Some Interesting Notes From GBN

[swerb]

http://www.gbnreport.com/

~Texans field calls for Carr… The Houston Chronicle is reporting that the Texans have confirmed receiving calls from a number of teams that are interested in acquiring QB David Carr. Houston G.M. Rick Smith though won’t disclose which teams have inquired about Carr, although both Minnesota and Oakland have been mentioned as possibilities. Carr, the first player selected at the 2002 draft, still has two years left on his contract, but the Texans apparently have tired of his inconsistency and want to go in another direction. If Carr is traded, the Texans would likely look for a veteran to compete with Sage Rosenfels with Jake Plummer of Denver expected to be the first choice. Houston coach Gary Kubiak was Plummer’s offensive coordinator at Denver and is expected to be either released or made available through a trade at some point this off-season.

Phins said to like Irish QB… The Palm Beach Post is reporting that Miami is casting a covetous eye on Notre Dame QB Brady Quinn. Quinn will likely be gone when the Dolphins make their first-round pick with the 9th selection, although there is a chance that Quinn’s stock could drop, in part because he struggled at times in big games this fall. Still with just about every team picking ahead of the Dolphins in need of help at the position its likely Miami will have to trade up.

~What’s up with Lions’ RB… There have been conflicting reports out of Detroit about the rehabilitation of Lions’ RB Kevin Jones who suffered a serious Lisfranc foot injury late in the season. On the one hand there have been reports that the Lions were concerned that Jones would not be ready to play until at least the mid-point of the upcoming season. That led to some speculation that the Lions, who have the 2nd pick overall at the 2007 draft, might take a long look at Oklahoma RB Adrian Peterson with their opening point. There have been other reports, though, that suggest that Jones’ rehabilitation is on pace for him to be back in uniform late this summer. And that has led to some further speculation that the Lions actually leaked the original story themselves in an attempt to drive up the price on a possible trade for the second pick. Stay tuned because we’ve still got 73 days until the draft and the smoke is going to get thicker!

~Movin’ on up… They aren’t saying much of anything in Oakland, but the consensus around the rest of the league is that the Raiders will take LSU junior QB Jamarcus Russell with the #1 pick at this year’s draft. Indeed, a growing number of teams with early picks have already reportedly taken Russell off their boards on the assumption that he is bound for Oakland. Meanwhile, it appears that Oklahoma RB Adrian Peterson has climbed back up into the top 3-5 value spots on a growing number of draft boards around the league. If indeed so, that would represent a culmination of something of a roller coaster ride for Peterson who entered the 2006 fall campaign considered by many to be the best player in college football period and a strong candidate to be the #1 player selected overall at the 2007 draft. Peterson’s stock dipped, though, when he was forced to the sidelines for the second half of the season after breaking his collarbone.

~Browns can’t hide interest in draft QBs… Normally at this time of the year, mum’s the word out of most personnel departments around the NFL as to what the team is thinking regarding the upcoming draft. Cleveland, though, continues to send out signals that the Browns are considering one of this year’s top QBs. Indeed, just a day after we reported that Browns’ QB coach Rip Scherer was hinting that there was a good chance that Cleveland would take a QB with its top pick, team owner Randy Lerner reportedly told a local TV reporter that he would like to use the team's #1 draft pick on LSU JaMarcus Russell, assuming of course he was still on the board. The Browns will flip a coin with Tampa Bay later this month to see which of the two will pick 3rd and which 4th.

http://www.gbnreport.com/2007projection.html

1 Oakland Calvin Johnson WR Georgia Tech
2 Detroit Joe Thomas OT Wisconsin
*3 Cleveland Jamarcus Russell QB LSU
*4 Tampa Bay Brady Quinn QB Notre Dame
5 Arizona Alan Branch DT Michigan
6 Washington Gaines Adams DE Clemson
7 Minnesota Jamaal Anderson DE Arkansas
8 Houston Adrian Peterson RB Oklahoma
9 Miami Amobi Okoye DT Louisville
10 Atlanta Dwayne Jarrett WR Southern California
11 San Francisco Ted Ginn WR Ohio State
12 Buffalo Levi Brown OT Penn State

[Dozen]

Browns’ QB coach Rip Scherer was hinting that there was a good chance that Cleveland would take a QB with its top pick

This is where they lost me. I highly doubt this guy has any clue or influence about the draft.

