Jeremiah’s Oregon days are over … and possibly his pursuit of an education.  Rumblings have Masoli entering the NFL’s supplemental draft held on July 15th.

via Gil Brandt (nfl.com):

Two more players — Oregon QB Jeremiah Masoli and Illinois DT Joshua Price-Brent have not yet formally filed, but are expected to do so soon.

I guess Masoli could be a 3rd down back in the NFL.  Kinda like a Justin Forsett in Seattle?  But with little or no film demonstrating his blocking and receiving skills, it could be tough for Jeremiah to convince a club to take a chance on him.  Especially after he has burned the one coach (chip kelly) that got his back.  Yeah, I don’t see Chipper giving any glowing reviews for his former QB.

We all know what he did last season at Stanford as he tore apart the Pac 10. On the radio they mentioned his high school career. I know this means nothing when it comes to the NFL but it’s hard to get excited about the 9,600 yards he ran for in high school. Only 1,100 of came his freshmen year so that means he rushed for 8,500 yards in his last 3 seasons…pretty epic. I happen to be one of those guys who believes there’s something to being a winner or a stud at levels that aren’t pro, even though scouts don’t like their skill set. If I’m drafting a team I’m gonna strongly consider guys like Tebow and Gerhart because of their pasts. I don’t read as much into athleticism or technique because it’s obvious that these guys are great athletes. They may not have the physical ability that some of the higher rated players have but I like the guys that have had previous success. I don’t think that is something that can be overlooked (similar to the multi sports athletes I mentioned earlier).

I feel like Toby Gerhart is going to have a very big impact on the upcoming NFL season. He’ll be backing up Peterson in one of the best offenses in the game. He’ll be good on short yardage and he may not be much different than Peterson himself. The Vikings lost Chester Taylor who was arguably the best backup runner in the NFL and they replaced him with someone that could very soon become the same thing.

Holmes is now a Jet, along with Braylon Edwards, who came over via trade with the Browns last season.  Both are ballers and now teammates because of strained relations with their former teams.  A Super Bowl history maker and top-flight WR, turned 5^th round pick trade-bait, Santonio’s fall from grace, is all his own doing … but more importantly, it was also his team’s.

In professional sports, what defines a player as a ‘good’ asset for a team is extremely foggy.  Each team is like a state in the U.S., they’ve got their own set of standards — for their players.  Apparently, Holmes climbed over the Steelers moral barrier this off-season.  Now Ben Roethlisberger is edging ever so close to it.

Some teams grab guys merely for their balling skills, because to them, the only thing that matters, baby … is winning.  Getting to the final showdown is more important than a few criminal charges, or maybe an immature attitude, or both.  The Jets are the latest example of this Merc-style team building.  Rex Ryan seems to not care about the baggage a player is carrying around, as long as the dude can ball come Sunday (or at least turn off his iPod on the team jet?).

The current merc-hiring-super-maverick is Jerry Jones of Dallas, who has embraced guys like Pacman Jones, Michael Irvin, Deion Sanders, Nate Newton, and Eric Williams … all for the sole reason to obtain the shiny trophy.  And Mr. Jones, still smarting from passing on Randy Moss in 1998, took a controversial but very capable baller in Dez Bryant this April (whose dad was a pimp and mom, apparently, was not a prostitute).  Proving once again the Cowboys want Ws more than humanitarian awards.

The Oakland Raiders of yesteryear were the pioneers of the Merc recruiting, aka give me Ballers, not Boy Scouts.  Al Davis, the 60s-80s version of Davis, was the maverick that took on teams’ rejects and gave them one simple goal … just win, baby.  Those Raiders teams had dudes that were mean, weird, gritty, scary, reckless, and many more adjectives that were unsettling to other conservative squads.

With every rebel-yin, there is the conformist-yang, like Pittsburgh.  Santonio’s skill set was no longer wanted in Pittsburgh.  At least, to Steelers ownership & management.  Holmes is in the prime of his career, he’s no longer a Steeler, but shockingly, he’s still in the league and playing for an AFC team Pittsburgh will likely have to play in the playoffs.  Now, that amazing catch against the Cardinals has lost a bit of luster, at least in patches around Pittsburgh that are ripe with righteousness.

