2014 NFL draft thread (no longer too early)

Yeah, you're probably right. Beaten down is a good way to describe his demeanor at the pre-draft presser.

 

If you talk with Reggie one-on-one, he's a very nice and personable guy. Most NFL coaches and GMs put that on hold when they step into a press conference and then the cliches and "coach speak" fly.

 

Yep.

 

These mock drafts seem to be wildly unpredictable. I've seen Johnny Manziel as high as No. 4 overall and as low as the second round. Guess we'll all find out soon enough.

 

SI.com piece on 1982 Buccaneers second-round pick Booker Reese, which the magazine calls the "most-botched pick in NFL history":

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/longform/nfl-draft-82/

(I'd probably still go with the Saints taking Russell Erxleben in the first round in 1979, but whatever).

 

It was not so much the pick, but the Bucs' reaction to it that screwed them along with the inability to keep Williams.

Erxleben was obviously a mistake. Wasn't he at least their punter for a while?

There have been some pretty awful first rounders. Hell, I still think the Steelers would have cut Huey Richardson as a rookie if he hadn't been a first rounder. He was that bad from day one.

 

Back in the 80s, the word in Patriots training camp back in the '80s was that if Kenneth Sims hadn't been the first overall pick, he'd have been cut as a rookie.

 

Just finished reading that ...
To crossthread to the journo board and the Smith to retire thread, I think this is a story that was overdone, and should not have been a longform piece. It was wholly necessary.

 

That's because the vast majority of those mocks are done by people who have no idea what they're talking about.

 

That's why Mark likes them. He feels a kinship.

 

The Arizona Cardinals drafting history needs mentioning with the LB from Michigan State, the receiver from Tennessee and Tom Tupa.

Clyde Duncan
Freddie Joe Nunn
Anthony Bell
Kelly Stouffer

Those were the first round picks of the Cards from 84-87.

 

That's the record, I think. I can't find another team that went longer than three seasons without a number one pick who became a good player, or at least a player.