfback due to the extensive running back injuries that year. A day after the trade, the Broncos cut Chris Simms (The former #2 QB), after spending one (unproductive) season in Denver.
I personally find this to be somewhat of a gamble, but a good one. Denver only gave up a fullback and a couple late round draft picks over the next two years for a 2007 first-round QB. Sure, he was pretty unproductive in Cleveland, but I've yet to see a QB there who IS. I remember watching his first game starting for Cleveland, which just so happened to be against the Broncos in 2008. There was a massive amount of hype surrounding his first game and it seemed many fans thought he would be the franchise QB the Browns needed. The game he played was actually pretty decent, though he has failed to really impress since then. Maybe Cleveland was just a bad fit for Quinn, Who knows? All I know is that I'd like to see if there was a good reason for the hype surrounding him entering the NFL when given a chance with another team.
A somewhat unsettling change in Denver this off-season has been the release of Mike Nolan (in January). Mike Nolan was the defensive coordinator for the Broncos last year. He completely revamped the 29th place defense with personnel changes as well as changing the defensive scheme from 4-3 to 3-4. He had incredible success and turned a terrible at best defense into one of the best in the league. In fact, for the first 6 games (before the annual Denver Bronco choke) Denver had THE best defense in the league. I still think it was a horrible move to fire probably the most significant factor in the 2009 Bronco's turnaround. The thing is, the Broncos are still in the REBUILDING phase and they let Nolan go after having extremely significant results in the first year of his employment.
The other moves by the Broncos have been more routine than notable. They've cut a few players who were somewhat insignificant, and hired a few who seem to have been average players for the teams they were previously on. I have a feeling that this off-season hasn't reached it's peak yet. Brandon Marshall,one of the best WR's in the game who is noticeably disliked by Head Coach Josh McDaniels, still hasn't been traded. As usual, I'm left having no idea how the Broncos are going to do. I remain optimistic, however, until we are once again mathematically eliminated from the playoffs after another late-season flop.
Sunday, February 21, 2010
2010 Draft: Quarterbacks
The first position I am going to elaborate on is by far the most popular position in the game, I'm of course talking about the Quarterback. Other bloggers and sports writers have said that this year is a relatively weak draft when it comes to the QB position. Despite this, however, there are still some good players that are sure to benefit the teams that pick them. These are the top 5:
1. Sam Bradford - Oklahoma
In the two years before his injury (2007 and 2008) he threw for 7,481 yards with 86 touchdowns and 16 interceptions. His passer rating was 176.52 in 07 and 180.84 in 08.
It is clear that Bradford can play at the quarterback position. The only thing that would have made it easier to place him at the #1 spot is his questionable physical condition. I believe he will either be picked up by the Redskins with the 4th overall pick, or possibly by Buffalo with the 9th.
2. Jimmy Clausen - Notre Dame
In his 3 years at Notre Dame, Clausen threw for 8,148 yards and 60 TD's. He had a relatively rough time getting picked off in 08 with 17 interceptions and 25 touchdowns. In 09, however, he threw 28 touchdowns and only threw 4 picks.
Clausen and Bradford are generally chosen as the 1st and 2nd quarterbacks to get picked up this season. The only thing that really gives Clausen an edge over Sam Bradford is the fact that Bradford was injured for most of last year. I would say Clausen gets picked up by maybe seattle, probably Buffalo. There's also a possibility he'd get picked up by the skins if they trade down with another of the top 10 pick teams.
3. Colt McCoy - Texas
"A spread offense usually consists of the quarterback coming from the shotgun formation, with four or five-wide-receiver sets, if it's being ran correctly. The objective of the spread offense is to spread the length of the football field horizontally and to distribute the ball to the wide receivers via the flats or by way of a screen pass."Although the spread offense right now is mainly just used in College football, there are several NFL teams who have adopted this scheme. Colt McCoy has proven to have success with it, having thrown for over 13,000 yards and 112 touchdowns in his 4 years. I have a feeling (though it may be biased) that the Broncos will pick up McCoy in the 2nd, possibly trading up.
4. Tim Tebow - Florida
Tim Tebow has been heralded as the greatest college football quarterback of all time. Unfortunately, however, his style of play doesn't seem to quite translate to NFL Quarterback. Because of his enormous success in College, there is no way he isn't getting picked up before the 3rd round is up. Jacksonville seems to be interested, and adding Tebow would surely fix their problem of not being able to sell tickets. Besides Jacksonville, Tebow may be picked up by several others as a "wildcat" type quarterback in the 2nd or 3rd round.5. Tony Pike - Cincinnati
I feel that the 5th best QB coming into the draft is Cincinnati's Tony Pike. In his 3 years in college he had 5,018 yards and 49 touchdowns. This low number is mostly due to an almost non-existent rookie season where he threw just 20 passes. In 2008 and 2009 Tony Pike has proven to be a pretty good Quarterback, with passer ratings over 130 in both years. He led Cincinnati in an undefeated season in 2009 only to be defeated by Florida in the Sugar Bowl. I predict him to be a 2nd-3rd rounder as well.
