Speaking of giving defensive linemen a big contract after one good year in a contract year, the Eagles gave Babin 28 million over 5 after 12.5 sacks in his contract year last year. Before last year, Babin had 17.5 sacks in 6 seasons. On top of that, he’s 31. So why don’t I hate this? Babin only got 6 million in guarantees. It’s a gamble that Babin can continue what he did last year, but it was a cheap gamble and Babin rejoins Jim Washburn, who he worked with last year in Tennessee. Washburn is Philly’s defensive coordinator. Defensive end wasn’t a huge need for the Eagles, but they don’t have a ton of needs (after getting DRC in the Kolb deal) and you can never have enough pass rushers.

Grade: B

 

 

OT Jeff Adams (Columbia)

CB Omar Bolden (Arizona State)

3-4 DE Michael Brockers (LSU)

G Brandon Brooks (Miami-OH)

MLB Zach Brown (North Carolina)

S Josh Bush (Wake Forest)

MLB Cameron Collins (Oregon State)

DE Quinton Coples (North Carolina)

WR Michael Floyd (Notre Dame)

WR Chris Givens (Wake Forest)

G Robert T. Griffin (Baylor)

WR Stephen Hill (Georgia Tech)

CB Jayron Hosley (Virginia Tech)

RLB Melvin Ingram (South Carolina)

RLB Bruce Irvin (West Virginia)

G Ronald Leary (Wake Forest)

WR Alshon Jeffery (South Carolina)

S Trumaine Johnson (Montana)

C Ben Jones (Georgia)

RLB Chandler Jones (Syracuse)

RLB Ronnell Lewis (Oklahoma)

OT Joe Long (Wayne State)

OT Bobby Massie (Mississippi)

S Jerron McMillian (Maine)

3-4 DE Josue Ortiz (Harvard)

WR Rueben Randle (LSU)

WR Mohamed Sanu (Rutgers)

S Harrison Smith (Notre Dame)

P Brian Stahovich (San Diego State)

S Brandon Taylor (LSU)

RB Robert Turbin (Utah State)

MLB Tahir Whitehead (Temple)

WR Kendall Wright (Baylor)

 

The Vikings drafted Kyle Rudolph in the 2^nd round in 2011 and paired him with soon to be free agent Visanthe Shiancoe at tight end. As a rookie, Rudolph caught 26 passes for 249 yards and 3 touchdowns, while Shiancoe had 36 catches for 409 yards and 3 touchdowns. The Vikings showed very little interest in retaining Shiancoe as a free agent so it appeared Rudolph would take over as the every down tight end in 2012 and rightfully so.

Oh, but what’s this, they signed John Carlson. Okay, that makes some sense. Carlson can come in on two-tight end sets as he tries to prove himself after getting benched and injured in Seattle last season. Plus I bet he was cheap and the Vikings didn’t do anything like…PAY HIM 25 MILLION DOLLARS OVER 5 YEARS WITH 11 MILLION GUARANTEED. For John Carlson?!?!?! The same John Carlson who missed all of last season with injury after getting benched for Zach Miller and putting up 31 catches for 318 yards and 1 touchdowns in 2010 as his team’s primary pass catcher. Sure he had 55 catches and 51 catches in 2008 and 2009, but that was 2008 and 2009. There’s no way in hell anyone else would give him this kind of money and if there was a team willing to do so, let them have him. It’s John Carlson.

Grade: F

 

 

Trade for Cincinnati: Rivers is an above average linebacker when healthy, but the Bengals have a good depth of linebackers already (Maualuga, Manny Lawson, Thomas Howard, and 2011 3^rd rounder Dontay Moch) and they had one of the best defenses in the league last season without Rivers playing a snap. Rivers is an injury risk going forward and would likely not be resigned as a free agent next offseason so it does make sense that the Bengals would get something for him (5^th round pick).

Grade: B

Trade for NY Giants: The Giants will be moving Michael Boley inside to middle linebacker so Rivers will fill their need at outside linebacker. He’s an injury risk, but the Giants are only giving up a 5^th round pick for a player who was ranked 9^th by ProFootballFocus at a major position of need for the Giants. If he can’t stay healthy, 2^nd year players Mark Herzlich and Greg Jones would probably split time there.

