Jake "Hurt" Locker

As everyone knows, when Jake Locker's name came up as a possible #1 overall pick for last year's draft (had he entered), I was completely flabbergasted. At no time did I ever see Locker as a #1 worthy type of player. People said, "It's because he's a QB." Fair enough. But after watching today's Nebraska/Washington game, my impression of Locker is "MAJOR DEVELOPMENT PROJECT."

The dude is not a QB. He's an athlete playing QB. When it comes to running with the ball, Locker is in his element. No problemo. But when it comes to passing the ball... OMG, hide the women and children and close your eyes cuz it is UGLY. Much like last year, Locker continues to struggle with reading defenses and throwing accurately. If he wasn't throwing into double coverage today, he was throwing an errant pass that his receiver had little chance of catching.

Locker is a gifted physical specimen with a strong arm. He threw a beautiful 45 yard TD pass to Jermaine Kearse. Problem was, that play accounted for more than half of Locker's aerial output today as he threw for only 71 yards (on 4 of 20 attempts) the entire game. Plus, Locker had all day to throw the TD pass cuz Kearse got behind the secondary and was wide open. Though the stats showed 2 INTs, Locker could've easily had two more.

I'm sure he'll have better days, especially given how poor the Pac-10 conference is (see: Nebraska 52, Cal 31). Nebraska was the test to see how Locker would perform against tougher competition and Jake failed miserably. People like to offer the excuse that Locker's still trying to learn Sarkisian's offense. If that's the case, slap that Nate Davis tag on him right now. Locker's in his SECOND YEAR of Sarkisian's offense. Even guys like Pat Barnes and Kyle Boller were able to adapt to a totally new offense within one spring/offseason.

If I had to make an NFL comparison for Locker, it'd be Kevin O'Connell.

Kicking Off The NFL Season

The first game of the year is in the books and things started out and ended just how the defending champion Saints would have liked. But it was the middle part of the game that I’m sure they’ll not be pleased with. And instead of boring you with the play-by-play let me get right into what stood out to me. First, the Saints were at their best when they had a strong mix of runs and passes. Pierre Thomas was used to wear down the Vikings and the interior of the Saints line neutralized Kevin and Pat Williams. Fantasy owners take notice, Thomas was the workhorse back AND was used at the goal line. The Saints spread the wealth to all the WRs and I’m sure this didn’t make fantasy owners very happy. As for the Vikings, they tried to feed Adrian Peterson as much as they could, and he did put up 87 yards on the ground, but he still needs more touches. And I’m not sure if those touches are going to increase. The Vikings TD can on a drive that was heavy-Favre. Lots of passes including the TD. So was this Brett’s way of saying “we need to pass the ball more.” Perhaps. And if that’s the case it could be a long season for the Vikings because pressure caused 1 INT and a few near misses, not to mention the Vikings only put up 9 points and lost. So the Vikings really need to get back to the drawing board figure out how to get more out of their offense.

Now on to the rest of the league.

Tom Brady was involved in a car accident, but he walked away from it and he should be unaffected for the game against the Bengals. When news broke regarding the accident I’m sure it put every owner of Brady in a fantasy league on the edge of their seat. But it’s not Brady that will be the focus for many fantasy players this Sunday, it will be who he is throwing to. Can Moss continue to put up good numbers or will he be in a bad mood about something? Who’s gonna be the #2 target. The organization can say all they want but the proof will be Sunday afternoon. Is Wes Welker back to 100%, is his clone, Julian Edelman, able to put up similar numbers? Who is going to run the ball? All these fantasy questions will be answered Sunday, but it won’t be easy. The Bengals should put up a pretty good fight, but if you read my column last week you know I’m pretty excited about the Patriots flying under the radar. This is a good first test for them and I would anticipate them opening some eyes in the first week of the season.

On the other coast the 49es travel up to Seattle in a game that has a lot of storyline, the least of which is the outcome of the game. As training camp wound down Michael Crabtree and Vernon Davis got into it and had to be pulled into the locker room for a stern talking to by Coach Singletary. Have these two put it behind them? Will missing all of the preseason hurt Crabtree or will he come out like he did last year and put up strong numbers? Just what does Pete Carroll have going on in Seattle? Will he invigorate the Seahawks or fall flat? Again, lots of questions entering the season for both of these teams and it will be interesting to see just how it plays out.

