NFL Draft Thoughts

NFL Draft Winners:

Chiefs - Glenn Dorsey, Branden Albert, Brandon Flowers, Jamaal Charles. All steals. All Chiefs. End o' story, as White Goodman might say.

Cardinals - Quietly put together a solid draft. Snagged Dominique Rodgers (I refuse to use the addendum, the triple-named NFL players are getting ridiculous) a few picks after he was projected to go, added a couple of more guys who had been mentioned in the first round of mock drafts in Calais Campbell and Early Doucet, and bolstered their team.

Ravens - Joe Flacco, who in my opinion will be the best QB of the 08 class, Ray Rice (Ball State fans know all about him), and Tom Zbikowski - admittedly a biased pick because I'm an ND fan. Still, three pretty nice picks.

Bears - Although they didn't take a QB, which they should've done, they get one of the best linemen in Chris Williams, add a couple of decent MSU guys in Kellen Davis and Ervin Baldwin, and made a good pick with their final selection in Marcus Monk.

Giants - Got maybe the steal of the draft by landing a very good safety in Kenny Phillips at 31, then selected Mario Manningham, who would've gone higher without questions about his extracurricular activities. Andre Woodson had no business being available in round 6. Three great picks.

Losers:

Titans - Oh, boy. You desperately need a receiver to give Vince a target, already have LenDale White and Chris Henry at RB, so your first pick is...Chris Johnson. A guy who was a 1st round pick on...well...probably one board. The Titans'. Tennessee might as well run the option at this point.

Falcons - Any system that can result in Brady Quinn being passed over by everybody and their brother while Matt Ryan becoming completely irresistible despite one decent - not great, decent - college season is not a system I want to be a part of. I personally think Ryan will not be a very good pro. Trading back into the 1st round for Sam Baker, who likely would've been available for the Falcons' next pick, was also a little suspect.

Panthers - Carolina and Chicago's front offices, I am convinced, are purposely trying to prove you can win without a QB. That is the only explanation for why neither team took a QB. However, unlike Chicago, Carolina did not make a plethora of smart picks besides that, besides the Dan Connor pick in round 3. They took Jonathan Stewart over the superior Rashard Mendenhall at 13th, then traded their '09 1st rounder for a tackle, Jeff Otah, who I had honestly never heard of when I woke up that morning. The combination of no QB and the loss of their '09 1st rounder (probably a decently high pick since no one really believes Carolina's playoff-bound this year) puts them in this category.