RJ Bell (see all posts from)

I know for a fact that Harvey would have went nine to Cincy, so I'm note sure how much of a "reach" he was at eight.

A few teams that drafted poorly IMO:

49ers - Worst passing offense in the league last year and they didn't take a receiver until round 6.  I know they needed help up front and got it, but good receivers were available in rounds 2-4 and they passed.

Browns - No picks til the 4th round because of trades, but they have one of the worst defenses in the league and have deficiencies in the secondary, yet grabbed to LBs and a DT (and TE and WR on O).  I understand drafting the best player available logic, but in those late rounds you should be looking to add depth.

Bears - Passed on all the top tier RBs in round 1, and then never drafted a QB.  They took Forte in round 2, but Benson will be the starter come Week 1.  And another year of The Grossman Experience.  I do like the pickup of WR Marcus Monk late in the draft.  But overall, they blew it.

And the Broncos pissed me off by passing on RBs.  Sorry I'm not excited by another year of Mike Bell at tailback.

In my opinion, the Steelers are the best drafting team in the NFL and I think they did another excellent job this season. Like I said in an earlier post, they got my top rated RB and WR. They do such a great job of drafting value that slips to them. Running back probably wasn't where they planned on going in the first round but once Mendenhall slipped to them, they knew he was too good to pass up. And I honestly believe getting Limas Sweed in Round 2 was robbery. i also thought they got good value with Bruce Davis, Mike Humpel and Dennis Dixon. I think they had another outstanding draft.

And keeping with tradition, the Rams had the worst draft in my opinion. By my grading system, the Rams are the worst drafting team over the last five years and they did nothing to dispel that this year. I can live with the Long pick at two but the rest of their draft was once again filled with reaches at virtually every pick. They should get kicked out of the league for making Donnie Avery the first receiver drafted and Justin King blows. I thought Stevie Johnson was much better than Keenan Burton at Kentucky. Burton dropped 2.8 passes per game, one of the highest averages of any player in the country last year. As usual, most of their picks just left me scratching my head.

I can't get over that Bartman avatar Tommy.  Kinda creeps me out.

Sedric Ellis is gonna be a STUD on the D Line for the New Orleans Saints.

Chuck,

I had Ellis rated as the top player in this draft. I thought the Saints moving up to seven to get him was the best move of the first round. They needed to get either Dorsey or Ellis and they accomplished that goal without giving up very much.

And RJ, people are up in arms because the Jags gave up three picks to get Harvey. Who cares? The Jags are a Super Bowl contender without very many holes to fill. Regardless of what you think of Harvey, Jacksonville did everything it could to add pass rushers and that's what they needed. So when people say, "They gave up too much," I disagree. Their team is loaded. What did they give up? A couple of special teams players? Big deal.

RJ,

My response to that would be the New England Patriots and Philadelphia Eagles are the two teams that have traded up in the first and second rounds the most since 2002 and they are two of the three winingest teams (along with the Colts) over that span. Just know one thing: most GM's in this league are a bunch of pussies. The Patriots and Eagles are two franchises that are proactive, not reactive, and their records speak for themselves.

The Eagles love to trade. They and the Patriots live by the word "value." If you ask the Eagles, they will tell you that they got every guy they wanted and they set themselves up for next year, much like the Patriots did by getting the Chargers second rounder in 2009. The reason those two teams like to do that is in case they want to trade up, they are then in position to do so. Philly and NE are always thinking one year ahead, so my guess is the guy the really wanted in this draft was off the board, so they traded down and got their second choice (Laws) and are once again in position to move up next year if there's a player on the board they are targeting. By the way Laws is a machine. That was a great pick for Philly.

And an FYI: Some people I know think sixth round pick Andy Studebaker has the potential to be a future Pro Bowler. I had no idea who the guy was but more than one person mentioned him to me leading up to the draft, so keep an eye on him.

By the way, for what it's worth, I think the Eagles had an excellent draft. Getting Laws at 47 and DeSean Jackson at 49 were two great picks. The DeSean Jackson selection was one of my favorites of the draft. I heard he slipped because he admitted to smoking grass. I say, who cares? The Eagles return game is garbage and he'll instantly upgrade it and be a dangerous slot receiver.