[swede]

It´s so freaking obvious. Who´s the most impressive player in college football the last three years ?

Peterson.

After he blows everyone away at the combine, it won´t matter if we win the coin-toss.

He´s gone before three.

I´m know Millen, with his history, want´s the SAFE thing. But I can´t see how he can pass on Peterson, with the injury to Jones and I do think that he feels the fan-pressure to take the popular pick. He needs an impact player NOW. He needs improvement NOW. He´s not gonna get that with Quinn, Russell or Thomas. Nope. He´ll get that with Peterson though.

What about Al Davis ?
He only selects D-linemen and DB´s with the first round pick.
Gallery is probably the only time he selected the guy that everyone ELSE thought would be a good pick for them.

But, I could see him picking Peterson as well.

I can see him take ANYTHING btw.

I can see AND hear myself go SHIT ! Just before it´s our time to pick.



[/b]

[BadBecks]

Sadly, as I read that about Rip I was thinking "maybe its a smokescreen to try to get teams to consider a trade up"...then Lerner opens his mouth. Randy Lerner just doesn't seem smart enough to handle this.

Put my vote in the Peterson column.

[Guest]

When was the last time a Top 10 pick actually did any workouts at the combine?

[swede]

Last year: Mario Williams, Michael Huff, Vernon Davis, AJ Hawk, Ernie Sims, Donte Whitner all did. So did Cutler who went at 11. He even did the the lifting ( Had more reps the some o-linemen. 23)

[Guest]

Peterson won't even work out there
They do limited workouts because they have to

[consigliere]

Just a question: anyone else get the sick feeling that Peterson is destined to be a Brown and be yet another bust? Reason I ask this, is given our injury history, and his.....it is a dangerous marriage if it happens.

[Guest]

I'd love to have him

[furls]

Actually I am pretty sure that Hawk and Whitner did their workouts at the Buckeyes Pro Day.

[jb]

http://www.gbnreport.com/

[i]~Texans field calls for Carr… ... the Texans apparently have tired of his inconsistency and want to go in another direction. If Carr is traded, the Texans would likely look for a veteran to compete with Sage Rosenfels with Jake Plummer of Denver expected to be the first choice.

Whaaaaaaat ???

That's like being Tom Arnold and tired of Rosanne being fat, so he dumps her for Sally Struthers...

[swede]

"Peterson won't even work out there
They do limited workouts because they have to"
You could be right, but he has a lot to prove. He can make himself a lot of money like Ronnie Brown did if he does work out. We´ll see.


"Actually I am pretty sure that Hawk and Whitner did their workouts at the Buckeyes Pro Day" Meaning what ? That they didn´t work out at the combine ?


Here´s Hawk at the combine:

http://play.rbn.com/?url=nfl/nfl/open/p ... te=nfl_atl


More video´s from the 2006 combine: http://www.atlantafalcons.com/team/article.jsp?id=10919

[furls]

I must have been thinking of this:

http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/news?slug=c ... &type=lgns

[pup]

The only thing Peterson will probably do is run att he combine. If he runs sub 4.4, it will drive him up every draft board.

[swerb]

Grossi reports this morning that the Texans are still holdin' out for a 3rd rounder for Carr.

And not to be surprised if the Browns go after Raiders UFA Marques Tuiasasopo as another option at QB.

[jb]

Grossi reports this morning that the Texans are still holdin' out for a 3rd rounder for Carr.

And not to be surprised if the Browns go after Raiders UFA Marques Tuiasasopo as another option at QB.

Good Gawd - he's the Samoan Charlie Frye.

[jb]

Just a question: anyone else get the sick feeling that Peterson is destined to be a Brown and be yet another bust? Reason I ask this, is given our injury history, and his.....it is a dangerous marriage if it happens.

