Tags
2011, Alex green, Bears, brandon burton, brandon fusco, caleb schlauderaff, Chicago, Chris Conte, christian ballard, christian ponder, Davon House, deaundre reed, demarcus love, Derek Sherrod, Detroit, dj smith, dj williams, douglas hogue, Gabe Carimi, Green Bay, James Thomas, johnny culbreath, Kyle Rudolph, lawrence guy, Lions, mikel leshore, Minnesota, mistral raymond, Nathan Enderle, NFL Draft, Nick Fairley, Packers, Randall Cobb, ricky elmore, ross homan, ryan taylor, stephen burton, Stephen Paea, titus young, Vikings
Team: Detroit Lions
1st Round – Nick Fairley, DT, Auburn
2nd Round – Titus Young, WR, Boise State
2nd Round – Mikel Leshore, RB, Illinois
5th Round – Douglas Hogue, LB, Syracuse
7th Round – Johnny Culbreath, OT, South Carolina St
This is a very sound draft. Fairley is a risk but was great value at 13, as was Titus Young. The weapons that Stafford has to work with – Calvin Johnson, Brandon Pettigrew, Nate Burleson and Titus Young – look pretty intimidating. Now add in a 2 back system of Javid Best – the home run hitter – and Mikel Leshore – the pounder – and you’ve got a high octane offense that can really put points up. The Lions picked up a project OT late which is good, but probably won’t help keep Stafford upright which is their biggest team concern. Their defense didn’t get a whole lot of help. They lack top corners but have depth there and maybe could take a run at Nnamdi Asomougha. I think they could have gotten as good value in Amukamara at 13 but passed him up and he would fit a bigger need.
Draft Grade = A-
Team: Chicago Bears
1st Round – Gabe Carimi, OT, Wisconsin
2nd Round – Stephen Paea, DT, Oregon State
3rd Round – Chris Conte, DB, California
5th Round – Nathan Enderle, QB, Idaho
6th Round – James Thomas, Lb, West Virginia
Another solid draft for the Bears. They’ve been behind the 8 ball since the Jay Cutler trade, but this year they had a good wealth of picks to work with. Their offensive line was the biggest need. Other than the snafu with the Ravens, they found good value getting Carimi where he was. Paea as well was a good pick for a team lacking defensive tackle depth. Conte could be a good pickup for a weaker secondary, but I don’t think he’ll start early. Enderle is a great pickup for the Mike Martz system. He’s a lot like Flacco, a big arm, tall quarterback who’ll stand in the pocket and deliver the ball down field. He needs some development time but should be a good product down the road. The Bears did get some O-line help, but not enough to turn the tide that has been against them this last year. They have age and lack of talent that only was partially addressed. They also couldn’t find a big time WR for Cutler to throw to (I suspect they were actually trading up for Baldwin in the failed deal with the Ravens).
Draft Grade = A-
Team: Green bay Packers
1st Round – Derek Sherrod, OT, Mississippi State
2nd Round – Randall Cobb, WR, Kentucky
3rd Round – Alex Green, RB, Hawaii
4th Round – Davon House, DB, New Mexico State
5th Round – D.J Williams, TE, Arkansas
6th Round – Caleb Schlauderaff, OL, Utah
6th Round – D.J. Smith, LB, Appalachian State
6th Round – Ricky Elmore, DE/OLB, Arizona
7th Round – Ryan Taylor, TE, North Carolina
7th Round – Lawrence Guy, DE/DT, Arizona State
The Packers picked up a lot of players, and they’ve always been good at adding valuable depth through the draft. They wont a super bowl last year on depth because most teams could not have survived the injuries they had to endure. Sherrod and Cobb were, again, good value picks and Sherrod was a big need to keep Aaron Rodgers upright. Green from Hawaii was a bit of a reach for me, and there were a couple running backs I liked more on the table. D.J. Williams was fantastic value and considering how many injuries they had at the tight end position, its no surprise they took another one late. Elmore is another good pickup to groom behind Clay Mathews. That is the one area they failed to address, pass rush. Johnny Jolly is probably suspended and they didn’t find a top defensive end replacement nor a compliment pass rusher for Mathews.
Draft Grade: B+
Team: Minnesota Vikings
1st Round – Christian Ponder, QB, Florida State
2nd Round – Kyle Rudolph, TE, Notre Dame
4th Round – Christian Ballard, DE, Iowa
5th Round – Brandon Burton, CB, Utah
6th Round – Demarcus Love, OL, Arkansas
6th Round – Mistral Raymond, DB, Florida
6th Round – Brandon Fusco, OL, Slippery Rock
6th Round – Ross Homan, LB, Ohio State
7th Round – Deaundre Reed, DE, Arizona
7th Round – Stephen Burton, WR, West Texas A&M
The Vikings stated, as soon as they hired a new coach, that finding the next Matt Ryan, Joe Flacco, Sam Bradford was their goal this off-season. It was the right goal, but they went about it the wrong way. Obviously they tried to move back from 12 but were unable or didn’t find much need for teams to move up and reached for the quarterback they liked. He could work out, but the value they got for him was not good. Kyle Rudolph was a phenomenal pick, and shows what this organization can do when its hands aren’t tied at quarterback. Their draft was solid. They found potential replacements at DE, TE, OL, and DB but missed a couple glaring holes. They don’t have a top flight LT anymore, their top WR is a free agent potentially, their CB depth and S depth are very poor, and they’ll lack both Williams’ for the first 4 weeks of the season. On the whole they ruined their changes of a good draft earlier with the Randy Moss trade, but I would’ve felt they could do better than this. The only reason I don’t grade this draft lower is because of Rudolph, Ballard, and Love.
Draft Grade: C-