2015 Draft Overreactions

Well that was interesting. The NFL draft happened last weekend and a lot transpired. Let’s not waste any time and get to the draft recaps, from worst to first:

 

In last place we find the Buffalo Bills. The Bills are last, not only because they spent this year’s first round pick on a WR from Clemson last year, but also because of the folks that they drafted this year. The Bills opened their 2015 draft in the second round by picking the player that many of us here at the Sideline Report have mocked since January- Ronald Darby. Here’s the in depth analysis of the pick: Darby can run in a straight line very fast. That’s about it. Next up, the Bills addressed the biggest need on their team, offensive line. Unfortunately for the Bills, the guy they took isn’t the best fit for their scheme; when you are blocking for an “east-west” type of RB, the first few words of your bio should not be, “Though limited athletically” (source:  www.buffalorumblings.com). Next up for the Bills, Karlos Williams; there really is nothing like a failed safety, turned below average running back to get your fans pumped. Sorry Bills fans, remember what I said about EJ Manuel a couple of years ago? Well take that commentary and apply it to both Darby and Los, and then multiply the suckitude by 10x. I don’t know anything about the kid from Clemson that Rex picked (although I’m guessing it’s payment to Dabo Swinny for letting his kid wear the fearsome purple and orange) nor do I know anything about the kid from Central Arkansas (along with everyone outside of central Arkansas), so let’s talk about the best pick that the Bills made all weekend; Nick O’Leary. O’Leary bring a championship pedigree to Orchard Park, he’s a great pass catcher and an underrated blocker- no doubt the Bills will find a way to waste him. There is one silver lining to this horrible draft though; Mel Kiper’s hair has rated the Bills’ draft as the worst of all this year. This means that it won’t be as bad as we all think.

Next up we find the New England Patriots. I thought about going Fins here, but when a team drafts both a long snapper in the 5^th and a Safety in the second who was projected to go in the 5^th or 6^th, you lose. Let’s start at the top. The Pats’ first pick was a good one. I hadn’t thought about Malcolm Brown to the Pats, because I thought that he’d be long gone, but lucky for us Pats fans he was available and the Pats got the replacement for Vince that they so needed and it looks like they are not being proud and moving on from the Easley mistake quickly. That’s where everything went bad…next up, the pats took their traditional overdrafted safety, the worst part about his kid is that he wears a regular long sleeve t-shirt under his pads instead of a compression shirt- you can’t trust a guy like that, he’s definitely hiding something. Next up another defensive lineman; Geneo Grissom. Grissom is a smaller, faster DT who is good at rushing the passer; further evidence that Easley’s time in NE is drawing to a close. And now we get the token Arkansas defensive end- Trey Flowers. I watched his “highlight” tape after the pick was made and was not very impressed. When a defensive lineman’s highlight tape includes a large amount of tackles being made 7-10 yards downfield, that is a bad sign. The end of the fourth round is where Bill kind of got back on the rails. The selection of Tre Jackson is a good one and the pats will probably get some good “value” out of him, pairing back up with his college line-mate Bryan Stork should alloqw Jackson to step in and feel some level of comfort right away. Next, Shaquille Olajuwan Mason; he play guard, but with a name like that he should probably move to center. Mason is a very talented run blocker, having been an integral part of Georgia Tech’s triple option attack. My only fear is that he has trouble pass blocking, and the Pats tend to pass often…The rest of the Pat’s picks are longshots to make the team, except of course for the “Steve Belichick Memorial Navy Player” pick in Joe Cardona. He will have to spend some time traveling the world with the Navy, but that didn’t seem to slow down fellow Midshipman David Robinson.

In third place, the Miami Dolphins. They get this spot over the Pats only because their 1^st selection, Devonte Parker’s mom came out right after he was taken by the Phins and said, “We didn’t want him going to Cleveland.” That kind of talk is glorious and really shows how much she follows the league, Miami and Cleveland are several degrees different in average daily temperature, but short of that the two franchises aren’t that different. Parker is a big bodied receiver who beats up on lesser opponents and turtles in big spots (he’s also go tiny hands), so he’s a perfect fit for the Fins. Their next pick, Jordan Phillips is an OK player (geddit?), but taking a DT this high in the draft when you just signed a free agent DT to the biggest deal ever, is a question mark. Maybe the Dolphins are just insuring themselves against Suh’s inevitable suspension and subsequent shutting it down because why try when you have all that money? In the fourth they got a guard, he could be good, he could not- we’ll see. The fifth was the big round for the Fins, first they got a tiny CB. He’s not very good, but he’s small enough that when the lights are out, he can stand in for Grimes and take care of Miko. Then came the pick that many Fins Fans were excited about, RB Jay Ajayi out of Boise State. He has been compared to Doug Martin, probably because they both went to Boise State, but if you are looking for him to have rookie season to rival that of the Muscle Hamster, don’t hold your breath. I know nothing about the kid from Minnesota, but no one from Minnesota can be trusted, so good luck there. The Fin;s final pick of the draft might have been their best of the weekend. I like Tiny Lippett a lot and was fairly certain that Belichick would make him the traditional overdrafted guy in the second round. Lippett is a big bodied WR that does go up and make big plays when they are needed and is versatile enough to have played quite a bit of CB last season for the Spartans- look for Lippett to challenge Parker and probably take his job by the end of the year.

And the winner of best draft in the AFC East in 2015 is…

The New York Jets. Every other year or so, the Jets come out with “the best draft class in the NFL”. Kind of makes you wonder how come they can’t make the playoffs. Oh well, I digress… As the 6^th pick in the draft approached on Thursday night, everyone in the Jets’ war room was seen sitting with a pillow on their laps and Leonard Williams continued to fall to them. Williams might be the best player in this draft (besides the long snapper the pats took) and the Jets were fortunate to get him at #6. If I were a Jets fan I would be a little concerned though, Williams said in an interview that he would love for his first sack to come against Tom Brady; the Jets don’t play the Pats until 10/25; does that mean that Williams is not going to try to get a sack until week 7? Or does he not think that he will be able to achieve and NFL sack until then? It sounds like a lack of confidence or an overabundance of arrogance, either way that’s bad news. The next pick was Ted Ginn III. Sh*itty pick; he’s from OSU, he can’t catch and in a pre-draft interview that I saw he admitted to being very close to quitting football last season because he didn’t enjoy it- all qualities that you are looking for out of a high 2^nd round pick. Maulden, the LB from Louisville is a decent player and should do well in Bowles’ system and Bryce Petty is a steal where they got him. Nothing like a nice three headed QB competition to keep you on the back pages. To be honest, I don’t know anything about the last two guys the jets took and I don’t feel like it’s a god use of my time to research a couple of guys that will be working for Enterprise in a few months.

There you have it, our teams did well in the draft (except for the Bills), but we all know the final order for the division this season- Pats, Bills, Dolphins, Jets. BANK IT.