Round 1, 13th pick: Adam Carriker, DE/DT Nebraska - This is actually exactly who I thought we'd pick. The draft shaped up a little differently at the top than I expected, but I reckoned if at least six offensive players were taken in the top 12, we'd get him. This is a big, solidly built player with good intangibles, workout numbers, and game film. He rushes the passer well and may be one of the better run-stuffers available to boot. Considering his pass rush ability, I don't know that we'll be taking full advantage of his skills if we make him a full-time nose tackle. However, the coaches talk of having him play multiple positions on the line is intriguing...if it's not too much for him. I'm always a little skeptical when a team takes a guy at one position planning to convert him to another, especially early in the draft. Carriker says he'll play wherever we want him to. I don't doubt his willingness, just his ability to transition fluidly. Overall, an excellent choice at our position of greatest need.
Round 2, 52nd pick: Brian Leonard, RB Rutgers - We didn't need a runningback. Leonard looks like a good player. His famous "Leonard Leap" looks mighty impressive on film. He's got a lot of power and speed, and he was so self-sacrificing that he was willing to switch from the centerstage RB position to the thankless FB position for his senior year in order to help the team. He played a significant role in helping turn the Rutgers football program around. The only thing is we didn't need a runningback.
Round 3, 84th pick: Jonathan Wade, CB Tennessee - I questioned whether we should have gone defensive end in the second, which makes it even harder to swallow that Charles Johnson went just one pick ahead of us in the third. If we could have gotten him--even if we had to trade up--it would have been a pretty successful day. Worse, we had swapped places with KC in the off-season and had moved back two places in this round. Other players available when we picked included OLB Stewart Bradley, WR Johnny Lee Higgins, and DT Quinn Pitcock. I have to admit I'm not thrilled about this pick. He was a track star who also played receiver and then corner in college. The upside is that he was the second fastest defensive back in the draft, can recover from mistakes, and should have good hands from playing receiver in the past. The downside is that he only dedicated one off-season to football and consequently is lacking in technique, he makes mistakes in play recognition and doesn't have good football instincts, he doesn't wrap up tackles, and his hands aren't what you'd expect from a former receiver. I prefer drafting good football players over drafting good athletes who could become good football players, but maybe I'm being too critical. He's a project.
Round 4, 117: Traded to Detroit for two fifth round picks
Round 5, 139: Traded for James Hall, DE Detroit - This went down before free agency even began. Hall is a player who had double digit sacks just a few years ago but has not been able to reproduce that success. We're hoping he'll have a bounce back year. At best, we'll have two terrors in the backfield. At worst, he's a significant upgrade to what we had. Considering we traded Tony Hargrove for a 5th round pick during the season, essentially you could say we traded Hargrove for Hall. Hall is an upgrade over Hargrove and should provide more leadership, but he's also about 30, so Hall probably won't be with the team more than say three or four years.
Round 5, 139: (from Detroit) Dustin Fry, C Clemson- Here we have a center who prides himself on his pancake blocks. He's probably among the top five center prospects in this draft. He could be a real pleasant surprise. While Romberg held his own at center during the season, Fry may be the future at that position.
Round 5, 148: (from Buffalo) Traded for Dante Hall, WR/KR Kansas City - Dante was the most explosive kick returner the league had seen in years back in '03. His success on returns has declined as he has been required to spend more time on the field as a receiver. We're hoping that by lessening his receiver load, we'll see him racing down the field for touchdowns on returns again.
Round 5, 154: (from Detroit) Clifton Ryan, DT Michigan State- He was an outside linebacker when he started college but gained so much weight he was shifted to defensive end and ultimately defensive tackle. Not the most physically powerful guy and not the greatest instincts, but he could be useful to have around if he can fill a role somewhere along the defensive line.
Round 6, 190: Ken Shackleford, OT Georgia - He's a developmental player. He only started one year but played pretty well. For now, he gives us some depth behind Pace and Barron. He's probably a longshot to ever start, but that's okay.
Round 7, 248: Keith Jackson, Jr. DT Arkansas- Son of the NFL tight end of the same name, Jackson is mainly a run-stuffer.
Round 7, 249: Derek Stanley, WR Wisconsin-Whitewater - A small school receiver who is a little undersized and needs to make crisper cuts in his routes but has a lot of good things going for him. Unfortunately for him, there's going to be a lot of competition for a roster spot at wide receiver on this team.
In Conclusion: The defensive line needed the most help coming into this draft. In 2006, the depth was so bad that we eventually had to play a defensive tackle at one of the defensive end positions because there were no healthy DEs left to fill the spot. Even with the addition of J. Hall, we still needed another NT (preferably a starter) and a DE (preferably a speed rusher to backup Little). Lesser priorities would include a possible starter at SLB/"buck end", a backup RB, a possible future starter at WR, and offensive line depth. We got our defensive end, except we're planning on starting him as a nose or "under" tackle...maybe both. So we didn't really improve our depth at DE at all. That is unless the team thinks about moving Wroten (a DT) over to DE. Supposing Carriker started at "under" tackle backed up by Glover, that would leave Wroten as the odd man out, and he did play DE for us at the end of the season out of necessity. Still, this has to be considered a major shortcoming.
We didn't get a strongside linebacker, and we may regret passing on Stewart Bradley in the third. We got a backup runningback that is good enough he might actually start on another team. Unfortunately that could mean we won't be able to afford to keep him past his rookie contract. Stanley probably won't make the roster at WR, but either Jackson or Ryan might at DT. I actually like Jackson over Ryan to win a roster spot. Fry was a good pick to bolster interior line depth, as teams often find good linemen in the later rounds of the draft. Likewise, Shackleford is good for depth. James and Dante Hall are almost undoubtedly better players than the ones we would have drafted with the picks we gave up for them, but both players are older.
We addressed our greatest need--nose tackle--as well as we could, but depth at defensive end is a real problem that was not addressed. Having already signed Travis Minor in the off-season (as well as WR Drew Bennett and TE Randy McMichael), picking a runningback or any offensive skill position in the second round would have been a luxury. We did go for high character guys who will do whatever they need to in order to help the team. There were no really peculiar moves like taking Byrd last year, but overall I'm not as enthused about our choices. We got 8 players in the draft, only one of whom will likely start for us in the near future (possibly the only one who ever will). By way of comparison, four of our draftees last year were starting by mid-season. Trades netted us a solution to our kick returning problems and another starter on defense, improving the outlook on this group somewhat. If we had traded up a few spots and netted Johnson in the third, I'd probably be raving about this draft. As is, I think we picked up some good players, but I question whether we couldn't have done better.