Tony, if the Browns' drafted Achilles himself, you can bet believe he's get spiked in the heel by a sharpened cleat that carried flesh eating staph on the first play of the first practice of training camp and play as much as Ernie Davis.

But that's not why I called.

They are all risky.

Thomas isn't Boseilli-good by most accounts.

Russell lacks a feel for the game if you watched him over the past 2 seasons. He doesn't have Vince's intagibles. He's 100% pure, uncut Peruvian talent, and that's what makes people's mouths water.

Quinn = Eli.

Branch takes more plays off than a prima donna Broadway star who hates the production but needs the jack.

Hell, Gaines Adams may be the "safe" pick.

A Pete is a beast who isn't readily caught from behind. Dude ran for almost 2 K as a true college freshman in what had been a passing O. Think about that.

As for all this injury prone stuff? He broke a collarbone for God's sake.

2004 - AP played 13 games and had 339 carries.
http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/player/ga ... &year=2004

2005 - AP played 11 games and missed one game due to injury.
http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/player/ga ... &year=2005

2006 - AP played 7 games games and missed 7 becasue of a boken collar bone on a freak play. H ecame back and played last season.
http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/player/ga ... &year=2006

And al this makes him fragile becasue a few misinformed fan hear a bad take and repaet it often enough?

No sale.

I can't tell you given the Browns' luck that he's not the next KiJana Carter if we take him. What I can tell you is any 18 year old who can carry the ball 339 times in the Big 12 isn't injury prone.

The way I see it, and being respectful of other takes, the Browns as an organization are about dead. A Pete gives you the best chance to resurrect the franchise soon - but they must invest in the OL to support him and draft, not sign (unless it's Diehman or Steinbach) , young, strong base blocking OLmen at both guard positions and the RT position and get rid of the lame, old, or crazy fucks who they have now who suck my balls.

I'm just sayin'.

[Dozen]

I heard a guy on from ourlads the other day. He says AP injuries are nothing to be concered about. I want AP in the worst way.

[furls]

Thomas isn't Boseilli-good by most accounts.

You know a lot of people are saying things like that, and I kind of agree. Here is the deal though, when you say a guy is not "Boselli-good" you are talking about 28 of the veteran starting left tackles in the NFL also. Just a good left tackle is worth a top 5, they don't have to be great to rate that highly.

IMO it is the most important position on the offense. You can have Joe Montana back there, but if his back side is not protected he is screwed. End of story.

I agree with the assertion that A-Pete injects the most excitement into the team (that is a for sure), but I disagree with the idea that A-Pete is the best move for the franchise in the long run. I think he will be good, but I think Joe Thomas will be too.

This is what I think will happen:

It is no secret that unless the city and the fans become a lot more excited about the Cleveland Browns, that both Crennel and Savage are out. Joe Thomas is not going to bring "excitement" to the Browns, so I think that Savage and co. will put their jobs ahead of the future of the organization and go with Peterson if he is available. I do not see them drafting a QB for exactly the same reason, a QB in this year's draft does not translate to a more exciting product on the field this year (unless we get a VY, which I don't see in this year's draft).

The only QB I could see them drafting this year is perhaps Smith in the 3rd in an attempt to pander to the fans.

This is how I see the Browns drafting (if they are still there):

1st Round: A-Pete
2nd Round: Levi Brown, LT from PSU or Joe Staley, LT from CMU
3rd Round: Troy Smith if available or maybe if we are really lucky Justin Blalock will still be hanging around.

I would feel much better about them going forward, particularly if they can get a guard or two in the fourth, fifth, or sixth round. You can usually find some pretty good guards down there.... look at Rob Simms, he started most of last year for the 'Hawks and kicked ass. There are a lot of good guards entering this year and the Browns should be able to find a couple late.

To me, this draft is kind of a litmus test for the Browns FO. If they don't seriously address the O-Line in the first round or second, it will tell me all I need to know about them; it will tell me that they are self preserving cockroaches.

