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
Sam Bradford is on most people's list as the number 1 quarterback coming out of the 2010 draft, and mine is no different. He had a couple shoulder injuries last season. As a result he only played 3 games, two of which he was injured in. Bradford decided to go through a shoulder surgery and it was a success so it looks like he's back to 100%, or atleast somewhere near there.

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 my opinion, Jimmy Clausen is the second best pick in this years draft. He, like Bradford, is also entering the NFL draft after his junior season in college. Clausen may not have the incredible numbers that Sam Bradford pulled off in '07 and '08 (probably due to the offensive scheme), but he is still an extremely solid QB.

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
Colt McCoy is the perfect QB to have behind the spread offense. Ben Spicer from BleacherReport.com explains the spread offense:

"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.

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.

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.

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?