Ned! WTF?!?!?

No, not in here but there is one in Radio City Music Hall in New York.

The 2008 NFL Draft is going on there this weekend.

Overall the picks have been interesting, some expected picks have happened and then some picks that just make no sense have gone on.

The worst picks so far go to the Raiders, they picked up Darren McFadden and then a Cornerback, and a WR. Now, I am no expert by any means, but offensive weapons at RB are far from the problem in Oakland, they have Jordan and Fargas who are both great RBs, they don’t need that position. They also don’t need a WR or a CB either. What they need are Defensive line and Offensive lines to put pressure on the opponents QB and to protect their own QB. Al davis is just showing what kind of nutjob he really is!

Conversely, the KC Chiefs who had the same record as Oakland last year has been drafting awesome. They have a ton of picks and are spreading them out for players to fix their weak points. OL, DL, Safety and picking up all the pieces they will need to improve themselves. I don’t think they will be a playoff contender next year, but give them 2 years, and they could be a serious force with some of the guys they have picked up.

Now for the Patriots, they have attacked the pieces they need to attack. Having the oldest average age in the linebacking core out of all NFL teams last year was clearly evident as a problem in that Super Bowl loss.

They picked up Jerod Mayo in the 10th pick of the 1st round after trading their 7th pick to new Orleans for the 10th pick and then for another 3rd round pick.

Mayo is a good pick and will help make the LB core younger and is a fast presence behind the line who will likely be playing inside in the 3-4 set that the Patriots play. They also picked up Shawn Crable who is a LB as well with that 3rd round pick from the Saints. Won’t it be interesting with Vrable and Crable out there, have fun with that Gino.

In the Second round they picked up cornerback Terrence Wheatley out of Colorado in the Second round to hopefully help fill in for the loss of Colvin and Samuel in the CB position.

Then in the 4th round the Patriots picked up another CB from Auburn, Jonathan Wilhite.

The 2nd pick in the 3rd round is really the most interesting pick from my point of view. The Patriots pick Kevin O’Connell in with the 94th overall pick. He is a QB out of San Diego State. No ladies, you do not need to worry about Tom being replaced. What I am hoping is the case will be that we get to see Matt Cassell replaced. I am sure you have all seen that Cassell just isn’t very good, and I have never thought he was very good or a reliable back up. He never even started a game in college as QB while playing for USC and former Patriots coach Pete Carroll, he did start once at Tight End though. I would rather Matt Gutierrez as our backup over Cassell, he performed much better in the few games he was in over Matty C.

But now we have O’Connell, who is 6’6″ and weighs in at 230 pounds. Same weight but 2 inches taller than Matt Cassell. According to scouting reports he has a good strong and accurate arm, and he is very good at throwing while having a lot of traffic going on around him along with the ability to throw well while on the run. We should all know how important it is to have a mobile quaterback since we all remember Drew “my feet are in buckets filled with concrete” Bledsoe, who was a great QB for the Pats and put up some great numbers over the years, was not mobile and was sacked a lot compared to his replacement, amost twice as often per season.

I look forward to seeing how this turns out.

In the 5th round, they have picked another interesting pick, Matt Slater who is officially listed as a WR from UCLA, however he has played Safety, Cornerback, as well as a punt and kick defender & returner. Wait, that sounds kind of familiar, a player who can play offense WR, defense CB, punt and kickoff returner as well as special teams on kick offs and punts. Certainly sounds like a fan favorite around these parts with Troy Brown! I think he versatility and willingness to do whatever the coach needs him to do as a role player for the team really helped make this a decision for Pioli and Belichick as a player for them to take. I think he has some potential to be exciting and an impact player on the low profile. Hopefully he will learn a lot from the veterans on the team. I THINK the person he could learn the most from would be Troy Brown. I think Troy will be back with the Pats this year, but in a coaching position instead, he is 37 and while I he probably has some fuel in the tank, I don’t think he can really have the impact that most teams need, and I would rather see him go out gracefully instead of trying to cling to something on another team as the 4th or 5th WR on the team just to be playing somewhere. He spent his entire career in NE, and it would be nice to see him end his career here as well.

As of this time, the Pats have one more pick in the 6th round. If he is still available, I suspect they will take Mike Hart out of Michigan who is a RB and might be the future replacement for Kevin Faulk, who I think is nearing the end of his RB career, and could possibly be moved to a slot receiver, or tight end position if he is kept on the roster. If the Pats pick up Hart, it would give them Morris, Maroney, Hart, Faulk, Eckle, and Evans in the RB position, where they will likely release Evans or Eckle, and more Faulk to one of those other positions and be really set for a high powered offense.

Let’s go Patriots!!