For the third pick in the draft, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers select…

…FifG!

That sounds like a joke, but seriously, FifG was the third member of a Roger Goodell/Gerald McCoy split screen on Thursday night. Which is really, extremely hysterical.

Attending the NFL draft was amazing, and I would highly recommend it.
I have tons to say about the event, and I sort of already said it. So please check out the Bucs page on Chicks in the Huddle for all of the info: http://chicksinthehuddle.com/tag/Buccaneers/

Also,you can check out FifG and the awesome hat (oh, and the commissioner and the third overall pick) here.

QB Drafting Update

So, did everyone watch the NFL Draft?

Did you cry?

You did, right? Like when Aaron Curry became a Seahawk?

Aww. He's crying.

I think it’s been fairly well documented that Matthew Stafford will be  moving his highest-paid-rookie-in-NFL-history self to Detroit, Mark Sanchez is now a high-profile New York Jet, and Josh Freeman is a (sigh) Tampa Bay Buccaneer.

But what about the other draft prospects we mentioned?

Ball State QB Nate Davis was selected in the 5th round of the draft by the San Francisco 49ers. Apparently many teams were turned off by the fact that Nate is dyslexic. Who knew? You know who else is dyslexic? David Neeleman. And he’s awesome.

My personal favorite, Texas Tech QB Graham Harrell, was undrafted but invited to participate in the Cleveland Browns’ rookie camp. Update: Unfortunately Harrell was not offered a contract because Cleveland already has roughly a million QBs.

Look at that face. Give this guy a team!

John Parker Wilson from Alabama was also undrafted but has signed a free-agent contract with the Atlanta Falcons.

At least playing behing Matt Ryan means he'll never cut his chin.

Louisville QB Hunter Cantwell was also undrafted but signed a free agent contract with the Carolina Panthers.

Draft Day

• QB Mark Sanchez is heading to the New York J-E-T-S-Jets-Jets-Jets. Makes total sense to me. Sanchez is mature, talented, and super attractive. New York is a huge market and requires the QB to be both savvy with and appealing to the media. Sanchez definitely fits at least the latter, no?

J-E-T-S

• I’ve had to watch the draft on ESPN News, and there is much less coverage of the ever-important phone calls from Coach and shrieking families, but there are a bunch of player interviews, so that’s fun. I was really impressed by Colt’s 1st round pick, running back Donald Brown. By which I mean his family seemed sweet and low-key, and he was very well-spoken. Probably he runs fast, too.
  

  Donald Brown is very happy to have me as his fan.

• The Denver Broncos surprised a lot of people by taking running back Knowshon Moreno (no-shawn mohr-ay-no) with their first pick, since they could really use some help on defense. However, I sense a good omen. Knowshon looks a lot like former Denver superstar Terrell Davis, no? I think mostly the similarity is in the big smile.

   

  

  Terrell Davis

   

  

  Knowshon Moreno

• I’m pretending the Bucs didn’t have a first-round pick right now.

Player pronunciations:

• Peria Jerry, new Atlanta Falcon: peh-ray jer-ee

• Michael Oher, new Baltimore Raven: mī-kəl ohr

Reason to Like Football, Draft Edition

“Hello, Coach.”

Touching words, ladies. Don’t believe me? Well, tomorrow is NFL draft day, one of the best football days of the year. I honestly hesitated to write about the big day in the blog, because I know the draft is considered must see tv for only the most die-hard football fans, but I think it gets an unfair rap. In fact, I’d go so far as to say that at least the first round of the draft is one of the most girl-friendly football events of the year.

It’s like the Olympics. You know you love the Olympics. Who doesn’t? This past year I watched swimming, track, a marathon, gymnastics, diving–couldn’t get enough of it. Now if I turned on the tv tonight and there was a diving competition on the screen I would switch channels. Not interested. So why do I/we watch the Olympics? The back stories! You get to know all about these people who come from all over the country and all over the world–you learn about the lengths that they’ve gone to excel, how rigorously they’ve had to train for years on end, and all they’ve sacrificed throughout their lives for the love of sport. Draft day is just like that! But without any of the boring fencing stuff!