So when is bad, too bad?

The Philadelphia Eagles, like the Steelers, are another team that attempts to assemble a roster of anti-merc guys, or football Boy Scouts (really no such thing, just relative).  Except for the offseason they recruited Terrell Owens.  Philly was trying to walk the straight and narrow, but when the WR corp was weak and the team seemed one play-maker short of a Championship, they loosened their standards a bit.  Now TO is no criminal, nor druggie, nor female-slapper, nor dog-killer, but he is a rather large handful of babysitting baggage.  Somebody, that Reid thought he could reign in.

Year one of the Owens experiment went outstanding.  The Eagles reached the Super Bowl and lost to the Patriots.  But in the ensuing offseason, all hell broke loose.  Owens, whom seemed to be Boy Scout for his 1^st season as an Eagle, making the McNabb/TO combo look like a force for years to come, turned into a toxic player that had to be let go.  TO’s sit-ups in his driveway was the memorable lowlight of that offseason, amongst the bickering, the ‘next question’ press conference with his agent, and cheap shots at coaches and teammates.  Obviously, Reid probably would have chosen the blue pill if he had to consider the Owens option again.  Maybe not, because Reid would gamble again on another merc named Mike Vick in 2009.

Most stud coaches in pro sports believe they can turn a player into the cog that fits perfectly into their championship producing machine.  But more times, than not, it does not work out.  Maybe the greatest ironic merc-for-hire twist, was the Patriots stealing away Randy Moss from the Raiders.  How could Oakland (built for excel-merc-ness), lose one of the greatest WRs because he didn’t fit with the team anymore?

What do you do?

So, you are coach of a team, do you go baller or Boy Scout?  Do you care about how much of a criminal a guy is if he catches TDs in multiples?  Or dunks on fools regularly?  Or smacks HRs with such ease –like swingin a wiffle ball bat?  What is your price for the trophy?  Do you need your hero to be the guy that serves turkeys on Thanksgiving to needy people, as well as the guy that is MVP?  Do you care if your player slaps chicks at bars, shows up late for team meetings, as long as he gets his 2 sacks a game?

Of course all teams and fans would love the perfect player, the guy that is the best on the field and off the field.  These guys are scarce.

Boy Scouts with serious game-play skill sets like Joe Mauer, Derek Jeter, Peyton Manning, Tim Duncan to just name a few, are a rare breed indeed.  These are the kind of guys that even the owners are usually giddy towards.  The Boy Scout with MVP talent is certainly the golden calf in professional sports.

So is it not completely obvious that Broncos coach Josh McDaniels was blinded by the golden glare shining off of college football’s super hero Tim Tebow?  With pro-style ready QB Jimmy Clausen of Notre Dame still on the board, Josh rolled up his sleeve and reached reeeeeally high to take the super-project from Florida.  Wow.  Now if the Broncos have plans to add a church and a Boys & Girls Club to their football stadium in 2011, well then this was absolutely the right play.  But if they wanna win shiny trophies, I am not so sure.  No doubt super-human Timmy will inspire and be a great example to teammates and 10-yr-olds in Denver, but if he doesn’t live up to his 1st round value … an over-priced and much-hyped, cheerleader — he will become.

To each his own.

Some teams wanna win real bad, but they do not wanna sell their soul to the devil in order to do so.

Some teams wanna win real bad, and will not hesitate sidling up next to the devil to get one step closer to the big shiny trophy.

It seems to me it comes down to what makes a man sleep well at night.  Does a man (coach/owner/fan)  sleep well because the team won?  Or does a good night sleep come from the team giving its best effort with zero guilt?

I always said he was better than Taylor Mays, and I’m pretty sure this cements it as fact.

As an aside, is it just me or did Uncle Petey take a giant dump on Taylor’s head by taking another safety with the 14th pick?

