Football Outsiders

26 Apr 2005, 03:34pm by Aaron Schatz

Dr. Z Draft Report Card

Here ya go, kids, Dr. Z has his say. Once again, he can't even commit to regular + and - letter grades, instead giving out absurd grades like "A/A-" and a new one, "conditional." What the hell is the difference between "B-", "B-/C+", and "B- (conditional)"?!?!

Ned Macey is putting together the second annual "Report Card on Draft Report Cards" that will compare this and a number of other report cards, we'll have that in a couple days. In the meantime, the Doc likes the Vikings and Cowboys and hates the Broncos and Giants.

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26 Apr 2005, 11:28am by Michael David Smith

Boldin Skips Workout, Wants New Deal

This is why I think the NFL needs to move to an NBA-style rookie contract system where a player's first contract is small, but he becomes a free agent quickly and then earns what the market will bear. The Cardinals drafted receivers Anquan Boldin and Bryant Johnson in the same season. Boldin has 157 catches for 2,000 yards. Johnson has 84 catches for 975 yards.

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26 Apr 2005, 10:58am by Michael David Smith

Bennie Blades, Deadbeat Dad

Bennie Blades, a former defensive back for the Lions, made $9 million in his career. He has six kids with six women, and he owes those kids hundreds of thousands of dollars in child support. Do you think Blades is the bad guy in this story? Michael Rosenberg, a Detroit Free Press columnist, doesn't. He thinks the bad guy is Michigan Attorney General Mike Cox, who's going after Blades. Read the story and tell me what you think.

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25 Apr 2005, 04:03pm by Michael David Smith

Undrafted Munoz Quitting Football

This story is a little sad. Michael Munoz, the son of Hall of Famer Anthony Munoz, went undrafted during the weekend and says he's giving up football. When I first heard of Michael Munoz, I was excited about him. He sounded like the kind of great talent that his father was. So I watched him when he played at Tennessee, and, well, he just wasn't all that good. Not a bad player, a good, solid blocker, but nowhere near what I had been led to believe from some of the newspaper and magazine articles I had read about him. He's had a lot of injuries, and he's going to do other things with his life.

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25 Apr 2005, 03:32pm by P. Ryan Wilson

Listen Up...To The Armchair GM

I was just thinking to myself, "I liked the ESPN draft coverage this weekend, but there just weren't enough over-the-top reactions to every selection in the first round." Well, my prayers have been answered because Skip Bayless has thoughts on the first 32 picks.

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25 Apr 2005, 11:31am by Aaron Schatz

MMQB: The Real Draft Surprise

The real draft surprise is that Peter King doesn't call up his editors at SI.com and tell them to take their new "let's split the article on multiple pages" policy and stick it where the sun don't shine. It renders this perfectly fine MMQB almost unreadable. I swear, there are points here where it has one paragraph and then tells you to click "Continue Story." Ugh, at least ESPN lets you click on "single-page view" if you know where to find it.

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22 Apr 2005, 11:13am by Russell Levine

NFL Draft Overrated/Underrated Prospects

Hat tip to reader Trogdor for this one. SI.com's Stewart Mandel checks in with his annual look at the overrated/underrated prospects in the NFL Draft. Mandel attempts to sort out this year's "workout wonders" who don't have the on-field production to back up their draft status from the guys who were studs in college but may be a touch small, weak, or slow.

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22 Apr 2005, 09:05am by P. Ryan Wilson

The NFL Draft Is Anybody's Guess

Michael Wilbon thinks mock drafts are dopey, is certain the Redskins front office is clueless and has some funny thoughts on Braylon Edwards. Apparently Edwards has already purchased a $140,000 Bentley, while spending most of his free time talking himself up as the next great wide receiver. Here's what Wilbon had to say:

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21 Apr 2005, 02:11pm by Aaron Schatz

One Steel of a Draft

Somehow between writing and editing chapters for Pro Football Prospectus 2005, I found time to put together this article for ESPN Page 2 on the best one-team draft classes since the combined draft began in 1967. Clearly, I am insane. As I note in the article, I could have just done this as "top Pittsburgh Steelers draft classes since 1967" and the list would have been about as good. Pittsburgh's ability to snag great players with both early and late picks is just remarkable.

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20 Apr 2005, 03:11pm by Michael David Smith

Sapp Too Slow in Responding to Fan Mail

This article is a little hard to decipher, but it sounds as though Warren Sapp received lots of fan mail in 2001 and sold it, unopened, to a sports memorabilia company. The company has filed for bankruptcy and an auction house will now auction all the letters. So some kid sends Warren Sapp a letter, and Sapp not only doesn't read it, but he sells it. A real class act.

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