Quick Hits on Day 2 of the 2010 Draft

As previously poster here.

General Thoughts
Jimmy Clausen lands in Carolina: Today's events were very telling of what NFL evaluators think of Jimmy Clausen. That the Browns and Bills, the two teams most in need of a QB, passed him up twice tells me that we are missing some information. Clearly Mayock, Kiper and McShay were all very high on the kid. But NFL scouts and coaches must have seen something in the tape or heard something in an interview or smelled something fishy for him to fall the way he did.

4th round! I'm pretty excited for the start of the 4th round. Historically speaking, this is where teams start throwing caution to the wind and start gobbling up great players with question marks. Injuries, temperment questions and even law trouble seem to be devalued the second the round begins. Some examples of 4th round picks that fit this mold are as follows: Ray Edwards - Issues with coaches lead to benching, Brandon Marshall - small school, Jared Allen - law trouble, Marion Barber - injuries. The investment by teams is low. All that matters any more is talent.

Much more after the jump!

General Thoughts
Jimmy Clausen lands in Carolina: Today's events were very telling of what NFL evaluators think of Jimmy Clausen. That the Browns and Bills, the two teams most in need of a QB, passed him up twice tells me that we are missing some information. Clearly Mayock, Kiper and McShay were all very high on the kid. But NFL scouts and coaches must have seen something in the tape or heard something in an interview or smelled something fishy for him to fall the way he did.

4th round! I'm pretty excited for the start of the 4th round. Historically speaking, this is where teams start throwing caution to the wind and start gobbling up great players with question marks. Injuries, temperment questions and even law trouble seem to be devalued the second the round begins. Some examples of 4th round picks that fit this mold are as follows: Ray Edwards - Issues with coaches lead to benching, Brandon Marshall - small school, Jared Allen - law trouble, Marion Barber - injuries. The investment by teams is low. All that matters any more is talent.

Picks I Liked
Golden Tate: As I said , I am very high on Golden Tate (sounds like a type of Marijuana doesn't it?). I would have loved this pick regardless of where he was drafted. But the fact that he was drafted by former arch-nemesis Pete Carroll in Seattle speaks volumes to me. Who better than Carroll to give an honest evaluation of the guy's talent, a man that played him yearly and has studied his weaknesses in depth? Seattle got a steal here in my opinion, especially at 60th overall.

Daryl Washington to Arizona (@ 47!?): It seems fitting that Arizona would find the replacement for Karlos Dansby the same place they found the original; in the second round. Wasington is one of the fastest LB's in this draft and will most likely start from day 1. This pick should lessen the loss of the Dansby for the Cardinals' already suspect defense.

Roger Saffold to the Rams: Solid pick. Unlike so many other #1 overall QB's, Bradford will have the benefit of two highly drafted bookend tackles to protect him (after they added Jason Smith last year). Building the line should also help the Rams only real asset, Steven Jackson.

Terrence Cody to the Ravens: I know he is enormous. And the Ravens already have Ngata, arguably the best NT in the game. But besides giving the Ravens options when Haloti's contract comes up and making their goalline/short yardage defense incredibly scary (teams will need more than the 11 allowed players to move those two), I think that Cody is just an undervalued player. He showed surprising agility at the combine and managed to drop over 20 pounds from his playing weight there. He is simply going to be nearly impossible to move for opposing offenses and the prospect of playing him and Ngata on the field together is intriguing.

Colt McCoy to the Browns in the 3rd round: Question marks or not, was a great pickup for a 3rd round pick. Mike Holmgren learned how to evaluate QB's from the best and if he likes McCoy here, so do I.

Brandon Ghee to the Bengals with a 3rd round compensatory pick: He was considered by most to be an early 2nd round pick. So when I heard that he was picked 96th overall, I was more than a little surprised. Ghee had a tremendous Senior Bowl week. He has outstanding quickness and all the speed you expect from a starting CB in the NFL. The Bengals made a nice pickup here.

Vikings Picks
Chris Cook: Cook is probably the best cover-2 cornerback in this draft. He is exceptional in zone coverage. The concern with him is that he is not as physical as he should be for his size (another plus). With the way the Vikings have compiled a depth chart full of physical corners, this pick surprised me a little, despite the natural fit in a cover-2 scheme.

Toby Gerhart: Gerhart is a surprisingly athletic RB that is excellent in pass protection and a punishing downhill runner. He has the size to play FB in a pinch, but the speed to play halfback. His 1,800+ yards and 28 touchdowns last year should have netted him a Heisman. The concern with him (let's be honest here) is that he is white.

Players to watch in day 3
Aaron Hernandez: I think Hernandez is going to be a very good receiving tight end in this league. He is sneaky good and I'm excited to see where he ends up.

Bruce Campbell: It's not surprising that he is still on the board, but it is a little surprising that the Raiders have managed to hold off on drafting such a great athlete. Maybe they've turned over a new, not crazy leaf. Nah! Extreme athleticism combined with inexperience to drop this 1st round talent into the 3rd day. But someone is going to get a very raw player with a ton of upside. If he lands with the right line coach, he could be the steal of this draft in 10 years.

Dan LeFevour: He had a great week at the Senior Bowl, and played the best of all the QB's in the actual game. He has the most upside of any QB left. I wouldn't be opposed to seeing the Vikings take a flier on the kid.