#10 Jacksonville Jaguars – The Jags selected Tyson Alualu with the 10^th pick.  For all I know Alualu could become a solid pro, but this is a bad pick because the jags could have traded down 8-10 spots and still picked Alualu and received a few later round picks as compensation.  It’s called value, and the Jags didn’t get full value for their pick, a NFL no-no.  Derrick Morgan, Jason Pierre-Paul and Sergio Kindle were all higher on virtually everyone else’s board for DE’s.

#22 Denver Broncos – Demaryius Thomas.  The Broncos selected a workout wonder over a proven producer in Dez Bryant.  Although that’s not terribly surprising as Josh McDaniels is on a mission to have the NFL’s first all choir boy team. Nice in theory, but the NFL is littered with people of horrible character.  If having good guys on your team in more important than winning I admire you, just go coach High School football instead.

#25 Denver Broncos – I am still to distraught to rationally express my thoughts over this pick.  It needs it own post at a later date.  

I thought everyone else did a pretty good job for themselves in the first round.  I do question the Bills taking Spilller at #9 since they already have a stable full of backs, but Spiller is probably the #2 playmaker of the draft and it’s hard to crack on a team for grabbing a playmaker.  Sometimes taking the best player is better than drafting for need.  The Seahawks probably could have used another OL with the #14 pick, but that is a small complaint.  The Redskins may have reached a little with Trent Williams at #4, but who am I to question the Mastermind.  Williams was going top 10 at worst so it wasn’t too much of a reach.

Tim Tebow was picked ahead of you, ouch!

I wonder who is more hurt over this, you or Mel Kiper?

Kiper, who always has delusions of grandeur when talking Notre Dame football, was so positive Clausen would go in the top 10, that he offered to quit in a bet with McShay, if he didn’t.

Well…he didn’t.

I’m not sure why anyone really believed Kiper and his assessment of Clausen. I mean just look at him, he actually looks like the mascot of his favorite NFL team. And who would really trust a crows cousin?

Creepy.

Hopefully when Clausen does get picked today, he shows up in his new city and throws on another fantastically pretentious press conference showing off all of his high school jewelry and his Hawaii Bowl ring!

Or maybe he can just show up in a speedo with his ‘brahs’, that would be kinda cool as well.

Mel, Jimmy, keep your heads up. You’ll get picked soon enough, and the Irish will have another 5 win season next fall.

Cheer, cheer for Old Notre Dame
Wake up the echoes cheering her name,
Send the volley cheer on high,
Shake down the thunder from the sky,
What though the odds be great or small
Old Notre Dame will win over all,
While her loyal sons are marching
Onward to Victory.

Normally, a tradition to hang with guys all day to drink lots of beer, consume a silly amount of junk food, play old video games, and just do stuff women would shake their head at … the NFL Draft was a time to be caveman-like annually on a Saturday in April.  Not anymore.

This draft was spent mostly texting absurd attempts at humor to pass the time between picks. The texts varied … some vulgar, some funny, some bad, some worse.

Here now, is a run through of my texts log while watching the draft and texting bro/friends (some texts from bro, back east):

5:28pm – Meerkat: I love how all nfl analysts tip-toe around the “al davis is crazy” idea

5:31pm – Meerkat: gotta luv how the raider pick every year sheepishly smiles because he’s now a millionaire, but also a raider … kinda like gettin drunk and bangin an ugly chick

5:33pm – Meerkat: .. and the jimmy clausen drop has begun

5:38pm – Meerkat: yeah…there will be a few new videos on white-hoes-black-bros tonight

5:41pm – Meerkat: i wonder if mike singletary threw his gigantic wooden cross in with the trade to broncos

5:44pm – Meerkat: new coors light home draft … i can piss in a bucket, mix in some alcohol, and have the same thing

——- … at this point, i get bored … so it becomes nickname time … ———-

5:49pm – Meerkat: cj “on the back side” spiller

6:05pm – Meerkat: is earl thomas’s mom wearing her 70s wedding dress?

