The 2010 Draft

The draft is now over and as expected only about the 5 first picks went where they were expected to go. Coming into Thursday it was almost a lock for Bradford to go 1 and the DT's to fallow, then you might as well drew a name out of the hat. Nobody really went where the so called experts predicted them to go, and all day you kept hearing the retracting of their statements. With teams moving up and down in order, created for one of the more exciting drafts in recent years. So here is the final draft order and their picks from this years draft.


1 Rams Sam Bradford QB
2 Lions Ndamukong Suh DT
3 Buccaneers Gerald McCoy DT
4 Redskins Trent Williams OT
5 Chiefs Eric Berry SS
6 Seahawks Russell Okung OT
7 Browns Joe Haden CB
8 Raiders Rolando McClain LB
9 Bills C.J. Spiller RB
10 Jaguars Tyson Alualu DE
11 49ers Anthony Davis OT
12 Chargers Ryan Mathews RB
13 Eagles Brandon Graham DE
14 Seahawks Earl Thomas SS
15 Giants Jason Pierre-Paul DE
16 Titans Derrick Morgan DE
17 49ers Mike Iupati OG
18 Steelers Maurkice Pouncey C
19 Falcons Sean Weatherspoon LB
20 Texans Kareem Jackson CB
21 Bengals Jermaine Gresham TE
22 Broncos Demaryius Thomas WR
23 Packers Bryan Bulaga OT
24 Cowboys Dez Bryant WR
25 Broncos Tim Tebow QB
26 Cardinals Dan Williams DT
27 Patriots Devin McCourty CB
28 Dolphins Jared Odrick DT
29 Jets Kyle Wilson CB
30 Lions Jahvid Best RB
31 Colts Jerry Hughes DE
32 Saints Patrick Robinson CB

Cavs Snuggie Night

A month or so back, I went to the Cleveland Cavilers Snuggie night, the event was held at the Quicken Loans Arena but Key Bank sponsored the event. When thinking of snuggies the first name that comes to your head is not Key Bank, which is partially because they are not in the business of selling snuggies. One may wonder why Key Bank would sponsor such an event, because there is not a direct correlation between snuggie users and people taking out loans or starting up a checking accounts, but they chose to sponsor the event as an attempt at easy publicity. Every fan in attendance received a Cavs snuggie that had the logo of the Cavs on it, as well as right below it, it had the logo of Key Bank and now every time that snuggie is used or shown Key bank is still receiving advertising from it. Key Bank was also recognized as sponsoring the event and it was shown on many stations as well as talked about pre event. Throughout the event there were many advertisements, that ranged from papa johns signs hanging throughout the arena to local businesses offering discounts when you bring your cavs ticket shown on the jumbo tron, but the only guaranteed advertisement the 20,000 some people will remember from that night is the Key Bank logo, they have on their brand new snuggie.

Sponsorships For the NFL Draft

The NFL Draft has become a prime time event broken into three separate days shown on ESPN. Like any prime time event comes the opportunity for a company to affiliate their name with it. This year the NFL Draft is brought to you by COORS Light and Gillette, which means not only will you see those name beside the draft on any web page, but you will see an abundance of pub and plug ins throughout the event. With every team getting 10 min to make a pick, there are prime commercial opportunities available. One purchaser that comes to mind, EA Sports Madden Football Series, has been a part of the commercial scene since the early 2000s, with them plugging the upcoming video game that will be released the following fall. It is always the first opportunity for consumers to see images and clips of the upcoming game. With this year being the first year the draft moved to a prime time spot, it will be hard to predict who will be the companies that will be purchasing all commercial time, but the three listed will not be the only ones shouldering the load.

Could We Hear Tiffin University on Draft Day

With the upcoming draft starting on Thursday, it is highly unlikely we hear the names of Chris Ivory or Gregg Raspberry, at least for the first two days. When the draft resumes on Saturday is the best chance one of the two names may get called, with rounds 4-7 to be drafted on that day.

Not unless your a die hard follower of D2 football would you have heard that Christopher Ivory played at Tiffin University last year. After joining the team late, and eventually working himself into the mix he had his season cut short with a knee injury, which resulted in limited time for which he could collect the valuable stat line that one would need to create the average buzz around a possible future NFL player. But Chris Ivory hopes that it wont keep him from his dreams. Ivory is 5-11, 225-pound running back, who actually came to the Dragons last August after three seasons at Division I Washington State. After injuries prevented him from having the type of career at Washington State he hoped for, the injury this past season has rose a sense of doubt on a lot of scouting websites.

