Saturday, April 23, 2005

Liveblogging the 2005 NFL Draft

It's raining here in Pittsburgh with snow (snow?) on the way, so I may spend the day inside doing stuff and watching the NFL DRAFT, BABY! Losers of the world unite!

The latest buzz in the local Pittsburgh paper is that the Steelers will indeed take Heath Miller if he's available. But we'll see...in about 6 hours.

This time last year I was in the ESPN SportZone in Times Square, watching the electric Paul Tagliabue announce "Welcome to the 2005 NFL Draft...blah blah blah". Tags does not inspire with his oratory. 49ers are on the clock, so they'll probably take Alex Smith, unless they don't. And even if they do, they might trade him. Eh, who cares? If he goes to Cleveland my Steelers will spend the next 10 years rending his skinny bones to flinders.

SAN FRAN AND MIAMI: Well, Blogger ate my last post, and the "Recover post" function didn't function. Two picks that played out as everyone expected, snooze. Kiper said for the thousandth time that Alex Smith is the smartest player to ever come out of college. Hogwash. He's smart, but unless the guy is winning Nobels and speaking 7 languages I have some doubts. There have been lots and lots of NFL players, and I rather doubt Mr. Smith is the smartest of them all. Especially with the tie he selected with that suit.

Ronnie Brown, tan suit, salmon shirt, purple tie. It should work better than it does, I don't know what's missing. But don't get me started on Torry Holt's ensemble. A blue suit, a slightly different but still dark blue shirt, and a red, light-blue, and light purple striped tie. Doesn't Holt own a mirror?

KC: OK, sorry, had to run out to the bank (another article, another check, yowza) and I wanted to get a haircut but I forgot Tony is still on vacation. I'm sure BG is wondering where the hell Mike Williams fits into the Lions scheme of things. Three top ten picks on WR in three years is a lot of money to put into what I consider the last position you want to spend tons of cash on. I can only figure that the Lions will be moving Williams or Charles Rogers, tho how much of a market there would be for Rogers and his brittle scapulas I can't say.

When the Cowboys picked Mikes Greenburg and Golic and John Clayton said the pick would come down to Shawne Merriman or Marcus Spears. The Pokes take Demarcus Ware, and they all say that this isn't a surprise, Ware and Merriman are the same sort of player. Well, if that's the case, why were you talking about Ware beforehand?

Golic said that one reason the picks are taking so long is that Tagliabue is holding the cards for minutes at a time to allow ESPN to come back from commercial. Nice. The Steelers will be selecting around 3AM.

Aaron Rogers has lost about $15 million so far. Projected to go #1, they're talking now like he might slip into the 2nd round. Has there ever been a suicide in the Green Room. That's the thing the ESPN guys haven't mentioned as they talk about Rogers' free-fall: that this is costing him millions and millions of dollars. Maybe this will give Rogers the impetus to become the first Jeff Tedford QB to be a non-bust.

OK, let's watch a bit. Oh, Torry Holt is just awful. Awful.

HOUSTON: I didn't hear Cedric Benson after he was picked, but I did hear part of his interview on the radio with Mike & Mike and they said, Hey, Cedric, what's up with the crying? Certainly this could be an emotional day, but one might hope that one's bruising new tailback doesn't regularly get weepy. I mean, Hines Ward shed a few tears after the Steelers lost in the AFC title game because it might've been Jerome Bettis' last game, and that was quite moving. But if Ward starts breaking down every time the Steelers punt, that's when it's time to be concerned.

JAX: OK, here's where the players I want my Steelers to land could start coming off the board. The Jags could grab Heath Miller, or Matt Jones, or perhaps a corner that the Steelers might be thinking about. The local sports radio dudes said the Steelers loved Antrell Rolle and might've been thinking of moving up to get him if he'd fallen a bit further, but he didn't so they didn't.

Well, there goes Matt Jones, not a big surprise, and I don't think the Steelers would've grabbed him at #30, but you never know. He would've been a fun pick. But fun picks don't translate necessarily to Super Bowls.

BAL: How big a jackass is Mike Vrabel? First he defends Randy Moss for walking off the field with the game still in doubt, saying that production is all that matters (I guess all that selfless team ethic is just a mirage in New England) and then he says he doesn't think Matt Jones will be a success in the NFL because he doesn't know how tough he is. Not that Jones has to prove his toughness as a TE or WR, but that Vrabel doens't think Jones is tough. Uh, the guy did run for 2500 yards as a QB in the SEC, probably took a fair number of hits. Maybe all that gel is affecting Vrabel's brain wave pattern.

How come we only see Andrea Kremer for about 15 total minutes during the year? She does standups (usualy from San Fran) for NFL Countdown, does a little during the draft, and then she disappears. She must have another gig somewhere, I dont think she covers any other sport for ESPN, and she's an excellent interviewer and, from what I've read, a top reporter. 'Tis a mystery.

Is this where Aaron Rodgers goes, to the Packers? It would seem to be a nice fit, the Pack needs to groom a successor to Favre eventually.

Uh...what's up with Randy Mueller's FACE? He's glowing. He's as orange as the Ultimate Warrior used to be. I think Randy needs to spend a little less time in the makup chair. He looks freakazoidish.

ATL: OK, only few picks to go. Falcons won't take a TE, nor will the Chargers, nor will the Colts. So unless someone trades up, Heath Miller should be on the board. I think Roddy White will come off the board, the Chargers might grab him. Might the Steelers try to trade down, if they don't really want Miller? I think not, I can't see anyone moving up for a good price. So, only 3 picks more to go. Wow, they might pick before 6PM. It's still daylight. Amazing.

SD: Cripes, make the goddam pick. SD might take Khalif Barnes, I don't know what WR they might want in this spot, Mark Bradley maybe? Then the Colts will take the best front seven guy on their board, and the Steelers will be able to grab Miller if that's their choice. Cripes, come on.

Though it is nice when you look at the board and figure there's no way the guy you want will come off the board.

OK, the Chargers take a guy who got busted for steroids at the combine. Pardon me, he was taking Andro. And we wonder why kids take performance-enhancing substances? It works, baby. It works. Hell, Sean Salisbury just gave the guy a free pass. Castillo had an elbow injury, he thought it might hurt his draft status, so he cheated. Understandable. Nothing wrong with cheating.

OK, finally, Steelers on the clock!

The predictable pick, Heath Miller. He fits a need, is a big upgrade at the position, at least as receiving goes. I remember watching the Virginia-Miami game and Miller had some amazing catches and someone said how good he'd look in Black and Gold. Pretty good prediction.

He'll give Big Ben a nice target in the middle of the field, someone to throw to on first down with play-action. Now, for the 2nd round, I think we go OL. That pick'll happen around 10PM. But I think I'm done blogging for the day. Sorry this wasn't more interesting, but that's the draft for you.

posted by Gene @ 12:06 PM   |