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Best fish in draft pond is a Badger
By Woody Paige
Denver Post Staff Columnist
Article Launched: 04/22/2007 01:00:00 AM MDT
Go fish.
The Broncos caught a big 1 in last year's draft and should try to land another 1 Saturday.
Some 1 who would have Jay Cutler's back.
I mock mock drafts. They're just bogus blogger-fodder.
Only a frail, elderly man knows whom the Oakland Raiders will take with the first pick in the draft, and Al Davis (who was not born July 4, 1829, despite what Wikipedia claims) certainly is not talking.
He apparently will choose between quarterback JaMarcus Russell and wide receiver Calvin Johnson.
Johnson is considered (by people who spend all their waking hours thinking about such things) to be the best player in the 2007 draft. He would give the Raiders their third heralded receiver, although the other two want out, and Johnson probably won't be thrilled to be there (where, Gertrude Stein said, there is no there there), either. The last time Davis got a genuine offensive threat in the first round was Tim Brown in 1988.
If the Raiders end up with Johnson, who will throw to him?
Which brings us to Russell. It cannot be forgotten that Davis has selected only three quarterbacks in the first round - Eldridge ****ey (1968), Marc Wilson (1980) and Todd Marinovich (1991). Ugh. Davis prefers retreads and, at his age (177?), can't plan too far ahead. "Just win immediately, baby!" Davis passed on Jay Cutler and Matt Leinart last year and went for safety Michael Huff.
Maybe Davis will draft a punter. Whatever, the Raiders will put the Detroit Lions in a quandary. General manager Matt "Edsel" Millen is as silly as Davis. Johnson would be Millen's fourth first-round wide receiver pick. How's that working out? The Lions aren't hot on Russell.
Then, there's Cleveland, which has the itch to ride with quarterback Brady Quinn, who doesn't scratch the top-10 list.
Then, the Tampa Bay Bucs, fourth, want Johnson, unless they can't get him, and the Arizona Cardinals want offensive tackle Joe Thomas, unless they don't want him.
And we haven't mentioned defensive end Gaines Adams.
So, how are we supposed to guess whom taciturn Mike Shanahan will decide on with the 21st pick, much less the 56th, 70th, 86th, 176th, 198th and the 233rd?
The Broncos need a defensive lineman, a linebacker, a defensive back, a wide receiver and an offensive lineman.
Which means they'll probably draft a running back in the first round.
Go figure.
Go fish.
One good trade deserves another. The Broncos exchanged Tatum Bell, George Foster and a fifth-round pick for Detroit's Dré Bly and a sixth-round pick. They actually talked at the time about the Broncos acquiring the Lions' first-round choice. The Broncos should revisit that possibility.
Why not a Lawrence Welk kind of deal? A one and a two and a three and let Detroit have its sixth-round pick back.
Multiple draft choices are precious, the mock-drafters assert, but a left tackle, a wide receiver or a defensive end who will be an all-pro for the next 10 to 12 years would be more prized. Consider what the Broncos did in 2006. They traded a No. 2 to Green Bay for Javon Walker, who became their No. 1 wide receiver. They also dealt a No. 1 and a No. 3 to St. Louis for the 11th overall pick, which they used for Cutler, who became their No. 1 quarterback.
They managed to pick up two solid players - Brandon Marshall and Elvis Dumervil - in the fourth round. Under my proposed trade, the Broncos would own picks in the third, sixth and seventh rounds - unless they had to Splenda the trade with the other sixth.
If they could pull off the trade, the Broncos, with the No. 2 pick overall, would get Johnson, Adams or Thomas. Johnson would provide a second-class wide receiver threat with Walker, and Adams would give the defense a superb pass rusher.
But the Bucs crave Johnson. How about if the Broncos make another deal (remember the Jake Plummer trade) with Tampa Bay, giving the Bucs the No. 2 pick for the No. 4 pick and the Bucs' third-round choice.
Then the Broncos could snatch my favorite player in the draft - Thomas, the extraordinary tackle from Wisconsin who could step in on the left side with the Broncos and send Matt Lepsis, recovering from an ACL, back to the right side. Thomas protects Cutler's back side and backside.
The 6-foot-6 1/2, 318-pound scholar was invited to the NFL draft in New York with all the early first-rounders. But Thomas declined, not because he is an enfant terrible.
Thomas would rather continue the annual tradition of salmon fishing with his father on Lake Michigan the last weekend in April. And the Broncos should go fish, too.
