Lemons acquired, time to make lemonade: I missed the 2011 NFL Draft
I didn’t just miss the NFL Draft as it happened, I missed the buildup leading up to the draft, too.
I kept up with it a bit on Twitter (you can follow me at @epCN) and read some things. I watched the highlights on television, but I missed the post-pick highlight reels, the suspense and the annual green room disaster.
Rather than whine about what was missed, I’m going to use this as an opportunity.
While I missed a lot of awesome, I also missed broadcasters feeding the NFL Draft spectacle, like:
1. Highlight reels that show DEs getting to the quarterback unabated and running backs running through holes big enough that I could stumble through for at least a first down.
2. Announcers who are about as accurate at predicting a rookie’s NFL success as that peanut butter Easter egg I had for breakfast.
Maybe less hype will be a good thing. Let’s talk about a couple things I think about the 2011 NFL Draft:
- NFL free agency still has yet to happen. While we grade teams and try to figure out how much better teams got, there are still potentially huge changes coming. The lockout is back on for now, but the reality is that both sides are eventually going to cave. When they do there could be massive deals being made as teams scramble. That might end up being just as exciting, and game-changing, as the draft.
- The Buffalo Bills had one of the best drafts of the weekend. They drafted smart, picking five times in the first four rounds. They went defense on all but their second pick in the fourth round. It takes a couple years to reap the rewards from a draft, but avoiding another skill player bust is the first step on the road to recovery. Longtime Bills fans speak as highly about Bruce Smith, Darryl Talley and Cornelius Bennett as they do K-Gun orchestrator Jim Kelly.
- Some crafty teams did their best to suppress labor pains. The Packers and Eagles loaded up on late round draft picks. The Eagles had 11 picks and selected twice in each round from the fourth on. Green Bay made 10 selections, including three in the sixth and two in the seventh. Teams can’t sign rookie free agents post-draft this year because of the dispute. Some teams sign as many as 20 rookie free agents. Locking some of those players in at the end of the draft could pay huge dividends. Tony Romo, Antonio Gates, James Harrison and Willie Parker are the poster children for undrafted free agents, but there are countless other examples like emerging star Arian Foster and Isaac Redman, a fantasy contributor in deep leagues.
- It’s been said a million times by know, for sure, but if the Atlanta Falcons traded away four picks, including two first-rounders, to pick Julio Jones at No. 6 overall they plan to win it all this year. They also moved up to get Jacquizz Rodgers in the fifth.
- The Cincinnati Bengals picking top WR prospect A.J. Green then having Andy Dalton fall to them in the second reminds me a bit of the San Diego Chargers draft in 2001. Ten years ago the Bolts got future Hall-of-Famer LaDainian Tomlinson and had another prospective HOFer, Drew Brees, fall to them in the second round. It’s way-way-way too early to crown Green and Dalton the second coming of anything, especially when we’re talking about the Bengals. But it was a fortunate turn of events for a team that hasn’t had a lot of good fortune since Carson Palmer got Kimo-von-Oelhoffen‘d in 2006.
There will be plenty of 2011 NFL Draft coverage to come, mostly from people who actually watched the draft. Until then, be sure to check out sockonfl’s compilations of all the quarterbacks, running backs, wide receivers and tight ends drafted in 2011.