6:16pm – Meerkat: jason pierre-paul … sounds like he has his own hair salon

6:17pm – Bro: looks like he could take a big french shit

6:18pm – Bro: shittin out croissants and cordon bleus

6:24pm – Meerkat: the giants are bringing back naughty-by-nature… you down wit JPP?! (yeah, that was a stretch)

6:30pm – Meerkat: im gonna start pounceysbounceys.com an all boob website!

6:31pm – Bro: dude, stop

6:34pm – Meerkat: sergio “fuck books” kindle

6:36pm – Meerkat: jared odrick “the irish schlong”  (gotta say it like o’drick, yeah, that’s bad, i know)

6:36pm – Bro: jimmy “santa” clausen

6:36pm – Bro: how bout…cj “milk” spiller

6:37pm – Bro: ndamukong “peggy” suh

6:38pm – Meerkat: jimmy “it’s not in my fuckin” clausen (this was very roger dorn inspired)

6:40pm – Bro: jimmy “im a homo and got punched in the face” clausen

6:40pm – Bro: ed “notpussydaughter” dickson

6:42pm – Bro: derrick morgan “stanley”

6:44pm – Meerkat: demaryius “fuck that, divorce us” thomas

6:53pm – Meerkat: bryan bulaga looks like one of them eastern-europe james bond villains

6:58pm – Meerkat: sam “i drive a taurus, it’s a” bradford

7:05pm – Meerkat: serioulsy….tebow in rnd one!?

7:07pm – Meerkat: via gruden … tim “the big human being” tebow

7:09pm – Meerkat: (to bbryan) go get ur tim tebow pajamas!

7:11pm – Meerkat: tebow will ask schaap if he believes in christmas

7:13pm – Bro: allrite..shut up..i can’t take anymore!!!

Rest of article here.

Toby Gerhart is an interesting dilemma for many teams in the 2010 NFL draft.  What’s not to like about him?  He’s enormous, has great speed for his size, breaks tackles like a mad man, and apparently has a brain that’s worth a shit since he’s from Stanford.  Is the fact that he’s white really going to push him into the 2nd round?  Is it an automatic look at a change of position?  H-Back?  Fullback?  Linebacker? 

I loved his quote about a team asking about being a white running back.  What a world we live in – you think I might have a lawsuit on my hands if I asked a potential employee about their race?  Instead of an answer like “I’m just here to work” I would get the ole “You’ll be hearing from my lawyer.” 

I hope to see Gerhart taken late first round so he goes to an already made team and can just step into his role and dominate.  If he does slide it wouldn’t be the biggest of surprises, but if he’s taken after Tim Tebow, then God help the soul of the franchise that thinks The Blessed One is a better football player than Toby Gerhart.

PS – A side note on First Take this morning: Skip and the two live Stews all said the Rams need to take Suh over Bradford, but that’s not what I’ve been hearing is going to happen.  Is it possible there was a moment of sanity on that set?

With the first pick … the Houston Texans select DE Mario Williams, North Carolina State.

mins later …

With the second pick … the New Orleans Saints select RB Reggie Bush, USC.

mins later …

With the third pick … the Tennessee Titans select QB Vince Young, Texas.

Texans GM Charlie Casserly (2002-2006) was under tremendous scrutiny in the eyes of Texan fans regarding making the right choice with the overall 1st pick.  Austin fans screamed for Longhorns hero QB Vince Young to be the guy, because it seemed that QB David Carr (2002 draft) was not the answer.  But there was also the division of Houston fans that desired the electrifying kid from Southern Cal, Heisman Trophy-winning Reggie Bush.  The next Gale Sayers he was dubbed, by some.  How could Houston pass on such a dynamic RB that could also shred kick coverage teams?

Personally, I didn’t see Vince Young as a QB worthy of taking that high, he seemed to me as a taller Mike Vick.  A guy that can run away from any defender but not the pocket passer a team needs to get to the big game.  I’ll admit though, he played damn well his first season, kinda like Big Ben’s first season in Pittsburgh.  Ya know … let the defense win ball games, make sure the QB doesn’t screw things up.

