A Late MMLB

Sorry it took an extra day to make this posting, I found out Sunday night that I had a presentation to do Monday night on my Iranian Revolution paper. I know my 10 devoted readers were devastated that I didn't have a posting. In any event, today's Monday Morning Linebacker is going to be devoted mostly to analyzing the situation that the recent Husker draft picks will be going into with their respective NFL teams. I'm also going to take a look around the other Big 12 players who were selected this past weekend. For those of you who are looking at the picture at right and saying "Jay Moore was a defensive end!", I remind you that he's been drafted to play Outside Linebacker........

We start with Carriker going to St. Louis. This is something a lot of people foresaw happening (myself included), and it was a sure thing once San Francisco took Patrick Willis. Carriker will be expected to man an interior line position next to La' Roi Glover. While most expected Carriker to go to a 3-4 team, one of Adam's biggest strengths is that he's large enough to go inside if need be. He'll compete with Jimmy Kennedy for the Nose Tackle position. Kennedy, a first round draft pick in 2003 out of Penn State, had 49 tackles and 2 sacks last year, which aren't great numbers, but it has to be kept in mind that the NT position isn't meant to have astronomical stats. That said, obviously he isn't performing up to snuff, otherwise they wouldn't have selected Carriker. The Rams finished 2nd-to-last in rushing defense last year, giving up 5 yards a carry and nearly 150 rushing yards a game. I think we could see Carriker have 60 or so tackles with 4+ sacks, as I think he is a better pass rusher than people give him credit for.

Brandon Jackson went to Green Bay in the second round, which surprised myself and many others who thought he would go in the 3rd at the earliest. He went ahead of several backs who were ranked ahead of him, including Antonio Pittman of Ohio State and Darius Walker of Notre Dame (who didn't even get drafted). This makes B-Jax's decision to come out look fantastic, and I'll admit I was wrong to say that he shouldn't have. Jackson's outlook for significant playing time is good, considering that of the 7 running backs the Packers have on their roster, 4 of them were/are Undrafted free agents (P.J. Pope, Brandon Miree, Arliss Beach, Noah Herron) and one of them was a 7th round pick (DeShawn Wynn). Barring the signing of additional free agents, Jackson's main competitor for snaps will be Vernand Morency, the former Oklahoma State standout who came to the team as part of a trade in September of 2006. The biggest advantage Morency has is experience, other than that his and Jackson's running styles are similar. Neither of them are overly powerful, both have good vision and can find the cutback lanes when they develop. While neither possess Reggie Bush-type breakaway speed, both are more capable of breaking big runs. Former Husker Ahman Green got the bulk of the carries last year, with Morency being the primary backup. I expect Morency to start camp as the starter and Jackson to establish himself throughout the season, finishing with 500 to 600 yards rushing, with the possibility of more depending on if he overtakes Morency or not, which isn't out of the question.

Stew Bradley going in the 3rd round was projected by most draft analysts, so there wasn't any real surprise there. The Eagles recently released Dhani Jones, who was previously their starter at the SAM position. They have promoted 2nd-year player Chris Gocong, another former 3rd-round pick, to the vacant position. That doesn't guarantee him the job though, as head coach Andy Reid indicated that Bradley will be in the mix:

"Stewart is a true SAM linebacker that can play MIKE and does a nice job over the tight end and will be a nice complement to our linebackers."

Stew will compete with Gocong (a former D1-AA defensive end) and free agent Tank Daniels for the starting SAM spot. Don't immediately count out Gocong, as he set a D1-AA record with 23.5 sacks his final year at Cal State-Poly. Even if he doesn't win the starting job, look for Bradley to get significant playing time this year in Philly.

Jay Moore went early in the fourth round to San Francisco as the 104th overall pick. He'll team up with first-round pick Patrick Willis as new linebackers in the 49er's 3-4 scheme. Moore will try to lose 10 or so pounds to ease help acclimate himself with his new position. I don't expect Jay to get as much playing time as the players mentioned above, mainly because he is going to have to transition to playing off the line and dropping into coverage more often. In addition to that, San Fran has a deep and talented linebacking corps that will make it tough to crack the lineup. The thing that makes it even tougher to predict this situation is that the 49ers are in transition from last year's 4-3 to the 3-4, which will definitely impact Jay's opportunities to get on the field. I expect Manny Lawson, a young and talented former NC State player, to take one of the OLB spots for sure. The question is if former Sooner Brandon Moore will play inside or outside, because if it's the former it could mean Jay getting a better chance to contribute. My prediction? He's a backup for a couple years.