The Giants don’t have a ton of needs so they may have been better off using an early pick on more of a sure thing at outside linebacker and someone with more of a future (Rivers is a free agent after the season) than using a 5^th rounder to trade for Rivers. If Rivers gets hurt, they could be in big trouble at the position, though they were in pretty big trouble at the position last season and they still won the Super Bowl.

Grade: B

 

 

6 years 61.5 million with 22.5 million guaranteed may be a little much for someone who has never proven himself without James Harrison. However, Woodley is only 26 and he has 35 sacks in the last 3 seasons and this move helps their immediate cap situation so it makes a lot of sense.

Grade: A

 

 

A month ago, I would have seen the Redskins signing of London Fletcher to a 2 year, 10.75 million dollar deal with 5.25 million guaranteed as a great deal, but middle linebackers are not being highly valued on this free agency market. Curtis Lofton, David Hawthorne, and Stephen Tulloch all signed for less than I expected.

Fletcher is still a good player, but he’s 37 in May so when you compare what the younger Hawthorne got (5 years, 19 million) and the younger Lofton got (5 years, 27.5 million), Fletcher’s deals slightly overpays him this year, even if it is essentially only a one year deal (little to no guaranteed money after the first year). This is a good deal to resign a team captain and one of the league’s leading tacklers last season, but not a great deal. I feel like he could have been had cheaper over a month after the start of free agency.

Grade: B

 

 

Kiwanuka will have to prove himself after major surgery last year, but this is a fairly low risk deal, 8.6 million over 2 years with very little guaranteed, and if he can prove himself once again, this deal is going to be a bargain.

Grade: A

 

 

Offensive Tackle

Ohio State

6-7 323

Draft board overall prospect rank: #64

Draft board overall offensive tackle rank: #5

Overall rating: 73 (3rd round)

40 time: 5.40

Games watched: Michigan State/Ohio State, Ohio State/Miami, Wisconsin/Ohio State, Ohio State/Penn State, Ohio State/Michigan

Positives

·         Excellent height (6-7)

·         Huge (6-7 323)

·         Long arms

·         Massive hands (11 inches)

·         Good hand use

·         Physical freak

·         Excellent feet for his size

·         Mobile and athletic – played some tight end on unbalanced lines at Ohio State

·         Size/athleticism combo

·         Good 2^nd level blocker

·         Experienced out of a 3 point stance

·         Good knee bend

·         Wide base in stance

·         Heavily recruited (#10 recruit in 2008, #2 offensive tackle behind Tyron Smith)

·         Incredibly dominant at the Senior Bowl

·         Flashes excellence

Negatives

·         Incredibly inconsistent

·         Allows way more sacks and pressures than he should

·         Disappointing Combine (only 19 reps of 225, 5.40 40)

·         Suspended on 2 occasions

·         Has a prior arrest

·         Failed The Combine’s drug test

·         Past injury history

·         Questions about motor and passion for the game

·         Work ethic concerns

·         Maturity concerns

·         Not a ton of experience (due to suspensions and injuries)

·         Has had some issues with speed rushers

NFL Comparison: Jared Gaither

Mike Adams has the talent to go in the top 5. He’s an absolute athletic freak who has mobile feet on the level of Matt Kalil, only he’s 20 pounds bigger. He’s 6-7 323 with 34 inch arms and massive 11 inch hands. He was the #2 ranked offensive tackle coming out of high school, in between Tyron Smith and Matt Kalil, both of whom went in the top 10.

However, he never lived up to this at Ohio State. He was in and out of the lineup with suspensions and injury and gave up way more sacks and pressures than you’d like. His senior year was especially disappointing. He only played in 7 games because of a suspension from the Ohio State tattoo scandal, and only faced two draftable pass rushers in those 7 games, Whitney Mercilus and Jack Crawford. He allowed 1.5 sacks to Mercilus and 2 sacks to Crawford, two speed rushers who were able to blow right past him and get the best of him.

