MMQB Review: The Most Shocking and Interesting NFL Draft This Year

I can't lie. I think I enjoy going with the over-dramatic titles for MMQB. It all started a few weeks ago with two "trades of the year" back-to-back with McNabb going to Washington and Santonio Holmes going to the Jets. Now that the three day NFL Draft is over, and as expected ratings were actually up, Peter King is going to give us some tidbits, and perhaps nuggets, about the draft. It's the time we all look forward to. Peter gets to fawn over the teams he thinks did well, while I mock him and Peter gets to tell us which teams he think doesn't think did so well, while I mock him. He promised on Twitter he would have many thoughts in this MMQB on the draft and he hasn't let us down. Enough exposition, let's get to Peter's thoughts about the dumb and deft moves in the NFL Draft.

My favorite draft weekend story: The Man Who Said No to the NFL.

My least favorite draft story of the weekend: The Player Who Decides To Use His Degree and Make Good Money Working A Real Job Rather Than Holding On To an Outside Shot He Makes an NFL Team As an Undrafted Free Agent. I am a jerk, I don't need feel-good stories.

I can see the justification for this. A college football player has gotten a free ride to get an education and realizes he has a better shot at earning money in the real world rather than trying to catch on with an NFL team...while having no idea where he will eventually end up, if anywhere.

SEATTLE: Ever have one of those Dream Drafts that falls just right? The Seahawks did.

CLEVELAND: If you love the Colt McCoy pick, Browns fans, send a thank-you note this morning to GM Thomas Dimitroff, in care of the Atlanta Falcons.

CAROLINA: How does Jimmy Clausen fall to pick 48? The Panthers don't know, and they don't care.

Feel the drama of the NFL draft...or at least Peter wants us to.

The Chiefs are going to take either Tennessee safety Eric Berry or Oklahoma State tackle Russell Okung. Carroll and Schneider want Okung. They've heard the Chiefs could go either way.

How tense is this? The Seahawks could either land the left tackle they want at #6 or have to settle for the potential second or third best defensive player in the draft! It's like Sophie's Choice, this can't be happening! If they can't get Okung they will have to wait all the way until pick #14 to try and get a quality left tackle. It's a nightmare in the form of reality!

Tick, tick, tick. Minutes go by, three or four of them, and the call comes into the Seahawks: It's Berry in K.C.

I could have gone without the "tick, tick, tick," but thanks Peter.

Without Okung, they'd have had to reach for a lower-rated tackle either here or with their other first-round pick. "If we don't get the tackle there,'' Schneider said later, "we'd be pressing, and maybe we'd have to make some decisions for the short-term we really don't want to.''

I know they want Okung, but is it really that big of a deal to have to try and get Bulaga, Anthony Davis, Brown, or any of the other left tackles later in the draft? Sure, it is a downgrade at the left tackle position, but it's not like Eric Berry looks like a shitty player, so it would be an upgrade at the safety position. The Seahawks also could have traded that pick for a left tackle (Peter seems to think Jared Gaither is available). I know it would suck, but they also had the #14 pick, so that softens the blow a little bit. Still, great draft for the Seahawks. Maybe Peter will visit the upper Northwest sometime this year now.

After the sixth pick, Seattle likes Jimmy Clausen the quarterback and C.J. Spiller the running back. But the 'Hawks needed Earl Thomas the safety. Big position of need, a quarterback for the secondary.

My point exactly about why losing Okung would suck but gaining a quarterback in the secondary in Eric Berry wouldn't be terrible. It didn't happen, I just can't handle the fake drama. I hope everyone can remember these are all rookie players and we don't know if they will be any good or not, so it is not like we know exactly how good and bad each player will be.

I'd seen Hasselbeck Thursday afternoon and told him I'd given Seattle Clausen at number 14 in my mock draft, and who knows, they loved him and they just might do it. "Whoa,'' he said. "Then I'm an ostrich. I've had my head in the sand. That would, uh, surprise me.''

And then Hasselbeck turned around to leave, but he turned too quickly and his back gave out on him, leaving him a crumpled mass of human body in pain on the floor as Peter King stood over him with donut crumbs and a few drops of coffee falling from Peter's mouth taunting Hasselbeck that he just couldn't get up on his own.