Enjoy
Best fish in draft pond is a Badger
By Woody Paige
Denver Post Staff Columnist
Article Launched: 04/22/2007 01:00:00 AM MDT
Go fish.
The Broncos caught a big 1 in last year's draft and should try to land another 1 Saturday.
Some 1 who would have Jay Cutler's back.
I mock mock drafts. They're just bogus blogger-fodder.
Only a frail, elderly man knows whom the Oakland Raiders will take with the first pick in the draft, and Al Davis (who was not born July 4, 1829, despite what Wikipedia claims) certainly is not talking.
He apparently will choose between quarterback JaMarcus Russell and wide receiver Calvin Johnson.
Johnson is considered (by people who spend all their waking hours thinking about such things) to be the best player in the 2007 draft. He would give the Raiders their third heralded receiver, although the other two want out, and Johnson probably won't be thrilled to be there (where, Gertrude Stein said, there is no there there), either. The last time Davis got a genuine offensive threat in the first round was Tim Brown in 1988.
If the Raiders end up with Johnson, who will throw to him?
Which brings us to Russell. It cannot be forgotten that Davis has selected only three quarterbacks in the first round - Eldridge ****ey (1968), Marc Wilson (1980) and Todd Marinovich (1991). Ugh. Davis prefers retreads and, at his age (177?), can't plan too far ahead. "Just win immediately, baby!" Davis passed on Jay Cutler and Matt Leinart last year and went for safety Michael Huff.
Maybe Davis will draft a punter. Whatever, the Raiders will put the Detroit Lions in a quandary. General manager Matt "Edsel" Millen is as silly as Davis. Johnson would be Millen's fourth first-round wide receiver pick. How's that working out? The Lions aren't hot on Russell.
Then, there's Cleveland, which has the itch to ride with quarterback Brady Quinn, who doesn't scratch the top-10 list.
Then, the Tampa Bay Bucs, fourth, want Johnson, unless they can't get him, and the Arizona Cardinals want offensive tackle Joe Thomas, unless they don't want him.
And we haven't mentioned defensive end Gaines Adams.
So, how are we supposed to guess whom taciturn Mike Shanahan will decide on with the 21st pick, much less the 56th, 70th, 86th, 176th, 198th and the 233rd?
The Broncos need a defensive lineman, a linebacker, a defensive back, a wide receiver and an offensive lineman.
Which means they'll probably draft a running back in the first round.
Go figure.
Go fish.
One good trade deserves another. The Broncos exchanged Tatum Bell, George Foster and a fifth-round pick for Detroit's Dré Bly and a sixth-round pick. They actually talked at the time about the Broncos acquiring the Lions' first-round choice. The Broncos should revisit that possibility.
Why not a Lawrence Welk kind of deal? A one and a two and a three and let Detroit have its sixth-round pick back.
Multiple draft choices are precious, the mock-drafters assert, but a left tackle, a wide receiver or a defensive end who will be an all-pro for the next 10 to 12 years would be more prized. Consider what the Broncos did in 2006. They traded a No. 2 to Green Bay for Javon Walker, who became their No. 1 wide receiver. They also dealt a No. 1 and a No. 3 to St. Louis for the 11th overall pick, which they used for Cutler, who became their No. 1 quarterback.
They managed to pick up two solid players - Brandon Marshall and Elvis Dumervil - in the fourth round. Under my proposed trade, the Broncos would own picks in the third, sixth and seventh rounds - unless they had to Splenda the trade with the other sixth.
If they could pull off the trade, the Broncos, with the No. 2 pick overall, would get Johnson, Adams or Thomas. Johnson would provide a second-class wide receiver threat with Walker, and Adams would give the defense a superb pass rusher.
But the Bucs crave Johnson. How about if the Broncos make another deal (remember the Jake Plummer trade) with Tampa Bay, giving the Bucs the No. 2 pick for the No. 4 pick and the Bucs' third-round choice.
Then the Broncos could snatch my favorite player in the draft - Thomas, the extraordinary tackle from Wisconsin who could step in on the left side with the Broncos and send Matt Lepsis, recovering from an ACL, back to the right side. Thomas protects Cutler's back side and backside.
The 6-foot-6 1/2, 318-pound scholar was invited to the NFL draft in New York with all the early first-rounders. But Thomas declined, not because he is an enfant terrible.
Thomas would rather continue the annual tradition of salmon fishing with his father on Lake Michigan the last weekend in April. And the Broncos should go fish, too.
Enjoy
Broncos for bringing back our roided up punter 
.
(In Madden)
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