2007 NFL Mock Draft

Okay, now I'm really over the Patriots losing. It's time to start looking ahead to the 2007 NFL season (after the Bears win 27-17 and expose Peyton Manning as the choker he is in the Super Bowl). Where to start? The NFL Draft, which takes place in April. Hey, I'm bored at work. I will post another Mock Draft -- which will be just as inaccurate as this one, I promise -- closer to the actual draft. 1. Oakland Raiders: JaMarcus Russell, QB, LSU He is big and can throw the ball a mile. Maybe he can help turn the Raiders around ... though Al Davis' funeral would really give this franchise a jump start. 2. Detroit Lions: Brady Quinn, QB, Notre Dame Best quarterback in the draft. I know Charlie Weis coached him and wants him to succeed but don't take the comparison to Tom Brady in his book lightly -- Weis wouldn't go on record comparing Quinn to Brady if he didn't believe it to be true. 3. Cleveland Browns: Alan Branch, DT, Michigan Maybe this will work out better than when they took Gerard Warren at No. 3 in 2001. 4. Tampa Bay Buccaneers: Calvin Johnson, WR, Georgia Tech Best receiver in the draft. Great athlete. Not built to run the crossing routes in Gruden's offense. Won't fit in this system. 5. Arizona Cardinals: Joe Thomas, OT, Wisconsin Great choice for the Cards if he's still on the board. Should flourish under teaching of offensive line coach Russ Grimm. 6. Washington Redskins: Amobi Akoye, DT, Louisville The 'Skins stink and hopefully for Washington fans they will try and rebuild their defense with the youth (20-year-old) and talent of Akoye. 7. Minnesota Vikings: Adrian Peterson, RB, Oklahoma He's so special the Vikings don't pass on him. 8. Houston Texans: Marshawn Lynch, RB, California They should trade down to get multiple picks so they can actually build an offensive line and depth on defense but if they stay at No. 8 they'll take a much needed running back. They hope Peterson lasts this long. 9. Miami Dolphins: Jamaal Anderson, DE, Arkansas Jason Taylor won't last forever. 10. Atlanta Falcons: Reggie Nelson, S, Florida Other than replacing Vick at quarterback, the biggest need for Atlanta is in the secondary. Nelson is a great football player who will help fix that problem. 11. San Francisco 49ers: Dwayne Jarrett, WR, USC Big name player will give Alex Smith a weapon on the outside. 12. Buffalo Bills: Gaines Adams, DE, Clemson Playing in a division with Tom Brady, you need all the pass rushers you can find. 13. St. Louis Rams: Leon Hall, CB, Michigan With a better defense the Rams could have won the NFC West in 2006. 14. Carolina Panthers: Lawrence Timmons, LB, Florida State Serious need at linebacker. 15. Pittsburgh Steelers: Ted Ginn, Jr, WR, Ohio State Will they take a Buckeye wideout in consecutive years? 16. Green Bay Packers: LaRon Landry, S, LSU Like Mike Brown and Brian Uhrlacher with the Bears, the Pack need strength at middle linebacker and safety. Green Bay addressed MLB last year with AJ Hawk, Landry gives them their powerful safety. 17. Jacksonville Jaguars: Darrelle Revis, CB, Pittsburgh It never hurts to have a solid secondary when you must face Peyton Manning twice a year. 18. Cincinnati Bengals: DeMarcus Tyler, DT, NC State The Bengals were horrible versus the run. Tyler is a big boy who will help in that category. 19. Tennessee Titans: Quentin Moses, DE, Georgia Athletic pass rusher. Titans hope his Jevon Kearse, Part II. 20. New York Giants: Levi Brown, OT, Penn State Lots of needs for the G-Men but stability on the offensive line is most glaring, especially with Happy Feet Manning playing quarterback. 21. Denver Broncos: Daymeion Hughes, CB, California With the tragic death of Darrent Williams, the Broncos need cornerbacks. 22. Dallas Cowboys: Marcus McCauley, CB, Fresno State Dallas continues to build on its powerful defense. 23. Kansas City Chiefs: Adam Carriker, DE, Nebraska The Chiefs are starting to rebuild their defense and this run stuffing DE from Nebraska fits into what KC needs. 24. New England Patriots: Michael Griffin, S, Texas Hopefully Rashard Baker won't see too much time in '07. 25. New York Jets: Jarvis Moss, DE, Florida Mangini is doing good things with the Jets. Moss gives him a boost for the pass rush. 26. Philadelphia Eagles: Sidney Rice, WR, South Carolina Donte Stallworth will most likely be a free agency casualty so the Eagles need depth at receiver. 27. New Orleans Saints: Justin Blalock, OG, Texas With Drew Brees, Deuce McAllister, and Reggie Bush in the backfield, the Saints need all the offensive line help they can get. 28. New England Patriots: Patrick Willis, LB, Ole Miss Meet Tedy Bruschi's replacement. 29. Baltimore Ravens: Dwayne Bowe, WR, LSU They have to find a better way to score points. 30. San Diego Chargers: Ben Grubbs, OG, Auburn Keep on opening holes for LDT. 31. Indianapolis Colts: Paul Posluszny, LB, Penn State The more defense they can get, the less excuses Manning will have. 32. Chicago Bears: Josh Beekman, OG, Boston College BC lineman are so great that Bears fans forget how bad Marc Colombo was during his years in Chicago.