And I know that there’s a big difference between winning a gold medal and taking on a full-time job with a ginormous salary, but it’s still a palpably emotional day. A few of the guys who are expected to be drafted early are invited to New York City to sit in the ballroom at Radio City Music Hall and get their pictures taken when their names are called. Others have news crews that head to their houses and film the guys when they are chosen, typically surrounded by screaming family members.

Which brings me back to the beginning. When a team chooses a player, they typically call the kid before his name is announced publicly (whether in NYC or at home, the players always have a cell phone on hand). And, I’m sorry, but every time a guy picks up the phone and says, “Hello, Coach,” I get teary eyed. He has a coach, and he has a team, and he’s made it. It’s a boy achieving his dreams and becoming a man and making his family proud and… well, anyway, it’s fraught with meaning. Fraught, I tell you. Like that episode of Friday Night Lights when Smash gets accepted to A&M but times like 1,000. And, I’m sorry, but I know you cried when you watched that episode. Don’t try to pretend you didn’t.

(On a side note, I keep praying that some team will draft Smash, because darn if he isn’t the best football player, and his mom sacrificed so much for him, and I love them all.)

(And, yes, I know he’s fictional.)

(Sort of.)

(Oh, but here’s the non-fictional Aaron Curry. I love him almost as much as Smash. Ok, probably more since he’s a “real” “person” and not a “tv” “character.” You will love him, too, when you read this. Promise.)

 

Aaron Curry is an awesome person and also very, very large. Watch the draft for Aaron.

Need some more reasons to like football? 
Try these: Reason 1, Reason 2, Reason 3, Reason 4 

Who Should Be Drafted First? WRs

Yesterday we covered the QB prospects in this year’s draft. Today we’re going to take a look at wide receivers. Literally. (See, isn’t it nice to use that word correctly? Couldn’t you literally touch the stars from jumping for joy? Heh.)

To recap, football experts are going crazy making predictions for who will be picked in this weekend’s NFL draft. FifG encourages you to take stock of the potential pros and decide who you would want your team to draft based solely on their photos.

Without further ado…

Michael Crabtree, Texas Tech

Darrius Heyward-Bey, Maryland

Percy Harvin, University of Florida

Jeremy Maclin, Missouri

These guys are all projected for a first-round drafting. Unfortunately, Harvin recently tested positive for marijuana use, so we’ll see how that affects his position.

And now for a couple of lesser ranked, but still deserving, prospects:

Austin Collie, BYU

Mohamed Massaquoi, Georgia

There you go! Write those favorites down on your scorecards at home, and tune in to the draft at 4:00 Saturday on ESPN.

Who Should Be Drafted First? QBs

The NFL draft is coming up this Saturday, and pundits will go on about experience, arm strength, hustle, character, Wonderlic scores, 40 times, etc. in determining the best players available.

Yet we here at FifG like to focus more on the intangibles. For instance, who is more attractive? Now, I’m not saying this is the best tactic a team can use for drafting players, but heck, it’s not the worst! Look at Tom Brady. He was drafted with pick #199 in 2000 (according to wikipedia), and I think FifG readers and football experts alike would agree that he should have gone way higher.

So, without further ado, this year’s top QB prospects:

Matthew Stafford, QB, University of Georgia

Update: Stafford has agreed to a deal with the Detroit Lions pre-draft. So I guess we know who will be first.

Mark Sanchez, QB, University of Southern California

Josh Freeman, QB, Kansas State University

All signs point to Matthew Stafford being drafted first overall by the Detroit Lions, Mark Sanchez going to one of the top five drafters, and Josh Freeman going to either the Jets or Bucs in the first round or to some other team in the second round.

So, you’ll see those guys around a lot, but here are some of the underdogs:

Nate Davis, QB, Ball State

Hunter Cantwell, QB, Louisville (high marks for Western Wear)

Graham Harrell, QB/Ashton Kutcher Lookalike, Texas Tech

John Parker Wilson, QB, University of Alabama

So who are you hoping your team will draft?

For my money (or that of the Glazers), Graham Harrell seems like one really capable football player. (And Bucs’ red and pewter would totally bring out his eyes.)