The 10th edtion of the Great Blue North College Football Draft Preview
is now in the works with profiles of over 400 prospects for the 2009
draft. Order your copy today!
Stay in school young man… Paul Guillemette, editor of Pauls Pigskin Place has stopped by with some thoughts in this week’s edition of the Scouts Notebook about some potentially overrated underclassmen who NFL teams may want to regard with a buyer beware approach.
Pack sign rook free agent… Green Bay has resigned former Uconn LB Danny Lansanah who originally signed with the Packers as a non-drafted free agent after the 2008 draft but was released prior to the season. Lansasnah replaces veteran LB Tracy White who was released earlier this week.
Emerging Saints pick done for year… And speaking of the GBN ‘Rookie of the Week’ award, there is some bad news for last week’s winner, New Orleans CB Tracy Porter, who reportedly will miss the rest of the season after undergoing surgery to repair what is being described as a dislocated wrist. Porter, a second round pick at the 2008 draft who has 25 tackles, a sack an interception and 5 pass breakups this fall, was injured late in Monday night’s loss to Minnesota.
Bonus college coverage… Mid-week college games have their critics, but for fans who can’t get their full of football on the weekends they do help fill in the gap. They also allow folks to sometimes see the odd game or teams that they would ordinarily never see. And that’s the case this evening as Troy and Florida Atlantic, the Sun Belt Conference’s two most talented teams, hook up in a key early season league game on ESPN2 at 8 PM ET. Troy (2-2), which has actually had more first round picks than Alabama since 1985, won’t be adding to its total this year, but does have several late-round/free agent type prospects including FS Sherrod Martin (#6, 6-0, 190) and DT Dion Gales (#98, 6-4, 290). Unfortunately, one player the Trojans won’t have is DE Kenny Mainor, who had been expected to be the next great Troy outside pass rusher following in the footseps of current NFL Pro Bowlers Osi Umenyiora of the Giants and Dallas’ Demarcus Ware, but is out for the rest of the year with an ACL injury after a very inconsistent college carerr. Meanwhile, despite an disappointing start to the season Florida Atlantic (1-4), which is coming off a stunning last second loss on a desperation hail mary pass at Middle Tennessee State last week after earlier losses to the likes of Texas and Michigan State, could have its first player drafted this year as MLB Frantz Jospeh (#56, 6-0, 230) is a true tackling machine who is averaging over 12 tackles per game this year after piling up 131 in 2007. Arguably the most talented player in tonight’s game is FAU junior QB Rusty Smith (#11, 6-5, 212), who has prototype size and arm strength, although he is off to a slow start this fall after throwing for 3,500 yards and 32 scores last season.
Post-Millen Lions restructure front office… Detroit has filled the vacancy in the Lions front office in the wake of the departure of general manager Matt Millen by promoting from within, at least on an interim basis. Tom Lewand becomes chief operating officer and will report directly to the owner on all business, organizational and NFL matters, while Martin Mayhew, the team's assistant general manager and senior vice president of player personnel, will handle the GM's football duties. Meanwhile, Cedric Saunders adds a vice president's title to his previous position as director of football operations.
Rams make change at QB… There were rumblings that head coach Scott Linehan could be on the bubble in St. Louis where the struggling Rams are 0-3 having lost their three games to date by an average of almost 30 points. Linehan did survive thgis week but did make a change by replacing starting QB Marc Bulger with 38-year old former Rams’ starter Trent Green. Green was with the Rams in 1999 and 2000 before making stops in Kansas City and Miami.
Jets cut late pick… Prior to last night’s game in San Diego, the New York Jets released WR Marcus Henry, a 6th round pick at the 2008 draft.