Unfortunately, the draft was over for the Huskers after that. It was disappointing that Taylor wasn't drafted, but not really surprising. Both he and Matt Herian signed free agent contracts with the Bucs, who we all know run a very similar offense to ours. While some have bemoaned Taylor for signing there because of their QB situation, I think he made a smart move. It'd be one thing if they had Jake Plummer too, but he is sticking with retirement. That means Taylor will be competing with Chris Simms, Jeff Garcia, and Bruce Gradkowski. Initially it looks bleak for Zac, considering all three of those players have been starters at one time, and one (Garcia) is a former Pro Bowler. But let's take a closer look at this.

Garcia is 37 years old. And while he did a great job leading Philly to the playoffs last year, he doesn't have too much left in the tank. Most people say that Simms is going to be the long term guy at QB for Tampa Bay. That's tough to argue with, but his spleen injury last year obviously still has the Bucs brass concerned, and even before that he was hardly a standout in the NFL. His second season, he had a solid 81.4 QB rating, with a TD/INT ratio of 10/7 and completing 61% of his passes. Last year, before his season was ended by injury, he had completed just 54% of his passes with a horrible TD/INT ratio of 1/7. I still think they will give him every chance to establish himself as their guy (especially because they signed him to a contract extension last year), but let's hold off saying he's a sure thing just yet. Gradkowski, though he did a decent job last year in relief of Simms, hasn't shown he has the tools to be an NFL quarterback. His stats from his rookie year: 54% completion rate, a 9/9 TD-to-INT ratio and a 65 QB rating. Keep in mind though, he was only a rookie last year and will be counted on to be a long-term backup for Tampa Bay. It looks like a potentially loaded position, especially when you factor in Tim Rattay as a possibility as well (he's a unrestricted free agent, meaning he might be gone) but we have to remember that it's comprised of one senior citizen, two relatively unproven guys, and a UFA who could be elsewhere next year. I like Zac's chances of making the team, particularly because of his knowledge of the offense run there.

As far as Herian goes, I doubt he'll make the team. The Bucs have 5 tight ends on their roster, and it was recently bolstered by the signing of Jerramy Stevens, a former first round pick who fell out of favor in Seattle after off-the-field issues and his failure to recover from his bad showing in the Super Bowl. Herian has never been the same since his injury against Mizzou in 2004, and his chances don't look good. Hopefully he proves me wrong.

Dagunduro has an outside shot of making the Cowboy's squad...Dallas' d-tackle spot has three players listed on the depth chart: rookie Remi Ayodele, 10 year veteran Jason Ferguson, and former 6th round pick Montavious Stanley of Louisville. It's going to be tough for Ola, the Cowboy's 3-4 scheme doesn't present him with many opportunities, so he's going to have to beat out one of the aforementioned younger guys to make the squad, and that's not counting whoever is on the practice squad.

Barry Cryer will have to compete with Luis Castillo, Brandon McKinney, Jamal Williams, and former Husker Ryon Bingham. Castillo and Williams are the starters, which means if Cryer were to even make the 53-man roster (a longshot), he's probly do so at the expense of Bingham. I'm going with Cryer making the squad. The practice squad, that is.

A few other draft tidbits:

-I love how it's everywhere on the web how the SEC had more draft picks than anyone else. Is this supposed to be a surprise? It's the fastest and deepest conference in the country, we didn't need statistical proof to know this.

- While I was devastated that Quinn wasn't taken by the Vikings (I wanted to watch him suck the next ten years in my own city), I'm excited to be able to watch Adrian Peterson. While Reggie Bush is the best college football PLAYER I've watched, Peterson is the best college RUNNING BACK I've ever watched. As I've stated before, he is a terrifying runner who punishes tacklers.......I know, I'm saying crap you've heard a hundred times already, especially after this past weekend..........I'll shut up now.

-I've been watching ESPN the past couple of days, and I may be wrong, but I think JaMarcus Russell has waaaaaaay too many friends and family that he has to support. Judging by the coverage I've seen, there were three or four separate rooms filled with 40 or so people each that had some direct tie to him. I know he's in line for a 60 million dollar contract, but either way, that's way too big of a posse to support all of them. I think this is one of the biggest problems facing potential NFL draftees, the potential hangers-on who expect something simply because they are friends with the pick. One example is when Mike Vick got in trouble recently for having a house he owns (but doesn't live at) raided by police. They found evidence of organized dog fighting, even though the search warrant was for something else. In the story, we find out Vick is supporting 17 FAMILY MEMBERS with his money. Now, I'm all about helping out, but at what point do you realize that this isn't fiscally responsible?

