Annual Draft Preview
As everyone knows, this is the most important weekend of the entire sporting year: NFL Draft Weekend. As this blog aims to be the internet's premier source of information on Lausanne and the NFL draft, it is time for our annual Draft preview.
The NFL Draft is particularly popular amongst football fans in the Sangiorgio household, so much so that it frequently receives more attention and interest than the following NFL season. The reason for this seemingly paradoxical attitude is simple: the NFL Draft is the physical manifestation of the eternal optimism of the human spirit. On Draft day, everyone is a winner. Potential All-Stars are added to your team, roster holes are filled, and intriguing possibilities abound. When compared to the harsh realities of the actual sport (and for Charger fans, the realities are usually harsh), the Draft shines brilliantly like some sort of Platonic Ideal.
There are of course bad Drafts. Between 1994 and 2000, the Chargers (thanks to being run by pathologically anti-draft has-been Bobby Beathard) only had a single 1st round pick, which they spent on what has come to be seen as the biggest draft bust in the history of the NFL -- his name shall not sully this good blog. Those were indeed lean years for the San Diego Draft enthusiast. Fortunately, the arrival of John Butler and AJ Smith in 2001 signaled the beginnings of a wiser and more interesting Draft era. It is once again a pretty good time to be a Chargers Draft fan.
Instead of a thorough prediction of which team will choose who and why, I have decided to instead limit myself to five predictions. If any of these prove to be wrong, I'll delete them after the fact; if any of them are right, I'll end up looking like a genius.
The Chargers will not draft a running back with their first pick
This one just seems blindingly obvious to me. First-round running back are expected to be starters. The Chargers already have two starting running backs who receive millions of dollars. Given that a first-round pick is guaranteed a large salary, it makes no sense to have him sit on the bench or share time with two other running backs. I predict instead that the Chargers will try to grab a running back in the third or fourth round instead, where he will be significantly cheaper.
The Chargers will trade some of their draft choices at some point to move up so that they can select a white, unathletic, undersized player.
This one I'm just basing on recent history, c.f. Eric Weddle, Jacob Hester.
Neither of the two big quarterback prospects will have great NFL Careers
The two highest-rated quarterbacks this year are Matt Stafford of Georgia and Mark Sanchez of USC. Neither of them have hard particularly glorious college careers -- Stafford owns a career 57% completion rate (61% in his senior year) and Sanchez only started for one year, which is pretty embarrassing considering that it means he couldn't beat the forgettable John David Booty for the starting job as a Sophomore. I think that most of the hype surrounding the two of them is a product of the lack of talent in this year's drafting class as a whole. Although they are both big and strong (Stafford more so), neither of them showed the dominance of the college game that is typically associated with successful professional quarterbacks.
The sun will rise in the east and the morons in the audience will boo whomever the Jets select
I'm less sure about the sun than I am about the booing. The mind-boggling stupidity of the people who actually attend the NFL Draft -- even compared to the typical football fan's intelligence -- is truly remarkable.
AJ Smith will (again) break me and my father's hearts by not selecting 4 OL and 4 DL with the Chargers' 8 picks
There is nothing more exciting than selecting an OL or DL in the 1st, 2nd, or 3rd round. Strong offensive and defensive lines are the keys to football success and highly drafted lineman typically have higher success rates than other positions. In the past, the Chargers have done pretty well with Marcus McNeil, Igor Olshansky, Luis Castillo, and even Toniu Fonoti. Cornerbacks, linebackers, safeties, and wide recievers are gambles that may or may not pay off; lineman are like money in the bank and therefore the joy of a true draft enthusiast.
To all of my non-Charger-fan readers, I apologize for this extremely off-topic post. Regular posting will presume very shortly.
The NFL Draft is particularly popular amongst football fans in the Sangiorgio household, so much so that it frequently receives more attention and interest than the following NFL season. The reason for this seemingly paradoxical attitude is simple: the NFL Draft is the physical manifestation of the eternal optimism of the human spirit. On Draft day, everyone is a winner. Potential All-Stars are added to your team, roster holes are filled, and intriguing possibilities abound. When compared to the harsh realities of the actual sport (and for Charger fans, the realities are usually harsh), the Draft shines brilliantly like some sort of Platonic Ideal.
There are of course bad Drafts. Between 1994 and 2000, the Chargers (thanks to being run by pathologically anti-draft has-been Bobby Beathard) only had a single 1st round pick, which they spent on what has come to be seen as the biggest draft bust in the history of the NFL -- his name shall not sully this good blog. Those were indeed lean years for the San Diego Draft enthusiast. Fortunately, the arrival of John Butler and AJ Smith in 2001 signaled the beginnings of a wiser and more interesting Draft era. It is once again a pretty good time to be a Chargers Draft fan.
Instead of a thorough prediction of which team will choose who and why, I have decided to instead limit myself to five predictions. If any of these prove to be wrong, I'll delete them after the fact; if any of them are right, I'll end up looking like a genius.
The Chargers will not draft a running back with their first pick
This one just seems blindingly obvious to me. First-round running back are expected to be starters. The Chargers already have two starting running backs who receive millions of dollars. Given that a first-round pick is guaranteed a large salary, it makes no sense to have him sit on the bench or share time with two other running backs. I predict instead that the Chargers will try to grab a running back in the third or fourth round instead, where he will be significantly cheaper.
The Chargers will trade some of their draft choices at some point to move up so that they can select a white, unathletic, undersized player.
This one I'm just basing on recent history, c.f. Eric Weddle, Jacob Hester.
Neither of the two big quarterback prospects will have great NFL Careers
The two highest-rated quarterbacks this year are Matt Stafford of Georgia and Mark Sanchez of USC. Neither of them have hard particularly glorious college careers -- Stafford owns a career 57% completion rate (61% in his senior year) and Sanchez only started for one year, which is pretty embarrassing considering that it means he couldn't beat the forgettable John David Booty for the starting job as a Sophomore. I think that most of the hype surrounding the two of them is a product of the lack of talent in this year's drafting class as a whole. Although they are both big and strong (Stafford more so), neither of them showed the dominance of the college game that is typically associated with successful professional quarterbacks.
The sun will rise in the east and the morons in the audience will boo whomever the Jets select
I'm less sure about the sun than I am about the booing. The mind-boggling stupidity of the people who actually attend the NFL Draft -- even compared to the typical football fan's intelligence -- is truly remarkable.
AJ Smith will (again) break me and my father's hearts by not selecting 4 OL and 4 DL with the Chargers' 8 picks
There is nothing more exciting than selecting an OL or DL in the 1st, 2nd, or 3rd round. Strong offensive and defensive lines are the keys to football success and highly drafted lineman typically have higher success rates than other positions. In the past, the Chargers have done pretty well with Marcus McNeil, Igor Olshansky, Luis Castillo, and even Toniu Fonoti. Cornerbacks, linebackers, safeties, and wide recievers are gambles that may or may not pay off; lineman are like money in the bank and therefore the joy of a true draft enthusiast.
To all of my non-Charger-fan readers, I apologize for this extremely off-topic post. Regular posting will presume very shortly.
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