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Immersed in the draft Posted: Thursday April 11, 2002 10:27 AM
Have a comment or question for Dr. Z? Click here. Good letters this week. Not one rip, unless Jimmy held them back to save for his scrapbook. Since I'm in the middle of my draft handicapping, which means wall-to-wall calls and callbacks, I'll have to blitz through these e-mails fairly rapidly, OK? Rich of Hillsdale, N.J. , offers a suggestion I've also seen in some of the New York papers. Since the Giants will be mediocre this year, he proposes the club trade Michael Strahan because he's too greedy. First of all, no coach goes into a season planning to be mediocre -- unless he is undergoing terminal depression. You could have made the same evaluation about the Patriots last preseason. Secondly, you don't trade your best player because he's greedy --and I think it's more of a case of Strahan getting bad advice -- unless the situation is really disrupting the locker room. Plenty of guys have popped off during Jim Fassel's tenure and he didn't can them. He took them to a Super Bowl. Steve of Naperville, Ill., another reader who deplores the greed in of modern athletes, suggests announcing players' salaries during the intros. Uh-oh, would take too long. In the interest of accuracy, you'd have to announce: Joe Wideout, comma, five years, comma, $4.5 million bonus, comma, total package $8.5 million, comma, with a $50,000 workout bonus for the first three years, comma, an escalator clause after four, comma, with the contract voidable in the fifth season. Fans would be tearing up the seats. Barry Sanders popped up twice this week. Chris of Denver believes that I shorted him by calling Emmitt Smith the greatest back of this generation. Sanders was the most spectacular runner of his time, a freak runner actually, with an array of moves no one else had. Emmitt is heavy duty, though, and I think he is more valuable to his team. Thanks, Chris, for your nice comments. Eric of International Falls, Minn., offers the curious theory that Sanders quit because he didn't want to break Walter Payton's record. That's how much respect Sanders had for him. Normally I'd say this is ridiculous, but with Sanders you never know. He's such an unusual person. And he certainly hasn't managed to shed much light on things. Mike of Boston believes that a running back's 40-yard time is overrated. He favors quickness. I agree. I still remember Gaston Green, who broke the bank because he ran in the 4.3s. The most important asset, I feel, is the ability to make people miss. The 40-yard time is seductive, but how many times does a guy break a 40-yard run? Lance Davis , a "huge Raiders fan" from Owingsville, Ky. (exactly how big are you, Lance?) wonders about Tyrone Wheatley's future. First of all, I felt that Jon Gruden lost confidence in him. Then again Wheatley was hurt for part of the season and didn't seem to have the same punch. And then again -- again -- the Raiders carried and used no less than five running backs. Count em, Wheatley, Garner, Kirby, Jordan and Zack Crockett for short yardage. It was kind of a mishmosh. I don't know how coach Callahan is going to play it. If Wheatley has a big camp, he should be a factor. If not, he'll be gone. Brian of Melbourne, Fla. , wants the Raiders to trade up for a defensive lineman. Unless they feel that they have a real hotshot sitting down at the 21st spot, that would certainly make sense. But they need a linebacker, too, after having lost two of them. Do you think that Bill Romanowski is the answer? I was out on the coast when Oakland made the trade and all you heard on the talk shows was how he was going to come in and light a fire. No one mentioned that last season the Broncos didn't use him in their nickel. As far as the trade up, I feel that the Raiders probably could get the Julius Peppers pick (Carolina at No. 2) if they gave up their two firsts, which I don't think they want to do. There's an outside chance that the Panthers could take cornerback Quentin Jammers and that would mean Oakland would then move on to Detroit's No. 3 pick. The Lions might trade down for something in the top six or seven, plus a second- or third-round choice, but they'd also go for the Raiders' two No.1s, but definitely not the low first plus something else. If Oakland loses Grady Jackson, the team will definitely have to do something to address the D-line situation. On my board right now, I've got seven defensive linemen going before the Raiders draft. Two Broncos questions from Matt of Normal, Ill. (how did that town get its name, anyway?): How's Brian Griese's shoulder? They say it's OK, but we won't know for sure until he gets into the season and the normal wear and tear kicks in. Second question: Why has Denver had such a hard time finding a third receiver? Luck of the draw, I guess. Shannon Sharpe filled that role for many years but he lost his burst downfield. Eddie Kennison killed the Broncos last year. Thanks for your kind words. To Dennis of Alajuela, Costa Rica, a long-time journalist and journalism prof: I have no plans of retiring, even though I'm older than your grandfather. Glad you made it past Jimmy. I think it was all that journalism stuff that swung the election. Your question about whether Canton will ever open its doors to a special teams star, well, Ira Miller of the San Francisco Chronicle is pushing very hard for Steve Tasker. If one's ever going to make it, he'd be my choice. It's a very tough call, though. The real old timers on the committee probably won't go for