Monday, February 15, 2010
The Bad News Bengals
Get ready for empty Sundays and a forced interest in other sports, we've now entered football withdrawal. One man who probably knows all about withdrawal is Matt Jones, the most recent addition to the Cincinnati Bengals. Jones, the former wide-out for the Jacksonville Jaguars was arrested in July of 2008 for having 6 grams of cocaine on him. Because of the arrest, he didn't participate in the 2009 season after the Jaguars cut him from the roster. The trend for the Bengals this off-season seems to be them trying to create the most controversial NFL team in history.
Another player that the Bengals are interested in adding is Adam "Pacman" Jones. Pacman Jones has found himself in even more legal problems then Matt has. He has been arrested on numerous occasions during his NFL career. His crimes include things such as possession of marijuana, fighting with his bodyguards, punching a woman in the face, and his worst incident yet, as described by Mike McD from BleacherReport.com:
The grand-daddy of Pacman's charges, this was the one that got him kicked out of the league. Jones was in the middle of a fight and a shooting. Allegations were that while he was in the club, he was "making it rain" on the strippers with over $80,000 (hopefully not all in singles), and knocking strippers' heads against the bar while saying that he was going to kill one of the employees.Although McD may have simplified the incident, this is in no way how a professional athlete should behave. Needless to say, the fight, shooting, death threats and slamming strippers heads into the bar had him ejected from the NFL. He probably would have never found an NFL team that would even consider him anymore, but luckily for him there's the Cincinnati Bengals.
The Bengals have been known to hire some of the more troubled players in the NFL. Their late wide receiver Chris Henry was arrested several times. His crimes included drug and gun charges, a DUI and battery. In 2009 he seemed to have been cleaning up his life, and wasn't caught up in any illegal activity until his tragic death this last December in which he fell out of a truck after a domestic dispute with his fiance.
The Bengals don't just like the criminal type players, they also seem to enjoy having massive egos on their team as well. Their number 1 wide-out Chad Ochocinco (formerly Chad Johnson) is always flaunting his ego in a controversial, yet extremely entertaining fashion. He has been fined thousands of dollars for excessive celebrations, among other things such as using twitter in the locker room. He also was fined $5,000 dollars for putting a patch over his last name on his Jersey that instead of "Johnson" read "Ochocinco" in "honor" of Hispanic Heritage Month. Instead of leaving it at that, he changed his last name to Ochocinco so he could wear it on his Jersey fine-free.
There have been some rumors that Terrell Owens could also be a target for the Cincinnati Bengals this year. TO, like Ochocinco also has an extremely bloated ego, and has left almost every team he's been on with bad terms due to it. I'm somewhat worried about having two giant egos in one city and the effect it may have on the structure of the universe.Though most likely the world will not end if these two forces join, but it is bound to make for an entertaining season of football. I say season because I doubt Ochocinco and TO will work together harmoniously for very long.
If all of these players do join the ranks of the Cincinnati Bengals, we are bound to have an interesting season both on and off the field in the fall. The Bengals are sure to give the rest of the U.S. some quality entertainment. Unfortunately for Cincinnati though, they may give the city another thing to be less than proud about.
Sunday, February 7, 2010
Why I Watch Football
It was January, 1998 and the Green Bay Packers were facing the Denver Broncos in one of the most memorable Super Bowls in the NFL's history. I was sitting on my couch with my father and watched John Elway get hit mid-air, sending him into his famous "helicopter" spin. From that point on, for the first time in my life, I was completely sucked into the game. I didn't care about the commercials, the chicken wings or the halftime show. I was focused on the amazing football game unfolding before me.
I am a Broncos fan. I somewhat inherited from my father (who grew up in Denver), who most likely also became a fan because of HIS father. Therefor I like to refer to myself as a third generation Denver Broncos fan. I follow the Broncos through the good times and the bad, unfortunately in the past few years there has been a lot more of the latter, but I still watch optimistically until my team routinely gets eliminated from playing in the playoffs.
I don't simply just follow the Broncos. I follow the NFL pretty closely, as well as participate in Fantasy football (which if you have not tried, I highly recommend doing so). College Football is somewhat a stranger to me still, although I get more and more acquainted to it every year. I especially pay attention to the NFL prospects playing College ball.
