NFL Draft Thoughts

Now that you've heard all about our NFL Draft party, I should give you my thoughts on the NFL Draft.

Percy Harvin, Phil Loadholdt go to the Vikings on Day 1 -

The Vikings rolled the dice on Percy Harvin, which to me isn't that much of a gamble like people think it is. When it comes to Harvin's character issues, the Vikings have taken bigger chances before, such as Randy Moss. Moss turned out OK, but I think that Harvin isn't a cancer and should be an effective weapon in the Vikings offense. Especially when he's standing next to Adrian Peterson on third down....next to Brad Childress. Chilly, find ways to get these two men the football!

Matthew Stafford gets $41.7 million guaranteed from the Detroit Lions -

This is getting ridiculous. Matt Ryan got $34.75 million from the Atlanta Falcons last season and now this. Stafford may not even be a good quarterback, but teams are paying their draft picks based off potential rather than their performance. This, understandably, has NFL veterans pissed. The NFL should go to something like MLB does where they assign each slot a value. Although some teams are willing to go over that value, this reduces players refusing to sign and gets players into their team's camp sooner rather than later.

Packers select B.J. Raji and Clay Matthews III in the first round -

I don't get the hype on B.J. Raji, personally. Raji had one good week of practice and he skyrockets up boards because of it. Usually, players who don't come out until the senior bowl usually struggle in the NFL. Also, Raji has weight problems. This doesn't bode well for anybody in the NFL. The Packers second pick was a good one with Clay Matthews. Clay is the son of former Hall of Fame OL Bruce Matthews of Houston Oilers fame. Matthews projects to be a good 3-4 linebacker and if Aaron Kampman can learn the position, Green Bay's defense could be drastically different from a year ago.

Other notes -

The Raiders took Darius Heyward-Bey with the 7th overall pick. Shades of Troy Williamson all over again...

Tyson Jackson over Aaron Curry? C'mon KC, you just passed up on a 10-15 time pro bowl linebacker, congrats.

The rest of the Vikings draft looked good as they took Asher Allen, who's also a great kick returner, and Jasper Brinkley, who will be a solid backup at linebacker. Remember folks, football is just around the corner.