Bruno Boys Fantasy Football

The first three rounds of the draft saw a lot of action happen. Day three of the draft brought us the fourth, fifth, sixth and seventh rounds of the draft and though the players weren’t as highly regarded as those picked in the first three rounds, there was still a lot to take notice of. Perhaps the biggest move of the day came when the Oakland Raiders traded a future fourth round pick to the Washington Redskins for quarterback Jason Campbell. This all but signifies the end of the JaMarcus Russell era and also gives the Raiders a level of respectability that they haven’t had in a while. The biggest steal of the draft came in the sixth round when the Pittsburgh Steelers selected Georgia Tech running back Jonathan Dwyer. Dwyer was a first round talent that fell to the sixth round, and to see why that happened just continue on reading our recap of rounds 4-7 of the NFL draft.

For complete 2010 NFL Draft coverage and to share your thoughts and opinions on how the draft is played out please visit us in our forum… Bruno Boys Nation! Weigh in on the 2010 NFL Draft

4th Round Thoughts

The first impression about this round was seeing two talented receivers get selected. The St. Louis Rams started the day off by picking Mardy Gilyard out of Cincinnati and later the Tampa Bay Buccaneers got Mike Williams out of Syracuse. Gilyard was very productive in Cincinnati but will need to prove he can make the switch to a more pro-style offense. Williams is immensely talented but questions about his character caused him to slip.

The Baltimore Ravens must not think much of tight end Todd Heap. They picked a tight end, Ed Dickson, in the third round and again looked to the tight end position in the fourth round with the selection of Dennis Pitta out of BYU. It’s also a little funny to note that the New England Patriots needed a tight end and twice picked a guy the Ravens were targeting, selecting Rob Gronkowski in the second round and Aaron Hernandez in the fourth.

And the above goes into a further point about the entire draft this year. What’s with all the love for tight ends? In this year’s draft there were 20 tight ends picked. That goes along with the 19 tight ends that were selected in last year’s draft.

The Oakland Raiders took a receiver in the fourth round by selecting Clemson’s Jacoby Ford. Take a guess what Ford excels at. That’s right, he’s a former track star who needs to work on improving his pass-catching skills. At some point the Raiders are going to realize that in today’s NFL speed isn’t everything.

Wanting to address their quarterback situation and build depth behind starter Kevin Kolb and backup Michael Vick the Philadelphia Eagles picked Mike Kafka out of Northwestern. This one was a bit of a head-scratcher. Kafka was a good quarterback at Northwestern but there were higher-rated quarterbacks still available, including Central Michigan’s Dan LeFevour and Fordham’s John Skelton. Perhaps the Eagles know something we all don’t but otherwise this looks like a bit of a reach.

Perhaps the best pickup that happened during this round was when the Raiders shipped a fourth round pick in 2012 to the Washington Redskins for quarterback Jason Campbell. Campbell is a decent player who instantly makes the Oakland offense better. There are some that think Campbell still has room to grow so hopefully the Raiders don’t waste this opportunity.

5th Round Thoughts

Two quarterbacks were picked in this round. The Arizona Cardinals got Skelton and later in the round the San Diego Chargers picked Jonathan Crompton. Skelton is an intruging prospect because he’s a big guy with a good arm that didn’t play against the highest level of competition. He will need some developmental time but could turn into a decent player. Crompton, on the other hand is limited. He never lived up to his potential at Tennessee and the Chargers may have reached a bit on this pick, needing to find a third quarterback following their trade of Charlie Whitehurst to the Seahawks.

Baltimore made a nice selection with its pick in the round when it got David Reed, a wide receiver out of Utah. It is easy to criticize Reed because of the offense he played in at Utah and that receivers typically don’t transition well from it into the NFL, but Reed is very talented. There are a lot of guys ahead of him in the pecking order and he’ll be able to learn from Anquan Boldin and Derrick Mason. So this looks like a nice find for the Ravens.

There was another receiver gem picked in this round when the Eagles selected Riley Cooper out of Florida shortly after the Ravens picked Reed. At 6’3” and 215 pounds Cooper has good size and was the Gators’ top target last year. He’s also extremely athletic as he was picked by the Texas Rangers in the 25th round of the MLB draft. Philadelphia knows how to pick receivers as well so I wouldn’t be surprised to see Cooper become a good third receiver for them down the line.

Props to the Patriots for going out on a limb and selecting Michigan punter Zoltan Mesko. Mesko was the top punter entering the draft and this is a position New England has needed to address for a while.