Let's say the Seahawks taking another quarterback would not have incredibly surprised me given the state of Hasselbeck's body.

Thanks God for Carolina then.

Thanks God for editors.

So Clausen goes 48. Now Schneider's got to play GM. Far and away the best guy on their board now is Tate. But the calls start coming in. Lots of interesting players on the board, and lots of teams trying to come up. Schneider's got an offer he likes a lot. If he'd go down a handful of spots (fewer than 15), into the upper third round, he could add two fifth-round picks. And if Tate had lasted this long, who's to say he wouldn't last an hour longer?

Um, me. I wanted the Panthers to take Tate at #48 instead of Clausen. They had a great need for a quality wide receiver than a quarterback.

As far as the Seahawks being able to wait and get Tate, I don't see Tate falling below New England at #60 or the Rams at #65. That's just my opinion, but the Seahawks drafted intelligently here.

Now the Leon Washington story.

"The Jets,'' said Schneider, "had several teams interested in him. They were gracious enough to let our medical people interact with theirs. When you're talking about a pick in the fifth round, and a player like Leon Washington,

Anytime you can get a player like Washington for a 5th round pick, I think that is a good trade, but I still have to believe Washington was pretty overrated in New York. He was a good player, but he wasn't quite the guy at the end of the year he was projected to be at the beginning of the year. That being said, the Seahawks may actually use him better than the Jets did.

So essentially, here are the two scenarios that Seattle faced, with and without the man who bears a slight resemblance to Jesus Christ:

Tim Tebow?

WITH A TRADE FOR WHITEHURST -- Seattle enters the season with Hasselbeck and Whitehurst the quarterbacks and multiple threat Tate added to a decent stable of wideouts ... but without a third-round pick in 2011.

WITHOUT A TRADE FOR WHITEHURST -- Seattle enters the season with Hasselbeck and Clausen at quarterback. But no Tate. And with the entire 2011 draft intact.

Tough call. This team would love to have Clausen for the long haul. Schneider believes in him. But my gut feeling is they'd rather have the Whitehurst/Tate combo.

Is this the gut feeling Peter has because the Seahawks actually chose this option over keeping their 3rd round pick and staying where they were early in the 2nd round? I know the Seahawks can't predict the future, but this draft couldn't have gone too much better for them, so I have a gut feeling since they chose to trade the 3rd round pick and swap 2nd round picks and it worked really well, they would rather have the Whitehurst/Tate combo.

He's right. Jimmy Clausen with the 48th pick isn't in the same league with some of the great steals of all time (I don't think) but I think it'll end up the biggest shock of this draft when we look at it 10 years from now.

The shock being that the Panthers needed a wide receiver and a defensive tackle more than they needed Clausen at this point in the draft and it is shocking they didn't address those needs with this pick? The shock about Clausen's fall reminds me a bit of Brian Brohm's fall 3 years ago to Green Bay...and where the hell is he now? (Buffalo, after he got beat out by a 7th round pick for the backup job to Aaron Rodgers)

Maybe he's not the kind of guy you want to go on vacation with. Maybe he is full of himself. But what's Jay Cutler? Philip Rivers?

(Throws up in mouth)

In doing pre-draft research, not that he thought he'd have a chance to get Clausen, Fox talked to Charlie Weis, his good friend and the former Irish coach. Weis and Fox are close. Fox is sure Weis wouldn't lie to him.

Yeah, its not like Weis coaches in the NFL right now and has a reason to pump up his own players to another team and lie a little. Weis isn't a coach in the NFL right now or anything. Wait...nevermind.

The GM, Marty Hurney, said he was so excited awaiting the pick that he was shaking.

How ironic, I was shaking a little bit when he traded next year's 2nd round pick for a converted college quarterback in the 3rd round.

Sicko got a scholarship to play football at New Hampshire. But he always thought he was at college to get an education, then to play football. He majored in History with a minor in Political Science. He's due to be graduated on time May 22, and he's considering returning to school to finish a double-major (taking more poli-sci courses), or going for a Master's in History, and then, if all goes well, maybe a Ph.D. in History.

Here is the shocking story of a person choosing to use his degree he got for free by playing football. It is shocking and astounding.

So with the final few picks winding down, Sicko told his family the truth: If he didn't get drafted, he wanted to go back to college full-time and see what direction the road took him.

