Spring Break
Football nerd Christmas
Terry Horstman
Issue date: 4/23/09 Section: Sports
It's the most wonderful time of the year. It's finally here; it's Christmas in April, or otherwise known as the NFL Draft.
Saturday at 1:00 p.m., the NFL draft starts on its two-day marathon filled with every criterion of a sports geek's paradise.
I could speculate for days on end about who's going to do what this weekend and who I think the best picks are going to be, but only myself and a few other football losers out there would be the only ones who find that interesting. So I've decided to keep it simple and hence not boring for the 98 percent of you that probably don't care about what happens this Saturday. So without further ado, let's take a look at the potential booms and busts of the draft's first round.
The first name you have to look at is Matthew Stafford, the talented quarterback out of the University of Georgia. Stafford has everything you look for in a quarterback and would normally be one of my big "booms" of this year's draft class. Unfortunately for Stafford, he in all likelihood will be drafted by the career-killing Detroit Lions. Although Stafford is a much better prospect than Joey Harrington was when he got called the grim reaper of pro football some years ago, don't expect anything better than mediocrity from Stafford for as long as he's in Detroit.
My favorite player of this year's draft is the great receiver out of Texas Tech: Michael Crabtree. Crabtree is coming into the draft with some health issues due to his fractured left foot. For any normal receiver, this would be a major concern, but Crabtree has proven that he's better on one foot than most other receivers are on both feet. Crabtree is the first ever two-time Biletnikoff Award winner, and as a freshman, Crabtree led the nation in receptions, receiving yards and touchdowns. Despite his foot, Crabtree is a certified boom, and picking him up at anything lower than fifth overall is the steal of the century.
If you want to win in the NFL, one of the most important and overlooked positions is the offensive tackle spot. Offensive tackle is always one of those highly invested positions on draft day, and in 2009, no single player scares me more than the offensive tackle out of Alabama: Andre Smith.
Saturday at 1:00 p.m., the NFL draft starts on its two-day marathon filled with every criterion of a sports geek's paradise.
I could speculate for days on end about who's going to do what this weekend and who I think the best picks are going to be, but only myself and a few other football losers out there would be the only ones who find that interesting. So I've decided to keep it simple and hence not boring for the 98 percent of you that probably don't care about what happens this Saturday. So without further ado, let's take a look at the potential booms and busts of the draft's first round.
The first name you have to look at is Matthew Stafford, the talented quarterback out of the University of Georgia. Stafford has everything you look for in a quarterback and would normally be one of my big "booms" of this year's draft class. Unfortunately for Stafford, he in all likelihood will be drafted by the career-killing Detroit Lions. Although Stafford is a much better prospect than Joey Harrington was when he got called the grim reaper of pro football some years ago, don't expect anything better than mediocrity from Stafford for as long as he's in Detroit.
My favorite player of this year's draft is the great receiver out of Texas Tech: Michael Crabtree. Crabtree is coming into the draft with some health issues due to his fractured left foot. For any normal receiver, this would be a major concern, but Crabtree has proven that he's better on one foot than most other receivers are on both feet. Crabtree is the first ever two-time Biletnikoff Award winner, and as a freshman, Crabtree led the nation in receptions, receiving yards and touchdowns. Despite his foot, Crabtree is a certified boom, and picking him up at anything lower than fifth overall is the steal of the century.
If you want to win in the NFL, one of the most important and overlooked positions is the offensive tackle spot. Offensive tackle is always one of those highly invested positions on draft day, and in 2009, no single player scares me more than the offensive tackle out of Alabama: Andre Smith.
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