In a game that clearly has very little interest to most, the Denver Broncos travel down to Jacksonville, but I’m very intrigued. The Broncos got off to great start last year and crashed and burned towards the end, so which version of the Broncos will show up this year? The Jags are built to run the ball and playing at home should have a small advantage, so does this mean the Broncos get off to a slow start, or can Kyle Orton manage the game enough for the Broncos to pull out a victory? And in the secondary story line that will interest more people then the actual game, who’s going to be the #2 QB for the Broncos, Brady Quinn or Tim Tebow? And will Tebow get any playing time. Just another little something to check-in on for week one of the NFL season.

And in possibly the game of the week, Phily hosts Green Bay in the start of the Kevin Kolb era. The Packers looked unstoppable on offense in the preseason, will that continue? Can Kevin Kolb utilize the young weapons he has on the outside in DeSean Jackson and Jeremy Maclin and succeed, or will the pressure to perform in Phily be too much? And the bigger question for Phily fans, can the defense get some pressure on Rodgers or will he pick them apart and march up and down the field?

Entering week one there are always more questions then answers, and that’s what the next few weeks will do for us, answer questions. In the meantime, at least for the next 48 hours, every team thinks they got a shot to do something special this year, and come January half of them will be disappointed. But it is the journey that is going to be the most exciting part. So enjoy the start of the NFL season, and check back next week where we’ll have more answers to all these questions.

2010 Dream Draft

Here are the results of out 2010 realtime dream draft. Just to review, Jerry Hsu and Todd Kleinheinz each draft between the #16 and #17 slots in each round. The player obviously must still be available in the actual draft. Here are the results. In the parentheses you will see where WE took them, followed by where they actually got taken, or in some cases, where they are now. You'll notice a lot of undrafted free agents, because this is only the 2nd year of the "Dream Draft" we had to fill in a lot of positions with undrafted guys. As the years continue things will shake out and show us if we have what it takes to identify talent or not.

Todd Kleinheinz
OFFENSE
QB1: Mike Reilly ('09 UFA - Steelers UFA/Packers FA/Rams FA)
QB2: Jevan Snead ('10 UFA - Bucs UFA)

RB1: Rashad Jennings ('09 Rd6/#189c - Jaguars/Rd7/#250)
RB2: Chris Brown ('10 UFA - Broncos UFA)
FB1: Jamie McCoy ('10 UFA - Rams UFA)

WR1: Golden Tate ('10 Rd2/#48b - Seahawks/Rd2/#60)
WR2: Quan Cosby ('09 Rd7/#225b - Bengals UFA)
WR3: Freddie Barnes ('10 UFA - Bears UFA)
WR4: Blair White ('10 UFA - Colts UFA)

TE1: Shawn Nelson ('09 Rd3/#80b - Bills/Rd4/#121)
TE2: Riar Geer ('10 UFA - Broncos UFA)

LT: Michael Oher ('09 Rd1/#16b - Ravens/Rd1/#23)
LG: Herman Johnson ('09 Rd5/#152b - Cardinals/Rd5/#167)
C: Jeff Byers ('10 UFA - Seahawks UFA)
RG: Chris Marinelli ('10 UFA - Broncos UFA)
RT: Ciron Black ('10 UFA - Steelers UFA)

LDE: Everson Griffen ('10 Rd3/#80c - Vikings/Rd4/#100)
DT: Cam Thomas ('10 Rd4/#114b - Chargers/Rd5/#146)
DT: Malcolm Sheppard ('10 UFA - Texans UFA)
RDE: Lawrence Sidbury ('09 Rd4/#116c - Falcons/Rd4/#125)

OLB: Antonio Coleman ('10 UFA - Bills UFA)
ILB: Mike McLaughlin ('10 UFA - Ravens UFA)
OLB: Dekoda Watson ('10 Rd6/#185b - Bucs/Rd7/#217)
OLB2: Keaton Kristick ('10 UFA - 49ers UFA)
ILB2: Darry Beckwith ('09 UFA - Chargers UFA)

CB: Kyle Wilson ('10 Rd1/#16c - Jets/Rd1/#29)
CB: Syd'Quan Thompson ('10 Rd7/#223c - Broncos/Rd7/#225)

FS: William Moore ('09 Rd2/#48c - Falcons/Rd2/#55)
SS: Myron Rolle ('10 Rd5/#147c - Titans/Rd6/#207)

K: Leigh Tiffin ('10 UFA - Browns UFA)
P:
LS: Morgan Cox ('10 UFA - Ravens UFA)
KR/PR: LeRoy Vann ('10 UFA - 49ers UFA)

Jerry Hsu
QB1: Nate Davis ('09 Rd3/#80c - 49ers/Rd5/#171)
QB2: Jarrett Brown ('10 UFA - 49ers UFA)
QB3: Matt Nichols ('10 UFA - Cowboys UFA)

RB1: Chris Wells ('09 Rd1/#16c - Cardinals/Rd1/#31)
RB2: LeGarrette Blount ('10 UFA - Titans UFA)
RB3: Rashawn Jackson ('10 UFA - Panthers UFA)

WR1: Dez Bryant ('10 Rd1/#16b - Cowboys/Rd1/#24)
WR2: Jarett Dillard ('09 Rd4/#116b - Jaguars/Rd5/#144)
WR3: Sammie Stroughter ('09 Rd7/#225c - Bucs/Rd7/#233)
WR4: Seyi Ajirotutu ('10 UFA - Chargers UFA)
WR5: Damola Adeniji ('10 UFA - Bucs UFA)

TE1: Colin Peek ('10 UFA - Falcons UFA)
TE2: Michael Palmer ('10 UFA - Falcons UFA)
TE3: Jeff Cumberland ('10 UFA - Jets UFA)

LT: William Beatty ('09 Rd2/#48b - Giants/Rd2/#60)
LG: Sergio Render ('10 UFA - Bucs UFA)
C: John Estes ('10 UFA - Jaguars UFA)
RG: Brandon Carter ('10 UFA - Saints UFA)
RT: Adam Ulatoski ('10 UFA - Texans UFA)
OT3: Tony Washington ('10 UFA - TBD???)

DEFENSE
DE: Arthur Jones ('10 Rd5/#147b - Ravens/Rd5/#157)
NT: Ekom Udofia ('10 UFA - Saints UFA)
DE: Clifton Geathers ('10 Rd6/#185c - Browns/Rd6/#186)
DL4: Vince Oghobaase ('10 UFA - Dolphins UFA)
DL5: Nate Collins ('10 UFA - Giants UFA)

OLB: Brandon Lang ('10 UFA - Chargers UFA)
ILB: Navorro Bowman ('10 Rd3/#80b - 49ers/Rd3/#96)
ILB: Eric Norwood ('10 Rd4/#114c - Panthers/Rd4/#124)
OLB: George Selvie ('10 Rd7/#223b - Rams/Rd7/#226)
ILB3: Stephen Hodge ('09 Rd6/#189b - Cowboys/Rd6/#197)
ILB4: Kion Wilson ('10 UFA - Chargers UFA)
OLB3: Auston English ('10 UFA - Browns UFA)

CB: Coye Francies ('09 Rd5/#152c - Browns/Rd6/#191)
CB: Devin Ross ('10 UFA - Eagles UFA)
CB3: Chris Hawkins ('10 UFA - Jaguars UFA)
CB4: Donovan Warren ('10 UFA - Jets UFA)

FS1: Taylor Mays ('10 Rd2/#48c - 49ers/Rd2/#49)
SS1: Aaron Webster ('10 UFA - Texans UFA)
FS2: Mike Newton ('10 UFA - Colts UFA)
SS2: Justin Woodall ('10 UFA - Bears UFA)

K: Graham Gano ('09 UFA - Ravens UFA/Redskins FA)
P: Robert Malone ('10 UFA - Jaguars UFA)
LS: Clint Gresham ('10 UFA - Saints UFA)
KR/PR: Brandon Banks ('10 UFA - TBD???)

Jerry clearly loves the undrafted free agent process. We'll see how these teams shape up over the next couple years.

2010 is complete, how'd NFL Draft Pros do?

WOW, it's nearly a week after the 2010 NFL Draft and I'm just now emotionally recovered from the 3-day extravaganza! I loved the new format, but the idea of being involved for all 3 days was taxing.

First off, I don't usually grade drafts right after the draft, all it would be, is which NFL team took the most players off my board. It's better for NFL teams and draftniks to wait 2-3 years and see how these players react to getting the big money, see how they are used in systems, and just see if their college hype transfers to the NFL.