He said he had no bitterness, no anger at teams for not picking him. But when he thought about a football life on the edge of a roster -- possibly an itinerant life of an undrafted free-agent, working out day after day to try to get a shot in an NFL camp, or moving from one NFL practice squad to another, or possibly being on an active roster -- it didn't jibe with the life he wanted to live.

This makes sense. I know a lot of players don't think of it this way, but an undrafted free agent doesn't have a great chance of making an NFL roster. He could go to training camp, get cut and go back to school, but what is the problem with making a decision now? Football gave him a free ride to college and as interesting of a prospect that he may be, he doesn't have a great chance of sticking with a team. He got a free ride to college for playing football. That's not a bad deal.

"It was tough, telling NFL teams I didn't want to be in their camps,'' he said. "But it was the right thing.''

It felt logical to ask about why a mature kid like him wouldn't want to go to a camp, just to challenge himself and see if he could do it. Wouldn't he, for the rest of his life, question his decision? Wouldn't he wake up one morning 30 years from now feeling like some Moonlight Graham, a guy who'd give anything to go back for just one chance, to see if he was really good enough? He just didn't think he would ever feel that way.

I personally would have tried to make it in football and then gone back to school, because I would have wanted to know if I could compete or not at the NFL level. That's just me. The difference in being drafted in the 7th round and not being drafted isn't that great anyway, so it wouldn't have mattered to me if I got drafted or not.

"Let's get through the draft and we'll evaluate all aspects of it, including talking to our clubs and seeing what worked and what has not. We'd like to wait until we have concluded with the entire event, but to see the kind of extraordinary increase in viewership I think does reinforce the idea that we can put the draft on a bigger platform, and that's great for everyone."

-- NFL commissioner Roger Goodell to SI's Richard Deitsch for a story on SI.com Friday night, talking about the future of the prime-time NFL draft. Sure sounds to me like the draft -- the first round had a 32 percent increase in ratings over last year's first round -- will stay on a weekday night in 2011.

I knew the draft was going to have better ratings on Thursday night. I still don't like it, but I do have to admit breaking up the 1st, 2nd, 3rd rounds like that made the draft feel a little bit less interminable each day. Sometimes the draft did seem to last forever on a Saturday or Sunday. Of course, if I were still in college it would annoy me because I couldn't sit down with my friends and watch the whole thing in one weekend sitting. So I don't like having the draft go over 3 days, but I don't hate it.

Not that there's going to be much pressure on Dez Bryant in Dallas, already, but the history of the receivers Dallas used first-round picks to acquire in the last decade is beyond dismal.

The Cowboys long searched for a franchise receiver to replace Galloway and thought Williams was the one -- but Miles Austin emerged as Tony Romo's favorite target in 2009, and now Bryant will surely get the chance to be the complementary receiver to Austin. Williams is likely to be buried on the bench and could eventually be released, if not this year then next.

I guess the rule we have learned here is to never trade for a guy who was drafted by Matt Millen. Dez Bryant was a good pick for the Cowboys and he wouldn't have to do much to be better than Roy Williams has been.

1. I think these are my quick-hit thoughts of 32 teams on draft weekend. Though I am loathe to give grades, I have a few observations on each team, particularly the ones I didn't cover much in the top of this column:

While Peter loathes to give grades, I will be very happy to get grades to each team's draft later this week. So (don't) look forward to that. Just to be clear, giving grades out this early is completely pointless, but I do it anyway.

• Baltimore. Loved what Ozzie Newsome and Eric DeCosta did. I thought they'd stay in the first round and steal Dan Williams at 24, but they dealt down and did better. No team got the impact between 43 and 114 that the Ravens did, though the Pats might argue.

Sergio Kindle should eventually add some rush, and was a steal at 43. The real key could be Terrence Cody at 57. Now, people will say, "Why are you taking this fat guy with the weight problem?'' Two things here. Newsome went to Alabama. He's a legend there. He loves picking Alabama players, and he gets the inside dope on them. He knows Cody can be whipped into shape.

Right, Terence Cody can be whipped into shape, which is exactly why Nick Saban wasn't able to get Cody in shape while he was the head coach at Alabama. I don't mean to be cynical, but I don't know if Cody can get in shape while he is getting paid in the NFL if he couldn't do it while he was in college. Not a terrible pick, but if anyone on the Ravens staff whips Cody into shape, they will be the first to do so.

• Buffalo. I'm a little skeptical of C.J. Spiller's ability to lug the rock 300 times a year, because he never did it in four years at Clemson. Maybe he'll be the kind of Felix Jones-ish all-purpose back that, in touching it 12 to 15 times a game, can have four-wins-a-season impact. But it's doubtful he can carry it as much as the fans will scream for him to.

I always enjoy seeing how the media picks and chooses the players they believe in coming out of the NFL Draft. (Get ready for a Tebow comparison and some rambling) Peter is skeptical of C.J. Spiller being able to carry the ball 300 times a year (even though he won't have to because of Fred Jackson and Marshawn Lynch, but that's another story), but he believes Bradford, McCoy, and Tebow can all play in the NFL taking snaps under center even though they didn't do it for nearly their entire college career. I know one is a physical issue and the other is a mental issue, but I see them the same in many ways. The idea of moving a quarterback from mostly taking a snap out of the shotgun to taking a snap from under center is a mental AND physical issue.

I just find it interesting there isn't too much concern from Peter about drafting quarterbacks in the 1st round who don't take snaps under center or run an offense that is like a NFL offense in college, but the fact Spiller hasn't ever carried the ball 300 times in a season is a knock against him in the eyes of Peter King. It doesn't necessarily mean he can't do it, he just hasn't. He is 5'11" and weighs 196 pounds, so he has the build to carry the ball a lot. Maybe Spiller can't, but carrying the ball 300 times in a college season (of 14 games) is 21.5 carries per game, which is a lot, especially for a guy who doesn't need the ball that much to score touchdowns.

He was also sharing carries with James Davis for three years. Let's remember that. I am just saying for me, the issue of a quarterback changing how he takes the snap from the center seems to be an adjustment, much like a running back changing his body shape to absorb more punishment and carry the ball more. I am rambling now.

• Carolina. I didn't like the trade for Armanti Edwards; the 89th pick in the draft is a nice place to get a position-change prospect, but trading potentially the 40th or 45th pick in 2011 for him?

It could also potentially be the 33rd pick or the 60th pick as well. It is incredibly stupid to try and project exactly what the pick will be at this point just to try and prove a point. It is a bit high for a guy changing positions, but isn't a 3rd round pick in the 2010 draft nearly equivalent to a 2nd round pick in 2011...or something like that?

• Denver. I'll riff on the Broncos tomorrow in my Tuesday mailbag column.

Come on. Wouldn't you expect Tim Tebow to get an entire mailbag? Hell, we are lucky Peter just didn't turn the entire MMQB into a discussion of Tim Tebow. I hope we are all ready for the Tebow era of the NFL. It starts with Peter King not being able to sum up his feelings on the drafting of Tebow by Denver in his MMQB, so he requires an entire mailbag to get his feelings on this choice out. I am afraid our long national nightmare has begun.

• Jacksonville. A few things in the wake of my Thursday night conversation with well-respected GM Gene Smith of the Jags, after he made a pick I thought was the reach of the draft, defensive tackle Tyson Alualu of Cal with the 10th pick.

I don't hate the player, I hate the slot the player was picked in. I am going to pull a Peter King and save my venom for my draft grade post that no one really cares about reading.

And though he didn't say it, I could tell he felt this way: if he watches every snap of 25 games that Alualu played in the last two years, an he gets criticized for reaching for him, just who is doing the criticizing? People -- other than the Mayocks and Kipers, I'm assuming -- who might have seen a highlight or two, and have gotten everything they know about the draft from personnel people or coaches they talk to at this time of year. That resonated with me all weekend.

That's an excellent point. Another excellent point is that no matter how much they love Alualu, they could have gotten him later in the draft. Taking him at that point was stupid. I saw no mock draft that had him going in Top 20 and it is fine to love him and say you watched every snap he played over the last two years, but the bottom line is that Jacksonville could have either (a) gotten more draft picks or (b) saved money by trading back. I can love Golden Tate all I want, but just because I like him doesn't mean I take him in the Top 20 when there isn't competition for him at that point.

Get a 3rd round pick to move back 8 spots or something. Anything.

Smith deserves a light rap on the wrist for not getting a little something by trading down. But I'll wait 'til midseason, until we all see how disruptive (or not) Alualu is after a career at every position on the defensive line with Cal.

It's not going to change my mind. If Alualu goes to the Hall of Fame, it still stands to reason the Jaguars could have/should have gotten something to move back. Peter is missing the point. No one has a problem with the pick, it is when the pick was taken and the Jags missed a chance to get more draft picks AND get the guy they wanted. It's a form of reasonable greediness.

• New England. The Patriots again got great volume, and even set themselves as the power brokers of the 2011 draft; they already had the Raiders' 2011 first-rounder, then pilfered the Panthers' second-round pick next year by dealing them the 89th pick in this draft -- way at the end of the third round.

I am sure someday the Patriots fans would like for the team to actually draft players and not trade back all the time. That being said, I can't really argue with the results.

• New York Giants. Great story by Ralph Vacchiano in Sunday's New York Daily News about the desire of top pick Jason Pierre-Paul, echoing the drive I've heard he has. He is quick, and a great athlete. Question: How did he only get six sacks in 2010? Another question: Worried about the fact he's played only one year of college football at a high level after being at two JCs?

I was really high on Pierre-Paul before the draft, but I have been thinking a little bit about him. I hope he isn't one of those guys who looks like an athlete, but only has one good year in college and gets drafted high. George Selvie was the guy everyone talked about on the defensive line until this year and there wasn't much talk about Pierre-Paul prior to this year.

By the way, I got an email from GM Mike Tannenbaum during the week. Remember last week's column, when I ran the quote from National Football Post's Mike Lombardi about no one in the organization taking responsibility for the drafting of Vernon Gholston? Tannenbaum said, essentially, that he's never hidden from the Gholston pick, takes full responsibility, and if there's some blame to take, give it to him. Big of him.

There is a vote of confidence for Gholston. It's very big of Tannenbaum to publicly call Gholston a mistake, but I feel like he is sort of calling out his own player publicly, which isn't really big of him.

• San Diego. I thought A.J. Smith paid too much (two picks in the top 40) for a productive but not explosive running back, Ryan Mathews.

What is the problem with a non-explosive, productive running back? Would a team rather have an explosive player who isn't productive as they would like (Reggie Bush)? I guess I always thought a player was considered good if he was productive, maybe I was wrong.

•Tampa Bay. Bucs discussion in my Tuesday column. Sorry for the delay.

What? That's going to cut into our Tebow-time. Unacceptable.

• Washington.Trent Williams, the left tackle, in the first round, and Donovan McNabb in the second. Not very complicated. If either one of those guys fail, the Redskins will struggle to be a .500 team.

I like how the genius Mike Shanahan didn't take the best left tackle in the draft in Russell Okung because he liked Williams better. He's had success drafting left tackles, but this is one of the reasons I doubt Shanahan sometimes. I think he tries to outsmart everyone.

Now for my normal 10th Thing I Think.

Peter just skipped over "things he thinks" #2-#9.

c. The best TV on TV right now is when Andrew Bernard and Dwight Schrute face off.

Where would we all be without Peter's thoughts on "The Office?" I watch the show every week and I am not sure I even know what he is talking about here.

e. Coffeenerdness: Bus Stop Espresso, in Seattle's Green Lake neighborhood, might be the funkiest espresso bar I've been in.

What the hell is a "funky" espresso bar? Do they have P-Funk or Kool and the Gang playing throughout the coffee house or something? Compared to the boring scenery that every Starbucks presents, nearly every other coffee house is funky.

Recommended. Good stuff. You'll need to ask for it hot, but it's a very good plain latte.

I look forward to going to a coffee house where I have to ask for my coffee hot. It sounds like they really have their shit together when a customer has to ask for hot coffee specifically.

f. Thanks for dinner, Gary Wright. Great catching up with you. Great town you've got out there in Seattle.

Isn't it a better idea to fax, text, email or call Gary Wright to tell him this? Of all the ways to send a message, sending that message in a football column read by thousands of people is the least personal...and it is also annoying for the readers to have to wade through.

I think the Tuesday mailbag is going to be very Tebow-licious.