Helton Trade

Now that I have recovered from my AFC Championship Game hangover, I'm ready to jump into the Red Sox full blast. Actually, it was news on the Red Sox that got me over the Patriots crushing 38-34 loss to the Colts. On Saturday morning, word was starting to spread that the Sox were in talks with the Colorado Rockies for potential Hall-of-Fame first baseman Todd Helton. Usually such news is not really news, trade rumors often fly around, especially with Spring Training only weeks away. But the Helton-to-Boston rumor seemed to have some truth to it. Even Colorado's owner admitted to the talks. The price for Helton was reported to be third baseman Mike Lowell and pitchers Julian Tavarez, Craig Hansen and Manny Delcarmen, plus the Red Sox would have to assume a large portion of the $90.1-million owed to the 33-year-old first baseman over the next six years. The Sox did not want to part with either Delcarmen or Hansen so as of yesterday, the deal was off the table. However, as ESPN's Buster Olney wrote in his daily insider baseball blog this morning, don't think the deal is dead -- even if the owners of both teams say it is. This sort of thing often happens in baseball ... there is talk of a mega-trade and when it isn't immediately consumated, the talks are "ended," only to resume in the future. Olney mentions Junior Griffey's trade from the Mariners to the Reds and Roger Clemens' trade from the Blue Jays to the Yankees as examples. This trade makes sense for both teams. For the Red Sox they add another powerful bat to their already impressive lineup and this is a bat that prescribes to their organizational theory of working pitchers and getting on base. Even with dwindling power numbers (mostly thanks to injuries and playing for a sub-par team), Helton's skills would flourish in the Boston lineup. And from the Rockies point of view, they need to unload Helton's massive contract to try and build a winner at Coors Field. If this trade is brought up again, expect the Sox to part with Lowell, Tavarez, and Delcarmen as well as assuming roughly $50-million of Helton's remaining contract. That would give Boston a lineup looking a lot like this: SS - Julio Lugo RF - JD Drew DH - David Ortiz LF - Manny Ramirez 1B - Todd Helton C - Jason Varitek 3B - Kevin Youkilis CF - Coco Crisp 2B - Dustin Pedroia Along with the solid pitching staff the Sox have built, that would be a team in serious contention to win a World Series.

P-A-T-S, PATS, PATS, PATS!!!

While it may not rank in the Top 5 of Patriot playoff wins over the years, the 24-21 victory they just captured over the San Diego Chargers is as satisfying as any of the other non-Super Bowl wins. In a game that the Pats, and Tom Brady, were not their usual spectacular selves, they found a way to grind out a hard fought victory on the road (their first road playoff win since the 2005 AFC Championship Game in Pittsburgh and only the third road win in the Belichick/Brady era). Brady (27-for-51 for 280 yards, 2 TD's and 3 INT's) was shaky at times but when it counted in the fourth quarter he was his old hero self. That last drive for the game winning field goal will be a key feature on the Brady career highlight reel. He did what he alwys seems to do come January -- win the football game (career playoff record: 12-1). As for my five keys, the Pats nailed 3 of the 5. LaDainian Tomlinson (23 carries for 123 yards and 2 TD's as well as 2 receptions for 64 yards) did dominate for the most part and their were three Brady interceptions but the Pats offensive line kept Brady standing (he was sacked only twice), they took advantage of Philip Rivers (14-for-32 for 230 yards, no TD's, 1 INT and 1 fumble lost), and they capitalized on Belichick being the superior coach (how many times will Schottenheimer kick himself for the review on the Brady interception which Troy Brown stripped away leading to the New England recovery leading to the tying touchdown -- think he could have used that timeout at the end?). Now it is on to Indianapolis to meet Peyton Manning and the archrival Colts. The Pats have owned Manning and the Colts for much of his career (especially the playoff wins in 2004 and 2005) but the Colts have taken the last two meetings in the regular season. That matchup is for another day though. Tonight is for Belichick, Brady and the New England Patriots who just went in to San Diego and beat the top seeded Chargers.

