As promised here is my recap of the 2008 NFL draft from my point of view. I follow three teams that were affected by the draft the Green Bay Packers, the Notre Dame Fighting Irish, and the Purdue Boilermakers. The picture above is of pick #86 Tom Zbikowski taking the ball away from pick #30 Dustin Keller. The following is how each of the teams did in the draft.
Green Bay Packers:
The Packers traded their first round pick (#30) to Arizona for picks #36 and #113 in the draft. They also received pick #56 from the Browns from the Corey Williams trade. This meant that they had three second round picks. Nelson was a great receiver at Kansas State. He left the school as the second leading receiver in Wildcat history. With the offense that the Packers rrun they can never have too many receivers. It would be nice to see him make a difference this year. With their second pick the Packers took former Cardinal quarterback Brian Brohm. Brohm never really lived up to the hype at Louisville. He was good, but never the savior that they thought he would be. He will now try and battle Aaron Rodgers to fill the void left by the retirement of Brett Favre. They are also without a pick in the sixth round because that was given to the Giants last year for Ryan Grant. I would say that Grant was well worth a sixth round pick. With the two schools below I have watched the players, and know what to expect. With these Green Bay picks I am in the dark right now. All I can say is that they grabbed a couple of QB’s to fill some roster spots, and three receivers for them to throw to. They also bulked up on the O-line as well. Time will tell who will contribute from this group. Brohm is the name quarterback, but maybe we can catch lightening in a bottle with Flynn.
#36 Jordy Nelson – WR – Kansas State Wildcats
#56 Brian Brohm – QB – Louisville Cardinals
#60 Patrick Lee – CB – Auburn Tigers
#91 Jermichael Finley – TE – Texas Longhorns
#102 Jeremy Thompson – DE – Wake Forest Demon Deacons
#135 Josh Sitton – OT – Central Florida Knights
#150 Breno Giacomini – OT – Louisville Cardinals
#209 Matt Flynn – QB – LSU Tigers
#217 Brett Swain – WR – San Diego State Aztecs
Notre Dame Fighting Irish:
Gone are the days of the multiple first round picks. Notre Dame players are now just hoping to be drafted. According to the ESPN rankings they had the #54 and #55 best players in the draft. Far from first round talent. For some reason though they were picked far ahead of the rankings at #38 and #47. Trevor Laws is pictured to the left(#98) tackling Korey Sheets at the Purdue – Notre Dame game. Out of the Irish players chosen I think that Laws has the most potential. He is non stop on the line never letting up, and he also seems to get his hand on a large amount of kicks. Carlson is a good tight end that could prosper in the right system. He made the big plays when called upon to do so in college. Zbikowski has some work ahead of him. He really needs to make his mark on special team I think to stick with a team. He is a tough player that should have no problem running down the field on coverage teams. He may be too slow to return kicks in the pros, but he does understand the concept of running to the hole with no dancing. Sullivan is a good center is another fifth year senior that was drafted. He never missed a game in college until his last two. He has an uphill battle ahead of him to make his mark in the pros. He was part of the O-line that did not help the Irish quarterbacks the last few years. That will not fly in the pros. Here are the Irish players who were drafted in the last two days:
#38 John Carlson – TE – Seattle Seahawks
#47 Trevor Laws – DT – Philadelphia Eagles
#86 Tom Zbikowski – S – Baltimore Ravens
#187 John Sullivan – C – Minnesota Vikings
Purdue Boilermakers:
For the second straight season Purdue had a player drafted in the first round. Yesterday I posted on here how Dustin Keller was picked by the New York Jets with the #30 pick overall. Dustin quickly became a favorite of mine with his tough play, and determination. He was hard to bring down. Hopefully the Jets will use him to his abilities. Pictured to the left is former Purdue defensive end Cliff Avril who was taken late in the second round by the Lions. Avril was a running back when he came to Purdue, switched to linebacker, then in the middle of his junior year switched to defensive end. He learned the position quickly, and helped keep the ‘Den of Defensive Ends’ going. Keglar started every game last year for the Boilers, and was a very adequate linebacker. Sometimes he seemed to get lost on the field though. He will have the most work of the Boilers chosen in order to stay in the pros. I hope he proves me wrong. Here are the Boilermakers who have been drafted over the past two days:
#30 Dustin Keller – TE – New York Jets
#92 Cliff Avril – DE – Detroit Lions
#134 Stanford Keglar – LB – Tennessee Titans
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