Day 3 of the draft is for the diehards. Absolutely, a Super Bowl roster can be shaped by the guys picked up on the final day, and I don’t just mean the occasional diamond in the rough. Depth is key considering the slew of injuries almost every team faces on an annual basis, and special teams rosters are habitually comprised out of these lesser-known names. It doesn’t have the cachet of the first (or even second, at this point) day, but I still love it. The picks move quickly, and I won’t be able to post them all (nor would you want to read that). But you’ll still get the soft-hitting, casually attentive patter you’ve come to expect from this space. To Radio City!
12:02pm Ray Anderson, who looks vaguely like the actor who plays Broyles in Fringe, lets us know the Panthers are on the clock. He doesn’t get booed the way Roger Goodell did the previous two days, which is probably more of a sign of how few people pay to watch the draft on the third day.
12:05pm West Virginia’s first player, cornerback Brandon Hogan, goes to the Carolina Panthers. That makes one Mountaineer to two Pitt Panthers drafted. I suspect Pitt’s going to smash that ratio by the end of the afternoon.
12:09pm @ShotOfGinn notes that Brandon Hogan had two arrests – one DUI, one public urination – during his stay at Morgantown. Classic ‘Neers football!
12:12pm Someone needs to tell Butch Davis that he doesn’t need to literally spin his chair and look at Mike Mayock in the eyes to talk to him. Check Camera 2, bub.
12:13pm The Bengals are having a quietly fantastic draft (yeah, because you can say that sort of thing in round 4). The best wide receiver and possibly the best overall player in the draft, A.J. Green, falls to them at 4, they get Andy Dalton in the second round after failing to trade up with Green Bay, Dontay Moch hangs around long enough for them to use their third pick on him and just now grabbed Clint Boling, the best second-day offensive lineman available. Nicely done.
12:15pm USC’s Jordan Cameron, not to be confused with Cal’s Cameron Jordan, just got taken by the Browns.
12:18pm Sam Acho goes to the Cardinals. Nice edge rusher, the kind of guy I was hoping everyone forgot was available and kept falling to Green Bay.
12:19pm The Eagles trade their fourth-round pick to the Buccaneers, presumably because there were no gritty in-line Canadian ex-firemen for Andy Reid to draft again.
12:22pm That Blake Griffin/Bruno Mars tribute for Jordan Cameron is too clutch. But of course, you already knew Cameron had a sense of humor based on his haircut.
12:25pm Redskins trade up to grab Roy Helu from Nebraska. Strange with Kendall Hunter and Jacquizz Rodgers still on the board. Washington must be concerned with the durability issues of those two after years of crossing their fingers every time Clinton Portis carried the rock.
12:27pm NFL Network cameras pick up Roger Goodell roaming the balconies of Radio City mugging for photographs. I can’t remember Paul Tagliabue ever being this personal. Say what you will – and most of you can’t help yourselves – about his personal conduct policy, or wishy-washy punishment doled to those committing head injuries, or his awkward handling of the lockout, but boy, he is a charmer, and he is accessible. He takes conference calls with fans, calls into local radio shows, handles a Twitter account…he gets the concept of personability.
12:31pm The Vikings finally get something right and take Christian Ballard, marijuana allegations be damned. That’s a fine talent to get early in the fourth and will help replenish their aging, steroid-addled defensive line.
12:38pm Herm Edwards tacitly suggests the Falcons lost their divisional-round playoff game to the Packers because they didn’t have enough of an offensive threat. Didn’t know wide receivers played defense, too.
12:44pm The Dolphins take Abilene Christian’s Edmond Gates, a speedy, short wideout. NFLN’s graphic suggests “Think Mike Wallace.” Um, I’m thinking Ted Ginn, Jr.
12:48pm Rams go with Greg Salas from Hawaii under the strategy that they’ll throw as many wide receivers at the wall and hope one sticks with Sam Bradford.
12:52pm Pair of great names just get picked: Chimdi Chekwa to the Raiders and Cecil Shorts to the Jaguars. Mount Union, the wide receiver factory!
12:53pm Kendall Hunter is a great pick for the 49ers. Replaces Brian Westbrook, who was more or less running on a pile of shredded tendons last year.
1:00pm The Eagles try to mine bloodline gold by drafting Casey Matthews, younger brother of Clay, to play middle linebacker (assumedly as a backup in case Stewart Bradley gets another concussion).