You may wonder why I like football so much. The answer is that I think it's one of the more complex, and engaging sports in the world. I ofter hear people describe football as "just people running into each other". This is definitely not the case. Though football does involve a large amount of physical contact, it is by no means the only factor in the game. The game can also be looked at like a game of chess, due to the huge amount of strategy involved. There is a huge amount of strategy involved in play calling, personnel hiring, time management, the draft, practices, trades, and even certain elements in stadium construction. One team could have the the strongest players in the world for running into the other team's players but without a good strategy, they'd get blown out of the water by the other team, assuming it's well coached.
The Super Bowl is today, and I suggest that everyone watch it. Maybe it will be the game that gets you hooked like the Super Bowl 12 years ago did for me. Even if you still feel indifferent to the sport after the game ends, the Saints and the Colts, the Who, as well as the famous super bowl commercials are sure to entertain you this evening.
Wednesday, February 3, 2010
The Predictabowl
It's that time of the year where football nuts find themselves twitching with anticipation, and where the rest of America begins to get a little too excited over advertisements. Yep, it's February and the Superbowl is just around the corner. The teams playing this year are somewhat more predictable than the last few years. The Saints were one of the last 2 teams to remain undefeated during the regular season. They won their first 13 games until falling into a 3 game losing streak after a loss in Dallas. In the AFC another team was seeing very similar results, the Indianapolis Colts. This Colts team started off 14-0 until they began resting their starters, crushing their fans dreams of a 16-0 season, but I imagine there's not a single person complaining in Indianapolis right now as Superbowl Sunday is just days away.
Both the Colts and Saints are very similar teams, they both rely on their extremely high powered offenses, with two of the greatest team leaders today at the helm. Both Peyton Manning and Drew Brees are two outstanding quarterbacks, both with close to 35 touchdowns and 4,500 yards on the season. Even more important than their abilities at Quarterback is their dedication to the team. Both of these players are the heart and soul of their team, both leaders on the field and in the locker room. These teams are by no means one-dimensional. Along with their great offensive attacks, the Colts and Saints both have quality defenses. In defense, the Colts have an edge, having an overall more solid defense. The Saints defense, while not as good as far as preventing yardage and scores, is a dangerous threat when it comes to ripping the ball away from the offense.
With these two elite football teams, anyone could have predicted months ago that these two teams would be in the Superbowl, and probably most people did. That's the thing, the end of this year has been completely predictable. The underdog Jets, with their rookie quarterback, Mark Sanchez, at the helm along with their... character of a coach (to say the least) were relentlessly fighting their way to the Superbowl. That is, until they were eliminated by the Colts in the AFC championship game, the same Colts who had led the AFC all season long. In the NFC, Brett Favre, a living legend in the football world was looking to have his "last hurrah". Instead of putting an exclamation point at the end of his career, he has once again created a question mark as it looks like we have another confusing off-season ahead of us filled with the retirement and un-retirement of Mr. Favre.
Even though it may have made a better story line (or at least would eliminate some confusion), New Orleans deserves this Sunday. The city who has been through so much in the last 5 years is finally seeing their NFL team make it to the Superbowl for the first time. The streets of New Orleans is filled with pride, accomplishment and chants of "Who Dat?". At the end of the day, I hope we hear about how Drew Brees and the Saints brought New Orleans their first championship instead of hearing Peyton Manning and Jim Caldwell talk endlessly about team work and dedication.
When it comes down to it, the Superbowl is about football, not stories. If I was more interested in the story lines behind the players than the actual athletic events, I'd watch professional wrestling. We wont be watching an exciting "David vs Goliath" type showdown such as the one we saw 2 years ago. We won't get to see an NFL great end his career on the most important game of the year. We will, however get to witness what is sure to be a great game between two top of the line teams. After all, why do we watch football? Do we watch it for the storylines, or for the, well, Football?
Wednesday, January 27, 2010
Welcome to the Redzone
Within the scope of my class I will be covering multiple topics, surrounding the overall theme of football. On some weeks I will be discussing the draft. More specifically, I will break down the more popular positions, discussing the top prospects of the 2010 draft class coming out of the NCAA. I will break down the players' stats and achievements throughout their college career. I will also attempt to predict which teams will draft these players based on their needs.
Occasionally in football's offseason there are big news stories that send the sports writers into a frenzy. I will of course be covering these events as they unfold. Along with simply giving the details of the news events I will be responding to other bloggers' opinions on the matter with my own. A good example of the type of writer I will be responding to is Peter King, a writer for Sports Illustrated.
I will also be writing other various football-related articles. For example, I may cover a historical player or team in the NFL, different strategies such as defensive schemes, or any other interesting topics that relate to football.
With this blog I intend to interact with the football blogging community. I will share ideas and engage in conversations about many different aspects to the sport of football. I look forward to stepping into the world of football blogging for the next few months and even onwards past the scope of this class.
