[Pyser]

First Round Review

1 Tennessee Titans - RDT - Sammie Alston - Not a huge fan of this pick. But given the lack of talent they had to choose from, they could've done worse. I rate their secondary as a bigger need than their d-line.

2 Pittsburgh Steelers - MLB - Dean Brumley - Solid pick here. In a very good MLB draft, Dean was the best available. Pitt has traditionally run a 3-4, and this gives them an excellent inside tandem of Brumley and Farrior. I honestly thought they would go CB here, though, since Greenberg fell.

3 - Denver Broncos - SS - Darnell Lindsay - Tough spot for Denver to pick in. Their rapidly rebuilding team is actually strongest in the secondary. They already had 4 excellent players, but 3 of them were CB's. They wanted Brumley, and "settled" for a 4th star in the secondary.

4 - Minnesota Vikings - LT Brad Mabry - Despite trading away most of their offense, the Vikings line is in great shape. This pick gives them a very solid T, G and C, all of whom are very young. Once a RB arrives, this team will rise quickly.

5 - Denver Broncos - LG Kevin Goodge - Surprise pick here. I thought they'd grab the next best ILB, but they worked out a trade instead. I thought they were out of the guard market after signing Perry, but Goodge was too good to pass up. It's a bit of a toss-up, though, if he was even the best guard in the draft.

6 - Chicago Bears - RCB Shaun Greenberg - Well, we tried furiously to move up and grab this CB, but the Bears would wisely have none of it. I was surprised to see Greenberg fall this far. Solid pick for Chicago - it fills a need with what just happened to be the top player available.

7 - San Francisco 49ers - QB Pete Hines - We caught a break here. Since Dallas let their QB Tucker walk away for free, anyone who wanted Hines in the draft knew they had to deal with me. Otherwise Hines was gone at 8. SF wanted the QB, and threw us a 2nd rounder next season to move down 2 spots. Perfect deal for us since we had our eye on the top center, and were fairly sure Dallas wouldn't take him. But Hines has questions. He may not ever be an elite QB. I'm not sold on him. And he won't get any playing time in the next 2 seasons most likely, since Garcia starts in SF. Questionable pick here - we saw Buffalo get burned on a pick just like this for Bledsoe's heir who never was called to the throne.

8 - Dallas Cowboys - LDE Preston Dillon - Rudderless Dallas picks up an instant starter on their d-line, replacing DE Ellis, who left as a free agent. Solid pick, good value.

9 - St. Louis Rams - C Leonard Duncan - The top rated player in the draft. Center wasn't a huge need for us, but we couldn't let a player rated so highly get by us. May not start this year, since Beurhig is quite good, despite how his ratings look. We planned to start him at LG this year, but that changed shortly.

10 - Miami Dolphins - LT Renaldo Cochrane - Miami got stuck here. I think they wanted a WR with this pick, but there was no-one rated high enough for a top-10 selection. So they went with a LT, which is an uber-important position, and one where they could use an upgrade. Solid pick, will be interesting to see who has a better career, him or Mabry, since Cochrane had the better stats.

11 - Kansas City Chiefs - FL Bart Meier - Probably not as good as the #11 pick, but no team was more desperate for a WR than KC. Immediately after taking Bart, though, they started shopping him. Immediate buyers regret. But Meier is still a Chief, so it looks like he'll stick around. Which is good for KC, they are devoid of talent there.

12 - St. Louis Rams - LG Will Beatty - We shopped this pick pretty hard, both before and after we drafted him. But in the end, he was the last "top" player available in this shallow talent pool. We had a couple chances to slide down a few spots, but there was no one to settle on at 15-20 that we didn't like as much as Beatty. So the interior of our line should be set for 5-10 years, which is nice. I had hoped for secondary help here, but had a backup plan, just in case.

13 - Oakland Raiders - WIL Rickey Swift - Oakland sent backup RB Gephart to the Giants for this pick. Great great trade for the Giants. They needed a RB very badly, and couldnt get anyone anywhere near Gephart's value at 13. Interesting pick for Oak, though. Maybe they are going 3-4, since they are thin at tackle? They already had a star at MLB in Napoleon Harris. Maybe Harris is asking for the moon in renegotiations, and Oak grabbed a cheaper replacement?

14 - Baltimore Ravens - RT Randy Matheny - The Ravens didn't feel like picking the 14th pick of the draft until the 2nd round started, so considering who they got, it's not terrible. Matheny is only the 3rd tackle on the roster, and has a good chance of starting soon at RT. Good value for the 35th pick. Not so hot for the 14th pick.

15 - New Jersey Jets - LG Glen Coleman - The Jets fell asleep at the wheel, and when they woke up, they grabbed the 25th player in the draft at 15. Guard was certainly a need, but they couldve grabbed a player of about the same talent in the 2nd. Had they picked at 15, they couldve taken the TE, or CB Flowers.

16 - Buffalo Bills - WIL Andy Tibbs - The Bills take the third ILB of the round. He essentially replaces Crowell, who was traded to Denver earlier in the day. Not a bad deal, save some money, and still pick at 21.

