Did I Feel a Draft Pass By…

Did I Feel a Draft Pass By…
By Dr. Bill Chachkes

Talk about your fast first day! After last year’s Marathon six hours and eight minutes, we had a rapid fire three hours and thirty-three minutes for a first round. Some people are already claiming it was too short. I say that as much as I love the draft, leave it at a shortened first two rounds, maybe adjust the time back up to twelve minutes and the second round to 8 minutes. Lets roll it back to 2 Pm next year and it will still end around the same time. Some of the more memorable moments of the 2008 NFL Draft:

Jets fans can say all they want that Vernon Gholston is their man, but plenty of them were chanting for Darren McFadden at Friday’s Prospects Preview event at the Winter Garden atrium at the World Financial Center, as well as at the draft Saturday morning and afternoon. The two time Heisman Trophy runner up put all that disappointment behind him by becoming the 4th overall pick to Oakland. Our Partner Zennie Abraham had the best questions of the press conference for McFadden. He had the best attitude answering them as well.

Right now, Kansas City’s GM Carl Peterson looks like the genius of this draft. A Glenn (Dorsey of LSU) first, then two Brandon’s (Albert & Flowers) makes him look real smart. But will Herm Edwards be able to win the game(s) with these raw recruits? We shall see….

Everyone expected Chad Henne or Brian Brohm to be the next QB selected. No one thought Joe Flacco was Good enough to be a first round QB. Except maybe Ozzie Newsome, and our own Jon Wagner, and myself (read John’s piece that was posted before the draft elsewhere on the site!) While I myself thought that Flacco was as good as Henne or Brohm, I thought the natural course would be for the teams looking for QB’s to take the FBS (1-A) Players before the FCS(1-AA) Players, at least at QB, since so many of the better QB’s from 1-AA slid after All Star games, Combine’s and Pro Days.
Joe Flacco never slid in my mind.

On Sunday we got to speak to 4 People who are the very fabric of the game. First, I had 60 seconds with Commissioner Roger Goodell. By the 30th second he had confirmed what I knew all along before ever meeting him. While no one could ever be perfect, the game we love is safe in his hands. At least for now anyway. Then I spoke to a man who believes that every man deserves to be congratulated for what ever he does in this world. He also believes that the last pick in the draft is every bit as special as the first. I’m talking about Mr. Irrelevant's Paul Satala. We should have more grand men of the game like him.

Finally two men who have always kept it strait in their reporting spent a few minutes each with me. CBS Sports’ Clark Judge, and ESPN’s John Clayton. Both thought it was a wild first day. Clark had said to Zennie and I late Saturday that he thought a few teams had gone retro with their scouting this time out (I said “you mean like back in the 60’s with yellow legal pads in front of the TV watching college games Saturday afternoon?).
John Agreed with me that the Lions Pick up of Army’s Caleb Campbell was a quality selection for Round 7, but can he score touchdowns? Who Knows….


Photos: Howie Long Speaks to the Media(Left) before his Son Chris(Right) took the stage stage in the interview room at the 2008 NFL Draft