Draft Winners/ Losers

Winners:
St. Louis Rams: I absolutely love what the St. Louis Rams did this year. Tavon Austin is going to win the offensive rookie of the year. Brian Quick, Jared Cook, Chris Givens and Lance Kendricks is the wide receiving corps right now, so to add such a dynamic player is huge for Sam Bradford. Also, Stedman Bailey who was Austin's battery mate at WV is pretty good as well. I love that they stole Ogletree and Barrett Jones in the 4th round. I think that the Rams may have had the best draft this year.

San Francisco 49ers: Eric Reid is going to be a starter this year. He is the best safety in this draft and will be an impact player. Tank Carradine falling to them in the 2nd is absurd. This guy has 1st round talent and just adds to a ridiculous SF defense. I really like the Marcus Lattimore pick. If Lattimore didn't have 2 gruesome injuries he would be taken in the first round, however, the 49ers are the perfect location for them. He gets to basically sit out this year and be Frank Gore's successor going forward.

Pittsburgh Steelers: Jarvis Jones and the Steelers are a match made in heaven. He is an outside pass rusher that was the most productive college player the past 2 years. The Steelers needed a RB and got Bob's boy from Michigan State Le'Veon Bell in the 2nd and picked him over Eddie Lacy. I like Lacy better, but Bell has more of a pass catching ability. Marcus Wheaton out of Oregon State was an absolute steal in the 3rd round. With the Steelers track record of mid round WR success, they found another gem here. I also love the Landry jones pick. I have had enough of the Charlie Batch, Byron Leftwhich era as Ben's back up. Now they have someone who can be the equivilant to the Patriots Ryan Mallett.

NY Jets: I really like what the Jets did. Dee Milliner should fit right in the Revis slot and will be very impactful. Sheldon Richardson will be a force, but to be honest, they should have take Eifert there, but whatever, Richardson will be pretty good for that D Line as well. Getting Geno Smith that late is a steal and if the Jets were smart, they would cut Tebow and Sanchez and say David Garrard is our QB this year and Geno Smith will take over next. gets rid of all the drama and shows a plan. Enough of the ridiculousness of the Jets QB situation. They also picked up 2 pretty good guards.

Losers:
Dallas Cowboys: I was not a fan of the Frederick pick to start with when I thought there was a lot more talent there, but whatever. They seemed a little all over the place, I didn't really see the need of drafting a TE and WR in the 2nd and 3rd rounds. I just don't get the Cowboys picks at all.

NE Patriots: People say, this was a very Patriots draft, however, I think it was just a real dumb draft. I really like the move they made with the Vikings, then hated what they did with everything. I also love how the radio and Boston media is trying to protect the Patriots and their shitty draft by saying, "nobody really knows", well yes, you do. Jamie Collins was productive for a really bad team, so maybe he can work his way in the rotation. But Dobson is a project, Logan Ryan will be lucky to be a nickle back, Harmon will be a special teamer at best and the rest of the guys blow. The Patriots decided to just draft depth, when there was much better talent on the board. Once again the Patriots out think themselves at the draft, which is weird after such a great draft last year.

Chicago Bears: The only reason I hate this draft is they had a chance to get Tyler Eifert and chose Kyle Long instead. that forever will be a head scratcher to me. Just dumb.

NFL Draft Recap: Picks I Love, Picks I Hate and The Legend Of E.J. Manuel

Picks I Love:
Pittsburgh Steelers: Jarvis Jones LB Georgia: It's great that the Steelers drafted the next HOF LB at 17. If it weren't for a couple of health issues, Jones would be a top 10 pick easily, but since a couple of red flags popped up he fell to 17. Jones can be put in immediately for James Harrison without much drop off. He is a tenacious pass rusher, and led the SEC in sacks and tackles for loss. With an always aggressive Pittsburgh defense he fits the mold perfectly.

