Talking NFL

The Good News: Thanks to Free Agency, some trades, the Peyton Manning SNL appearance, a bunch of YouTube videos, a draft contest, and (of course) those completely unecessary hot cheerleader pics, we’ve been able to kill the first half of the off-season quite well over here at TalkingNFL.

The Bad News: We’ve still got over 4 months to go.

All together: “Noooooooooooooooooo!”

So now what? Honestly, I’m not sure.

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Normally, a picture of Tom Brady wearing a Yankee hat would cause me to flip out. But have you seen the Bronx Bombers lately? Dead last. Right now, they’re about as intimidating as the Dolphins draft class. Thanks, Curse of A-Rod!

So you wear that loser hat, Dreamboat. Just don’t go trading in Gisele for Roseanne Barr while you’re at it.

Brady pic from the Boston Herald

Tom Brady, New York Yankees, nice hat, nicer eye candy

On Saturday, I missed the Carolina Panthers selection of WR Dwayne Jarrett, and Keyshawn Johnson’s reaction to the pick. Fortunately, the video was posted on YouTube, and I have to say, Me-Shawn was very complementary of his new teammate. He seemed genuinely happy to have a fellow 6′ 4″ USC alum as a new competitor teammate, and mentioned several times that Dwayne plays and looks “much like me”.

Apparently, the Panthers thought so as well, since they decided to release Keyshawn this week. I wonder how he analyzed that news?

You know, going into the weekend, I really didn’t like the idea of having an active player as a media analyst at the draft. But after this? Oh, hell yeah! Let’s do this every year! In fact, ESPN should make a rule that their player representative is either 35 or older, or just thinks they’re a helluva lot better than they really are. I mean, that makes it just like a reality TV show!

In fact, I’m calling the shot for the 2008 draft:

Boomer: “So, Rex, it’s been a tough year for the Bears, going from NFC Champs to dead last. With you throwing 48 interceptions and finishing the season with a QB rating smaller than my IQ shoe size, are you worried about what the team might do with the #1 pick?”

Rex: “Not at all, Chris. Whoever those cheap bastards managment decides to take, I’ll be more than happy to help teach him the system and get him better acquainted with the Chicago Bears.”

Roger: “And with the 1st overall pick, the Chicago Bears select Louisville quarterback Brian Brohm.”

Rex: “Ah, shit.”

NFL Draft, Carolina Panthers, Dwayne Jarrett, is just like, Keyshawn Johnson, you’ve got an entire Western Omlette on your face, Me-Shawn

Well, as you all know, Matt Millen did not disappoint this past weekend, talking Calvin Johnson with the 2nd overall pick, the 4th wide receiver the Lions have selected in the 1st round in the last 5 years.  As Vizzini would say, “Inconceivable!”

Now, the argument can be made that the Lions did take the best player on the board, and that Johnson has much less risk of being a bust than say, Mike Williams, who’s now off to the Raiders in return for some spare change.  However, the Lions have quite a few other needs on their team besides wide-out, and definitely could have benefited from trading down, as Judge Smails recommended in his award winning draft preview.  You can see his scathing Lions draft review here.

So why didn’t the Lions draft down?  In the days following the draft, reasons are coming out that will make Lions fans continue to do this:

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The TalkingNFL intern was very impressed by our guests

Today I wanted to thank all of the guest writers who stopped by TalkingNFL last month and put together a draft preview for their beloved teams.  They were fun, insightful, entertaining, and some of them were chock-full of sarcasm and biting hatred (which always makes for great reading)!

So a big Huzzah to the following:

- Tracey from Hot or Not Beauty
- Judge Smails from Lions-fans.com
- Todd Cantrell from Glorify the Past
- Dennis D from a town in MA that used to be famous for the billiards hall at it’s airport
- AA at Awful Announcing
- Josh Kirkendall from Cincy Jungle

As promised, we are giving a prize to the pupil who aced their assignment.  This was an extremely tough decision for the TalkingNFL staff.  We graded the previews in 12 separate categories, and brought them before a panel of PHD’s from Harvard to review. Then we said screw it, and picked a name out of a hat.

So it’s now my ‘honor’ to present to you the winner of the TalkingNFL 2007 Draft Preview Contest…

(drum roll)

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