[jb]

IMO it is the most important position on the offense. You can have Joe Montana back there, but if his back side is not protected he is screwed. End of story.

1st Round: A-Pete
2nd Round: Levi Brown, LT from PSU or Joe Staley, LT from CMU
3rd Round: Troy Smith if available or maybe if we are really lucky Justin Blalock will still be hanging around.

I would feel much better about them going forward, particularly if they can get a guard or two in the fourth, fifth, or sixth round. You can usually find some pretty good guards down there.... look at Rob Simms, he started most of last year for the 'Hawks and kicked ass. There are a lot of good guards entering this year and the Browns should be able to find a couple late.

To me, this draft is kind of a litmus test for the Browns FO. If they don't seriously address the O-Line in the first round or second, it will tell me all I need to know about them; it will tell me that they are self preserving cockroaches.

Dude, while I don't believe yu can have carp at OLT, I actually think it is tremendously over-rated that yo need a "franscise LT". What you need is a good, solid, day one draft quality OLT. But overspending and eating up cap allocation at OLT is unwarrented IMO when you look at good teams. I'd never draft an OLT above mid-first round. Ever.

Sure, Joe couldn't throw from his butt.

But an OLT scores zero TDs and makes zero plays. He protects. He's not an impact player. I contend that this position has been overanalysed to the point where some overvalue it. Now I'm not saying you can put Qasim Mitchell out there and do shit. You need quality. But you dn't need top 5 picl resources spent at OLT.

AS to the rest of your take, I'm lock-step wichu broham. Arm in arm. I don't think Levi will be there in Rd 2 but if they grab Staley or a guy like that, I'll weep tears of joy. But I think given Shaeffer we'll see heavy interior OLmen and maybe a RT drafted. Agree we should load up on interiots OL & DL in the mid-rounds for once!

[consigliere]

JB, thanks for the 411 on APete. Yeah, people have made it out like he is injury prone, and I bought the hype. Thanks for setting me straight on that.

Knowing that, APete is my #1 choice with the first pick followed by one of the two QBs Quinn/Russell. I think APete is going to be the guy unless Oakland or Detroit pull a mild shocker and take him....but I don't see it unless he impresses bigtime in the combine or workouts.

[furls]

Dude, while I don't believe yu can have carp at OLT, I actually think it is tremendously over-rated that yo need a "franscise LT". What you need is a good, solid, day one draft quality OLT. But overspending and eating up cap allocation at OLT is unwarrented IMO when you look at good teams. I'd never draft an OLT above mid-first round. Ever.

Ask Troy Smith how that whole blind side pressure thing worked out for him. When a QB is not secure on his blind side he cannot focus on much else. If you have a shaky RT the QB can see the pressure, but a shaky LT = blindside sacks, fumbles, happy feet, and a head on a swivel instead of looking downfield.

I disagree that it is not a good place to eat up cap space, I think aside from franchise skill position players it is the best place to use cap space on offense. I personally think that young QBs are the worst place to eat up cap space followed next by young WRs. The miss rates on those positions are just too high.

[swede]

But an OLT scores zero TDs and makes zero plays. He protects. He's not an impact player. I contend that this position has been overanalysed to the point where some overvalue it. Now I'm not saying you can put Qasim Mitchell out there and do shit. You need quality. But you dn't need top 5 picl resources spent at OLT.

Rack you
rack in this forum ?

Good points there JB

[jb]

Dude, while I don't believe yu can have carp at OLT, I actually think it is tremendously over-rated that yo need a "franscise LT". What you need is a good, solid, day one draft quality OLT. But overspending and eating up cap allocation at OLT is unwarrented IMO when you look at good teams. I'd never draft an OLT above mid-first round. Ever.

Ask Troy Smith how that whole blind side pressure thing worked out for him. When a QB is not secure on his blind side he cannot focus on much else. If you have a shaky RT the QB can see the pressure, but a shaky LT = blindside sacks, fumbles, happy feet, and a head on a swivel instead of looking downfield.