Nittany Lion DE charged… Suspended junior Penn State DE Maurice Evans was one of two Nittany Lions charged with possession of a small amount of marijuana. The charges stem from an incident earlier this month when campus police responded to complaints about a ouse party at the players home and found the substance. Evans who had been considered a potential first round prospect at the 2009 draft if he opted to leave school early, has been under suspension since and there is no indication when it will be lifted. Meanwhile, Wisconsin LB Jonathan Casillas was reportedly cited for drunken driving last month while riding a mo-ped. Casillas, who missed the eighth-ranked Badgers' first two games because of a sprained medial collateral ligament in his left knee, has reportedly already been disciplined by the team. Casillas is scheduled to appear in court on the citations on Friday.
QB shuffle to impact draft race… Kansas City will reportedly start Tyler Thigpen at QB in Sunday’s game in Atlanta which could have major implications on the early selection order for the 2009 draft. The Falcons and Chiefs, of course, had the 3rd and 5th picks overall respectively at the 2008 draft and, at least on paper anyway, would appear likely to be in line for high picks again this year, although the Falcons did win their season opener. Thigpen, who was originally a 7th round pick by Minnesota at the 2007 draft, will be the third starter in as many games for the 0-2 Chiefs replacing an injured Damon Huard who replaced an injured Brodie Croyle. It will be Thigpen‘s first career NFL start. In fact, the Chiefs are one of the NFL’s youngest teams and KC coach Herm Edwards said said earlier this week that development of the Chiefs’ youngsters is this season’s primary objective.
Sooner DT could miss season… Oklahoma junior DT DeMarcus Granger will be out at least four weeks and could miss the rest of the season because of a left foot injury. Sooners’ head coach Bob Stoops said Wednesday night that Granger and doctors were determining whether to insert a pin, which would take him out of action for an extended period. Granger, a 300-pound junior, has the physical potential to be an early round pick whenever he does enter the draft, although he does bring some off-field baggage to the table after he had been sent home following a shoplifting arrest prior to last January’s Fiesta Bowl.
Top DE out of opener after grass bust… Penn State junior DE Maurice Evans was one of three Nittany Lions suspended from Saturday's game against Oregon State after police found marijuana in their apartment earlier this week. Junior DT Abe Koroma and senior backup TE Andrew Quarless will also miss the game. Evans is Penn State’s top pro prospect after posting 12.5 sacks last fall.
Buckeye back to sit out week two… Ohio State junior RB Chris ‘Beanie’ Wells will not play in Saturday’s game with Ohio. Wells has not been able to practice this week because of a toe injury suffered in last week’s season opening win against D1AA Youngstown State. Ohio State officials, though, continue to say the Wells should be available for next weekend’s huge showdown with Southern California, although the school has still to state what the injury to Wells is exactly.
Bears cut another pick… Chicago has released CB Zach Bowman, a 5th round pick at the 2008 draft. Bowman was released in order to make room on the roster for OG Dan Buenning whom the Bears acquired from Tampa Bay earlier yesterday. Bowman also becomes the 5th 2008 pick the Bears have released. The Bears had released 4 7th rounders last week as teams got down to the league’s 53-man roster limit.
Lets not get carried away!!!… While the 2008 rookie class looks like it could be a good one, this year’s draftees are still rookies and not that many will enter the season as starters. Pat Kirwan over at NFL.com reports that only around 25 rookies are expected to be starters when the NFL regular season kicks off this weekend.
Eighth round by the numbers… While the large majority of rookies in the NFL this fall were draft selections, the draft wasn’t the only route to the pros. Indeed, 27, or 12%, of the 220 or so rookies on an NFL roster after teams got down to the 53-man limit over the weekend were not drafted but signed as free agents after the draft. Here’s the full, updated list of undrafted free agents in this year’s draft class. The largest number of undrafted free agents - 7 - that made an NFL roster this fall are at LB including Erin Henderson, who joins big brother E.J. at Minnesota, former LSU star Ali Highsmith, who will play at Arizona, and Wesley Woodyard who made the Broncos. Meanwhile, 5 undrafted rookie CBs made an NFL roster including former Alabama DB Simeon Castille who will play for Cincinnati. In contrast, only one undrafted rookie QB - Caleb Hanie, a somewhat unheralded Colorado State graduate who will play for Chicago - stuck with an NFL team this summer. Overall, Indianapolis, with 4, has the most undrafted rookie free agents on its current roster, while Denver, Kansas City and Minnesota have three each and Miami has a pair.
Pair of picks get second chance… Detroit claimed RB Marcus Thomas off waivers from San Diego. Thomas was a fifth-round pick of the Chargers in 2008, but was released on the weekend as teams got down to the 53-man roster limit. Meanwhile, Kansas City claimed LB Erick Walden, a 6th round pick this year, off waivers from Dallas.
(5:30
PM): Steelers cut two picks... Pittsburgh has released LB
Mike Humpal and safety Ryan Mundy, the team's two 6th round picks at
the 2008 draft, as the Steelers got down to the NFL's oening day 53-man
roster; both were waived injured.
(4:30 PM): Ravens, 49ers cut late picks...
Baltimore has released both its 7th round picks at the 2008 draft as
the team got down to the 5-man roster limit. The Ravens released both
WR Justin Harper and RB Allen Patrick, the team's two 7th round picks
this year. Meanwhile, San Francisco released OLB Larry Grant, the
49ers' 7th round pick this past April, among its cuts to get down to
the limit.
(9:00 AM):Dolphins get late pick for vet QB…
The pick Miami has acquired from Carolina in exchange for much-traveled
QB Josh McCown is being reported as a 7th rounder at the 2009 draft.
(12:01 AM): Texans axe late pick… Houston
became the first NFL team to get down to the 53-man opening day roster
when the Texans released 22 players including QB Alex Brink, a 7th
round pick at the 2008 draft. All teams have to be down to the opening
day roster limit by 6 PM ET later today.
following all the cuts over
the next 24 hours plus. And to make it a little easier to follow, we
will be listing the cuts chronologically by team rather than
alphabetically.
(11:00 AM): Turk back on the prowl…
With 26 of the NFL’s 32 teams having completed their pre-season
schedule last night, the first cuts as teams get down to the opening
day roster could start as early as today. All teams have to be down to
their 53-man opening day rosters by PM ET on Saturday. As usual, we’ll
be tracking all the cuts with a special emphasis on this year’s rookie
class.
Star soph WR cleared to play… The NCAA has
reportedly accepted Texas Tech’s findings that no rules were broken by
one of its football players after an internal investigation of what the
school is describing as a ‘compliance‘ issue. For the record,
compliance issues usually involve accepting money or dealings with an
agent. Also for the record, the player's identity has not been release,
however, it is widely believed to be super sophomore WR Mike Crabtree,
who could be a very early pick at the 2009 draft if he opts to leave
school this winter. The 6-4, 220pound red-shirt soph caught 134 passes
for 1,962 yards and 22 touchdowns - all NCAA freshman records - last
season.
Beaver OG grounded… Oregon State OG Jeremy Perry
did not play in last night’s opening season loss at Stanford and is
immediate football future remains clouded by injury concerns. Perry
hurt a knee in last year’s bowl game and is reportedly still not 100%.
(12:01 AM): Better late than never...
After a number of fits and starts, we are pleased to announce that the
Great Blue North Pre-season College Football Draft Preview guide has
been released. Normally, we have released in mid-August in the past,
however, there were a few more bugs this year including a major foul-up
by the printer. We want to thank subscribers for their patience. And
for those still on the fence, there are a few copies left in stock;
here is how to order .
full list of cuts
to date as we have
them. Of course, as noted earlier, players who survive today's cuts
can't relax for long as the big cut down to the 53-man opening day
rosters comes up on Saturday.
If
you have comments or
suggestions, e-mail: The editor.
The GBN
can also be reached by phone at (613) 727-3388; by fax at (613)
951-0387; or
regular mail at PO Box 5282, Merivale Depot, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada;
K2C 3H5.