UPDATE: 4/23/08
1. Miami Dolphins
MIA- Jake Long, OT, Michigan
The thing is that the Tuna and most of the Dolphins staff really wanted to trade this pick but in the modern era of football it is too expensive to trade up to this pick let alone pay the huge salary demanded by the 1st overall pick. Anyway now to pick. Jake Long is most likely the safest pick in this draft he can plug in at LT allowing the Dolphins to move Vernon Carey around on the line. Bill Parcels often likes to sign his picks before he drafts them and Long and the Dolphins are already under discussion.(And he also signed with them)
2. St. Louis Rams
STL- Chris Long, DE, Virginia
With the only OT worth a top 2 pick is off the board the Rams switch there pick to their next biggest need at the D-line. Last years 1st round pick of Adam Carricker and additional picks to help out the DTs they take the best DE on the board, they could also consider Vernon Gholston from Ohio St. but I believe that Chris Long is the better DE in this draft of the two.
3. Atlanta Falcons
ATL- Glen Dorsey, DT, LSU
The Falcons have 3 needs that can be addressed with this pick in, OT, DT, and QB. One could rule out the choice of an OT because Jake Long is off the board. At this point this pick will be between two players Glen Dorsey and Matt Ryan. This will be a long hard war room in Atlanta but with this draft being deeper at QB the Falcons take Dorsey and look to take a QB in the 2nd round or move back in to the late first round. Possible 2nd round QBs include Brian Brohm, Joe Flacco, or Chad Henne.
4. Oakland Raiders
OAK- Vernon Gholston, DE, Ohio St.
Now I know that the pass on McFadden is hard to understand but I truly believe that they have really strong plans for Justin Fargass. While Al Davis might have the temptation to take the speed home-run hitting RB they take the smarter pick. It appears that the Raiders back field is set with Justin Fargass, LaMont Jordon, Domenick Rhodes, and Michael Bush and McFadden isn’t really needed. In my opinion Gholston has the most upside of any player in this years draft class and will make a great improvement for the Radiers, however it will be hard to make Al Davis not pick McFadden.
5. Kansas City Cheifs
KC- Matt Ryan, QB, BC
The Chiefs really have one glaring need for the 2008 NFL draft and that is O-line. However with the trade of Jared Allen giving the Cheifs a extra 1st round pick they can afford not to reach on Clady, Williams or Albert and wait to later. So what they do is go BPA while the Cheifs QB situation might be okay in an interview recently Herm Edwards said that he wouldn’ t be against taking Ryan so they go BPA here with Ryan and can wait on there Tackle.
6. New York Jets
NYJ- Darren McFadden, RB, Arkansas
Well he really just dropped into their laps here. I know that the Jets have invested money in Thomas Jones but they can’t pass up this playmaker in McFadden. He has had some off the field issues and that might be a problem in a city like New York. However if they can get past that they have all the nessissary people around to make McFadden a success with Allen Fanaca, Nick Mangold, DeBrickashaw Furgason, and Thomas Jones .
7. New England Patriots
NE- Ryan Clady, OT Boise St.
The Patriots lost a huge piece of there secondary in the ’08 offseason. After losing Randal Gay and Asante Sammuel. So the way I see it is that why that is the biggest need of the team why would they pay a rookie CB Asante Sammuel type money for potential. They address the need on there O-Line after Clady falls from KC.
8. Baltimore