Draft/FA Watch

Probably Seattle, although he said he wanted to go to Arizona.

 

ALLEN PARK, Mich. (AP) — The Detroit Lions took care of one of their pressing needs Wednesday when offensive guard Rick DeMulling agreed to terms on a two-year contract.

The team did not release details of the deal.

DeMulling, who started 41 games for the Indianapolis Colts during the previous three seasons, will be plugged in as a starter along with guard Damien Woody, tackle Jeff Backus and center Dominic Raiola.

Detroit still has to add a tackle — in the draft or free agency — to replace Stockar McDougle, who signed with the Miami Dolphins on Tuesday.

Indianapolis drafted the 6-foot-4, 304-pound DeMulling in the seventh round of the 2001 draft. The former Idaho standout played in seven games as a rookie, started 14 the next year, 16 in 2003 and 11 last year.

The Baltimore Ravens pursued DeMulling, but decided he was too expensive. DeMulling also visited the Buffalo Bills after the Colts released him this month to help clear salary-cap space.

The Lions have been active this offseason.


They signed safety Kenoy Kennedy and tight end Marcus Pollard on the same day earlier this month, then signed quarterback Jeff Garcia to back up Joey Harrington. They would also like to add a No. 3 receiver.


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6 for 7 in the free agents they've targettted.

sean rogers
dominic raiola
garcia
kennedy
pollard
DeMulling

Corey Bradford is the 7th...

 

NFL | White Workout Details - from www.KFFL.com
Fri, 18 Mar 2005 1006 -0800

UAB WR Roddy White was clocked at 4.42 in the 40-yard dash, had a 41 1/2-inch vertical jump, 10-foot-6 broad jump and a 4.07 short shuttle during workouts at his pro day.

 

JACKSON BUSTS WRIST AT WORKOUT

A league source tells us that Michigan cornerback Marlin Jackson, projected by many as a potential first-round draft pick, likely will now see his stock plummet after suffering a broken wrist during his Pro Day workout.

Jackson, we're told, was backpedaling and turning after a deep ball. The throw was poor, and he had to adjust for the ball and fell after he caught it, landing awkwardly on his wrist. Jackson said, we hear, that he felt something "pop" when he hit the ground.

Jackson could potentially fall out of the first day of the draft, depending on the severity of the injury. (surely they meant 1st round)

We've also been told that Michigan safety Ernest Shazor, projected as a potential second-rounder, ran a 4.7 in the 40, possibly dropping himself out of the first day.

Finally, we're hearing that Pitt left tackle Rob Pettiti, who went from a potential first-rounder prior to the 2004 season to a possible fourth rounder after the campaign, performed so poorly at his Pro Day workout that he will be lucky to be even selected on day two of the draft.

PFT

 

Figures, anytime I am high on someone this happens...he just fucking blew it.

 

I did a little number crunching on what Isaw as the experts 1st rounders. It seems there is a concensus on about 9 first picks to go before us;

Alex Smith
Ronnie Brown
Braylon Edwards WR
Aaron Edwards
Carnell Williams
Cedric Benson
Adam Jones CB
Shawn Merriman DE
Alex Brown OT

4 of these 8 will be there for us to pick from as far as the top rated.

Erasmus James DE
Derrick Johnson LB
Marcus Spears DE
Mike Williamson WR
Heath Miller TE
Atrel Rolle CB
Jamal Brown OT
Travis Johnson DT

Most put Baas at 2nd round.

 

I think you can put Mike Williams in the top 10 and probably Derrick Johnson up there to fill out the top 11.
Since for now we are led to believe that we are fine at RB and LB with guys like Fields Foster and Davis all coming back we have 4 clear areas of need for now:

WR – As has been stated here Troy Williamson is not worthy of a #14 for us. Though he can run pretty damn fast he’s not a good fit here and many will debate whether he is even the third best NFL WR prospect in a spotty crop that thins out steeply after those top two. I still say that we’d do better for this season to acquire a vet than expect to draft some out of the blue immediate contributor like Colbert was for us last year. If Smitty is back to 100%, Colbert continues to develop, and Proehl has enough left in the tank all we need is a seasoned possession guy . . . we don’t need some unproven track star who will be getting lost and running sloppy routes. BTW, we will not be drafting a TE at #14 either

Secondary – As the above supports there are simply no safeties worth taking in the upper half of this draft. However, it is an area of need (McCree or not) and at #45 I would put Bullocks, and Butler in the same category that Baas would be at #14. They might not have gone nearly that high in previous drafts but this is not one of those previous drafts unfortunately. We can either draft for down the road by taking the best available athlete or we can take who can help us most THIS year when our picks come up. Our guys seem inclined to draft for THIS year btw so the point I made in another thread recently about taking D. Johnson or Benson if they fell is mute . . . and they won’t be falling IMO. Rolle is another story I think. No more than two corners will be going ahead of us and Pac Man and Rogers seem to be the frontrunners right now. If we had not signed Lucas to such a fat lengthy contract I would assume that Rolle would be a great possibility, but I don’t see us using a high pick on a CB when we just spent one on Gamble and made a huge CB signing.

DL – If we didn’t have Moorhead and Buck I would say that Travis Johnson or the versatile Spears would be a better bet than Rolle but I agree with those who have suggested that this crop of D-linemen is good but not great. There just don’t seem to be any clear blue chippers right out of the box. We could probably pick up a DT later without a significant drop off in productivity. We should even be able to get a day two role-player to combo effectively with our three main DTs for this season.

OL - Barron & Brown are not your usual elite OT prospects. From most of what I can gather Brown might never be any better than Wharton. Barron might eventually be an upgrade but our staff apparently insists that a 1st rounder be ready to start right out of the box . . . there aren't any rook OTs like that this year. Will they take Barron to groom at LT for ’06 or ’07 so they can then move Wharton to G? I don’t see them going for that.
Since they are apparently counting on Wharton at OT what we really need is another G. It would be a huge plus if he could also backup Mitchell since we do not have much at all in the way of a backup C. I don't give a shite where most folks are guessing Baas should be picked, he's what we need and we could use him at #14. He'll be gone by #45 since he is by most accounts the most NFL ready OL in this rookie crop. Call it a reach if you want . . . I call it a smart pick if we end up taking him there.

 

The fact that Washington is even being talked about as a first round pick is all the evidence you'll ever need that 40 time is a worthless stat. Did anyone who watched Nebraska this season ever think of him as a potential first round selection? CB is one of the few positions where players will actually run 40 yards, but even then they don't do it often. (10 yard times might be useful, but even then those times aren't in-game)

I forget who said it first, but I agree with the idea that you should set your opinions on players in stone as soon as the college season is over, barring injury of course. The only reason to change is if you hadn't seen much a player previously, and even then your opinion should be based on how the guy actually played, not scores he put up in silly Combine tests. That doesn't mean that a good college player will make a good pro player, but it does mean your opinion should be based on what you saw while they were wearing a helmet and shoulder pads.

 

while watching the combine on the nfl network a few weeks ago, one of their guys said that the purpose of the combine is to confirm what you think you know about the guys you're targeting.

 

Could be, but I don't see how that's possible. Let's say a linebacker always seems to be in the right spot and shows great sideline to sideline speed on film, but his 40 time is crap. Does that really dispute what you thought you were getting?

I don't know, I just don't really see the point in the combine. Given that it was first organized 20 years ago, I'd guess it was done to get information on players teams hadn't seen a lot of. Now that everything is televised and media can be transferred digitally in a matter of minutes, I just don't really see the point in it anymore. The best players don't participate, occasionally someone does get hurt, and teams are consistently fooled into taking bad football players by good scores. *shrug*