I’ve never understood much of the logic that goes into the NFL Draft. There are plenty of people making plenty of money whose job it is to formulate these draft plans but some of them just seem bizarre to me. Most curious the search for NFL “potential” instead of actual results.  This is particularly noteworthy in the 1st round of the Draft.

The #1 draft pick went to Matthew Stafford from Georgia, a nice enough guy with solid skills.  However, he never lived up to his potential at Georgia but somehow, the NFL Draft people all thought he was the second coming.  As impressed as I am with his plate-destroying skills, I suspect Matthew Stafford is very likely to be the next Joey Harrington, a decent quarterback on a bad team who will eventually fade into the background after a lackluster career.

Mark Sanchez from USC is the even more curious case.  He has only one year of starting experience, came out early as a junior, and somehow, had several teams drooling over him.  He seems ready-made for living in the middle of a media storm so I suppose he was rightfully drafted by NY Jets.  As a Redskins fan, I am very thankful Snyder didn’t pull the trigger and do something crazy for Sanchez — I do not think he will have much success at all in the pros.  I correctly predicted the last highly-drafted USC quarterback, Matt Leinart, wouldn’t amount to much and I think Sanchez is just a more charismatic version of him — All pomp & circumstance.  On most college teams, the average player ability is modest.  When an elite player shines on those teams, it’s readily obvious he’s got the goods to play at a higher level.  On a star-studded team like USC however, where every player is good, it can be a bit misleading how talented a specific individual is since the team as a whole is better the majority of teams.  But in the parity of the NFL, which is packed top to bottom with great players, less than great players quickly fall by the wayside.  While I wish Sanchez and the Jets the best, I have serious doubts about the likelihood of his success.

On the other hand, you have Pat White — this guy is amazing and was the most successful of any of the quarterbacks in the draft this year.  However, because he doesn’t match what is considered a typical NFL quarterback, he was drafted as a “specialty” player.  Lucky enough for him, he got drafted by Miami who more than most seems willing to give a player like that a chance.  I don’t know if White will ever amount to anything in the NFL but I would rather take a chance on him than some of the other quarterbacks taken well above him.  Even if he did go to West Virginia.   Along the same lines, I like Freeman going to Tampa Bay and Nate Davis to the 49ers.  I would wager one of the three (White, Freeman, or Davis) has a better NFL career than Sanchez or Stafford.

Enough with the quarterbacks.  I love RB Donald Brown to Indianapolis, WR Crabtree to the 49ers, WR Maclin to the Eagles, and TE Pettigrew to the Lions.  Pettigrew is the kind of player that could help prove me wrong with Stafford above.  I love any team that drafted linemen early — I love the skill players but it’s hard to get them the ball without a good O-line much less when the defense can’t get the opposing offense off the field.  Seattle had the easiest 1st round pick with LB Aaron Curry.  T Oher’s rise from nothing may have been talked about a bit overmuch but I’m still sold on him going to Baltimore.  T Monroe is going to a solid player for years.  I hate the Darrius Heyward-Bey pick by Oakland but that seems to be a universal feeling.  I have my doubts about Percy Harvin going to Minnesota.

As for my hometown team, the Redskins had a decent, boring draft.  Whew!  Their 1st round pick Orakpo fell into their laps — A blessing as any ‘Skins fan lives in fear of what sort of crazy, wasteful trade Snyder is going to pull next.  When Orakpo was available, it was a gimme pick at a position they needed.  I don’t know anything about the other players they drafted but I am very intrigued by an undrafted guy they picked up: QB Daniels from Missouri.  Daniels is very Pat White-esque in that he was extremely successful in college but somehow didn’t seem NFL draft-worthy.  The current Redskins QB Jason Campbell is by all accounts a nice, decent guy with a reasonable skill set but I never understood why he was considered an NFL franchise quarterback.  He’s been solid but unspectacular as the ‘Skins QB for a few years now and it seems like he’s on the way out at Washington.  I feel sorry (well, as sorry as I can for a guy who will never have to work again) for him as he does seem like a genuinely good guy but as a ‘Skins fan, I am looking forward to the next chapter for the ‘Skins at QB.