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.

Can Bryant make up for character issues and suspension?

Bryant missed the majority of the 2009 season after being suspended for lying to NCAA investigators looking into his relationship with former NFL star Deion Sanders. Now the Oklahoma State WR Dez Bryant's pro day took place at an off campus site, Abe Martin Stadium in Lufkin, which was Bryant's high school, and his former coach, John Outlaw, was the man hosting the event. Some notables in attendance would be; Seattle's coach Pete Carroll and general manager John Schneider, Packers coach Mike McCarthy and college scouting director John Dorsey, San Diego senior executive Randy Mueller, Pittsburgh GM Kevin Colbert, San Francisco coach Mike Singletary, Baltimore receivers coach John Hostler, a group from Oakland and at least one representative from 10 other teams.

Bryants numbers from his Pro day were very impressive despite him struggling with the short shuttle, almost as if he had never attempted one before, and needed four tries before completing the drill and recording a 4.46. However, the fact that he quit on his fifth attempt tells a much deeper story because most these scouts were not here to see his athleticism, but rather to see whether or not a guy who carries some character baggage, could check them.

Even with the one set back, Scouts left Abe Martin Stadium impressed and with only one question left to answer. Talent evaluators have to decide what kind of financial risk they are willing to make when taking on a player who is competitive and athletic but sometimes loses focus. However, enough teams seem to think Bryant is not a bad guy but simply the product of a tough life. Look for Bryant to be a first day pick, being the first WR off the board.

Raspberrys Pro Day

Greg Raspberry just participated in his pro day this week up at the University of Toledo. Greg is looking to further his future in football, and here are the numbers he posted while participating.

40yrd dash 4.52 and a 4.56
Vertical 37
Broad jump 10.2
Pro shuttle 4.3
3 cone drill 6.92
225 Bench test 11
60 yrd shuttle 11.89

These numbers are pretty impressive and when comparing them to the numbers posted in last months combine results, Raspberry would of been on the top performer boards in both the vertical where he would of placed 7th and the broad jump in which he would of placed 6th. His numbers in the other catagories would not of been that far off of top ten performer numbers. With an excellent performance in the this pro day, Raspberrys hopes may start to look like a reality in terms of the the NFL.

Jimmy Clausen Smarter Not Stronger

Every question around Jimmy Clausen involve whether or not his arm strength is ideal for an NFL quarterback. It is pretty much a given that Clausen will be a first-round draft pick, but his arm strength is enough of a question mark to cause his predicted draft slot status to vary significantly. For example, Mel Kiper's initial mock draft has Clausen going to the Buffalo Bills at the No. 9 spot because he possesses "an NFL arm." Scouts Inc.'s Todd McShay, on the other hand, has Clausen going in the No. 23 spot in part because "he doesn't have ideal arm strength." However it is hard to determine who is right because Clausen will not have his arm tested till later this month due to an injury that kept him out of the combine and pushed back his pro day till only a few weeks before the actual draft. However tape on clausen has showed different cases on where he made the long throws such as deep outs and there were other games when his arm strength was that of the ball boys.
When it comes down to it, tape can show both an upside and a downside to Clausen's arm, but one thing that can not be questioned is his ability to read a defense. Last year he had only 4 ints in 224 passes. Which says something in its own, that clausen is smart enough to put the ball where his arm will allow it.