4/27/07

The NFL Draft is coming up this weekend, which means we get to turn our attention back to the NFL for a few hours. The NFL Draft has spiked through the roof in popularity the last few years, for several reasons.

First, the NFL is the best run professional sports league in the world, bar none. The sport has the entire country by the short and curlys, and so anything NFL related will draw attention.

Second, the Draft is where college and pro ball come together for a weekend, so for fans of both (like myself) we get to see where these college greats will start out their professional careers.

Third, the Draft is where we get to see how months of evaluation, deception, and back room dealing comes to fruition. We've been hearing about this damn thing for several months now, and now we get to see how it will all fall out.

Fourth, every team gets their moment in the sun, and the worse the team, the brighter the spotlight is on them. Raiders fans had to sit through a miserable year last season, and their reward is, the get to be the ones making the first pick and setting the rest of the draft in motion. All eyes are on Oakland right now, with Detroit right behind them. Indianapolis, who just won the Super Bowl, is way off of everyone's radar.

My team, the Redskins, is slated to pick 6th. Of course, with teams on the move all the time on Draft Day, there is no guarantee that that is where they will actually end up picking. And it seems the Redskins are desperate to move out. They have reportedly offered trades to the Bears, Patriots, and Panthers to swap the 6th with their pick in exchange for a veteran player. They have also had their eyes on everyone, including LSU QB JaMarcus Russell, according to reports. However, I'm not sure that all this noise necessarily means anything. Two years ago, the Redskins made a covert attempt to move into position to get Auburn QB Jason Campbell. The cover was blown, however, and although they did end up getting their man, team officials were unhappy that their plans were put out in the open like that. The lesson here was that the Redskins, being the 800 lb gorilla of NFL teams, can't really sneak around. So, instead, the team appears to have taken on the tactic of making as much noise as possible and hoping their real plans are camaflouged by all the rouses. One thing is for sure, this year, no one will be sure exactly what the Redskins are planning on doing until they do it.

My prediction? The Skins stay at 6 and draft Louisville DT Amobi Okoye.

Check back with you to recap this thing on this blog Tuesday. Politics tomorrow; I'll be racapping the Dem debate from last night on MSNBC.