1:08pm The Eagles, with their second pick in eight minutes, grab the first kicker or punter of the draft with Alex Henery from Nebraska. Actually, they get one of both, since Henery can do either. That’s a pretty cool measure of flexibility to have, although I don’t know why Philadelphia is too concerned with either Sav Rocca or David Akers.
1:11pm More intrigue. NFL Network doesn’t know if David Akers is a free agent. Football Outsiders’ Bill Barnwell is convinced this spells the end of Akers in Philly. He’d be a nice fit on a ready-to-win team looking for a steady foot. Maybe even Green Bay?
1:17pm The Ravens get Tandon Doss out of Indiana. I think it’s Indiana. I might be confused because Trey Wingo was just talking about the Indianapolis Colts. Anyway, it seems like the Ravens can’t ever find a reliable receiver, so they have to continuously bribe Derrick Mason to return.
1:19pm The first fullback comes off the board! Owen Marecic of Stanford, former blocker for Toby Gerhart, goes to Cleveland. Wait, I thought Peyton Hillis was already their thick white running back? A minute later, the Raiders draft Taiwan Jones from FCS champs Eastern Washington, the home of the red turf!
1:24pm Both NFLN and ESPN gush over Owen Marecic. There’s no quicker way to a football analyst’s heart than to be a two-way player. ESPN runs a clip of Chuck Bednarik and his incredibly busted hands. He rips on modern football for being “pussycat football.” Sorry, Chuck, some people prefer fresh bodies on both sides of the ball instead of a cadre of wounded corpses dragging around in the fourth.
1:31pm Packers on the clock with two picks in the next three. Have to imagine at least one of those is a physical cornerback. Defensive line/edge rusher should be the other, but Tom Silverstein is suggesting a tight end. Hmm.
1:32pm And it wouldn’t be a draft without Ted Thompson trading down. The Broncos are the recipients this year.
1:35pm Details: Green Bay gives up their fourth and seventh for a fifth and sixth. GB now loaded in the next 75 picks or so with five of ‘em. Denver uses the pick for a tight end from Portland State, so that’s all you need to know.
1:37pm OK, Green Bay on the clock again, and all the guys I was looking at just a few minutes ago are still there. The good news—since this is a compensatory pick (for the Aaron Kampman signing), it cannot be traded away.
1:40pm That pick took an awfully long time to come in. Not sure what that was all about. Lot of debate in the war room. But YES! They get Davon House, exactly the guy I wanted them to get. Huge value for the last pick in the fourth!
1:44pm Naturally, Mike Mayock rains on my parade, saying House has a flaw where he locks his hips and squats on routes, suggesting that double-moves in the NFL will eat him up. Ah, well. Still a great-sized CB midway through the draft, and I have faith Green Bay will coach him up the way they did Tramon Williams.
1:47pm The Panthers kick off the fifth round by taking another Hawaii wide receiver. Three offensive skill players from Hawaii have already been drafted. That has to at least equal most, if not all, schools so far. Weirdness.
1:49pm Listen, NFL Network. I know you have to justify your reasoning for bringing Butch Davis on the set, but let’s not pretend UNC had a great or even an above-average football team last year.
1:50pm Damn. Robert Sands of West Virginia draws the Panthers-Mountaineers tally to a tie (2 apiece). Interesting that the Bengals got him, since they had a lot of fun the last time they trusted a West Virginia defensive back. Ahem, Pacman.
1:54pm The Chiefs take Ricky Stanzi, the first quarterback taken since Ryan Mallett went to New England midway through the third. Let me just say I am a Stanzi fan. Not just his porn star/Italian sausage vendor name but his poise and accuracy in the pocket.
1:57pm Greg Bedard of the Boston Globe notes that with the Cardinals’ selection of fullback Anthony Sherman of UConn, Jordan Todman is still on the board waiting while his lead blocker already has a home.
2:00pm Even though Sal Paolantonio has been stationed in Charlotte the last three days, he can’t help but talk about the Eagles when dialed up. Dude just loves Philadelphia.
2:04pm Trying to undo the bad karma of selecting Ryan Mallett, the Patriots do a nice thing and draft Marcus Cannon out of TCU. Cannon was possibly a late first or early second guy with a lot of pre-draft buzz only to get the wretched news a few weeks ago that he had been diagnosed with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. He may not play at all this year, but that’s a great investment for the future if he can overcome that disease.
2:06pm The Vikings grabbed cornerback Brandon Burton. Solid pick for them, which sucks. It’ll be interesting to see if Burton or House becomes the better cornerback, since both were available when Green Bay picked at the end of the fourth. By the way, they’re up again in two picks.
2:12pm Surprise! The Packers grab a tight end, D.J. Williams out of Arkansas. I have no idea what this means other than we already knew Donald Lee would not be brought back. Maybe insurance in case Andrew Quarless doesn’t work out and Jermichael Finley cannot be re-signed?
2:16pm The analysts are in LOVE with the Williams pick. Doug Farrar of Football Outsiders called it a “Sopranos-level heist,” and the ESPN guys gushed about how big his hands are. From the game tape they showed, it looks like Williams will be a valuable red zone asset.
2:24pm Hold the phone. Brother just showed up dressed to the nines for his prom. What a stud.
2:36pm I come back from giving the little brother a little advice and I see back-to-back Panthers go off the board! I’m not saying my brother caused this or anything, but he IS going to be a freshman at Pitt next year. Dion Lewis goes to the Eagles, so he’s essentially a LeSean McCoy redux. A pick later, the Browns give up to sixth-rounders to the Vikes to grab tackle Jason Pinkston. He’ll be great on the right side with Joe Thomas on the left.
2:38pm Should also mention the Falcons’ aggressive move of trading up (again) to grab a skill position player, this time running back Jacquizz Rodgers out of Oregon State. The dude is a mighty mite, change-of-pace, third-down sort of back that most analysts figured would be gone by mid-fifth. Also, I find it hilarious that four of Oakland’s first six picks are on the edges (wide receivers and cornerbacks). The other two are on the offensive line. I have no idea if this qualifies as “strategy.”
2:43pm Another QB off the board! T.J. Yates from UNC goes to the Texans. Not a bad idea when your primary backup is Matt Leinart.
2:46pm I like the idea of the Jets getting a wide receiver, Jeremy Kerley out of TCU, but he’s more of a return guy (which they already have) than a sure-handed wideout (which they needed).
2:48pm Trent Dilfer, you ham! On the criticism of Blaine Gabbert, “I listened to people criticize his arm strength, and I literally threw up in my mouth.”
2:55pm Ah, Football Outsiders with the answer to my open-ended query a few minutes back. The Jets probably won’t resign WR/return guy Brad Smith. Just saw the Seahawks draft a safety from Appalachian State. Wonder if that university is still riding the wave from their upset win in Michigan (a program vastly overrated at the time which only sort of devalues the win). It can’t be TOO long until someone takes a flyer on Delaware quarterback Pat Devlin.
3:02pm Time to reflect on my first-round mock draft and see how I did.
3:04pm Yeah, I got a whopping two right (A.J. Green to Cincinnati and Corey Liuget to San Diego), although I did accurately pick Julio Jones going sixth (just to Cleveland, not Atlanta). Fantastic work by me!
3:06pm Without a real answer at safety or a pass-rush threat, the Patriots…select a tight end, who will never see playing time behind Aaron Hernandez and Rob Gronkowski.
3:07pm Michael Lombardi on Cam Newton: “The windows Aaron Rodgers had [in the Super Bowl] were so small—if you can’t make those throws in the NFL, you’re not going to make it.”
3:10pm The Bers took Idaho quarterback Nathan Enderle. Obviously, they’ll be looking for him to get mentored by the best QB on the roster, Caleb Hanie. Meanwhile, Greg Bedard makes me look like a fool when he notes that Lee Smith, the tight end the Patriots got, is a great in-line blocker who will eventually take over for Alge Crumpler. Hey, remember when Crumplestiltskin was THE guy in Atlanta (I mean, other than Vick). That was weird.
3:16pm Stop the presses! The Steelers drafted an outside linebacker! This one is named Chris Carter, and let’s all pray that he never becomes famous or the chuckling will be endless on ESPN’s Sunday morning show.
3:18pm Ted Thompson, you wily snake. He once again traded down. I think the Packers and Patriots are plotting some scheme to own every pick in the seventh round. Forever.
