April 26, 2012

STOP EVERYTHING!! The NFL Draft kicked off tonight and there is nothing else that matters in sports.  Just kidding, but the draft will dominate what has been otherwise a bland sports week.  Here's the 1st round recap and my grades for each pick.

1. IND- Andrew Luck, QB, A
2. WAS- Robert Griffin III, QB, A
3. CLE- Trent Richardson, RB, A+
4. MIN- Matt Kalil, OT, A
5. JAX- Justin Blackmon-WR, A+
6. DAL- Morris Claiborne-CB, A-
7. TB- Mark Barron-S, A-
8. MIA- Ryan Tannehill-QB, C+
9. CAR- Luke Kuechly-LB, B+
10. BUF- Stephon Gilmore-CB, A-
11. KC- Dontari Poe-DT, B-
12. PHI- Fletcher Cox-DT, B+
13. ARI- Michael Floyd-WR, B+
14. STL- Michael Brockers-DT, B
15. SEA- Bruce Irvin-DE, C-
16. NYJ- Quinton Coples-DE, B+
17. CIN- Dre Kirkpatrick-CB, B+
18. SD- Melvin Ingram-DE, B
19. CHI- Shea McLellin-DE, A-
20. TEN- Kendall Wright-WR, B+
21. NE- Chandler Jones-DE, B
22. CLE- Brandon Weeden-QB, B
23. DET- Riley Reiff-OT, B
24. PIT- David DeCastro-OG, B-
25. NE- Dont'a Hightower-LB, B+
26. HOU- Whitney Mercilus-DE, B-
27. CIN- Kevin Zeitler-OG, B-
28. GB- Nick Perry-DE, B+
29. MIN- Harrison Smith-S, B
30. SF- AJ Jenkins-WR, C+
31. TB- Doug Martin-RB, B-
32. NYG- David Wilson-RB, C+

Day 1 of the draft was dominated by the flurry of trades that were made.  The winner of the worst pick of the round goes to Seattle, who picked DE Bruce Irvin at 15, about 2 rounds ahead of where he should've been taken.  Miami also continued their streak of great picks by taking Tannehill at #8.  A much better play would've been to trade down from that pick and address more issues, instead of taking a project QB that has a limited window to become a NFL starter.  My Packers took Nick Perry, a pick that I really do like.  He's a bit of an undersized DE and so will probably be employed similarly to Clay Matthews as a standup linebacker.

Stat Line of the Day

Jarrod Saltalamacchia's line vs the White Sox

Philip Humber wasn't nearly perfect in his start tonight, and Salty was a big reason why.  The Red Sox rocked Humber and Salty cranked 2 HRs in the game and drove in 3 runs.  As the Red Sox offense tries to kick back into gear, Saltalamacchia will be counted on to provide boosts every so often, and an outburst like this shows that he has the offensive ability to be a top notch hitting catcher.