A Few Of My (Least) Favorite Picks

In Fuhbaw's ongoing draft analysis (this is the offseason, people, we need to run with this for all it's worth) let's continue to avoid the draft grades and the who's-hot-who's-not talk.

Yesterday, I ran down my favorite picks of the 2009 draft and the reasons why. Today, the flipside, selections that raise more questions than they answer, the head scratchers, the reaches.

These are a few of my (least) favorite picks.

1. Matt Stafford, Lions

The most debated pick in the draft, of course. The arguments for and against are out there and well known. The prevailing sentiment post-draft is that if a team is without a franchise quarterback and they have even the chance to select one, than the team must make the pick.

Really? How's that working out for Oakland? Wouldn't the Browns have been better served to not give away their 2008 draft for Brady Quinn? Vince Young in Tennessee? David Carr in Houston? Hell, even consider Detroit and Joey Harrington. Harrington was a can't-miss prospect who was brutalized behind an offensive line sponsored by Swiss cheese.

Stafford was nowhere near the college player Harrington was. He walks into a complete rebuild job with one clearcut weapon and nothing else to lean on. Contrast that scenario with Stafford at Georgia. The Bulldogs were a championship caliber team on talent, through and through, and they finished as the third best team in their conference (and I'm not sure that Ole Miss wasn't better by season's end). The quarterback isn't the author of everything on the field, but Stafford was awfully inconsistent in the Bulldogs play-action passing system.

I loved everything else about Detroit's draft, such a logical arch to their selections, but the top pick could mar what would otherwise be a franchise changing class.

8. Eugene Monroe, Jaguars

Yes, the bloodless, passionless play bothers me. But Monroe might turn out to be a solid starter. He's polished and has solid footwork. During the Virginia games I've caught in the past couple years, Monroe always plays with solid leverage.

I'm skeptical of the selection of Monroe in the top ten. Andre Smith was considered the top tackle on film. Had Smith not bungled the postseason, combine, and individual workouts, he might have been a legitimate number one overall selection. Jason Smith plays with the requisite nastiness and has elite physical gifts, making him a credible top-five selection (two seems high, but other factors were in play).

What I don't like is the Jaguars eschewing the upside of Michael Oher's abilities for the safety of Monroe's polish. It's one of those soulless chalk picks emblematic of teams whose own ceiling is only so high, say, the divisional round of the playoffs.

26. Clay Matthews III, Packers

I hope I'm wrong about this, but Matthews the Third, royal football lineage aside, fits the profile of a workout wonder. Only one season as a starter (and not until the fourth game of the season). Ridiculously top measurables. The measurables beg the question, though, why did it take four years to crack the starting lineup? Even at USC? More thoughts later this week.

35. James Laurinaitis, Rams

I don't want to bury the guy before he has a chance to prove himself, but I always thought that Laurinaitis was a tad overrated in his Ohio State career. He would dominate the cream puffs, produce at the Big Ten level, then disappear against big-time competition.

Consider, too, that Ohio State hasn't produced many elite front seven players the past several years. I won't call Vernon Gholston a bust yet, but he was horrendous last season. AJ Hawk has never lived up to his fifth overall selection. And Bobby Carpenter's underwhelmed to the point of Dallas chasing busted down free agents like Zach Thomas and Keith Brooking.

Combine that with a Buckeyes scheme designed to increase production from the linebacking corps and Laurnaitis's NFL career might end more like Tom Cousineau's than Chris Spielman's.

37. Alphonso Smith, Broncos

Denver got played by Seattle: next year's first! Not Smith's fault at all... but Josh McDaniels just might have been planted by Bill Belichick to ruin the Broncos.

42. Jairus Byrd, Bills

This has nothing to do with Byrd himself, who if history repeats itself will develop into a solid pro. Rather, I take issue with Buffalo's strategy concerning their defensive backfield. They do a great job developing quality starters then let them leave through free agency. This in turn forces them to spend more high picks on corners and safeties, limiting their ability to address other areas not nearly as set as the defensive backfield could be.

Granted, there's no sense in matching the ridiculous money San Francisco dropped on Nate Clements. But letting a good starter like Jabari Greer go before locking him up to a modest long-term deal spreads draft resources thinner than they already are.

Again, I've got no qualm with Byrd the player, rather the familiar arch Byrd's Buffalo career portends.

73. Derek Cox, Jaguars

I honestly have nothing to say about Cox, considering he played his college ball at the Division II level, William & Mary, to be exact, which at the draft occasioned a "William & Mary has a football team?" response from every group I was sitting amidst. Rather, it's what Jacksonville surrendered to draft such a coveted prospect (a second in 2010) and to whom (the Evil Empire's Foxboro office).