Walkosky said the injury made some wonder about Ivory's durability and if he had regained his quickness that set him apart. "Well, 4.47 is unbelievably fast enough for the NFL," Walkosky said. "It's top five in the country of running backs who were at the combine. And he's bigger than all the guys, except for one guy, the kid from Fresno [Ryan Mathews]." Ivory also had a vertical jump of 35 inches.

Even with all the question marks in the air, there is still a chance that a team may go ahead and take a chance at drafting him, rather then hopes of battling other teams to sign him as a free agent. Nothing is certain in the NFL, but all signs lead to Chris Ivory wearing an NFL helmet next season.

The Infamous Draft Day Trade

There you are sitting, waiting on your team to make their highly anticipated pick that is going to change the face of the franchise, when the alert buzzer goes off and Roger Goodell approaches the podium, just to tell you your there has been a trade. Your team suddenly has traded 15 spots lower for another 3 picks later in the draft, and your left sitting there with a feeling of betrayal. Well I'm going to point out possible teams looking to move up and down.
The Browns- with 10 picks in the draft, and already having been rumored to move up to the first spot in the draft to take Bradford, but Holmgren put an end to these talks. So look for the Browns to package picks and move up to take a QB at some point in the draft.
The Patriots- have four picks in the first two rounds of the draft and there’s a good chance the Patriots will packages one or more of those picks in a draft-day trade. They are not known for investing much of their franchise with the draft, partially because they never have high picks due to their success, but mostly because they are never rebuilding. But with two decent seasons and a team that looks like they couldn't possibly getting any older, it will be interesting to see them move up to take a early pick.
The 49ers- with their greatest need being a OT, and them having 2 mid first round picks, it would be hard for them not to trade up if the tackles start coming off the board as they are predicted to do before the 49ers pick at number 17.

Should Cleveland trade up for Bradford

The Browns have been recently discussing the option of trading up from their number 7 draft position to the number one spot to take the highly touted Sam Bradford with the number one pick. Which rumored to involve them having to give up their No. 7 pick, next year's first-rounder as well as a third- or fourth-rounder. Mike Holmgren who is the Browns newly hired president, is reluctant to put all his eggs in one basket by doing such a thing. Holmgren went on to state, “So the fans don’t get … I don’t want everyone to … then pull the rug out from everybody in our first draft,” “He’s a coveted young man. To be able to go up and change somebody’s mind ahead of us, you’d have to mortgage the ranch." Which may mean that either they couldn't work a trade out, or Homlgren put an end to these nonsense talks, once and for all.

Even though any fan can tell you that the Browns are in desperate need of a quarterback, it doesn't look like they will be finding one through the draft this year. Mike Holmgren has already said he doesn't think Notre Dame quarterback Jimmy Clausen is the right fit in Cleveland, so don't expect them to take him at No. 7.

But not trading up to grab the No. 1 overall pick from the St. Louis Rams to take Oklahoma quarterback Sam Bradford may be one of the smarter moves Cleveland can make. At the seventh pick there are still going to be right of the bat contributors, which will give them the possibility of landing Tennessee safety Eric Berry (if he falls), Texas safety Earl Thomas, or even a pass-rusher in Georgia Tech's Derrick Morgan or South Florida's Jason Pierre-Paul. Also, with Colt McCoy looking to slip into the early second round, it may give them the option of getting a better quarterback for their system there. Only time will tell what they decide, but with the draft this week, fans wont have to wait much longer to see who will be taking snaps this fall.

Cowboys on the clock

Taking a look at Dallas' upcoming first round pick in next week’s NFL draft is like trying to pick the powerball in the lottery. With not knowing who will be around when the 27 pick rolls around makes things even tougher. Dallas has made it clear that it plans to address the left tackle position, and USC's Charles Brown who some people have falling to this late in the draft, seem like he could be a natural fit here. Brown looks to slip because he is unpolished and most early teams cannot wait around for a project. Brown is a former TE with good feet and improving skills. With the Cowboys having one of the more talented offensive lines, it would not be a bad decision to see them draft a Brown and bring him along slowly, playing more of a back-up roll on an aging offensive lines. This might not be the exciting pick, but seems like a viable one.
Some discussion on where the Cowboys will go if Browns name is called before 27 leaves them with the exciting pick, in USC safety Taylor Mays. Mays is a physical specimen, with incredible size and speed. He has all the tools to become an instant star, which leaves people wondering why he could almost slip to the 2nd round. Mays had a low year in terms of production, which has lead to doubts about his pass coverage skills. If Brown is off the board it wouldn’t be farfetched to see the Cowboys taking risk on another safety with questionable pass coverage skills.