Update

Some more down time as we prepare for final exams. We apologize, and will be back 100% full speed starting next week as finals are over and our lives go back to normal.

In the meantime, head over to the message board and talk about anything your heart desires.

Thanks,
Neil

Let's talk about BUSTS

Yesterday, news leaked that the Oakland Raiders plan to cut JaMarcus Russell. Russell, as you all know, was the #1 overall draft pick in 2007 from LSU. Physically, Russell was an animal coming out of college. Standing 6'6", tipping the scales at 260lbs, and having a cannon for an arm. Russell never did see any significant improvement in his game. He also always managed to show up at training camp 20lbs heavier than he had the previous season, tipping the scales at just under 300lbs at the Raiders most recent mini-camp.

Russell is an obvious bust, I don't think there's any room for debate on that. But my question is: Is JaMarcus Russell the biggest bust in NFL history? Only one man comes to mind that can put up a fight for this title: Ryan Leaf. Let's take a trip down memory lane for those that don't remember the details on the Ryan Leaf story (or should I call it a tragedy?)...

Leaf was a standout at Washington State, and in 1997 was named the Pac-10 Offensive Player of the Year, as well as a Heisman Trophy finalist. In the draft that following spring, Leaf and Peyton Manning were considered the top 2 players. Many actually believed that Leaf would be better than Manning. The San Diego Chargers held the #3 pick in the draft, and traded with Arizona who had the #2, to ensure that they would get 1 of the 2 coveted quarterbacks. San Diego gave up two 1st round picks, a 2nd round pick, and a 3-time Pro Bowler to move into the #2 slot. Manning obviously went #1 to Indianapolis, and the Chargers took Leaf without hesitation and knew they'd found their franchise QB of the future.

Leaf lasted 3 seasons. Russell just finished his 3rd season. So now let's make the comparisons...

Leaf

Games: 25

Touchdowns: 14

Incerceptions: 36

Yards: 3,666

Completion percentage: 48.4

QB Rating: 50.0

Salary: 4 years/$31.25 million, with $11.25 million guaranteed. This was at the time the biggest guaranteed signing bonus ever for a rookie.

Russell

Games: 31

Touchdowns: 18

Interceptions: 23

Yards: 4,083

Completion percentage: 52.1

QB Rating: 65.2

Salary: 6 years/$68 million, with $31.5 million guaranteed. It is also worth noting that Russell didn't agree to a contract until up into September, missing the entire offseason training camp.

So, who wins?

Russell had the better numbers. he was statistically better than Leaf in every catagory. However, he also made a LOT more money than Leaf did. So if you want to look at a ratio of money earned vs. performance, this one might be too close to call.

We will let the readers decide. Leave a comment or head over to the message board.

A little change

Hey everyone,

Just wanted to let you all know that we're throwing a little changeup...I've created a forum/message board, to go hand-in-hand with this site.

From what I'm gathering, we're getting a lot of readers on this blog, but there's very few people commenting. I thought a message board might be a better option for most readers because it will allow you all to talk about what YOU want to talk about, instead of having to comment on the things we blog about.

The blog will continue and will serve as the place where we post our primary thoughts on the sporting world. The message board is for YOU, the readers, to say what's on your mind the way we do in the blog. Of course Tyler, Brandon, and I will be chipping in on the message board too.

The address for the board is http://eastkysportstalk.proboards.com. Be sure to add it to your bookmarks.

Thank you all for reading our blog. We hope you continue to do so daily, and continue spreading the word.

MIA

Does anybody know how we can get this face on a milk carton?



Napier and I are filing a missing person report on our good friend and fellow blogger, Tyler.



In the sporting world, there's not much to post on this morning. We've covered the NFL Draft pretty well. Basketball is slow, with no UK-related recruiting news to talk about.

Stay tuned. And if you see Mr. Lykins, tell him his pal over here at East KY Sports Talk miss him.

NFL Draft, Day 2

Day 2 (Rounds 2 & 3) of the NFL Draft came and went yesterday, and Day 3 (Rounds 4-7) are underway as I type this.

- Jimmy Clausen highlighted Day 2. It blows my mind that the Browns, Bills, Raiders, Seahawks and Chiefs passed on the best QB in the draft, TWICE. It simply baffles me. But their incompetence turned out to be a blessing in disguise for Clausen. He was picked up witht he #48 overall pick by the Carolina Panthers. Now he finds himself playing for a legit playoff contender instead of a bottom-dwelling, 5 wins or less team.

- Colt McCoy feel even further. He was drafted with the #85 pick to the Cleveland Browns.

- For my fellow UK fans, Corey Peters was drafted in the 3rd round by the Atlanta Falcons, and earlier this morning the Philadelphia Eagles picked up Trevard Lindley in the 4th.
(UPDATE: John Conner was drafted by the New York Jets as I wrote this post)

- The Bengals made some quality selections. Carlos Dunlap, a DE from Florida in the 2nd round...and Jordan Shipley, WR from Texas who you may remember from the NCAA Championship game.

- Who's had the best draft so far? Look no further than the Bay Area. The 49'ers are having a fantastic draft. And their neighbors in Oakland, although they foolishly passed on Jimmy Clausen, have made some quality selections too.

The Sweet Smell of Victory...

I woke up this morning in a terrific mood. Why you may ask? The smell of victory was in the air as I "took down the tuna"! That's right, Neil went down last night. I might have been as indecisive as Dusty Baker trying to decide whether to lead off with Willy Taveras or Alex Gonzalez last season, however, when it came to crunch time I took care of business.

Now Neil "tuna-melt" Borders, will have to pay up, and buy me a delicious, medium-well, new york strip. Don't worry, there will be pictures taken and posted.....believe that!

Now to my first round thoughts....