5 Keys To Beating Chargers

The Patriots, fresh off their 37-16 win over the Jets on Sunday in an AFC Wild Card playoff game, travel to San Diego to play the AFC's top seeded Chargers this Sunday. San Diego is a powerful football team, led by runningback LaDainian Tomlinson, the NFL MVP and Offensive Player of the Year, tight end Antonio Gates, and quarterback Philip Rivers on offense, and a fierce defense consisting of Shawne Merriman, Shaun Phillips, and Jamal Williams. Can the Pats pull off the upset? They can if they control these five aspects of the game. 1. Keep Brady standing. The Chargers defense loves to put pressure on the quarterback. Merriman is a beast (17 sacks) but he isn't the only standout. Donnie Edwards, a player the Chargers tried to dump this past offseason, led the squad with 142 tackles; Shaun Phillips complemented Merriman's pass rush with 11.5 sacks; cornerback Quentin Jammer led their secondary with four interceptions; and the massive Jamal Williams and Luis Castillo stop the run up front. The Patriots offensive line needs to quiet the Charger pass rush to allow Brady to pick apart the San Diego pass defense. If he gets the time to throw, Brady has shown he will find the open man. The man is 11-1 in the playoffs, he finds ways to win -- the Pats just need to allow him time. 2. Hold onto the football. One thing the Patriots can't afford to do is be sloppy with the ball. They can't give extra possessions, as well as momentum to a fired up home crowd, by turning the ball over. Controlling the ball also keeps Tomlinson on the bench. 3. Don't allow Tomlinson to control the game. LDT is the man -- no arguments accepted. He rushed for 1815 yards, added another 508 yards receiving, passed for two touchdowns (don't overplay the toss sweep too much) and scored an NFL record 31 touchdowns. The task for the Pats defense will be keeping Tomlinson in check. The run defense needs to bring its' A+ game on Sunday -- Vince Wilfork, Ty Warren, Richard Seymour, and Tedy Bruschi all have to dominate the line of scrimmage and tackle LDT before he hits the open field. Tomlinson will get his during the course of the game but the Pats have to limit his success. 4. Make Philip Rivers beat you. This ties in with keeping Tomlinson in check. Rivers had a very good season (3388 passing yards, 61.7% completion percentage, 22 TD's against only 9 INT) but he is still a first year player after sitting behind Drew Brees for two seasons and has never taken a playoff snap. The secondary (hopefully with the addition of Rodney Harrison) has to confuse Rivers into believing things are open when they really are not and then capitalize. This is a Belichick trademark. 5. Take advantage of the difference in coaching. Bill Belichick is 11-1 in the playoffs as Patriots head coach (12-2 overall) and has won three Super Bowls as well as two others as defensive coordinator for the New York Giants. Marty Schottenheimer ... eh, not as good. Marty has a history of coaching great teams in the regular season before falling asleep at the wheel in the playoffs. As coach of the Cleveland Browns in the '80s, he lost two heart breakers to John Elway and the Denver Broncos. If the Patriots can control all five of the keys to the game, he will be losing one to Tom Brady and the Patriots. Pats - 23, Chargers - 17.

Pats/Jets

The NFL Playoffs return to Foxboro today as the 12-4 AFC East Champion Patriots take on the 10-6 Wild Card Jets. What an interesting match up. Boston vs. New York. Belichick vs. Mangini. All the bad blood between these two franchises since 1997. And now they face off for a chance to play the San Diego Chargers next week. This should be a good game. But the experience the Patriots have in the playoffs (10-1 under Belichick) will be the difference today. I don't expect a complete blowout (the Pats need to save some stuff for the Chargers next week) but I see them pulling away at the end -- thanks to a Chad Pennington interception or two. Final... Pats - 26 Jets - 13.