Paul Daugherty: I need a few NFL draftniks

Thursday, April 19, 2007

I need a few NFL draftniks

... for something I want to write next week... anybody interested? Maybe you'll actually convert me to The Cult of Mel...

10 Comments:

at 10:54 AM

Anonymous said...

I'll be a draftnik for you. You should definitely write something on the NFL Draft; it can drastically change the outlook and direction of a team. I'd equate it to signing a couple key free agents in the offseason. For the Bengals specifically, it may improve the defense.

at 10:58 AM

Anonymous said...

Hey Doc, I'm interested. I don't live in the Cincinnati area anymore, but I'm a born and raised Cincinnatian and follow the draft through the first day and watch every now and then on the second.

A little background on me, I'm John Sulau, I'm 23 years old, a 2002 grad of Wyoming High School, lived in Cincinnati for the first 18 years of my life, then left to attend the University of South Carolina. While there, I worked as a student manager for their football program and Lou Holtz for a couple of years; I got to see guys I knew personally drafted in the first round i.e. Dunta Robinson, Troy Williamson, Johnathan Joseph. I graduated last May, and now live in Greenville, SC, where I'm trying to make my way in insurance. My parents both still live in Cincinnati.

My primary email address is jsulau@furmanco.com, but I also check jsulau13@hotmail.com regularly.

at 12:29 PM

Anonymous said...

Maybe. If I knew what a draftnik was.

at 3:12 PM

Scott Griffith said...

Call on a buddy who has a fantasy team. Those guys are pretty intense about the draft.

at 1:35 PM

kelleyfromblueash said...

My 9 year old son is the next Kiper jr. You need to listen to him to believe just how much he knows. Mike Brown could learn a thing or two from my son.

at 4:28 PM

Anonymous said...

I'd like to take part. I'm a football columnist for Fantasy Alliance.com, and I'm acctually going to be attending Antonio Pittman's draft party, so I could tell you a little bit about that. Email me at mhblatt2@yahoo.com if you want to talk.

at 11:40 PM

Anonymous said...

Dear Mr. Daugherty,

I have no football experience, but I do have several brilliant--and I mean brilliant--ideas for draft time. Chris Henry has been suspended for 8 games. Why not draft Ryan Freel? He can catch anything. This makes sense, 100% all the way.

Also, why don't we clone Sam Adams and draft him a couple times? I did the math, and I found out it would take the size approximately
3 Sam Adamses to completely block the width of a football field and about the weight of 10 to sink Paul Brown Stadium down into riverbanks. Still, this could help defensively.
I have many other totally relevent ideas. Just ask.

Sincerely,

W.M. Sloneker

at 3:57 PM

Anonymous said...

Paul:

My name is Dallas Robinson. My friend, Patrick Gellenbeck, and I, are juniors at Loveland HS. We are obsessive draft fans. We have been studying mock drafts since November, anaylzing the prospects, etc. We have made our own mock draft as well. Of course, we are big-time Bengals fans, and there draft scenario is the most important to us. We would love to be draftniks for you. My email address is tex5011@aol.com. Feel free to contact me.

Thank You

P.S. Your wife was one of our favorite teachers. Tell her we said hello.

at 7:28 AM

James said...

Paul,
I would be honored to be a Draftnik for you. I have follewed the draft since 1989 and have watched alomst 95% of all picks. I have my own Mock Draft which I have done for the last 5 years and plan on doing a website sometime in the near future.
While most people feel the draft is somewhat irrelevent, I am of the belief thatthe draft can restore a franchise or doom a franchise but always represents a chance for a new begining.

at 2:15 PM

Anonymous said...

First and foremost, this is perhaps the most important draft in recent franchise history---

Obviously, it is the defense that needs to be addressed- again. If only we could commandeer the PA system in PBS, perhaps Mr. Brown would finally get the message, "Earth to Mike Brown, our defense sucks".

With defense in mind, it is important to understand where our priorities should lie. We can talk about the evolution of the NFL and how it is won on the edges of field with the speed and passing of the new millennium. But lets not forget that this is a big man's game too....it always will be.

The heck with taking a CB that can't really distinguish himself from any of the others...and none of the LB's are worth #18. Someone is going to fall to us on the defensive line.... Carriker or Branch, most likely being one of those players--- I just don't see how you pass one of these players up. I think the Bengals could make an argument for taking Justin Harrell DT from Tennessee--- he would be a top 20 picks had it not been for a shortened senior season due to a bicep injury---which he is completely healed from and tried to play through for a couple of games.

But first, I want to go back to the release of Brian Simmons and what it signifies to me. The Bengals have not had a good defense since the early 80's and that was just two years ('82-'83) of the franchise's 40 years in business. Yes, that's right...for the better part of 38 years, opposing teams have RUN/passed the ball down the Bengals' throat. I have had the misfortune of observing this feat for all of my life, as I turn 40 in June. The Simmons release is hopefully a sign that the days of the finesse defense in Cincinnati are coming to a close. In support of that, Marv..n...., I mean,... Mike Brown needs to pick the best DT available. Look at it this way: We have our 1st round LB already in Ahmad Brooks (easily a top 20 pick in this draft had he stayed in school~ naughty boy), there will be a good CB available in the 2nd round, and Sam Adams could barely leave the field before 3rd down started last season (we're lucky we never got penalized for too many men on the field). The fads of prolific offenses led by mercurial QB's like Peyton Manning will soon become the stamp of the era, but the old adage of "Stop the run, 3rd and long, blitz the QB" will always hold true. The Bengals have practically never done the first thing well and I am not really sure what Darrelle Revis, CB, Pittsburgh, can do about that. As a matter of fact, I am not sure what Revis can do for us against the pass. Name a QB from the Big East last year....that's what I thought, go look it up on ESPN.com or something.

People will say Carriker is a DE, I say he is six-six, 296....10 more lbs and he is a DT, Branch has the same size and rap that Sam Adams did 13 years ago, and Harrell is not a reach in the late teens if he could go by 23 to the Chiefs...trade down then to get the value if your that stubborn, but the only chance of that happening is if the TE from Miami, C. Olsen is still on the board for bait. Otherwise, I don't think there will be much push to move up.

Speaking of reaches, I sure hope that Marvin isn't hallucinating on the circus peanuts like he was in '04. I loved the trade down for extra picks, but Chris Perry over Steven Jackson??? This brings me to my ultimate point on why this is such a critical draft for this organization:1) Windows do close and this draft is not as much about next year as it is about 3+ seasons from now. Carson will be just past 30 years old, 2) I am tired of seeing what has to be an average of 4.6 yards given up on 1st down every year...our defense has to get better up front, 3) I don’t like to think where this team would be today without Marvin Lewis. But picks like Chris Perry, Odell Thurman, or Frostee Rucker in the 3rd round last year are picks that you can't afford to waste....perhaps we see that Marvin's window could be closing as well.

See you Saturday 

I’ll admit it, I am a draft nerd. 3-13, 4-12, 6-10, over and over again, will do that to you.

Todd Young
todd@devinegroup.com

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Thursday, April 19, 2007

I need a few NFL draftniks

10 Comments: