MMQB Review: It Turns Out the Draft (Thanks to Casey, It Was Actually the Combine That Isn't Overrated) Isn't Overrated Edition

Peter King doesn't insult Sean Taylor this week in his MMQB. That's the good news. The bad news is that he sort of previews the NFL Draft and we all can only imagine the comments he will have about each top prospect he has watched play a maximum 0-2 times. It's funny that when he talks about picking a quarterback this week he doesn't mention the QB bust rate like he did with safeties last week when he pissed on the grave of Sean Taylor. Funny isn't it? You would think a sportswriter who is concerned about bust rates of high picks in the draft would bring up the QB bust rate when talking about quarterbacks and how drafting one is a risky proposition. You would be wrong. Peter refuses to be consistent in this fashion.

Peter wants us to all know the draft starts today.

Today's the first day of the NFL Draft.

Cue the dramatic music...

The draft actually begins at 11 a.m. CT, in Norman, Okla.

Norman, Oklahoma? But there are no football fans in Oklahoma that care about the NFL. No fans in the world can be as obnoxious and entertaining as hearing Jets fans boo their pick. Tell me it isn't true, the NFL hasn't ripped away the NFL Draft from New York, the only rightful place of anything important, did it?

That's when rehabbing Oklahoma quarterback Sam Bradford takes the field to throw the 50-pass script that the NFL world -- particularly St. Louis, picking first in the April 22 first round, and Washington, picking fourth -- has been awaiting.

A 50-pass script. That should tell NFL scouts all they need to know about Bradford. Nothing says "an NFL-ready test" like a 50-pass script that highlights a player's strengths with no one rushing the quarterback.

We're at the point, knowing what we do about Bradford's recovery from Oct. 28 shoulder reconstruction, that being the first pick in the draft is Bradford's to lose. He'd have to screw up his 50 balls today, and then not be very good in private workouts with the Rams and Redskins, to not be the first player chosen in the 2010 draft.

We know from this information that Peter has picked Sam Bradford as the first pick in the draft, this will never occur. Someone else will be the first pick.

"I haven't had pain or discomfort since they turned me loose right after the combine,'' Bradford told me. "I can't believe how good it feels. There's no pain.''

He wouldn't lie for an additional $10-15 million in a signing bonus would he? Yes, he would.

"Now,'' I said, "you're going to get grilled on this Monday, and if you don't tell the whole truth, somebody's going to make a big deal of it. So be honest now.''

Peter with the hard-hitting question back. You have broken him now Peter, he'll fess up.

This was the most softball-ed "hard hitting" question I have heard in a while.

"Mary Beth, if you are lying about being drunk and smoking pot in the garage while doing coke off your boyfriend's ass, somebody in this house won't like it. So be honest now."

On Sunday night, I asked Andrews about Bradford's no-pain declaration, and whether that could be true less than five months after the reconstruction of the AC joint in his throwing shoulder. That wasn't a scope Bradford had. It was a full-fledged reconstruction.

"I've tried to get him to come clean with me too,'' he said. "But he's come through it great. He's full go. The last time I saw him and questioned him about it [nine days ago], he told me, 'I feel stronger in my throwing shoulder than I ever have in my life.'

Come on, you can read from that quote, some part of Dr. Andrews thinks or knows Bradford may have some pain. Notice Bradford never told Andrews he didn't have pain, he just said his shoulder felt stronger. Maybe I am being overly suspicious, but still, he never told him there was no pain.

So today Bradford will throw what he calls "a pretty aggressive script'' after getting loose and throwing 12 to 15 warmups.

Pretty aggressive other than no one will be rushing him nor will they be falling on his shoulder after hitting or sacking him. Also, the whole thing is scripted, which takes a little of the aggressiveness out of any Pro Day in my mind.

It's conceivable they could trade but only if they really like Notre Dame's Jimmy Clausen, and believe they could still get him with the fourth pick. But I'm hearing Bradford is the number one quarterback on their board, clearly. Barring a surprise today in Norman, Bradford will move much closer to being a Ram today.

Notice how Peter King has completely bought what Sam Bradford has told him. I am not saying what Bradford says isn't true, it is just that Peter is traditionally the type to just believe what someone tells him and it amuses me. Here, Peter just assumes Bradford will have a great Pro Day.

In the great Red River Flood of 1997, the biggest flood of the river since 1826, people from all around North Dakota rallied to sandbag towns to keep them on the map. One of those townies was the athletic director at Shanley High in Fargo, Trent Baalke, who, like many of his peers, just tried to do his small part to help save the town.

Baalke is embarking on something a thousand times as important but with a similar sense of immediacy now, with the announcement that the 49ers -- with the 13th and 17th picks in the first round -- have given the 12-year-veteran scout the final say in their draft room.

Holy shit. Peter King or as I call him, "The Man With Absolutely No Perspective On Anything," has just said drafting for the 49ers in the first round this year is "a thousand times as important" as preventing a town from flooding and being washed away. One thing is drafting for a sport that really doesn't matter, the other is saving a town from flooding. They are not comparable. I'd like to hear someone say something like this about those who helped in Hurricane Katrina.

Peter is ridiculous. One week he insults Sean Taylor for doing, another week he equates saving a town from flooding with picking the right players in the draft. He has this little world he lives in where travel annoyances are big deals and helping in natural disasters is equally as important as drafting well in the NFL Draft. He has no perspective.

Now Baalke, out of the clear sky, has been handed the keys to a Ferrari. The Niners are one of two teams (New England the other) with three picks in the top 50.

This is probably the first time in many years San Francisco has been referred to in any fashion as a "Ferrari."

"My job's really the same,'' he said. "Except I'm responsible for the final decision. We'll all team up to evaluate the players and stack the board, but my philosophy is pretty much the same as Scot's, and when Scot left, the board was 85 to 90 percent done.

Also, we have to look at this from the perspective that the NFL Draft is overrated. Isn't that what Peter reported a little over a month ago? For an overrated event, Peter sure is spending a lot of time talking about it.

Over the last couple of weeks, as I prepare to stick my size 14s into Dr. Z's size-55 shoes for the second time as SI's mock drafter, I've been asking NFL people about the pool of picks. Not necessarily where the players are going, but who the 32 lucky college prospects will be. I solidified over the weekend what I'm thinking (subject to change, of course), so here are the 32 players I think have the best chance to go in the first round in 24 days:

NFL teams are nothing if not completely open about which prospects they like the most in the NFL Draft, so we know this list is going to be dead-on.

Quarterbacks (3): Sam Bradford, Jimmy Clausen, Tim Tebow.

Whatever, I am talked out on this Tebow issue. Plus, I am afraid if I say anything negative about Tebow, Urban Meyer will get in my face.

Running back (2): C.J. Spiller, Ryan Matthews.

Matthews should go in the 1st round, but I bet he doesn't.

Wide receiver (2): Dez Bryant, DeMaryius Thomas.

We talked about Thomas a few weeks ago. I think it is a mistake to choose a poor route-runner and a guy who doesn't have much history running the route-tree in the 1st round.

Tackle (4): Ndamukong Suh, Gerald McCoy, Dan Williams, Jared Odrick.

That is a strong-ass position of tackles right here.

Most likely to fall out of the first round: T Bruce Campbell.

There is no way Campbell falls out of the 1st round. The Raiders are destined to pick either him, Eric Berry, or Derrick Morgan.

Most likely to be in the first round among those I didn't choose: S Earl Thomas.

What happened to Thomas? I thought he was going to be a 1st round pick? I think he deserves to be one.

Roger Goodell said last week that in an effort to have fewer mail-it-in games at the end of the year, the NFL is likely to implement The Colts Plan (my words, not the league's) by scheduling only division rivalry games for Week 17.

What a shock that Peter would call it the Colts Plan. I am surprised he didn't call the push to change overtime, the "Let's Not Allow Peyton Manning To Get Knocked Out of the Playoffs Too Early" Plan.

In 2007, Indianapolis played AFC South rival Tennessee, fighting for a playoff spot against Cleveland, in the last week of the season. Indy had its spot clinched. The Colts pulled the plug on full effort by the starters, Tennessee won, and Cleveland simmered at Indy's cavalier attitude in a game of playoff significance. Last year, the Colts had two non-division games at the end of the season, with nothing to play for. Indy again played the starters sparingly, and lost.

This is a good point by Peter. Let's not try and mess with the scheduling too much. Regardless if they are division games or not, the Colts are not going to play their starters if they don't have to. This effort to make things more exciting isn't going to work sometimes, so it may not even be worth trying. Perhaps there should be realignment to give the Colts a better rival in their division?

That was a MLB-realignment joke. I am not serious.

Maybe not. I agree with Tomlin -- I think Sharper's going to play football this year. When I've talked to him before, he's struck me as being a lot like Brett Favre. He's going to play 'til he can't play any more.

Brett Favre reference! Keep the streak going Peter...keep it going. If Sharper was a lot like Brett Favre he would drop a sure-interception or fumble a interception that helped to lose his team the game...twice...in the NFC Championship Game both times. Just thought I would add that.

Sometimes you hit a home run in this business. Last Sept. 20 in the Boston Globe, Chris Gasper hit one long gone and hard to find in his NFL notes column. Here's what he wrote, proposing a new end to the overtime in NFL games:

By the way, this "home run" was Chris Gasper getting the story right. This is something that Peter King must think is a home run, when a journalist actually predicts a story correctly. It is not something Peter is familiar with personally.

Kudos to Chris Gasper but there have been so many overtime proposals of the last couple of years, one of them had to end up being right. Peter reads the Boston Globe everyday, or at least seems to, so I am sure there are others who got this story right a few months ago also, but Peter just didn't read what they wrote.

"I hate it.''

-- New Orleans coach Sean Payton, on the new overtime rule.

"I can see the press conference now,'' Payton told me on Sirius NFL Radio the other day. " 'Coach, did you consider going for the touchdown rather than kicking the field goal?' I can write the questions right now.''

So what? Who gives a shit if this is the questions the coach is asked? You are telling me the maverick who went for an onside kick in the Super Bowl is afraid to take questions about his game strategy? It's what you get paid for. Deal with it as no different from any other decision about the game that may get questioned. If you don't want to get questioned by the media, don't be an NFL head coach.

That's life in the big leagues. The one thing I've heard in the last few days, from fans mostly, is that coaches who make $4 million a year won't get much sympathy over the burden of having to make a big call with the game on the line.

Good for Peter. Fans don't have a stomach for an NFL head coach who is afraid to make decisions with the game on the line.

"I had no idea who Charlie Whitehurst was until there was talk about him. I'd never heard of the guy. I have some friends on the San Diego staff, and they're feeling pretty darn good about the deal."

-- Fired Seattle coach Jim Mora, on ESPN Radio in Seattle, asked about the new Seattle quarterback, acquired from San Diego for a third-round pick in 2011 and a swap of seconds this year. That swap moved San Diego from 60 to 40 in the second round.

This says more about Jim Mora as an NFL head coach than it says about the trade to me. He's bitter at being fired, but he was also the head coach for the Atlanta Falcons when Charlie Whitehurst played quarterback at Clemson. If he didn't know the name of the quarterback that played just a hundred (or so) miles up the road at Clemson when he was scouting players for the NFL Draft then that tells me a lot about him. Whitehurst even played high school football in Georgia before going to Clemson. He should know the name.

Carroll faced the music on the deal at the league meetings. "It's really simple,'' he said, asked about dealing so much for a guy who hasn't thrown a pass in four NFL seasons with San Diego. "There are a lot of throws that Charlie had a chance to do over the last few years in the preseason. You can say what you want about preseason being the real deal. When you drop back and you throw comebacks, and you drop back and you throw in-routes and there are guys rushing you, you drop back and you got to move in the pocket and find a second and third receiver. That is definitely on the film clearly.