3:19pm Another App State guy off the board! The Niners, using the pick they got from the Packers trade, take guard Daniel Kilgore. If the savvy eggheads in San Fran don’t immediately nickname him “Trout,” I don’t have faith in humanity. Trade details: a pretty standard late-game trade. San Fran moves up to the end of the fourth round, Green Bay slides back 11 spots and picks up the Niners’ sixth as well as a seventh-rounder.
3:26pm Apparently the Ravens let the clock expire once again. They lucked out in that the team after them was the Ravens.
3:27pm Trey Wingo totally zooms a couple Charlie Sheen references over the head of a bewildered Trent Dilfer. I kind of love that tandem. Hilariously, Mel Kiper calls out Todd McShay for predicting Iowa guard Julian Vandervelde would be Mr. Irrelevant then reversing his position and claiming Pro Bowl talent after the Eagles take him in the fifth round.
3:32pm Ugh. Three of the next five picks are Vikings picks. I hope they get three long snappers.
3:34pm Wait—better idea. Time to get lunch.
3:59pm What did I miss? Oh, another trade down by Green Bay. This is what happens when you win a Super Bowl. You get bored and start making weird draft-day trades that only marginally benefit your team. But hey, whatever keeps him happy.
4:00pm Also saw the Vikings picked Brandon Fusco out of Slippery Rock University. If you’ve ever been to Slippery Rock, you’ll know Mr. Fusco is happy to be headed anywhere else, even if it is Minneapolis.
4:03pm Finding no available trade partners, Green Bay finally selects. It’s Caleb Schlauderaff, guard from Utah! Huh? More depth, more depth. Not inspiring, though.
4:06pm Tyrod Taylor goes a pick later to Baltimore. Lot of quarterbacks being snatched up, none of them without serious question marks.
4:09pm Brian Kelly lying through his teeth on NFL Network: “You go to college for the education.” Sure, that’s what you tell your scholarship guys.
4:10pm Unreasonable! My computer needs a restart in the middle of the sixth round! I’m going to reboot and hopefully get this up before Green Bay picks again.
4:16pm Made it just in time! By the way, I really enjoyed ESPN’s piece on the evolution of the Goodell hug…until it got creepy with Ron Jaworski, Tedy Bruschi and Herm Edwards group hugging Suzy Kolber.
4:18pm D.J. Smith is the pick for Green bay—finally, another edge rusher to throw into the mix! And he’s from App State. What’s going on in Boone, North Carolina? Besides an immense amount of drinking and getting high, of course.
4:21pm I must be getting burned out. Totally missed that Smith is the second D.J. drafted today by the Packers. Normally, that’s the kind of pointless, trivial information I flock to.
4:27pm Nice piece by ESPN on Boston College linebacker Mark Herzlich who battled back from a rare form of cancer to be a leader for his team. Hoping he gets a seventh-round spot.
4:29pm Both networks discussing the problem of signing undrafted free agents—namely, that it’s impossible until the 8th Circuit ruling. That might clear up Monday, or it might not. Gotta love the lockout! (Honestly, it does provide for some extra-compelling narratives on top of the draft.)
4:34pm The Falcons are weird. They give up a huge package to grab a wide receiver and a pass-catching running back, and in the sixth round they take…a kicker/punter? Matt Bosher out of Miami is apparently part of Atlanta’s plan to completely ignore defense this draft.
4:43pm The Bears follow the Packers lead and grab an initialed outside linebacker from a school seated in the Appalachian mountain range. J.T. Thomas is the name; West Virginia is the school. The tally is still Panthers 4, Mountaineers 3.
4:48pm Pleased to note the Bears have no more picks in this draft. Simultaneously, the Packers are back on the clock! Take that!
4:52pm Dan Lauria, dressed in his Vince Lombardi garb from the well-received play, announces that the Packers have selected Brooks Reed’s counterpart at Arizona, Ricky Elmore. He’s a bit undersized for a defensive end, so he’ll either have to be situational, special teams only or to bulk up. Packers analysts are suggesting he’ll line up as an outside linebacker, which makes some sense.
4:57pm Hey, did you know Tom Brady was once drafted at the 199th pick? I had no idea! If only these sports networks would ever report minutiae like that.
4:59pm The Vikings are such copycats. They also go with an outside linebacker, Ross Homan, from Ohio State.