2006 was a terrible year for QBs.  Jay Cutler was the only REAL pocket-passing gun-slinger that was top-ten worthy. There was also that guy whom was defeated by Young in the National Championship game, Matt Leinart.  Leinart had the golden boy image at USC: tall, winner, pocket-passer, semi-celeb … but with an average arm.  Other QBs in the draft: Kellen Clemens, Tarvaris Jackson, Charlie Whitehurst, Brodie Croyle, Brad Smith … on and on.

So naturally, in a bad QB draft, teams reach for guys because the position is weighted so heavily.  From what I heard, the Titans owner wanted Vince Young, so coach Fisher had to select him.  Why wouldn’t a defensive/run-first minded Fisher select OT D’Brickashaw Ferguson (jets) or DT Haloti Ngata (ravens) in that spot?  And Tennessee still had Steve McNair at QB.  Yeah, McNair was banged up and getting old real quick, but he was still the guy (McNair would later bolt for Baltimore in the summer).  So why take Young here?  Hmmmm.  I still think if Fisher doesn’t take Young at #3 he drops down far on the board.

Let’s now look at the-next-great-thing in Reggie Bush (at least at the time).  There were murmurs that Reggie’s dynamic ability was not going to translate to the NFL because the game is so much faster.  That Reggie broke too many runs outside and attempted to out-run the defense for positive yards.  In the NFL, RBs gotta take positive yards when they can by not dancing around too much or they will get swarmed under quickly.  I figured Reggie would adjust and still be the dynamic guy in the NFL, so in my mind, the Texans should take him.  I was wrong, but not surprised I was.

Mario Williams became the Texans’ man.  Not a shocker.  But it was just hard to imagine a GM taking a DE from North Carolina State over two flashy-dynamic-overly-hyped-offensive-guys from huge programs like USC and Texas.  Wow.  I still tip my cap to Charlie Casserly for listening to his own people and understanding what is best for his team when everyone else (fans & media) wanted the sizzle in Bush & Young. Check out this snippet from Wikipedia about Mario Williams (2005 NC St):

During the 2005 season, he started 12 games, recording 62 total tackles with 24 tackles for loss, 14.5 sacks, 15 hurries, a safety and a blocked kick. He maintained a 3.68 grade point average and according to reports, he would often be seen studying in the library on Friday and Saturday nights.

[yeah, I know Wiki is 90% fact, 10% wtf, but I got faith this time]

Williams was actually a year younger than most his age because he graduated from High School early to attend college.  Yeah, smart dude.  Quite the contrary from the Vince Young Wonderlic test chatter.  Not saying Young isn’t smart, just find the big difference interesting.

Right, wrong, reach, value, production … are all words that can be used to figure which team got the most bang for their buck.  So who did?

Vince had a solid rookie campaign with the Titans.  But season two we saw an alarming 9-17 TD/INT ratio.  Season three was hopeless because Vince sustained a sprained left knee, bruised ego, and then had to play cheerleader to Kerry Collins because the Titans were on a serious winning roll.  And oh yeah, there was the whole suicide circus (no need to go into all that).  In 2009, Collins kept the starter spot to begin the season but would drop the first six games opening the door for Young to take the spot back.  Young played well for the rest of the season, but the weak schedule did help.  Which leads us to now.  2010 is gonna be a huge season for Vince, most likely determining if he will stay a Titan or not.

Reggie Bush’s numbers speak volumes about his worth.  With 581 yds as his highest rushing total, it shows Reggie is not an every down back.  With his games played number at 16 only in his first year, tells you he’s likely not to play every game in a season.  Then toss in that his numbers from scrimmage declined from 2008-2009, and all of a sudden it seems Reggie is not gonna be the player everyone had hoped for.  With guys like LT and Westbrook getting let go after 9 & 8 years, it is not looking good for a part-time RB that is on year five.  Now, you can say the Saints got to the Super Bowl because Reggie was a key part, no doubt.  But it seems to me you can get guys in the draft to do the same things Reggie does for far less.