17 - Minnesota Vikings - SIL Jessie Horn - Great pick for Minn here. They had no MLB to speak of, really, and got a big upgrade here. I'm sure they'd have like to go offense, especially at a skill position, but there was just no one available.

18 - San Diego Chargers - RB Stan Brink - Not a huge fan of this pick. I understand the reasoning, since Tomlinson was out all last year. But SD needs defensive help in the worst way, since the offense puts up so many points. CB Flowers would've looked good here, as SD lost CB Jammer to an injury. Brink wont be a starter until Tomlinson retires or gets traded, and at the price he plays for, it doesn't look like he's getting traded till 2011.

19 - Minnesota Vikings - LCB Vince Flowers - A fine CB, but a player I personally am not sold on. Greenberg was clearly superior, pretty big drop-off to me. But Minn needs a lot of help, and they traded up here to grab a third 1st-round pick this year. Not a player I like, but a very good pick. Minnesota had a nice round.

20 - New England Patriots - RB William Stiggers - The Pats pick another RB high, for the second year in a row. A reach pick here, but it's also a need pick. They addressed a lot of needs in f/a, and addressed many positions where they had no need, too. An offensive tackle may have been a better pick here.

21 - Buffalo Bills - RT Kyle Nall - As usual, Buffalo addresses the offensive line with a top pick. They are still stinging from their busted guard a year ago. The Bills need a guard badly, perhaps Nall will move inside. Or perhaps they'll pick a guard up somewhere else, begging the question, where will Nall play? Solid Solomon Page already lines up at RT, and there are 2 young players that were drafted high last year at LT.

22 - Green Bay Packers - TE Bubba Coleman - Good TE here for GB. Not a top need, but who is left? Should start right away in GB.

23 - Detroit Lions - RDE Al Brunson - Det gets very good value here. I thought Oak was going to take Brunson here at 13, and move him inside to tackle. And since Detroit has NO-ONE at DT (only 1 on the roster), I wouldn't be surprised to see this run-stopping specialist, who weighs a lot, to move inside.

24 - St. Louis Rams - SS T.J. Norton - Our favorite player in the draft. We liked him so much, we considered him at 12. Excellent combine scores, size, and volatility. Could excel at safety, but we are really hoping to move him to CB. He is fast enough and agile enough, it's just a matter of hoping at this point. Some may argue 24 is too high, but he was the player we wanted all along in this draft. Now I just have to hope he proves me right. Our main concern was getting in front of Philly for this pick. I don't know why, but he looked liked an EaglesFan pick to me. Just out of curiosity, would anyone reading have picked him before I picked at 2(12)?

25 - Tennessee Titans - LCB Xavier Meier - The Titans trade up here in a megadeal. They get most of Seattle's draft picks this year for the 2(1) pick this year, and their first rounder next year. CB was a huge need for Tenn, sure, but a top QB in next years draft could have been a bigger need. An almost-certain top 15 pick is tough to trade away, and if any team needed the picks, its Tennessee. The trade depends on the value the Titans get with the picks this year. Meier isn't a bad start, but he's no star.

26 - New Jersey Jets - RCB Justin Alcott - The Jets go CB here. Quite a bad round for them. Had they been ready at 15, they could have had CB Flowers, and then gone G here, where there is still plenty of value. Unfortunate turn of events there.

27 - Oakland Raiders - RDE Travis Stargell - The opposite of the Jets. I thought they'd go DE/DT at 13, and LB later. But the LB's have long since dried up, whereas they still got a solid DE here. Another end who could move inside, if he's heavy enough. At 280 pounds, it might not work.

28 - Jacksonville Jaguars - LDE Riddick Shields - Not a huge need here, but the Jags do pick up Brackens eventual replacement. The best players remaining are basically lineman, where Jax is pretty well set.

29 - Houston Texans - LT Spencer Rebstock - Huge pick here for Houston. They had no-one to line up at LT this season. Rebstock will start from day one, and benefit from lining up right next to LG Davis for the next few years.

30 - Cleveland Browns - FL Bert Lucido - The Browns go and pick up one of the top WR's in the game...and then draft a WR? What's wrong with Irving Judge and Quincy Morgan as your 2nd and 3rd WRs? The Browns must really like Lucido, because they are stacked at WR. I thought they'd look tackle, since Light isn't a lock to return healthy at LT.

31 - Indianapolis Colts - RDT Jimmy Buckner - This pick was made superfluous by a trade for the Rams DT Damione Lewis. The Colts only had 1 DT on the roster as of this pick, and he's in his 13th year. So between Buckner, who I don't really like as a player (bars missing from perhaps the 2 most important areas for a DT) and Lewis, the Colts will lineup 3 new defensive lineman this season!

32 - Philadelphia Eagles - RG Juan Schroeder - Excellent value here from Philly. Do you expect anything else. The crown jewel of eNFL drafting picks up a solid player at a position they needed depth at. Things just unravel very nicely for Philly lately, don't they?