- I just want to go ahead and get it over with right now, I am happy for Tim Tebow, but I don't see how you justify a first round pick on him. I know he has high character, he's a leader, a winner, and he might have been the best player in college football history (which is debatable), but his game just isn't relevant enough to waste a first round pick on. His mechanics are flawed, he doesn't get great reads on coverages, and the jump pass will get thrown down his throat in the NFL. In college he was a "man among boys" running over defenders at will, Tebow won't be able to do that in the NFL. Quite frankly, I hope the best for him because he is a natural born hero, but I don't see him ever starting in the NFL in any system.

- Josh McDaniels, what are you and the front office of the Broncos doing? You trade down to get your wide reciever in Demaryius Thomas, I understand that, but you trade back up to get Tebow, and make him your third option at quarterback? I just feel like the Broncos could have got a pocket-passer relevant to Josh McDaniels style in later rounds, the Broncos should have stayed put, and got some players to play in some need areas like a safety, Brian Dawkins isn't going bto stay young forever, or maybe another pass rushing outside linebacker to take some pressure off Elvis Dumervil. Will see how the "Tebow project" goes, because either way, your paying him first round money.

- Jacksonville takes Defensive Tackle Tyson Alualu with the 10th pick? Most didn't have him being taken until late in the first round or early in the second. This seemed like a bit of a reach to me, why not trade down and get some more pics? Why not take C.J. Spiller to boost your running game? I know the Jags have Maurice Jones-Drew, but two backs thrive in Jack Del Rio's system; take a look back at how good they were when they had Fred Taylor firing on all cylinders with Jones-Drew. Why not take Earl Thomas? You have a hole at safety, and Thomas has all-pro written all over him. Jacksonville was last in sacks last year in the NFL, why not take a pass rusher like Derrick Morgan or Jason Pierre-Paul? I guess DT John Henderson will have some company next year, or does that make him trade bait? This pick just sends a lot of mixed signals. Jacksonville should have stayed patient, traded down, picked up some picks, and got this guy later on in the first if they valued him that highly. How does Alualu make your team better? You took him at 10, for crying out loud! First round picks are supposed to instantly help from my vantage point, this pick just doesn't mold into that instant gratification.

- Al Davis has done it yet again. Davis takes an inside linebacker in Rolando McClain instead of addressing his offensive line, which was non-existent last year, or the Raiders dilemma at quarterback. I guess Al and that boys will address their issues in the later rounds? They now have plenty of linebackers after trading for Kamerion Wimbley. Instead of "Win, Baby, Win" it should be "Think, Baby, Think".

- Now that we have some of the sour stuff out of the way, lets get positive and talk about some teams who helped themselves:

• Detroit Lions- You get the best player in the draft in defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh to help your line and then you pick up a speedster running back at pick 30 in Jahvid Best. Great night for the Lions they picked up maybe the next Reggie White, and got another offensive weapon to go along with Matthew Stafford, Calvin Johnson, Brandon Pettigrew, and Kevin Smith. I'm not saying they are a playoff calibar team, but they did help themselves.


• San Francisco 49ers- Some question their picks of two offensive lineman in the first round, but I like it. Offensive tackle Anthony Davis has more upside than anyone in the draft and offensive guard Mike Iupati is a house, whose great in run blocking schemes. Mike Singletary is bringing back the "Monster's of the Midway" old school, Chicago Bears football to the bay.


• Dallas Cowboys- They just rolled out the carpet for Dez Bryant, Tony Romo must be the happiest man in Texas at this moment. They pick up arguably the best talent in the draft at 24 to go with Wide receivers Miles Austin and Roy Williams, not to mention the pass catching abilities of Jason Witten, and you still have Marion "Tugboat" Barber at running back and the lightning-fast Felix Jones, pretty good day for the 'Boys! In my book, they just moved up to the third best offense in football behind the Saints and Colts.

All in all, this first round had a lot of shifting, lot of head scratching picks, and best of all, enough drama for your momma! Oh, I almost forgot to mention the biggest winner of the draft, "ME" or did I already mention that? Either way, it was an entertaining first round and I can't wait for Borders to entertain me with a steak!

Until Next Time, Adios!

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1st round thoughts

Congrats to Brandon, who won the 2010 mock draft duel. He flip-flopped more than John Kerry, but in the end was able to correctly pick 8 or 9 of the 32 selections, which doesn't sound like much until you sit down and try to do it better yourself.

Round 1 came and went, and had even more "wow" moments than usual. Here are some quick thoughts i'm left with...

- How does the best QB in the draft slide completely out of the 1st round? Clausen will be gone in the first 5 picks of friday night's 2nd round. Maybe as soon as the 2nd pick of the 2nd round, which belongs to the Minnesota Vikings.

- Cleveland's offense has been historically bad the last couple of seasons, yet they spend their 1st round pick on defense. Not only that, but a player they could have still grabbed had they traded down 3-4 spots.

- Al Davis lives up to his reputation and provides another draft day "wtf" moment, although not as questionable as other moves in recent years. Rolando McClain will be a great football player for the Raiders but they have far too many holes to fill on the O-line, and their QB situation is an obvious mess.

- Tim Tebow is on a "Rocky Mountain High". I knew some team just couldn't resist, but I didn't think it'd be Denver. They spend a 1st round pick on a guy that will be the #3 QB on their depth chart. Is Josh McDaniels the new Al Davis?

- Bob Stoops is apparently the John Calipari of football, with 4 Oklahoma Sooners going in the 1st round, including 3 of the top 4 picks. The Big 12 dominated the 1st round of the draft, having 9 players from their league selected.

- Ben Roethlisberger remains a Steeler. I can't help but think that the Rooney's weren't too serious about getting rid of him because i'm sure they got offers tonight.
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