C. Trent has the story. No one says the obvious. The Bengals LOVE coaching these post season bowl games so they can "scout" the players without, you know, hiring enough people to scout them during the year. I personally find these bowl games incredibly overrated. Every player in on his "best" behavior because he knows all NFL teams are watching. You do not see how players interact with their real teammates, real coaches, and how they perform in meaningful games. But hey, it only costs the team a few hundred dollars in meal money and a handful of hotel rooms for a couple weeks instead of hiring more full time scouts, so I guess it is a "win" for the Bengals.
Marvin Lewis and his staff coached the North team in 2004, and drafted Keiwan Ratliff and Madieu Williams in the 2nd round, who played for the South team, coached by the Chargers. C. Trent is very smart to point out that while it may be easy to say the Madieu Williams pick was good, the Chargers did a much better job of coaching/scouting. That year they traded out of number one pick and took Phillip Rivers, Michael Turner, and Nate Kaeding....all who played in that game. The Chargers are an example of maximizing your draft picks. Twice, they have traded out of the top pick. In 2001, they traded the top pick (Michael Vick) and ended up with LT (5th Pick) and Drew Brees (1st pick of the 2nd round). In 2004, they traded Eli Manning and got Philip Rivers and Shawne Merriman (in the 2005 draft). Mike Brown does not not like to trade top draft picks. He turned down 234 draft picks for Akili Smith . San Diego has a General Manager who is not the owner, nor related to the owner. Weird.
I hate to ask this question only becase I'm afraid of the answer, but who was chosen with those picks offered by the Saints? I know there were at least 2 number on picks in future years plus all of that years draft.
Posted by: Homer J | January 06, 2009 at 03:05 PM
Washington took the trade with the Saints but I don't recall who they took. I seem to remember they didn't do much of note with those picks. I could be wrong. Look it up, it was the 1999 draft and the first and third picks of the 2000 draft.
Posted by: Sleeping With Bieniemy | January 06, 2009 at 05:41 PM
Mike Brown scouting 101. NFL bailing him out on why he will not need to address the scouting problem again. Classic! Way to go, Goodell! Marvin making a statement about this game and what it does for scouting is a Classic one, um, we are about to only have 1 player left from that draft, ML and Perry was the biggest pick mistake he has ever made. Jackson should have been the pick!
Posted by: TigerJ@w | January 06, 2009 at 07:59 PM
I believe the Redskins took that trade from the Saints and drafted Champ Bailey with the 7th pick. They then traded Champ to the Broncos. Looking at the 99 draft is sad.
1. Couch
2. McNabb
3. Akili
4. Edge James
5. Ricky Williams
6. Torry Holt
7. Champ Bailey
Looks like Ohio failed this draft.
Posted by: Leeroy Jenkins | January 06, 2009 at 08:28 PM
When drafting a QB it's vitally important that he is able to READ. (see Akili Smith) If you can't read it's equally important that you don't give a future HOF QB coach (Ken Anderson) a box of crayons and an etch-a-sketch to teach him the playbook.
And finally, MikeyBoy should make these dolts be smarter than a 5th grader before drafting them.
Posted by: ItmightbeJB | January 08, 2009 at 06:27 PM