St. Louis Rams: Tavon Austin, No. 8; Alec Ogletree, No. 30. The 2 players I cared the most about in the draft were Tavon Austin and EJ Manuel. The Rams go out and get the most explosive player in college football in Austin. Sam Bradford will absolutely adore him as he will open up the field and give him a ton of options on plays and Ogletree is an extremely good value pick for 30. The Rams have a good D Line so Ogletree can probably play this year and be effective.

Buffalo Bills: E.J. Manuel QB FSU: Have I not told you guys about this? I told you here all the way back in 2008, and here, and here, and here that E.J. Manual was the best and nobody listened. Well what do you know, once again with college football I am on target. They should start having me be lead recruiters for schools because I have a great eye for talent. Many "experts" say this was a little bit of a reach, but it was perfect. It was obvious to me and the Bills that E.J. Manuel was the best QB in the draft so they took him. I am a big fan of drafting who you like especially if it's a QB and that's what the Bills did. E.J. has all the physical tools, size, mobility and leadership qualities and I'll go out on a limb that he will win a Superbowl before Andrew Luck. Great pick by Bills.

New England Patriots: They shipped the team's first-round draft choice (29th overall) to the Minnesota Vikings in exchange for second-, third-, fourth-, and seventh-round draft choices. I think that's absurd value and with WR's dropping they still will have a shot at some good players in the second round, guys like Tank Caaradine, Robert Alfort, Manti Te'o, Robert Woods, Justin Hunter, Jonathan Cyprian, Kevin Minter and Keenan Allen are still all left and should be around when the Pats pick again. I think thats enough picks to have got like the 15th pick, so for them to get that much for the 29th is pretty good.

Moves I hate:
NY Jets: Shelden Richardson pick. I loved the Dee Milliner pick, they grabbed the best CB in the draft completely, but I maybe would have gone with Tyler Eifert. Eifert I think could be the next awesome tight end and would really help out a struggling Jets offense, but I guess whatevs. I could also say the same thing about the Chicago Bears as well.

That's it.

Sucks for Geno Smith.

Steelers Match Emmanuel Sanders

The Pittsburgh Steelers have matched the New England Patriots' one-year, $2.5 million offer sheet to wide receiver Emmanuel Sanders, the team announced Sunday. ESPN

THANK GOD. After having to let everyone go the Steelers finally kept someone. I know a lot of people were judging the Steelers and saying that they will regret not taking a 3rd round pick, however, if Sanders were to leave we would only have Antonio Brown and Plaxico Burress as our only wide receivers.

Also, I am really happy because if Sanders went to the Patriots, he would have instantly become their best wide receiver. He has great hands, good speed, good vision and hasn't come close to his prime. With Gronk being out, with Amendola and Hernandez being injury prone he would have been the most consistent wide receiver on the team.

Plus Ben wanted him back and it's about time they threw Ben a bone.

Steeler WR Emmanuel Sanders Signs Patriots Offer Sheet

The Red Sox, Bruins and Celtics all had yesterday off, so there's nothing too exciting to write about today. The one piece of news is that Steelers wideout Emmanuel Sanders signed an offer sheet from the Patriots. The Steelers have five days to decide if they want to match the offer to Sanders or let him walk and take the Patriots 3rd round draft choice in the upcoming draft. The Steelers have been in a pretty big cap crunch this offseason and have had to let go of guys like James Harrison, Mike Wallace, Rashard Mendenhall, etc.; but supposedly they have the money to match the offer to Sanders if they want to.

I like this move for the Patriots. They really need some help at wide receiver and with the news of Gronk possibly being unavailable to start the season Tom Brady could use some reliable targets. Sanders made a big jump with the Steelers last season playing all 16 games with 44 catches for 626 yards and a TD. Nothing mind blowing, but going into his fourth season there's certainly room for growth. The only thing that concerns me is that he has two lost fumbles last season and the Patriots are usually pretty good about winning the turnover battle.

Steelers To Sign Bradshaw?