-I'm in the "The Pats made a good move trading for Randy Moss" camp. As long as he's winning, he stays in line, and as the mainstream media has noted, he knows his legacy is directly tied to a championship, and that'll motivate him to behave. Besides, if he screws up New England can let him go after a year.

-If you haven't checked out my running diary of the draft, scroll down below this entry and check it out.

5 Things I'm Thinking About this Morning

1) I think Pat Forde wrote an interesting article over on ESPN about the lack of high draft picks from small schools. I've thought for a while that there would be more players taken from these conferences due to the fact they have had increased TV exposure over the years. Playing at a school like Central Michigan or Miami of Ohio no longer means you'll never be seen on TV, and talent has proliferated down to the lesser conferences. Having read this article, it's obvious that I may have been wrong. More and more players are looking at the opportunity to play in one of the Big 6 conferences, knowing that there is a better shot of them being on TV every week and getting into the NFL.

2) I was surprised (but not shocked) to see that 6 Penn State players have been charged with felonies after starting a fight at a party earlier this month. PSU, as much as I like to make fun of it, rarely has incidents like this occur in Happy Valley, but nothing is out of the question at any institution. Anthony Scirrotto, a starting safety, was the player who took the altercation to the next level. Evidently he got into a bit of an argument with three guys, then followed them back to a party. He called his teammates, they showed up, and all 6 preceded to crash the party and beat up the three guys Scirrotto had gotten into it with. Apparently this was a wild-west type fight, with beer bottles being broken over heads and a few guys getting kicked in the face when they were already down. This is obviously bad from a PR standpoint, but it could hurt the Lions even worse when taking into account that they will lose at least two extremely talented players in Scirrotto and Justin King (who was one of the top recruits in the country a couple years ago). Losing King off an already-weak offense could come back to haunt them early in the season (depending on the level of his punishment).

3) I think that it's unfortunate that players are selling their championship rings, but it's not something we should be surprised by. Former Longhorn O-lineman Terrance Young is selling his 2005 National Championship ring on ebay, where bidding is hovering around 10 grand. While guys like Vince Young might not need the money, former players who aren't bringing in NFL paychecks could probably used the cash. The worst was a couple of years ago when Lawrence Phillips hawked some of his Big 12 title rings to a pawn shop for a couple hundred bucks, only to see them be sold on ebay later for thousands in profit. Smart move, LP. Not that we should have expected anything different. Part of me says that the player should keep their ring, that it's a memento of a great season and a reminder of the times that you shared with your teammates. But memories are something that material possessions don't have control over, and if you need the money, I don't see how anyone can criticize you. Although part of me thinks that the University who purchases these rings should maybe be reimbursed.

4) I'm thinking that I'm not a fan of college recruiting. One of our standout o-line commits, Dan Hoch, is still hearing from teams despite his choice to play for Nebraska. Don't get me wrong, I'm sure NU still chases after guys who have already committed to other schools, but why can't coaches just honor the player's choice and focus on other prospects? You can't tell me that there is a shortage of high school players to choose from. A good example is Ryan Perrilloux, a sophomore QB at LSU who many were calling the next Vince Young when he came out of high school. He had committed to UT, but LSU kept up their recruitment, and he eventually switched to the Tigers. Some may say that the recruit should honor their own commitments, which is true. But I think that more leeway should be given to the 18 year old kid getting pulled in countless different directions than to the 50 year old coach trying to get him to renege on his word to another school.

5) I think Stewart Mandel wrote what most everyone else already thought: Les Miles isn't that good of a coach. LSU had four first round draft picks, five picks overall and 7 free agents signed. You would think with that mother lode of talent, they would have done better than a couple of 2-loss seasons during his tenure there. I know that 2-loss seasons aren't bad in the SEC, but for a team that has as much if not more talent than USC, you would think they would of at least won the SEC last year. I'll always remember one game where Miles (after an interception) was screaming at the refs for a timeout to stop the clock. Meanwhile, his assistants are dragging him away because they know (as any true football fan does) that THE CLOCK ALREADY STOPS AFTER A TURNOVER. How could he have possibly screwed that up? I've never been sold on him being a great coach, and when he was hired away from OSU I was surprised that LSU, who has been dominant this decade, would trust their team to him. I thought a better choice would be Bo Pelini, who is their D-coordinator.

And with that, here's a little something to keep you sane and stave off the hopelessness that comes with knowing we are still four months away from a Husker game: