Go to the mobile version of this Web site.

Login | Contact Us | Site Map | Paid archives | Electronic edition | Subscription Questions | Extras

Needy approach is taken by most

Top names drop as teams fill holes in draft

The Rocky

Published April 28, 2008 at 12:05 a.m.

Text size  
LSU defensive tackle Glenn Dorsey ended up being drafted No. 5 by Kansas City despite being considered by many the top talent in this weekend's draft.

Photo by Ed Reinke / Associated Press

LSU defensive tackle Glenn Dorsey ended up being drafted No. 5 by Kansas City despite being considered by many the top talent in this weekend's draft.

Ohio State defensive lineman Vernon Gholston was the only member of the Buckeyes drafted on the first day of the draft. Only three Buckeyes went overall, two in the final round.

Photo by Kiichiro Sato / Associated Press

Ohio State defensive lineman Vernon Gholston was the only member of the Buckeyes drafted on the first day of the draft. Only three Buckeyes went overall, two in the final round.

More Denver Broncos

More stories »

In the weeks leading up to this year's NFL draft, two themes kept coming up over and over again as teams stared at the cascade of names in front of them.

That it felt like a year when more teams than ever would reach for need, even in the first round, where such a strategy usually leads to regret as better players are left on the draft board. And that it was definitely a year for the big guys.

Both turned out to be true with even players the caliber of Louisiana State defensive tackle Glenn Dorsey, a player many teams had rated as the best on the board, waiting until No. 5 to be selected, falling to the ecstatic Kansas City Chiefs.

But Houston reached in the first round, Jacksonville reached in the first round, and it cascaded through the weekend as team after team often picked what it needed the most over players who may have been ranked the highest.

So much so, seven offensive tackles went in the first 21 picks, and no wide receiver, usually a position of prominence in the first round, was selected in the draft's first round for the first time since 1990.

But it's all in the books now, and Sunday night, as personnel executives stepped to 32 podiums in 32 NFL cities, everybody said they were happy and things, well, worked out just the way they thought they would.

No picks

The Broncos have not picked at least once in every round of the draft since 2002. The Broncos had no third-round pick in this year's draft. Since 1990, here are the years they have gone through rounds without making a pick:

No first: '90, '94, '95, '05

No second: '95

No third: '95, '03, '06, '08

No fourth: '04, '05

No fifth: '94, '97, '01, '05, '07

No sixth: '94, '97, '01, '07

No seventh: '95, '97, '01, '06, '07

Hokie alert

They do not always roll off the average fan's tongue as one of the college football elite, but the NFL certainly knows the way to Blacksburg, Va. Virginia Tech had seven players taken in the weekend's draft, including at least one in each of the draft's first six rounds.

The Broncos, who contributed mightily to the cause, selected cornerback/kick returner Eddie Royal in the second round and then took defensive tackle Carlton Powell in the fifth.

"It just shows we had some talent," Royal said. "I think it shows what we can do; we had a lot of players."

Tackle Duane Brown, in a move that was somewhat of a surprise, was the school's only first-round selection this year when he went to Houston with the 26th pick overall.

Southern Cal led the way with nine players selected, including seven in the first two rounds, four in the first round. Louisiana State, which won the national championship, had five players selected, but only one on the draft's first day - Dorsey. Ohio State, which played LSU in the BCS title game, had only one player drafted on the first - defensive end Vernon Gholston, who went to the Jets with the sixth pick overall - three drafted overall.

A little help

Everyone is looking for leadership from the draft and more than a few scouts noticed the work Kent State cornerback Jack Williams did.

Williams, who the Broncos made a fourth-round pick, was cited by almost every team for having checked in with many of his teammates daily to make sure they were going to class.

"I've done that my whole time (at Kent)," Williams said. "When I was younger, the older guys made sure I got to class, like (Cleveland Browns kick returner) Josh Cribbs. I just try to do the same thing. . . . I made sure my younger teammates were going to class and doing the things they need to do."

Questions, questions

Character, medical, football . . . call them what you will, but personnel executives around the league clearly showed they thought this year's class of wide receivers provided more questions than answers, enough so that none were taken in the first round.

Not even Michigan State's Devin Thomas or California's DeSean Jackson, both of whom have enough skills in the return game that many in the league believed they could go in the first round.

It was just the second time since 1967 - the first year of the common draft between the AFL and NFL - that a receiver was not selected in the first round. No receiver was taken in the first round of the 1990 draft. Alexander Wright was selected by Dallas with the first pick of the second round - 26th overall.

This year, some had medical questions like Texas' Limas Sweed, some had off-the-field issues like Indiana's James Hardy, and some just hadn't played enough football - like Thomas, who played just one season at the Division I-A level before turning pro - to suit the talent evaluators.

So when the Rams selected Houston's Donnie Avery with the second pick of the second round - 33rd overall - it was the latest in the history of the common draft the first receiver was selected.

It's also why, when the threat of having to pay first-round money to players who may not have first-round impact was lifted, 10 receivers were taken in the second round.

The player who had some of the biggest questions of anyone at the position, Michigan's Mario Manningham, waited until the 95th pick, when the Giants took him at the bottom of the second round.

Manningham had admitted, in a letter to teams he handed out on his pro day, that he had tested positive for marijuana twice in his career and had lied about it at the NFL combine.

Numbers game

3:30was the time of Saturday's first round in hours and minutes, the shortest since 1990. In a new streamlined format, teams were reduced to 10 minutes between each pick in the opening round, down from 15 minutes, and had 7 minutes between picks in the second round. The shortest first round since the AFL-NFL merger in 1970 was in 1972, which went in two hours flat.

He said it

"You don't have too big of expectations because nobody really knows what's going to go on but the team itself. So when my name was called I told myself, you know, I'm not going to cry. But, of course, you know, you get the tears start coming and you can't control that."

Dorsey, LSU defensive tackle, on hearing he was going to be selected by the Kansas City Chiefs with the No. 5 pick overall.

Legwold report card

Rocky Mountain News NFL reporter Jeff Legwold graded everyone else's draft effort this weekend, so he graded himself as well. In predicting his top 100 players in the draft, Legwold correctly selected 79. And of Legwold's top 31 choices, 25 were selected in the first round.

Double dip

When Arkansas' Darren McFadden (No. 4 to Oakland) and Felix Jones (No. 22 to Dallas) were selected in the first round of the draft, it was just the fourth time two running backs from the same school went in the opening round. But it was the second time in the last four drafts and the third time overall for a Southeastern Conference school.

Year School, Backs

1971

Ohio State

John Brockington (Green Bay), Leo Hayden (Minnesota)

1986 Florida

John L. Williams (Seattle), Neal Anderson (Chicago)

2005 Auburn

Ronnie Brown (Miami), Cadillac Williams (Tampa Bay)

2008 Arkansas

Darren McFadden (Oakland), Felix Jones (Dallas)

How the West was done

A brief look at how the Broncos and their division brethren fared this weekend.

Denver

* Players selected: Nine.

* Best pick: Eddie Royal, WR/KR.

* Surprised by: RB Ryan Torain. Some teams were scared away by Torain's foot injury this past season, but the Broncos say they saw what they wanted in his play and heard what they needed to from the doctors.

* Filled needs at: T, KR, CB, DT.

* Bottom line: The Broncos, in their first draft since firing Ted Sundquist, played it by the numbers. They stuck to the board, tried to fill needs and used their first two picks on their two biggest needs in tackle Ryan Clady and Royal. They did take several medical risks on Day 2, but the roster certainly needed help and got some.

* Arrow: Up.

Kansas City

* Players selected: 12.

* Best pick: LSU DT Glenn Dorsey.

* Surprised by: Dorsey; it's unlikely the Chiefs expected Dorsey to even be in the discussion when they picked at the No. 5 spot.

* Filled needs at: DT, T, TE, CB, S, WR.

* Bottom line: Few teams had more needs than this one. But they bulked up the roster with 12 picks, took advantage of a board that fell their way much of the time, and if Dorsey is the player scouts think he can be, he is the lynchpin of an important draft.

* Arrow: Up.

Oakland

* Players selected: Five.

* Best pick: Arkansas RB Darren McFadden.

* Surprised by: Buffalo DE Trevor Scott. Ordinarily the third round is not the place to take a leap of faith. Scott played TE for three seasons before playing DE in '07.

* Filled needs at: RB, CB.

* Bottom line: It was the first time since the first merged draft the Raiders did not have at least six picks. Despite their spending spree in free agency, they needed to get more done this weekend.

* Arrow: Down.

San Diego

* Players selected: Five.

* Best pick: LSU RB Jacob Hester.

* Surprised by: UTEP RB Marcus Thomas. Even in the fifth round, this was a bit of a reach. He doesn't always hit the hole as quickly as he should, but he does catch the ball fairly well. Went to same Phoenix-area high school as Broncos RB Mike Bell.

* Filled needs at: CB, RB.

* Bottom line: This team didn't need much with 20 of 22 starters back from last year's team. A good thing, because the Chargers only had five picks to work with and reached on at least two of them.

* Arrow: Status quo.

Go big

* Never in draft history have so many players projected to be offensive tackles gone in the opening round. But, then again, most teams said this was the deepest year at the position in decades. The rundown:

Player, school Pick Team

Jake Long, Michigan 1 Dolphins

Ryan Clady, Boise St. 12 Broncos

Chris Williams, Vanderbilt 14 Bears

Branden Albert, Virginia 15 Chiefs

Gsoder Cherilus, Boston College 17 Lions

Jeff Otah, Pitt 19 Panthers

Sam Baker, USC 21 Falcons

Duane Brown, Virginia Tech 26 Texans

Broncos rundown

What they ended up with in the NFL draft on Saturday and Sunday.

Rd. Overall Pos. Player College

1 12 T Ryan Clady Boise State

2 42 WR/KR Eddie Royal Virginia Tech

4 108 C/G Kory Lichtensteiger Bowling Green

4 119 CB Jack Williams Kent State

5 139 RB Ryan Torain Arizona State

5 148 DT Carlton Powell Virginia Tech

6 183 LB Spencer Larsen Arizona

7 220 S Joshua Barrett Arizona State

7 227 FB Peyton Hillis Arkansas

Comments

  • April 28, 2008

    5:31 p.m.

    Suggest removal

    myerda00 writes:

    GREAT draft. Watch Hillis and Barrett play alot.
    Jack Williams is a stud, let him return also.
    Clady should be impact at LT for decade.
    Did the Broncos get Nalens heir-appearent?