it. I've got my own special teamer to worry about -- Tommy Davis, the old 49er whom I believe was the greatest punter who ever lived. Paul of West Hartford, Conn. (Hartford, incidentally, was named after an ancestor of my ex-wife, Kate Hart. Just thought you'd like to know.) is concerned about the Dolphins' offensive line chemistry after they made a push for Bears center Olin Kreutz. Tim Ruddy is on the downside. Kreutz is a budding star. In the era of free agency, you're constantly trying to upgrade, and I think everyone understands that. The one area in which all the coming and going is not beneficial is the O-line, where the mesh is essential and you can't keep plugging in new people. But that's the game nowadays. Roy of Denver would like to see pass interference draw different penalty levels, flagrant and mild, the latter calling for 15 yards. Sure, that would be fine with me. Anything would be better than what they have now. As far as it going through in the near future, well, the Competition Committee moves on leaden feet. As far as I know, your suggestion never has been seriously considered. Doug of Rochester wonders about Cleveland's running back situation. Well, the player I've got ticketed for the Browns in the draft is Michigan State's T.J. Duckett . Duncan of Fairfax, Va., thinks that Mike Alstott has been getting a raw deal in Tampa Bay. Actually, he thinks that there's a serious place for big, power backs. But if you're going to make Alstott your focus, as the Steelers do with Jerome Bettis, you have to draft power O-linemen and commit yourself to the concept in camp. Alstott has been in the mix, but when the Bucs' offense was operating well, it was a Mr. Inside, Mr. Outside approach with Alstott and Warrick Dunn. Then Randall McDaniel hit the wall, and for some reason Jeff Christy didn't quite work out, and Kenyatta Walker didn't look ready -- at least not yet. Goodbye O-line. Then they got Keyshawn to get something going in the passing game. Let's face it, it was an incoherent offense and Alstott became an afterthought. David of Bedford, N.H., is looking for a Hall of Famer from the Super Bowl champion Patriots (still feels funny to say that) and suggests Adam Vinatieri, who kicked two of the greatest field goals in history. Well, two kicks does not a Hall of Famer make, even though I agree with you about their significance. Your stat about his never missing a kick indoors is a fascinating one. Wonder if the guys who do New England's media guide know this. Who's my choice for Hall of Fame Patriot? Uh, can't really say at this point. Maybe it's a guy who's just starting out, such as Seymour or Brady , if they keep picking up the tempo. The Colts' draft concerns Ryan of Calgary, another "huge fan" (lots of oversized fans this week). I'll tell you what I heard. First priority: defensive tackle. Pick one. Haynesworth, Sims, Bryant, Henderson in that order. I'd say Bryant would have a shot at being there. Second echelon: defensive end. Grant or Edwards . Next choice, Roy Williams, the Oklahoma safetyman. Knowing my luck in the mock draft, they'll probably wind up with a wideout or something. David of Pascagoula, Miss. (Once, long ago, on our way to the Senior Bowl from New Orleans, Sandy Padwe, the Philadelphia Inquirer columnist, and I stopped at a buffet lunch place in Pascagoula. We spent two hours there and had 'em hollering for mercy. The Redhead will not let me do that anymore.) -- anyway, David reminds me that I promised a New Orleans reader that I would get the story on the Saints' collapse. Defensive backfield lost its focus entirely. Norman Hand was hurt and Joe Johnson played injured part of the time and La'Roi Glover got overwhelmed. Aaron Brooks tailed as a sophomore. Plus, there were heavy rumors on the local talk shows that Joe Horn was the father of Willie Roaf's infant daughter. (Both Horn and Roaf came out to publicly deny this when the entire world descended on New Orleans for the Super Bowl.) Mike of Norton, Mass., offers a long explanation of how he managed to get his kids fed and bathed and in their jammies in 45 minutes between playoff games. Too long to get into now, but I was fascinated by the whole military operation. I never had to do this on game day. The wife took care of it. It would have blown my mind. Dinner on the table also would have been a rough one to cover. The only eating I do on Sunday is during the highlight show, between the late afternoon game and the one at night, and most of the time I'm taking notes. Did you really want to know all this? Did anybody? To Steve of Staten Island, N.Y. , who's a safety engineer for an insurance company, not a cop or fireman as I facetiously speculated, I was just kidding about those parking tickets. I don't want to have them fixed. I want to let them pile up until I'm listed among the roster of major league scofflaws. Then I can move on to more serious crimes. No, no, please, no outraged letters. I've got to have a little fun, too, don't I? Actually I knew the No.1 scofflaw in New York City. He was a bartender at the Lion's Head in the Village. I remember a story the Daily News wrote about him, with a picture and everything, and the day that it broke he was reading it at the bar. "Mike So-and-So, 38, who has piled up 324 parking tickets, etc." He slammed the paper down and his face was filled with rage. "Whaddya mean, 38? I'm 35!" he shouted. I guess there was no question involved here, but Jimmy likes this kind of action, too. Thanks for your sentiments, Steve. Have a comment or question for Dr. Z? Click here. |