But I do like to look at my predictions and see how I did against everyone else, including the Big Boys like Mel Kiper, Todd McShay and the other TV draft experts. The Huddle Report each year grades out hundreds of mock drafts and Top 100 boards. I'm proud to say that NFL Draft Pros took #18 in the Mock Draft contest, beating such well known draft experts as Todd McShay and Scott Wright.

http://www.thehuddlereport.com/Free/mockdraftscoring.shtm

As for the Top 100 lists, we did even better. We tied Mel Kiper at #14.

http://www.thehuddlereport.com/Free/top100scoring.shtml

Not bad if I do say so myself.

Now it's time to start scoping out the class of 2011.

Todd's Mock Draft

St.L	Sam Bradford, QB, Oklahoma
Det	Ndamukong Suh, DT, Nebraska
TB	Gerald McCoy, DT, Oklahoma
Wash	Russell Okung, OT, Oklahoma St.
KC	Eric Berry, S, Tennessee
Sea	Brian Bulaga, OT, Iowa
Clev	Jimmy Clausen, QB, Notre Dame
Oak	Trent Williams, OT, Oklahoma
Buf	Anthony Davis, OT, Rutgers
Jac	Rolondo McClain, LB, Alabama
Den	Dan Williams, DT, Tennessee
Mia	Jason Pierre-Paul, OLB, South Florida
SF	Joe Haden, CB, Florida
Sea	CJ Spiller, RB, Clemson
NYG	Derrick Morgan, DE, Georgia Tech
Tenn	Kyle Wilson, CB, Boise St.
SF	Mike Iupati, OG, Idaho
Pitt	Maurkice Pouncey, G/C, Florida
Atl	Brandon Graham, DE, Michigan
Hou	Earl Thomas, S, Texas
Cin	Jermaine Gresham, TE, Oklahoma
NE	Jerad Odrick, DT, Penn St.
GB	Charles Brown, OT, USC
Phily	Taylor Mays, S, USC
Bal	Devin McCourty, CB, Rutgers
Ari	Dez Bryant, WR, Oklahoma St.
Dal	Sergio Kindle, OLB, Texas
SD	Ryan Mathews, RB, Fresno State
NYJ	Terrence Cody, NT, Alabama
Min	Everson Griffen, DE, USC
Indy	Brian Price, DT, UCLA
NO	Sean Weatherspoon, ILB, Missouri

