Common sense tells us that the NFL Draft begins with the Cleveland Browns and the 4th overall pick. Quarterbacks Andrew Luck and Robert Griffin III will go one/two and unless the Minnesota Vikings want Christian Ponder to die, left tackle Matt Kalil will go 3rd. Ironically, Cleveland was sitting in a similar scenario last Spring’s draft – with the top 5 expected to be Cam Newton, Von Miller, Marcell Dareus, A.J. Green, and Patrick Peterson and the Browns being the wildcard at 6. Once again, all eyes are on Holmgren and company.

The most popular choice for Cleveland right now is Alabama running back Trent Richardson.

Why wouldn’t he be?

Peyton Hillis left in free agency for Kansas City, Montario Hardesty can’t stay healthy, and former Packer Brandon Jackson hasn’t played in over a year with a turf toe injury. The Browns have a history of great running backs with Keep Reading…

When looking at any draft, it is important to grasp the big picture. Not only should the positional depth of the current draft be looked at, but that of the next year’s draft as well. If there are 5 players of equal talent available at a position, why choose one when you can trade down, pick up additional draft choices, and end up with a player whom you would have taken at the earlier draft slot? Or, worst case scenario – pull a Minnesota and don’t turn in your card.

Every fan wants to fix their team in one offseason. As nice as that would be, it’s just not realistic. Two teams that have consistently won over the past decade are the New England Patriots and the Philadelphia Eagles – and it’s no coincidence that they both are known to maneuver quite a bit on draft day to acquire Keep Reading…

Quinton Coples, North Carolina

Height: 6056 Weight: 281

Best fit: 3-4 DE

Potential landing spot: Dallas Cowboys (14th overall)

Breakdown:

It feels a bit weird mentioning Quinton Coples in an article about edge rushers when that’s not how he’ll be earning his money at the next level. Still, since many consider him into this conversation, it only makes sense to take a closer look at the Tar Heel.

If this were a list about the top edge re-establishers, Coples would be much more at home. He was out of position when lining up at the blindside his senior year at Chapel Hill and is just not a real sack terror – and that’s perfectly fine. His hips just aren’t made to get around the corner and at his size, it’s not a simple task getting small to slip under or around left tackles. If he couldn’t do Keep Reading…

Senior Bowl Diary: Day 1

Senior Bowl Diary: Day 2

Senior Bowl Diary: Day 3

Today at the Senior Bowl can be described with 3 blurry pictures:

After a tornado warning and torrential downpour, practices went inside and essentially boiled down to walkthroughs. In other words, very little scouting.

Fortunately, I got onto the escalator at the same time as a man who as it turns out is the agent for the hot ticket of the week, Joe Adams. We struck up some good conversation and he altered my perspective on the “greed” of the sports agent industry. While he may be an expert at buttering people up as part of the job, he seemed to genuinely care about the well-being of Joe Adams – his one and only client this draft.

After hearing about and speaking Keep Reading…

Senior Bowl Diary: Day 1

Senior Bowl Diary: Day 2

Today at the senior bowl was quite an eventful day. Keeping with my trend of having no trend with my Senior Bowl reports, I’m going to break up my overall impressions by squads because today the experience in each was vastly different.

NORTH

Maybe it was because it is the morning practice, but the North side’s Day 3 was a bit of a snoozer. Instead of spending time showcasing player talents, the Vikings coaching squad spent a majority of the time doing walk-through.

The signal callers were consistently sloppy, with the exception of Kirk Cousins. He had a very good day, arguably the best quarterbacking performance that I have seen this week. Cousins was especially adept at finding the spaces in the zone defenses. There was nice pace on his throws and he seemed settled and Keep Reading…