5:06pm Sarah – the Certifiable Girlfriend of this blog – called to sleepily talk to me. Poor thing just had her wisdom teeth removed yesterday. I told her that her Giants picked Prince Amukamara in the first round. She seemed to like his name. She also asked, “Are any of our picks as cute as Hakeem Nicks?” Sadly, no. Sorry, babe.
5:07pm Love the Virgil Green pick as the pick for the Broncos, the first of the seventh round. Mike Mayock says his fall had to do with medical issues relating to a past microfracture surgery. Still, this guy looks built like whoa.
5:10pm ESPN just showed a highlight package of Ricky Elmore. Like the look of him as a weakside ‘backer. Gets off the block well, locates the ball, has a nose for the big play. Didn’t know he led the Pac-10 in sacks the last two years, even outperforming the much-heralded Brooks Reed. Just doesn’t have that straight-line speed (ran a 4.88 40) that makes a guy like Clay Matthews so dangerous to quarterbacks.
5:19pm The New York Jets take Greg McElroy as a backup QB. I wonder if we should just plug him in to the Jets offense and see if he could win as many games as Mark Sanchez. That’d put an end to the stupid “Sanchez just knows how to win!” arguments. Anyway, still holding out hope Pat Devlin gets picked up.
5:20pm Did the McElroy family pay ESPN to give their son so much damn attention? A camera in his living room plus an immediate video interview? I heard NOTHING about this guy until today. Still, he seems like a pretty agreeable dude.
5:23pm The Falcons heeded my call, grabbing Fresno State guard and face of the twenty-dollar bill Andrew Jackson. Let’s hope Aaron Burr isn’t on an opposing roster. (Little American history joke for y’all.)
5:25pm Uh-oh. Wrangler just ran a Brett Favre ad. Somewhere in Mississippi, Favre is watching and thinking, “Damn, I still look good. Could pro’ly chuck a couple pigskins a half-mile.”
5:28pm I missed Seattle picking up a player named Lazarius Levingston. And he has a nickname of “Pep.” Well, then!
5:34pm The Texans are the anti-Falcons, picking a pair of 3-4 OLBs and a couple cornerbacks and a safety until their first offensive pick, a quarterback late in the fifth. They just got an offensive tackle here in the seventh.
5:36pm Okay, I know facetiously called the Vikings copycats not long ago. But they just drafted Ricky Elmore’s backup, D’Aundre Reed to play the same position. Hey, if you can’t beat ‘em…
5:38pm Ron Jaworski and Tedy Bruschi gushing over Randall Cobb’s versatility in the backfield. Suzy Kolber and Herm Edwards debate how the Packers are going to stay hungry. Well, when a third of your team didn’t get to play in/finish playing in the Super Bowl because of injury, that’s a sizable carrot. But Herm Edwards says “chemistry.”
5:47pm The Packers grab another tight end, Ryan Taylor from UNC. I don’t totally get it, but there’s something to be said for sticking to your draft board and creating competitive depth. Still, if Taylor pushes Tom Crabtree out of a roster spot, I’ll be pissed. Crabtree is the man.
5:49pm Right, should probably breathe a second and read Twitter. Apparently he’ll be a fullback in Green Bay’s system. Hilarious—the Packers are the only team to draft a fullback every year.
5:56pm The professional football team in Tampa drafts a player from a school in Miami with the last name of Gaitor. You heard me.
6:02pm The Chiefs draft a running back from Yale, probably to address their glaring weaknesses shown on ESPN’s graphic: Not Enough Ascots, Lacking Polysyllabic Putdowns, Need Larger Trust Fund.
6:09pm It’s about time someone drafted Greg Romeus! The Saints make a nice choice to bolster their defensive line so long as Romeus’ back problems do not flare up.
6:19pm I’m flagging badly. My eyes are dried out from staring at a television and computer screen for nearly seven hours and I think my body odor is starting to resemble a Payday bar.
6:23pm Think I’ll stick around until the Packers next and final pick, coming up in just a few sweet minutes, before bouncing to the showers.
6:34pm Six and a half hours after today’s drafting started, the Packers are up at pick 233 to close out their day picking rookies. The answer is Lawrence Guy, a defensive tackle from Arizona State. Hopefully he avoids the dreaded “just a guy” label.
6:35pm That’s it for me. It’s been sweaty and loads of fun. Thanks for reading!