The 75th Annual NFL Draft: A Review from Radio City Music Hall

As an avid football fan, who admittedly can not get enough information about all of the comings and goings the sport has to offer, I always wanted to attend the NFL Draft in New York City. Truth be told, I am one of the fans who not only gets jacked up for the draft, but also watches more of it year to year than most doctors would deem to be healthy. So, as a logical conclusion, this year I decided to attend the 2010 NFL Draft. But that was not the only thing I decided to do. I, along with my friend Rob, decided to attend all three days of the draft and to not miss a single pick. More on the results of that to come later, but let's get to the draft itself.

The first observation from the first night of the 75th NFL Draft was the incredible diversity of the fans in attendance. The Giants and Jets' contingents were expectedly large, but the amount of fans representing cellar-dwelling teams, like the Detroit Lions, Cleveland Browns, St. Louis Rams, etc., was pretty shocking. As everyone filed to their seats, filling up Radio City Music Hall with various football jerseys, the festivities began with Commissioner Roger Goodell welcoming us to the draft and proclaiming the St. Louis Rams on the clock, setting off the three-day madness. The first eight picks of the draft provided little in terms of surprises. Perhaps the most entertainment value came in the form of the bear hugs that each of the players gave to Goodell. With some of the mammoth lineman taking the stage and engulfing the Commissioner, it was hard not to think that he used an icepack or two later in the night. With the ninth pick came the first surprise, followed by one of the first potential blunders of the night.

At nine, the Bills selected CJ Spiller to join their already deep stable of running backs. Spiller is an outstanding playmaker and a welcome addition to any team, but it was surprising to see them take him without making a move at the position, such as Marshawn Lynch moving on to another team. Maybe that will happen sometime in the future. At pick ten, the Jacksonville Jaguars made the first questionable pick in DT Tyson Alualu from Cal. Widely regarded as a major reach for the tenth spot, Alualu does provide some help to the league's worst sacking team but the consensus from experts was that Alualu would have been available in the twenties or later. A more recent rumor on the subject claimed that a major reason why the Jaguars did not move back was to avoid being caught up in "Tebow Mania," potentially getting the hopes up of Florida/Jacksonville fans just to not take the QB. Either way, I consider this to be the first significant reach of the draft, which was fittingly met with the first large groan from the crowd. From eleven on, the trade frenzy began, with picks 11-13 being flipped as teams angled for their favorite players. The most active team on the first day was Denver, who traded back, then up, then around and every which way possible. The San Diego Chargers made probably the most aggressive move up, moving from pick 28 to 12 to grab their RB of the future in Ryan Mathews. As an Eagles fan, I was very happy that they traded up to grab Michigan DE Brandon Graham at 13, who I believe could be the explosive compliment to Trent Cole that the defense has lacked for years. As we would see later on the second day, the two third round picks that they gave up to move up proved insignificant as the Eagles continued trading and stockpiling mid-round picks.

Moving on to other significant picks and moves on Day One, the Seattle Seahawks planted their feet as the early "winners" of the draft by picking OT Russell Okung and S Earl Thomas in round one. Also, the Cowboys rushed to the podium to announce their pick of embattled WR Dez Bryan, as they were ecstatic that the playmaker fell to them at pick 24. They believe that Bryant will add a big playmaking addition to the WR corps to compliment Miles Austin (did we not hear this about Roy Williams a few years ago? Hmm...) Then, in what has to be the most talked about move of the first day, the Denver Broncos struck again. After masterfully trading back and amassing quality picks as well as their big WR of the future (Demaryius Thomas a.k.a. Brandon Marshall 2.0 according to some), Coach Josh McDaniels seemingly could not control his urges and they traded a 2nd, 3rd, and 4th round pick to Baltimore for... Tim Tebow! When Tebow's live feed was shown on the large screens of both ESPN and NFL Network, the crowd erupted in a chorus of groans and boos with several cheers from Gator-chomping Tebow fans going nuts. As Roger Goodell approaced the podium, chants of "Tebow Sucks" rang through the air at a level that had to make its way onto the television feeds. The anti-Tebow chants were hardly the only inflammatory chants of the night, as the crowd chanted "She Said No!" as the Pittsburgh Steelers were announced, obviously in response to the Ben Roethlisberger suspension. That all quelled rather quickly, though, when Goodell announced that the selection would be read by Zachary Hatfield from the Make-A-Wish Foundation. The chants turned into cheers at that point and the crowd also rose to their feet in cheers when various members of the U.S. Armed Forces were announced on stage. It just goes to show that, in a crowd full of every professional football team's fans that are rowdy, respect does shine through when it matters.

Day One concluded at around 11:30 P.M. after roughly four and a half hours of drafting, everyone exited from Radio City Music Hall into the streets of New York, flooding the surrounding blocks with football jerseys. The first day of the draft was full of intrigue and posturing by teams to get their guys. Going into Day 2, the theme then switched to players like Jimmy Clausen, Colt McCoy, Sergio Kindle and others who were slated to either go in the first round or early in the second. Having the night to think about it and digest round one allowed for more intrigue to develop for the second day, in my opinion.

At this point, rather than keep up with the specificity of the report on round one, I will stick to the biggest stories of the remainder of the draft. First, and foremost, the fall of quarterbacks Jimmy Clausen and Colt McCoy captured the headlines for days two and three of the Draft. Clausen, who was widely considered to go between picks 9-20 in round one, fell all the way to Carolina at pick 48 in the second round. Though it must be a major disappointment to Clausen, as well as a big hit to the bank account, he is in a much better situation in Carolina than he may have been otherwise. With a good offensive line, one of the best running games in the league, and a big-time WR like Steve Smith, he could not really ask for much more. It is no shoo-in that he will start over Matt Moore (and later-round pick Tony Pike, for that matter), but he is in a great position to win the job and make his mark. Colt McCoy, the winningest college quarterback in history, fell even further. He fell all the way to the Cleveland Browns at pick 85 in the third round. This pick stand out for two reasons to me: McCoy will have a chip on his shoulder to prove the other teams wrong for passing on him 84 times and the Browns got their guy about 50 picks later than many expected them to take him in round two. He has a chance to be one of the most successful quarterbacks out of this draft class for sure. Otherwise, the Patriots and Eagles traded up a storm, leaving this draft just a trade short of tying the mark for most trades ever in a draft. The Eagles amassed four fourth round picks, two fifth, one sixth, and ended up with three sevenths, thus clearly taking over day three of the draft. Depending whether you believe their logic that they liked the talent there more or the theories that they just think they are smarter than everyone else and want to stay on the cheaper side, the Eagles made a lot of picks and could get solid or good production out of many of them. The biggest thing about the Draft is that we will not know for years whether the moves were good, bad, or inconsequential. In the fifth round, many "player-for-late pick" trades occurred. Most notably, the Seahawks traded picks for Lendale White, Kevin Vickerson, and Leon Washington as well as a few picks to replace the ones they gave up. They added a lot of proven value that may not have been there in this year's draft. Lastly, I feel an obligation to note that pick 255, after eleven-plus hours of draft time, fell to the Detroit Lions, who selected this year's "Mr. Irrelevant" Timothy Toone from Weber State.

All of the draftniks and so-called experts have released their "Draft Grades" in the days since the draft ended and, while I understand the practice as necessary given our constant thirst for sports information, there is really little to truly gain from them. For what its worth, Mel Kiper Jr. considered the Seahawks and Ravens to have "A" worthy drafts and the Eagles, Bucs, Lions, and Cardinals as "B+" grades. In my opinion, the Seahawks did do an outstanding job of both picking potential stars as well as making some great value trades in the later rounds. The Ravens also did an outstanding job, largely in thanks to the Broncos. After trading for Anquan Boldin earlier in the offseason for a third and fourth round pick, they managed to trade their late first to Denver for a second, third, and fourth, with which they managed to draft OLB Sergio Kindle, massive DT Terrance "Mount" Cody, and a pair of promising TE prospects in Ed Dickson and Dennis Pitta to hopefully replace the aging Todd Heap. I liked the Eagles draft, though much of it will depend on whether their later round picks pan out. Graham and Nate Allen fill two very important needs, though, so I am content at this point with the moves they made. The Jaguars and Broncos were the most questionable teams in the draft, but they also may end up looking like geniuses in the end. We will have to wait and see to find out.

After all 255 picks, all of the hours charting and noting selections, and flipping between Mel Kiper/ESPN and Mike Mayock/NFL Network on our complimentary radios, I enjoyed my time attending the 2010 NFL Draft. I am a self-admitted football junkie, and I have to admit that it was very difficult to sit through every single pick. That said, we did it and I am glad that we did. The NFL has clearly stepped up to try and make the on-site draft experience better for the fans and Radio City Music Hall is perfect for this event. I would recommend attending at least one NFL Draft to anyone who considers themselves a die-hard football fan. The true results of this draft will likely be proven in the next two or three years or more, but the one true conclusion that I came to after attending the NFL Draft is that it is an event worth attending at least once in your life.