AFCN: Comparing The AFC North 2009 Drafts

 

 

Winners and losers of the AFC North in the NFL 2009 Draft: Looking at the draft picks below, we can see that the AFC North is the black and blue division of the NFL AFC North Draft Picks: Bengals: 1st Rounder: OT Andre Smith 2nd Rounder: ILB Rey Maualuga 3rd Rounder: OLB Michael Johnson 3rd Rounder: TE Chase Coffman 4th Rounder: C Jonathan Luigs 5th Rounder: P Kevin Huber 6th Rounder: CB Morgan Trent 6th Rounder: RB Bernard Scott 7th Rounder: RB Fui Vakapuna 7th Rounder: DE Clinton McDonald 7th Rounder: WR Freddie Brown Browns: 1st Rounder: C Alex Mack 2nd Rounder: WR Brian Robiskie 2nd Rounder: WR Mohamed Massaquoi 2nd Rounder: OLB David Veikune 4th Rounder: ILB Kaluka Maiava 6th Rounder: CB Don Carey 6th Rounder: CB Coye Francies 6th Rounder: RB James Davis Ravens: 1st Rounder: OT Michael Oher 2nd Rounder: OLB Paul Kruger 3rd Rounder: CB Lardarius Webb 4th Rounder: ILB Jason Phillips 5th Rounder: TE Davon Drew 6th Rounder: RB Cedric Peerman Steelers: 1st Rounder: DT (3-4 DE) Ziggy Hood 3rd Rounder: OG Kraig Urbik 3rd Rounder: WR Mike Wallace 3rd Rounder: CB Keenan Lewis 5th Rounder: CB Joe Burnett 5th Rounder: RB Frank Summers 6th Rounder: DT Ra'Shon Harris 7th Rounder: C A.Q. Shipley 7th Rounder: TE David Johnson Comparing the drafts of the AFCN we can see it's going to be a black and blue division, with only four offensive skills players taken the first five rounds, with two WRs to the Browns, one to the Steelers, and a TE to the Bengals (half a skill player) Great draft by the Bengals, the one I really wanted for the Browns, and they had time to pick a punter in the middle. The rookie team of Kokinis/Mangini hurt the Browns; they got schooled a bit. The trade of the number five pick was way undervalued, but they wanted to trade out if it because Lerner is still paying Romeo Crennel and Phil Savage, I would guess? Nevertheless, trading back twice in the first round only garnered two sixth round picks. When you compared it to Bill Bellicheck moving from pick #23 to #26, he got a fifth rounder; Mankok moved from #17 to #19 and then #19 to #21, for two lowly sixth round picks. Now I am not complaining about the player picked per se: they are very good players, will be first day starters, and they won't be on a bad squad. I just felt we never got value for our pick. The first mistake in my mind was passing on Michael Oher and letting the Ravens and Ozzie Newsome move up to grab Oher in another master stroke in drafting. I would guess taking Alex Mack thwarted the Steelers' plan to rebuild their OL. But did they look at the Senior Bowl practices when BJ Raji manhandled Mack like a ragdoll? Now Mack has to line up against DTs Ngata (of the Ravens), and Hamption (of the Steelers) twice a year. The second mistake was passing up on Rey Maualuga at number #36 for a need pick of Brian Robiskie. The Browns are desperate for WRs and Robiskie is a sure-hand WR, but he would have been available at number #50, the Browns' next pick. There was a run on DBs at the top of the second round, but it seems that Mankok missed it. To make matters worse, Mankok took another pair of stone-hands in Mohamed Massaquoi of Georgia, and got a Quincy Mrogan clone. He also passed up on OG Phil Loadholt, OG Andy Levitre, RB LeSean McCoy, DT Fili Moala, and CB Sean Smith, all players in great or greater areas of need. I did hear that Mankok wanted smart, great, character players, but did they want all Einsteins on their squad? It's still a game of football, and apart from a couple of positions, raw athletic skills and instincts dominate the gridiron. The rookie team of Kokinis and Mangini really hurt the Browns in trade negotiations, and it looked like their value charts were a bit off. The problem is this draft class will take longer to be evaluated since WRs typically take three years to develop. Will Mangini get that honeymoon period to put a competitive team on the field? I think NOT, and they shot themselves in the foot by taking potential over production yet again. Mangini is trying to clone the NJ Jets in Cleveland. Why won't anyone teach him that it's lunacy to keep doing the same things and expecting a different outcome?