This move would make a lot of sense. The Steelers need some RB help, and Bradshaw could be a cheap option (because of injury history) with high upside. Honestly, the Steelers are kind of a mess right now. They are in salary cap hell, and look to not be close to another Super Bowl run. Yet, the biggest thing with the Steelers is they just need to find a way to stay healthy. Every year it seems like they are missing half their team, so maybe if they get lucky and guys stay on the field they will be better than I think.

Another team that is supposedly in the running for Bradshaw is the Green Bay Packers. That also makes sense for all the same reasons as the Steelers.

NFL Free Agency Day 1 Round Up

NFL free agency opened up at 4 PM EST yesterday afternoon. For those hungry for some football talk, like myself, the expected flurry of activity was a nice appetizer before the NFL Draft in late April.

For the Patriots, this was a relatively quiet day. The only move they made that was somewhat unexpected was that they extended a Restricted Free Agent tender to incredibly hard to spell/pronounce backup tight end Michael Hoomanawanui. This adds a little depth behind Rob Gronkowski and Aaron Hernandez. This might also indicate that Jake Ballard, the Tight End poached off of waivers from the Giants while on Injured Reserve in the offseason after tearing his ACL during the Super Bowl, may not be as far along in his rehab as the Patriots might have hoped. Guard Donald Thomas went to Indianapolis seeking a regular starting job, so some depth has been lost behind Logan Mankins and Nate Solder on the Offensive Line. Safety Patrick Chung signed with Philadelphia. Chung wasn't projected to be a starter and didn't see much playing time after he returned from injury. This is disappointing as another high round secondary pick goes bust for the Patriots. We saw some flashes of greatness from Chung. I recall a Monday Night Football game against Miami in 2010 where he blocked a punt for a TD, blocked a field goal for a TD and had a pick six. Unfortunately, he was oft injured and never justified the 34th overall selection that was used to acquire him in the draft. It wouldn't surprise me if I'm saying something similar about Ras-I Dowling when his rookie deal expires. Other than that, the Patriots "big 3" free agents (Welker, Talib and Vollmer) are all still on the market.

There were a bunch of tiny signings and releasings that I won't bother to get into, but here are some of the bigger things that happened yesterday.

-Hall of Fame Tight End Tony Gonzalez has decided to pull a Brett Favre and stave off retirement for another season with the Falcons.

-The biggest signing of the day was certainly the Dolphins signing Steelers wide receiver Mike Wallace. The deal is worth $60 million over five years and includes $30 million in guarantees. The Dolphins have money to spend and they didn't waste any time with Wallace. We'll see how Wallace transitions to life in Miami. I don't think that this deal makes Miami a contender for the AFC East crown, but they've still got money to spend. I think the Steelers are headed into a salary cap induced rebuilding cycle. They failed to make the playoffs last year and they seem to be losing some of their bigger playmakers with Wallace and James Harrison leaving the team. The AFC North should be interesting to watch next season.

-The biggest release of the day was Pro Bowl CB Nnamdi Asomugha from the Eagles. It'll be interesting to see how another high profile corner hitting the market effects the price on CBs on the Patriots radar like Sean Smith and Aqib Talib.

There's still plenty of quality free agents out there and plenty of teams with cap space to burn, I'd expect to hear of more signings today.

Steelers Release James Harrison, I Am Pretty Sad About It

Behind Ben, James Harrison has been my favorite Steelers ever. He was everything about Steeler football I loved, he was tough as nails, feared as shit and just an incredible line backer. He was unapologetic and just played the game the way it should be, physical. If he got fined on the way so be it, but he was just everything to the defense, despite declining stats over the past few years.

Harrison was work out warrior and despite all of his off field comments and the way he handled himself, he is what a linebacker should be. He put his all into everything and made the greatest defensive play in NFL History in the Superbowl against the Cardinals. He was unwilling to take a pay cut, and the cash strapped Steelers had to do what they had to do. The funny thing is with all of the older defensive players being released, I don't think Harrison will get paid what the Steelers offered him at the reduced price.

I sure as hell will miss him and wish him nothing but the best. Whoever, picks him up will have a really good football player on their team.