He really just seems like one of those prospects that doesn’t get it. He has the off the field issues, a 2 game suspension in 2009 for breaking a team rule, a 5 game suspension in 2011 for the tattoo scandal, and a run in with the law in 2009 for drug possession (the charges were dropped). He also failed a drug test for marijuana at The Combine. The issue there isn’t that he smokes marijuana. It’s that he didn’t care enough about football to stop smoking marijuana in order to pass a drug test he knew was coming.

Going off the concerns about his passion for the game, his Combine workouts were really poor. For someone with his natural athletic gifts, 19 reps on the bench and a 5.40 40 with an awful 1.84 10 yard split, is incredibly disappointing. There are concerns about his ability to keep himself in elite football shape. Add in all this to his disappointing play on the field and you’ve got a prospect with serious passion and love of the game concerns, which is a huge red flag. He was a disappointing player for Ohio State in college and I have to think that he’ll continue to disappoint in the NFL as long as he’s drafted in the first 2 rounds.

My comparison for him is Jared Gaither. Like Gaither, Adams has elite physical abilities. Gaither was a high school tight end who came into the league at about 6-9 330. They both have excellent size/athleticism combinations, but Gaither fell into the 5^th round of the supplementary draft because of his lack of consistency and his off the field issues, the off the field issues that made him have to join the supplementary draft in the first place. Gaither has exceeded his draft range as he’s been a good left tackle when healthy, but he’s been consistent and off injured.

Adams won’t go in the 5^th round so I don’t like his chances of exceeding his draft range as much. He probably won’t go in the 1^st round, which once looked like an option after a dominant Senior Bowl. In the Senior Bowl, he shut down both Melvin Ingram and Courtney Upshaw, as well as Quinton Coples on occasion. I argued he should have been the MVP as the North won. However, after failing a drug test at The Combine, that no longer looks like an option. He now has competition for the #4 tackle spot from Bobby Massie, Mitchell Schwartz, and Jeff Allen.

He’ll probably still go in the 2^nd round because of his upside, but there’s a small chance he’ll last until the 3^rd round. Both Justin Houston and Christian Ballard fell 2 rounds below their previously projected draft range last year after failing drug tests at The Combine, but the Vikings still took Percy Harvin in the first round in 2009 after a failed drug test, so there’s no clear rule with this type of thing. It only takes one team to take a chance on him and I think one will in the 2^nd round, but there’s always a chance one doesn’t.

 

 

Wide Receiver 

Buffalo

6-0 189

40 time: 4.60

Draft board overall prospect rank: #236

Draft board wide receiver rank: #26

Overall rating: 50*

3/15/10: I still would draft him if given the chance, but a 4.60 at 6-0 189 doesn’t help him. He could have trouble getting drafted now, after a down year last year, but I like his hands and his upside. He could be a decent slot guy at the next level.

            7/25/09: Naaman Roosevelt knows how the fill the stat sheet. He had 104 catches for 1402 yards and 13 touchdowns last season as a junior at Buffalo. However, he is ranked as a mid round prospect at best right now for a few reasons. He’s very thin at 6-0 185 and does not have good timed speed. He also hasn’t played against the best competition, though he did have a good game last season against Missouri. He doubles as a good kick returner, despite his lack of timed speed. He’s very quick and can break long gains in the open field. He runs good routes and has very sure hands. He projects as a sure handed slot receiver in the NFL. Though he’s very weak and has a small frame, he isn’t necessarily short. At 6-0, he is going to be more of an end zone threat than most slot receivers. He’s a horrible run blocker and very injury prone because of his small frame. In a league where you can never have too many pass catchers, a sure handed receiver like Roosevelt is going to be heavily sought after in the mid rounds by almost all teams. Though I never see him as a starter in the NFL because of his frame, he can be a nice 3^rd or 4^th option/kick returner and that’s all you really expect out of a 3^rd or 4^th round pick.

NFL Comparison: Greg Camarillo 

*=For a breakdown of what this means, click here

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