Enough of the Draft!

The 2006 NFL draft will be taking place this weekend at Radio City Music Hall. The NFL Draft is one of my favorite weekends of the year, cuz I am one of the countless football fanatics that actually watches the thing.

How can you not be entertained by it?

It's 15 minute intervals of Chris Berman, Tom Jackson, Chris Mortenson, and Mel Kiper Jr talking about everything and nothing, with 3 second announcements sprinkled in from Paul Tagliabue.

The fun never stops!!

Ok, so maybe you have to be somewhat of a die hard to really revel in the NFL draft.

Don't tell that to ESPN though. For the last two weeks it seems like every time I turn on ESPN they are showing either a 4 hour NFL Draft preview, or the Battle of the Gridiron.

Gee, there's nothing I like watching more than Peyton and Eli Manning competing in bass fishing, and Sean Salisbury waxing poetic on some division 2 running back with a ton of upside.

I guess what I'm saying is that this whole draft thing has gotten way out of hand. I mean what the hell can you say about the draft for 3 hours every day before it's even taken place?

"Well Trey, word out of Houston is that the Texans are now thinking of drafting Florida center Joakim Noah with the #1 pick. The athleticism he showed in the Final Four has really skyrocketed him up their board."

The most ridiculous aspect of the Draft previews is that you can't trust a word you hear anyway. The NFL draft is filled with more misinformation, BS, and posturing than a session of Congress.

Nobody tells you the truth.

I mean think about it. If you find some player under the radar, or a big name guy, and you really like him, are you gonna go tell every other team in the league, "Hey this guy has got all the tools to be a surefire Hall of Famer."

Of course you aren't. You're gonna tell him that his workout was unimpressive, and that you're gonna look in another direction.

All it becomes is a cornucopia of 40 times, verticals, bench presses, and test scores.

#1 Picks Since 1990

Never once do they actually see the players play in an NFL game. This is why the draft is such an inexact science. Devoting so much time to studying it seems kind of futile doesn't it? ESPN having so much time to fill of course has to come up with "stories" to help fill the time. So we get the 20 minute piece on what the 49ers are going to do with their 4th round pick.

Where is my Chris Connelly piece on some defensive end with misericordia who survived the Great Irish Potato Famine, Holocaust, and Vietnam before playing at little known Montana Tech, and is now on the virge of being a 7th round pick? What an inspiration!! I can't wait to watch all his practice squad games.

No all I get is 15 segments on Vince Young throwing funny, and scoring low on the Wonderlic.

"Vince, what do you have to say to all the doubters out there?"

"Well, once I'm drafted I will show them all......blah blah blah blah blah."

I don't care!!!!!!

I just want to watch the actual draft so I can see who's going where, and what my Bears are getting. I don't care about what Vince Young thinks about all the teams that may or may not potentially disrespect him by not drafting him... potentially.

Of course now there is all the talk that Reggie Bush might not be the #1 pick of the Houston Texans. Word is that the Texans have come up with contract proposals for both Bush, and NC State DE Mario Williams. Williams apparently is a man beast in the mold of Julius Peppers and Dwight Freeney.

Well he's that or all the teams below Houston are just saying that so maybe the Texans let Reggie Bush slip to them.

Personally I think Houston has to take Reggie Bush. He is a gamebreaker with the ability to win a game for you any time he touches the ball. You don't want to be the team who passes on that kind of ability. Think New Jersey and Sam Bowie leading to Chicago and Michael Jordan.

Mario Williams may turn out to be all that they're saying he is, but that still doesn't mean you draft him over Bush. Of course I think the Texans would be better served to trade the pick for a bunch of them, and improve their offensive line. Their line cannot protect David Carr as it is, but then again a guy like Reggie Bush can really improve your offensive line.

I don't know what to do. It's all too damn confusing.

All I really want to know is who are the Bears going to draft. We have needs in a few areas;

• Cornerback
• Tight End
• Defensive Line
• Outside linebacker

The Bears seemed to have added depth to their secondary this weekend by signing Ricky Manning away from the Carolina Panthers. Then of course the very next day he has to go and beat up a nerd at Denny's. So now maybe drafting another young corner is still the way to go. The NFL is becoming more pass happy every season, and having a lot of depth in the secondary is never a bad thing.

Tight end though is still, and always has been a huge need for the Bears. Not since Mike Ditka have the Bears had a solid option at the position. A good pass catching threat at Tight End would really help Rex Grossman out.

The defensive line and outside linebacker spots are precautionary. With Tank Johnson hurting himself this offseason, and Alex Brown having surgery we could use some extra bodies. Outside linebacker is more of a reaction to Lance Briggs hiring Drew Rosenhaus and wanting more money than Urlacher, and the fact that while he's acceptable, Hunter Hillenmeyer isn't exactly irreplaceable.

I think the Bears will go with another corner. It seems likely to be either Florida State's Antonio Cromartie, Virginia Tech's Jimmy Williams, Ohio State's Ashton Youboty, or Fresno State's Richard Marshall.

My "educated" guess is that it will be Youboty, which would make me happy enough. How can you not smile saying that name? Try it.

Youboty. (yuuu-bo-teee)

It rolls off the tongue.

Plus he's only the second person I've ever known with the name Ashton.

Since everybody else is doing it, I guess I'll do my own mini mock draft.

My Top Five

1. Houston Texans-Reggie Bush, RB, USC
2. New Orleans Saints-Mario Williams, DE, NC State
3. Tennessee Titans-Matt Leinart, QB, USC
4. New York Jets-D'Brickashaw Ferguson, OT, Virginia
5. Green Bay Packers-A.J. Hawk, LB, Ohio State

There that's my Mel Kiper impersonation, sans the fine helmet of hair that Mel sports. Rumor is it's made from kevlar.

The best part about all this pre draft hype for me?

I won't even be able to watch it. I'm going down to Champaign for the weekend with the McCahill boys. So when the draft finally starts I'll be starting my own draft. A Miller Genuine Draft in the first hour of a reported 14 (!) hour barcrawl.

Maybe I'll Tivo it.