I disagree that it is not a good place to eat up cap space, I think aside from franchise skill position players it is the best place to use cap space on offense. I personally think that young QBs are the worst place to eat up cap space followed next by young WRs. The miss rates on those positions are just too high.[/quote]

I respect u r take bro. Know that I'm not bein' a dick, I just see it differently. Sometimes peeps take me the wrong way if I don't type back "atta boy, Luther!".

Again, not sayin' you can get by with Alpo at OLT - you can not - just saying that a good grade of sirloin will do yah just fine rather than spending on choice grade aged fillet. I reserve that for my impact player positions: touchdown makers and defensive impact players.

I will also say that tOSU's issues that night were far more complex than Alex Boone, who I believe has 1st round talent potential if he develops BTW, not having his man.

Mac will tell yah all about them. LOL!

Tend to agree w/ you that young, very highly drafted QB's are an incredibly dicey proposition, as are WR's. Top 5 overall talent WR's are like the cats of the NFL. Fantastic athletes who usually are underdevloped upstairs, Larrry Fitz and this kid from Ga Tech seem to be the exceptions. Thre's your whack analogy for the day.

Take it easy.

[pup]

Off topic here, but speaking of Alex Boone - I heard he gained 25 POUNDS between the scUM game and the NC game. Holy shit, no wonder he looked to be standing still most of the game.

[jb]

Off topic here, but speaking of Alex Boone - I heard he gained 25 POUNDS between the scUM game and the NC game. Holy shit, no wonder he looked to be standing still most of the game.

I heard Troy gained weight as well.

The Bucks were in coronation mode that night to be sure. Their play reminded me of Cobain's old lyrics, "here we are; now entertain us." The EZ kick off TD didn't help matters. Florida & Meyer did a fanstastic job in all phases and gave them busloads comeuppance to be sure. Sorta reminscent of Stanford or UCLA's Rose Bowls in the day except this year was an outright housing.

[pup]

I heard Troy gained weight as well.

Maybe all the In-N-Out Burgers weren't such a good idea

[furls]

I respect u r take bro. Know that I'm not bein' a dick, I just see it differently. Sometimes peeps take me the wrong way if I don't type back "atta boy, Luther!".

Don't have to handle me with "kid gloves," as long as you don't get personal with me, you won't piss me off.

Again, not sayin' you can get by with Alpo at OLT - you can not - just saying that a good grade of sirloin will do yah just fine rather than spending on choice grade aged fillet. I reserve that for my impact player positions: touchdown makers and defensive impact players.

I agree that you don't need to have Boselli, Pace, or Walter Jones over there, but you do need a solid LT moreso than any other position on the O-line. The reason why I am for taking one high is not necessarily because of that philosophy, but because I feel that your best chance to shore up that position with a good player is by taking one of the top two or three in the draft. Anything lower and it is a real crap shoot.

Now that being said, the reason I am in favor of Joe Thomas this year over AP is because of where the Browns pick. I really think that if they pass on a tackle at #3 they are really taking a chance because Thomas and Brown are projected to be first rounders and if the Lions don't go with Thomas at #2, I think there is a very real chance they will snatch up Staley in the second round. This would leave the Browns scrambling, and the fall off after Staley is substantial and much more risky.

In a perfect world, I would be fine with the Browns trading down to 15 or 20 and drafting Levi Brown or going to 25 and drafting Joe Staley if the price was right. I just don't want to see the Browns drafting their prespective left tackle from the bottom of the barrell.

will also say that tOSU's issues that night were far more complex than Alex Boone, who I believe has 1st round talent potential if he develops BTW, not having his man.

The problem in that game was that since Ohio State was not running the ball at all (although they appeared to have the capability) the DEs were able to line up split way off the DTs. If you give a good quick DE a 10 yard head start into the tackle, he will beat him 9-10.

The way to draw the ends in are to run the ball through B or C gap (if using a TE). THis was a coaching issue, but the point remains, although Boone was at a disadvantage, he still played like shit.