Todd's Big Board - Top 100

OVR	Player	Pos.	School
1	Eric Berry	FS	Tennessee
2	Ndamukong Suh	DT	Nebraska
3	Gerald McCoy	DT	Oklahoma
4	Derrick Morgan	DE	Georgia Tech
5	Rolando McClain	ILB	Alabama
6	Trent Williams	OT	Oklahoma
7	Sam Bradford	QB	Oklahoma
8	Russell Okung	OT	Oklahoma St.
9	Joe Haden	CB	Florida
10	Bryan Bulaga	OT	Iowa
11	C.J. Spiller	RB	Clemson
12	Jimmy Clausen	QB	Notre Dame
13	Dez Bryant	WR	Oklahoma St.
14	Mike Iupati	OG	Idaho
15	Earl Thomas	CB	Texas
16	Kyle Wilson	CB	Boise St.
17	Brandon Graham	OLB	Michigan
18	Dan Williams	DT	Tennessee
19	Demaryius Thomas	WR	Georgia Tech
20	Jason Pierre-Paul	DE	South Florida
21	Everson Griffen	DE	USC
22	Ryan Mathews	RB	Fresno St.
23	Anthony Davis	OT	Rutgers
24	Maurkice Pouncey	C	Florida
25	Sean Weatherspoon	OLB	Missouri
26	Jermaine Gresham	TE	Oklahoma
27	Jared Odrick	DT	Penn St.
28	Sergio Kindle	OLB	Texas
29	Devin McCourty	CB	Rutgers
30	Golden Tate	WR	Notre Dame
31	Charles Brown	OT	USC
32	Kareem Jackson	CB	Alabama
33	Taylor Mays	FS	USC
34	Jerry Hughes	OLB	TCU
35	Brian Price	DT	UCLA
36	Patrick Robinson	CB	Florida St.
37	Rodger Saffold	OT	Indiana
38	Terrence Cody	DT	Alabama
39	Jahvid Best	RB	California
40	Daryl Washington	OLB	TCU
41	Colt McCoy	QB	Texas
42	Tyson Alualu	DT	California
43	Rob Gronkowski	TE	Arizona
44	Dexter McCluster	WR	Mississippi
45	Carlos Dunlap	DE	Florida
46	Chris Cook	CB	Virginia
47	Bruce Campbell	OT	Maryland
48	Lamarr Houston	DT	Texas
49	Nate Allen	FS	South Florida
50	Brandon Ghee	CB	Wake Forest
51	Jimmy Graham	TE	Miami (Fla.)
52	Morgan Burnett	FS	Georgia Tech
53	Koa Misi	OLB	Utah
54	Damian Williams	WR	USC
55	Arrelious Benn	WR	Illinois
56	Ben Tate	RB	Auburn
57	Jonathan Dwyer	RB	Georgia Tech
58	Ricky Sapp	OLB	Clemson
59	Vladimir Ducasse	OT	Massachusetts
60	Jon Asamoah	OG	Illinois
61	Tim Tebow	QB	Florida
62	Alex Carrington	DE	Arkansas St.
63	Toby Gerhart	RB	Stanford
64	Sean Lee	ILB	Penn St.
65	Eric Decker	WR	Minnesota
66	Corey Wootton	DE	Northwestern
67	Donald Butler	ILB	Washington
68	Eric Norwood	OLB	South Carolina
69	Matt Tennant	C	Boston College
70	Reshad Jones	SS	Georgia
71	Thaddeus Gibson	OLB	Ohio St.
72	Akwasi Owusu-Ansah	CB	Indiana (PA)
73	Brandon LaFell	WR	LSU
74	Jermaine Cunningham	DE	Florida
75	Carlton Mitchell	WR	South Florida
76	John Jerry	OT	Mississippi
77	Jared Veldheer	OT	Hillsdale
78	Montario Hardesty	RB	Tennessee
79	Anthony McCoy	TE	USC
80	Dominique Franks	CB	Oklahoma
81	Brandon Spikes	ILB	Florida
82	Navorro Bowman	OLB	Penn St.
83	Geno Atkins	DT	Georgia
84	Aaron Hernandez	TE	Florida
85	Jerome Murphy	CB	South Florida
86	Taylor Price	WR	Ohio
87	Cam Thomas	DT	North Carolina
88	Jacoby Ford	WR	Clemson
89	Jason Worilds	OLB	Virginia Tech
90	Chad Jones	SS	LSU
91	Ed Dickson	TE	Oregon
92	Javier Arenas	CB	Alabama
93	Austen Lane	DE	Murray St.
94	J.D. Walton	C	Baylor
95	Tony Pike	QB	Cincinnati
96	Amari Spievey	CB	Iowa
97	Major Wright	FS	Florida
98	Perrish Cox	CB	Oklahoma St.
99	Jonathan Crompton	QB	Tennessee
100	Linval Joseph	DT	East Carolina

NFL Draft Pros Draft

As the saying goes, hindsight is 20/20. And that is never more appropriate then when it comes to the NFL Draft. It's always easier to look at the draft results a year or two later and say, why did they take that guy, or why didn't they take this guy.

Well, here at the NFL Draft Pros, we aren't immune to making those comments either, so last year we decided to take a swing at drafting in real-time. We put ourselves right in the middle of the draft, right between the 15th and 16th pick of each round. The rules were simple, you can draft any player that was still on board. The test was, could we put together a team of players that were better then some, if not many, NFL GMs. Since we are just entering the 2nd draft the teams are obviously incomplete. However, it does seem to have a decent foundation. Can we continue to build a strong team? We'll see.

Here are the results from the 2009 draft. In addition to the 7 rounds of draft picks, we both picked 2 undrafted free agents, thus the 9 players.

Todd

Michael Oher, OT, Mississippi
William Mooore, S, Missouri
Shawn Nelson, TE, Southern Miss
Lawrence Sidbury , DE , Richmond
Herman Johnson, OG, LSU
Rashad Jennings, RB, Liberty
Quan Cosby, WR, Texas
Darry Beckwith, ILB, LSU
Mike Reilly, QB, Central Washington



Jerry

Chris Wells, RB, Ohio St .
William Beaty, OT, Uconn
Nate Davis, QB, Ball St .
Jarrett Dillard, WR, Rice
Coye Fracies, CB, San Jose St .
Stephen Hodge, S, TCU
Sammie Stroughter, WR, Oregon St.
Fratz Joseph, LB, Florida International
Graham Gano, K, Florida St.