There were seven cornerbacks picked in the fifth round. Combine that with five safeties that were selected also in the fifth and that’s 12 picks that are defensive backs. Good defensive backs aren’t easy to find and teams and hoping that one of these players will turn out to be a diamond in the rough. I think Oakland’s pick of Walter McFadden out of Auburn and the Chicago Bears’ pick of Joshua Moore from Kansas State look to be the best picks out of those 12.

6th Round Thoughts

It was surprising to see LeFevour fall past the fifth round and it was also surprising to see Crompton get picked ahead of him. But justice was served as LeFevour was picked by Chicago, a nice spot to be drafted by considering he grew up in the Chicago suburbs. Jay Cutler is the guy in Chicago but down the line LeFevour could develop into a good NFL quarterback. Did you know his college stats were better than Tim Tebow’s in pretty much every category?

An interesting pick in this round was the selection of Florida Atlantic quarterback Rusty Smith by the Tennessee Titans. Smith becomes the first player from FAU to be drafted and he goes into a crowded quarterback situation that includes Vince Young, Kerry Collins and Chris Simms. Smith will still have to prove he’s worth the investment but he would be a cheaper option to keep on the team than Collins or Simms. Either way it’s a safe bet that one of the three — Collins, Simms or Smith — won’t be a Titan when the season begins.

The absolute steal of the round, and perhaps the entire draft, has to go the Pittsburgh Steelers, who picked Georgia Tech running back Jonathan Dwyer. Following the season it was though Dwyer would be selected anywhere from the late first round to early third round area, yet he fell all the way to the sixth round. What happened? Apparently Dwyer failed an NFL drug test and that news made it around to all the teams, and thus they started to shy away from him. Turns out the drug is one that Dwyer has taken since fifth grade to deal with his attention deficit disorder (ADD) and he was supposed to be a pre-approved list by the NFL saying it’s OK that he take the medication. So some mix up in the NFL cost Dwyer to fall. The Steelers are thankful for this as Dwyer will fit perfectly in that offense. Too bad he’ll have to fight Rashard Mendenhall for carries.

The Houston Texans selected LSU receiver Trindon Holliday but it’s unlikely he’ll be catching many passes. Holliday’s immediate value to Houston is as a kick and punt returner, areas in which he excelled at during his time at LSU. Holliday’s speed and ability to change directions quickly give the Texans a legitimate home run threat in the return game.

Maybe the Carolina Panthers aren’t too in love with their second round pick, quarterback Jimmy Clausen. The Panthers used their sixth round pick on Cincinnati quarterback Tony Pike, a guy who was said to be rising up draft boards but a poor performance against Florida in the Sugar Bowl did not help his prospects. Clausen is the future in Carolina but Pike could make things interesting.

Kansas receiver Dezmon Briscoe could be a good pickup for the Cincinnati Bengals. Briscoe caught over 200 passes during his time at Kansas and with good size (6’2”, 210 pounds) you would think he would’ve gone a little higher in the draft. However, running a 40-yard dash time of 4.66 seconds at the combine killed his draft stock.

Let’s not overlook the selection of Mississippi State running back Anthony Dixon by the San Francisco 49ers. Dixon is a tough, hard-nosed player, and that’s the kind of guy head coach Mike Singletary is looking for. Expect Dixon to challenge Glen Coffee for the second spot at running back behind Frank Gore. Coffee was less than impressive last year, averaging less than 3 yards a carry.

7th Round Thoughts

It’s developmental quarterback time! In the seventh round there were three quarterbacks picked. The Buffalo Bills selected Levi Brown out of Troy, the New Orleans Saints got Sean Canfield out of Oregon State and the Patriots took Zac Robinson out of Oklahoma State. Brown is the one with the most potential but he is very raw. Canfield and Robinson were great college quarterbacks but it doesn’t appear as if either has the skills to stick in the NFL.

It was shocking that of the 48 picks in the seventh round (32 regular plus 16 compensatory) that no running backs were selected in the seventh round.

Timothy Toone, a wide receiver out of Weber State, has the distinct honor of being this year’s Mr. Irrelevant as he was picked with the 255th and final pick in the draft by the Detroit Lions. Congratulations to Toone, though going to the Lions he likely would’ve preferred to be an undrafted free agent.

Along with Toone, UCLA’s Terrence Austin and Montana’s Marc Mariani were the only receivers picked in the seventh round. Austin went to the Redskins and Mariani was picked by the Tennessee Titans. None of the three appear to have bright NFL careers and will face a difficult challenge in just being able to make their respective teams.

Past Rounds Recap:  1  |  2  |  3  |  4  |  5  |  6  |  7

For complete 2010 NFL Draft coverage and to share your thoughts and opinions on how the draft is played out please visit us in our forum… Bruno Boys Nation! Weigh in on the 2010 NFL Draft