I am not a big fan of judging a quarterback on the preseason either, but how is it any different from judging Whitehurst on the preseason throws he made against actual competition compared to drafting Sam Bradford #1 overall based on his college game film and how he did on a Pro Day against no defenders? As the backup in the preseason you are essentially throwing against the other team's backups, which are on par with a great college football team. I don't see a massive difference personally.

Now Peter talks baseball. Everyone run for cover.

Thursday: Braves-Pirates in Bradenton. In my early days as a backup Reds writer in Cincinnati, I remember a man who seemed like an old war horse then, the fungo-hitting Bobby Dews. And there he was again, 71 now, a little stooped over and as bow-legged as Walter Brennan, smiling and hitting grounders to third and short in between BP pitches. Rookie phenom Jason Heyward's fun to watch swing. The ball has a Bonds-like thwack coming off the bat.

I want everyone to quit talking about Jason Heyward. I am afraid everyone is going to jinx this, not to mention I don't want blanket coverage of Heyward to make me resent having to hear about him. He is still a rookie and I think I am going to get tired of the hype soon. I still love the guy of course, but let's allow him to play games before we compare him to Bonds, Dave Parker, etc.

Friday: Rays-Jays in Dunedin. Great vendor out in right field at the Toronto camp. "Canadian beer in an American can made in China!'' he hawked. These Rays scare this Red Sox follower. Evan Longoria hit a Frank Howard home run to left, a mile high. Cute little old-time ballpark with ospreys nesting in the left-field light tower and some very good Land Shark Lager nesting behind the first-base stands.

You mean the team that won the AL East two years ago scares Peter? You wouldn't think that could be possible because aren't the Yankees and Red Sox contractually bound to win that division every year?

Couldn't believe how the ball jumped off the bat of catcher Ronnie Paulino during BP. "The Babe,'' Parcells called him.

Ronnie Paulino? The same Ronnie Paulino that is 28 years old and has 27 career home runs? I bet the ball just jumps off his bat. A career +OPS of 88 says this is so.

"Does Tebow sponsor your page?''

-- @lizmatthews12, Liz Matthews of Seattle, apparently perturbed by the amount of attention I am paying to Tim Tebow in pre-draft coverage. Liz, you are not alone in that thought.

Brett Favre is offended by this statement. I bet he immediately called Peter upon reading this wanting to make sure he was still Peter's #1 guy.

No on the sponsorship, but from what I hear, he'll be able to afford to when his new contract with a very big sports equipment and apparel manufacturer is announced very soon.

I like how Peter doesn't attempt to dissuade anyone that Tebow sponsors his MMQB and then immediately breaks a story that Tebow will sign a deal with an apparel manufacturer. So in answer to you question Liz, Peter does all of the PR and hyping up of Tebow all for free. Tebow doesn't sponsor the page, Peter will just use MMQB to give Tim Tebow more publicity and announce any type of Tebow-breaking news.

1. I think the thing about a Super Bowl in New Jersey in February 2014 -- which seems more and more likely with the vote due as early as May --is that too few people are thinking about the precedent it sets for future games in outdoor, cold-weather venues.

Why is everyone so against outdoor Super Bowls? Wouldn't a couple of Super Bowls played in the snow or rain be fun? Ok, maybe only one of those would be fun, but I still don't get why everyone is completely against this idea.

2. I think unless the networks stamp their feet quite a bit, the new overtime reform will pass for the regular season when NFL owners meet in Dallas in May. I'm told by two major players who were in the room for the vote last Tuesday that if Goodell had pressed for the rule to be instituted for the regular season he could have gotten at least 24 votes for it.

"But it wasn't the right thing to do,'' one of my sources said. "You don't push that through without talking to your network partners seriously about it beforehand.'' It's true the games could be a few plays longer, but I doubt FOX and CBS (with early games that could be butting up against late-Sunday-afternoon games) will draw lines in the sand on this issue.

I don't get why the NFL passed the overtime rule ONLY for the playoffs. Why have two separate rules for overtime in the playoffs and the regular season? This is incredibly stupid to me. FOX and CBS wouldn't mind, it's not like CBS wouldn't rather have an exciting overtime football game showing as opposed to re-runs of their sitcoms at 4:30 pm on Sunday and the same goes for FOX. I can't believe FOX would rather have a re-run of "House" going rather than an NFL game in overtime.

4. I think the more I hear about Ben Roethlisberger and the immense distraction of the sexual-assault charge (Adam Schefter reports he will stay away from the Steeler offseason program, which begins for vets today in Pittsburgh, to avoid the circus it would create), the more I think the Steelers have to plan for life without Roethlisberger this year, just in case. And I don't mean just Charlie Batch and Dennis Dixon.

So after seeing Dixon's potential last year and re-signing Charlie Batch, the Steelers should draft another quarterback in case Roethlisberger doesn't come back? It's not like this guy who is drafted will be able to play well this year and they certainly aren't going to draft a Clausen or Bradford type guy with Roethlisberger on the roster. This suggestion is almost as bad as the Donovan McNabb-to-the-Steelers idea from Peter's mailbag.

I mean, if they're not truly committed to Dixon in the event he has to play the season, they have to draft a solid insurance policy -- maybe someone like NCAA touchdown record-setter Dan LeFevour -- to get ready just in case.

Right, because drafting a guy like LeFevour would immediately take care of the problem at quarterback for this year...assuming Roethlisberger is convicted or anything like that. I don't think LeFevour is going to be ready to just step in and play, so he may not help the Steelers that much this year. Say Roethlisberger misses two years of football (I am just guessing here), after the 2nd year LeFevour or Dixon would be entrenched in that spot. Would Roethlisberger be done with the Steelers at that point? Would it be like a Mike Vick situation then?

Basically, I am saying by drafting a quarterback to start this/next year over Dixon/Batch would be assuming the worst possible case, which is jail time for Roethlisberger. I think we are getting a little ahead of ourselves at this point. I personally wouldn't draft another quarterback because that person can't help the Steelers this year anyway.

6. I think I cannot see Gene Smith, the Jacksonville GM, taking Tim Tebow. First round, second round, any round.

This pretty much guarantees Gene Smith and Jacksonville will take Tim Tebow at some point in the draft.

8. I think Joey Porter and Milton Bradley might have been separated at birth.

Apparently Peter thinks all angry black men look alike. I would normally put a Boston/racist/only love white people comment in here...but I think it is understood that Peter King thinks any minority who is "angry" is exactly like any other minority who is "angry" and that is the joke itself.

9. I think I'd sign Pacman if I were you, Jim Schwartz. You need a cover guy, and if he screws up one time, he's back on the street. It's no big risk as I see it.

Because there is no problem with locker room dynamics and if Pacman plays really well for 6 games and then screws up, is he really going to get thrown out on the street? I don't think so. Then the Lions have a problem with a player who is disruptive but plays well. I say avoid the whole situation entirely and don't sign him.

e. One fun thing about driving across central Florida is stopping at an orange grove, getting out of the car, and just smelling the air. Citrusy. Outstanding.

One fun thing about driving across New Jersey is stopping at a rest stop and smelling the air. It smells like piss and garbage. Stupendous.

f. Coffeenerdness: Had a pleasant evening writing in the Starbucks in Port St. Lucie Sunday night. That is, until I saw the dead rat in the parking lot.

Is Peter shocked there are dead animals in the world? What's the problem with a dead rat outside of a Starbucks? It's not a great sign, but at least there wasn't a rat inside the Starbucks. Unfortunately animals die and don't have complete control over where they die. I am surprised this wasn't his "Aggravating Travel Note" for this week.

Why do things like this only happen to Peter? No one else has to deal with dead animals outside. His life is so hard.