Is it drafty in here?
The 2009 NFL draft came and went this past weekend, and once again, A.J. has me flummoxed. With their first pick (#16 overall, due to some fluky, antiquated, since overturned draft order rules) the Chargers selected Northern Illinois Outside Linebacker Larry English. What concerns me about this pick is NOT that English does not hail from a major program or BCS conference. I don’t care that he was a man among boys in the middling MAC or that he was the first Huskie EVER taken in the first round of an NFL draft. I’m not overly bothered that most mocks and boards had him going a tad lower (in the 18-20 range-ironically some people had Denver taking him with their 2nd first-round pick). What concerns me most, is that for all the needs this team has, we selected an OUTSIDE linebacker. In case you don’t follow football or have been living under a rock, the Chargers currently retain the services of a young man by the name of Shawne Merriman.
Who is Shawne Merriman? Simply put, he is the BEST OUTSIDE LINEBACKER currently playing in the National Football League. Yes, he was injured and did not play last season. But do I believe for one minute he is going to come back at anything less than 110% after an entire year of rehabbing and working out? Not in this life. He is sick of not playing, he is hungry and he is ready to take out his frustrations wreaking havoc on opposing quarterbacks, linemen, running backs or anyone else dumb enough to get in his way. So what’s going on here? The Chargers find themselves in a win-win situation for the next two years. Merriman is set to become a free-agent at the end of 2009. If he falls flat this coming season, he’s simply gone. If he has a bounce-back year (as I am supremely confident he will) the Chargers have the option to apply the franchise tag to secure him through 2010. Is A.J. just playing games with Merriman and his agent Tom Condon (an A.J. Smith nemesis)? Trying to ‘serve notice’ or play hardball? If so, way to be vindictive with the #16 pick in the draft. What with the gaping hole by the name of Matt Wilhelm at Inside Linebacker, Igor Olshansky gone (was he even really here in ’08?) Jamal Williams pushing 35 (which in Nose Tackle years is like pushing 50) and Luis Castillo managing to have the creakiest knees in football at age 25, our front 7 is more needy than all the women on Grey’s Anatomy combined (judging from the promos only). Ray Maualuga would have been a perfect fit at ILB (an abosulute GIFT to Cincinatti in the 2nd round at #38) and Robert Ayers would have been a great addition at Defensive End taking over for Igor, or as insurance for Luis (Ayers fell to Denver, two picks later). Luckily, A.J. traded away our second round pick to move up in the THIRD round of last year’s draft to take Jacob Hester (check back later to see if he can block…he’s still busy out there figuring out WHO he should be TRYING to block) so I would have to wait until day 2 to see what Mr. Smith had up his sleeve next. And actually…I liked what I saw. With his 3rd round pick (#78 overall) A.J. nabbed an offensive guard from Texas Tech by the name of Louis Vasquez.
I have an interesting perspective on this pick. When I lived in Washington, DC from 2003-2006 all 3 of my roomates were Texas Tech Alums. Every Saturday during the fall I would head to the Pour House on Pennsylvania Ave. to watch Texas Tech play along with all the members of the DC chapter of the Texas Tech alumni association. The reason I said I went to these games was because I’m a dork who went to UCSD, a school with no football team, and thus I ‘adopted’ the Red Raiders as my college football rooting interest. The REAL reason I went was because all of the super cute, SUPER nice Texas Tech interns (fresh into DC, and just how I liked my women- young, naive and leaving town in three months) came to watch the games as well. And the funniest part is they all thought I was really cool simply because I was from California (those of you who know me in person find this particularly hysterical, I am sure). But back to football. I did manage to watch quite a bit of Texas Tech football, and ironically their style of play reminds me of the 2008 Chargers. They ALWAYS had a great quaterback, a superb offense and a HORRIFIC defense. As a matter of fact a joke quickly developed that when an NFL player couldn’t tackle someone, he was playing like he was a Red Raider (e.g. “Eric Weddle and Matt Wilhelm are tackling like they are playing for Texas Tech right now” was a staple statement made almost every game of the 2008 Chargers season). But what struck me was how much fun they were to watch on offense. They lined up a lot of spread formations, hardly ever ran unless it was a pitch or an option and got rid of the ball quickly. This had led many scouts to believe an offensive lineman from this program (such as Vasquez) would be too hard to evaluate and thus his stock slipped. A.J. has a penchant for finding superb players in these sorts of predicaments. Think Kris Dielman, and Antonio Gates. I don’t for one second believe A.J. took a 3rd round flier on this kid without being ‘able’ to evaluate him. A.J. liked what he saw, and knew he could get this guy later than he should have gone. And with the departure of Mike Goff the seletion of Vasquez couldn’t be more timely. Kudos on the 3rd round pick, Mr. Smith. Now for the slew of 4th round picks (including 2 compensatory, another A.J. specialty). I’ll go through these quickly.
With the 113th, 133rd and 134th picks, the Chargers selected a Canadian(!) Defensive Tackle by the name of Vaughn Martin, Tyronne Green-a center from Auburn, and a running back from Colorado State named Gartrell Johnson, respectively. Green and Johnson are projected backups at their positions, but I am once again intrigued by Vaughn Martin. Canadian rules football is slightly different than the NFL and that learning curve may be why Martin dropped. However, at 6-3 and a whopping 331 pounds, don’t be surprised if this is another sneaky A.J. Smith pick, who MAY just end up being the next Jamal Williams. In all, I’d give A.J. a solid B for this draft (many people are grading him lower). While I’m not sure I agree entirely with the Larry English selection, for now I’ll give him the benefit of the doubt that he knows something I don’t. After all, he’s the one making the big bucks making personnel decisions for one of the NFL’s top franchises while I’m slaving away over a blog entry that no one else will read. Unless there is major breaking news, this will likely be my last football posting until training camp (I promise!) until then, go Padres! (yeah, right.)
Tags: Chargers, Dating, life, Sports
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April 28, 2009 at 1:01 am
[...] Original post by gmunz [...]