Big Surprises and Big Flops from This Year’s NFL Draft

If you have a chance, I encourage you to check out Don Banks’ revised 2008 NFL Draft.  It’s a pretty insightful piece, and best of all, Mr. Banks suggests that the Lions should have taken a wide receiver.  That seems so ridiculous to Lions’ fans, until your realize that Keary Colbert and John Standeford lined up with Calvin Johnson at WR last Sunday.  Although Pete Carroll and Joe Tiller would probably be happy to see these bums, as a Lions fan, if I never see either of them again, it would be too soon.

We decided to piggyback on Don Banks’ idea and check out the big surprises and big flops in this year’s NFL draft.  There are quite a few players that were supposed to have an impact but didn’t and just as many guy that weren’t expected to do much and excelled.  Let’s take a look:

Big Surprises of the 2008 Draft:

Jerod Mayo – LB – 10th Pick – New England Patriots - I guess it isn’t too much of a surprise that the New England Patriots made a great draft pick.  Jerod is the only rookie with over 100 tackles and he looks like another great LB at a position at which the Patriots were still strong, but aging.

Here he is “de-bucketing” Ray Rice

Cliff Avril – DE – Purdue – 3rd Round, Pick 29 – Cliff’s four sacks and Calvin Johnson’s play are probably the only bright spots for the historically bad Detroit Lions.  If Cliff becomes a 25-30 sack per year guy, he might even save Matt Millen’s draft reputation.

Chris Horton – SS – Redskins – 7th Round, Pick 249 – Chris Horton, chosen in the 7th round our of UCLA, has become an impact player in a secondary with bigger names DBs like LaRon Landry, Carlos Rogers and Fred Smoot.  He’s collected three INTs and a forced fumble while leading all rookie DBs in tackles.

Honorable Mention to Brandon Carr who is having a similarly impressive season as a fifth round pick.

Small, Fast Wide Receivers: Eddie Royal, Desean Jackson, and Donnie Avery are 1,2,3 respectively in receiving yardage among rookie wideouts and none of the three stands an inch over 5’11 or a pound over 184 pounds.

First play on this video: (turn down your sound)

Matt Forte – RB – Chicago Bears – 2nd Round, 44th Pick – Forte has impressed in every facet of the game from Week 1.  He’s closing in on 1,100 yards rushing and 500 yards receiving while being an invaluable pass blocker.

Steve Slaton RB – Houston Texans – 3rd Round, 79th Pick – After his sophomore year at West Virginia, most drafnicks believed that Slaton would be a first round lock in 2008 should he choose to declare.  After a sub-par (For Slaton) junior year, Slaton declared for the draft and slid all the way into the mid 3rd round.  The Texans’ third round pick turned out to be a steal as Steve, like Matt Forte, has nearly 1,500 total yards.

Honorable Mention Chris Johnson – RB – Titans – 24th pick – After he ran a 4.24 second 40 at the combine, I’m not sure he really shocked anyone with the success that he’s had in his rookie year.  That being said, Chris has still impressed just about everyone with his speed, and barring injury, he will also end up with around 1,500 total yards.

First Round TEs: John Carlson and Dustin Keller:  Both Carlson and Keller have been great options for their respective QBs, totaling 525 yards and 474 yards respectively in their rookie seasons.  Each player has seen their role expand in recent weeks and both men should be nice fantasy choices in 2009.

1st Round QBs: Matt Ryan and Joe Flacco - It seems that the words “No one could have predicted (blank),” get thrown around a ton in the NFL, but I don’t think anyone could have predicted that both Flacco and Ryan would become such competent game managers in their rookie campaign.  It’s equally surprising that Ryan’s Falcons and Flacco’s Ravens are in the playoff hunt after very disappointing seasons in 2007 for both teams.

Big Flops:

Vernon Gholston – DE / LB – NY Jets – 6th Pick - This workout warrior impressed everyone at the combine with this rare combination of size, strength and speed.  He has yet to put it together on the field as he only registered 12 tackles this season in limited action.

Gosder Cherilus – OG – Detroit Lions – 17th Pick – If you can believe it, Matt Millen made a reach to select Cherilus at pick 17. He came out of training camp as a backup, quite a feat for a man that was just given a $15 million dollar signing bonus.  He took over the starting job 4 games in, and like the other 52 people on the Lions roster, he has been fairly disappointing.

Kentwan Balmer – DT – San Francisco 49ers – Pick 29 - Balmer hasn’t exactly burst onto the scene for the 49ers.  Many believed the 49ers would make strides this year on the back of an improved defense.  That has not been the case, and Balmer’s six tackles are probably not the contribution 49ers brass was looking for.

Sam Baker – OT – Atlanta Falcons – Pick 21 – I won’t blame Sam for his troubles this year because before he injured his back, he had started five of five games for the Falcons.  That being said, I am sure the Falcons wanted a bit more Baker this year.  I am sure they are also concerned, even after surgery, about Baker’s back going forward at a position like OT.

Rashard Mendenhall – RB – Pittsburgh Steelers – Pick 23 – Rashard was also the victim of injury this year, but before he went on IR, he did get involved in a little trash talking with the Ravens. The Steelers envisioned a bruising two back attack involving Mendenhall and Parker, but it remains to be seen if that plan will ever come to fruition.

Please let me know if I missed anyone of note in either column.  I would love to sneak a couple more duds in there if possible.  That way, when my “flops” turn into All-Pros in two years, I can look more like an ass than I already do.

The Angry T

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