Tuesday, April 28, 2009

NFL Draft Thoughts


With the 2009 draft behind us, I want to talk about a few things that have been on my mind.

First off, let's talk about Oakland. With Michael Crabtree available, the player ranked one overall by most draft experts, Oakland inexplicably drafted the player ranked 4th at the same position. Al Davis, what were you thinking?!? drafting Darrius Heyward-Bey with the 7th pick?!?! Mike Lombardi summed it up best in his column on the National Football Post: “It might be 2009 here in America, but in that room, it’s 1960.”

Honestly, I really liked Heyward-Bey going into the draft… as the 25th pick for the Dolphins; however he is a terrible value at seven overall. He may have tremendous upside potential, especially as a deep option to go with JaMarcus Russell, but it bothers me when teams reach and overvalue players who aren’t sure things this early in the draft. If you are that in love with a player, then trade down and get him later. I know he has 4.3 speed, but he has yet to develop into the everyday playmaker a top ten pick must be. This past season at Maryland, he had two games where he didn’t even register a catch.

He has already been labeled as such a potential bust, that it would be a surprise if he actually does well. It’s hard enough to be a rookie in the NFL, but now Heyward-Bey is in a tougher position because he will always be compared to Michael Crabtree. Unless he becomes a superstar, this is a can't win for everyone: the organization, the fans, and Heyward-Bey. To make matters worse, Oakland then took a player ranked by most as a 7th rounder or undrafted free agent in the second round. The two groups that I feel the worst for are Raiders fans and sea monsters. If I were a sea monster I would not want to be part of the same species as Al Davis.

The next thing I wanted to talk about was Percy Harvin going to the Vikings with the 22nd pick. I know a lot of readers have already accused us at Guys Who Like Sports of being complete Percy Harvin homers because we got to watch him for four years at Florida…and all I can say is that we are. If we were writing a blog just about Percy Harvin, the blog would be called, “Guys Who Have Extreme Heterosexual Man Crushes on Percy Harvin and Don’t Care Who Knows”. That being said, we are extremely excited about the prospects of Percy Harvin playing alongside Adrian Peterson. Having a versatile, explosive player like that alongside the best running back in the league will elevate both of their games. So much so that PERCY HARVIN WILL BE OFFENSIVE ROOKIE OF THE YEAR. That’s right, I said it and here’s why.

The Vikings are the perfect team to utilize Percy because they already run the ball well. They can use Percy as a decoy to take one guy out of the box in order to open up space for Peterson, and they can also use Peterson as a decoy on reverses and end-arounds to open up space on the edge for Harvin. The common thought around the National Football League (we have to spell it out at least once a post like Jaws so we sound smarter) is that defenses are too fast to allow even speedsters like Percy to run East-West, they have to run North-South. However, with a great runner like Adrian Peterson having eight or nine guys in the box keying on him, the opportunities for Percy to get to the edge on quick outs, bubble screens, reverses, and end-arounds will be almost endless. I really can’t think of many players who will be able to tackle Percy Harvin in space.

On top of that, Percy gets to play 8 games a year on fast astro-turf, and their schedule isn’t stacked with great run defenses. They do have to play the Steelers and Ravens, but they get to play the weak NFC West, as well as two games against the Lions. There it is, Percy’s path to Rookie of the Year. Hopefully, Brad Childress doesn’t stifle him, and allows him to turn into the great player he should be.

2 comments:

  1. Great article. I only wish Minn had passed on Harvin in the hope that Miami could have taken him with the #25 pick

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  2. Not to mention that Minn has one of the best O lines and blocks for the run better than anyone in the NFL, making it the perfect mix for Oh Mercy Percy

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