Mario Williams has steadily improved each season until 2009′s injuries slowed him down.  Unlike the previous two guys, Mario has been able to play every game of his career so far.  Never benched, always a full-time guy.  Was tied with DeMarcus Ware (pretty good pass rusher) for 3rd in sacks in 2007, and in 2008 was tied for 7th in sacks with Justin Tuck.  But ironically, while the other two guys have been in the playoffs, the Texans and Williams are still looking for their shot.  The Texans seem to be a player or two away from making a big run, 2010 could be there year.

Wow.  So what did we learn from this large pot of NFL data and analysis?  How about this …

• Charlie Casserly made the right call for Houston in 2006.
• Reggie Bush’s future in New Orleans is in doubt.   Do the Saints wanna invest more in him even though he’s not an every down guy?
• Vince Young is on the verge of becoming a career backup if he cannot put together a solid weekly performance as a pocket-passing starter (because his legs won’t bail him out forever).  Maybe he should have a chat with Donovan McNabb?
• Another successful season rushing the passer sounds very likely for Mario Williams in 2010.
• The NFL Draft always makes for interesting drama, the day of, and years after.

The Rams, Lions, Bucs have the top three picks this year.  And according to Scout’s Inc — here are the top prospects:

The Rams need a QB, let’s see if they reach for one.

stats & scout’s inc list — ripped from espn.com

The 2010 Senior Bowl is this Saturday in Mobile Alabama.  And the prospects in this game are working out all week long with NFL coaches and being viewed by scouts, writers, fans, bloggers (basically anyone with a NFL pulse that has the time to be in Mobile-freakin-Alabama).

The story that has every other kid overshadowed is …. “Tim Tebow has not looked good so far” … which has been expected by many so called experts.

The same lingering negatives are being repeated: inconsistent accuracy, bad footwork, lack-of-drop-back experience, wobbly thrown balls, elongated throwing motion.

Yadda, yadda, yadda.

This all adds up to Tebow not going in the 1st round.  But since the QB position is soooooo valuable, I’m willing to bet he gets picked up by somebody just before the turnover to round three.  Why?  Because of this whole ‘wildcat’ craze has swept up the imaginations of NFL offensive gurus.  These X-and-O nerds love having a new toy to play with … hence:

• Eagles & Michael Vick
• Dolphins & Pat White (2nd rnd)
• Browns & Josh Cribbs
• Vikings & Tarvaris Jackson (when Favre retires?)
• Jets & Brad Smith.

Tebow’s new squad can have him be 3rd-string QB and play some wildcat offense in the red zone or possibly in clock-burning situations … all while learning how to play the pro game.

And it does not matter if 80% of the NFL teams have Tebow going in the 5th round, because it just takes one maverick (or in the case of Al Davis … loon) to pluck Timmy before round 3.  I have read or heard somewhere that Jacksonville is sweet on Tebow and might reach for him (possibly for the ticket selling aspect?).

There is no question the guy has the heart and work ethic for the pro game … the question will be: does he get selected by the right team that provides the best environment for his development?

Tim can be compared to QB JaMarcus Russell with the Raiders.  How is JaMarcus doing in that Oakland environment?  Hmmm … not so good.  Of course, many will argue that we wasn’t that good to begin with.    There were some questions about Mark Sanchez coming out of USC early.  How can anyone forget Pete Carroll lookin all grumpy after failing to convince Mark to stay another season?  The kid, or quickly-grown-up-man, did darn well in December and January against the NFL’s best.

Projecting NCAA talent to the NFL is not easy.  Many have tried, many have failed.

So for the next 2 months were gonna hear every possible detail about Tim Tebow’s skill set and physical tools … especially Feb. 27 – Mar. 2 when the NFL Combine gets the spotlight.  Hell, if Greg Oden is visiting Indianapolis during the NFL Combine … we might even know the size of some of the players you-know-whats … not that we’d want to.

Here are some NFL draft websites:

• ESPN
• NFL
• Draft Countdown