Joe Haden redeems himself
National Football League
Draft King Analysis
March 24, 2010
Lou Pickney, DraftKing.com
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If Alabama is going to repeat as the BCS Champion this season, they will face a tough road. Remaining competitive in the SEC is difficult, but consider this: the Crimson Tide will be facing several teams coming off of a bye week in 2010. The list: South Carolina, Ole Miss, Tennessee, LSU, Mississippi State, and Auburn. My brother Matt noticed this quirk when I sent him this link to the 2010 SEC schedule. With 12 game schedules now the norm, there are fewer bye weeks than before, which makes this scheduling oddity all the more unlikely to happen.
The next update on here will reflect the trade made by Seattle to get backup quarterback Charlie Whitehurst from the Chargers. That move all but assures that the Seahawks won't take Clausen (or any other QB) at #6 or #14. With their first pick, Seattle could draft an offensive tackle, stretch to take a defensive end, or perhaps go with University of Tennessee safety Eric Berry.
It will be interesting to see what Cleveland does at the #7 position. Cleveland GM Mike Holmgren has been quoted as saying, "I wish I liked him more" concerning Clausen. The Browns have a number of needs, though they filled an immediate hole at quarterback by signing Carolina QB Jake Delhomme. The Browns gave away Brady Quinn for pennies on the dollar to Denver, receiving in exchange a sixth-round pick in 2011, a conditional pick in 2012, and RB Peyton Hillis.
Then again, maybe Quinn wasn't such a bargain for the Broncos. I think to the Mississippi State vs. Arkansas game in Little Rock in 2007, where an intoxicated fan one row behind me claimed that the Razorbacks would have won the BCS National Championship if Hillis had been healthy in 2006. So, as always, opinions may vary.
The draft is one month away, yet opinions remain strongly divided on where Florida QB Tim Tebow might end up going. The most optimistic projections I've seen have him going at #10 overall to Jacksonville and the most pessimistic have him falling to the bottom of round three. I think the former is more likely than the latter (since it takes just one GM or owner to really believe in him for him to go in a high spot), but I still think that it's most likely that he will end up going early in round two. Him falling out of round two would seem unlikely, though as always you never know for sure in the draft.
Tebow looked good at Florida's pro day, but concerns about his throwing motion modification have made an already uncertain situation even more tenuous. My gut tells me that most teams have him graded as a second-round pick, but that a few GMs and owners are impressed enough to use a first-round selection on him. There is no questioning Tebow's leadership skill, but it requires more than leadership to be a successful pro football quarterback.
Highly-touted cornerback Joe Haden, a teammate of Tebow at Florida, made up for a disappointing 40 yard dash time at the NFL Combine (4.57 seconds) at UF's pro day, running a 4.45 and reasserting himself as not only the top corner prospect in the draft, but also as a bona fide top ten prospect. Even with the poor Combine time, there was no doubting Haden's ability, as he regularly matched up with (and often shut down) elite wide receivers from the SEC and beyond.
