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Updated: July 1, 2005, 12:38 PM ET
Winston, McNeill among top prospects
By Len Pasquarelli
ESPN.com
Offensive tackle was in a down cycle the past two years, when a total of just four prospects were plucked in the first rounds of the 2004 and 2005 NFL drafts. But the position is poised for a comeback in 2006.
At least that's the indication from the early draft grades for senior prospects from National Football Scouting and Blesto, the two combine services that provide scouting reports for franchises around the league.
Two of the top three prospects overall, according to the spring Blesto grades, are tackles Eric Winston of the University of Miami and Auburn's Marcus McNeill. Notable, though, is that Winston, the highest-rated player in the Blesto rankings, is rehabilitating from left knee surgery after an injury limited him to four games in 2004. National Football Scouting also regards the pair as top-shelf performers, with McNeill as its second-highest prospect overall and Winston among its top six seniors.
"It's good to see [tackles] getting that kind of respect," said McNeill, who practices yoga and meditation, and seriously deliberated about entering the 2005 draft before opting to return to Auburn. "It shows the way the position has grown over the last few years in importance. People understand, especially at the NFL level, because the passing game is so important, how critical it is to have great tackles." One disclaimer here before moving on: The NFS and Blesto spring grades evaluate just senior prospects and are notorious for being only a modest indicator of how players are graded at the end of the long information-gathering process. At times, in fact, the two combines' grades resemble nothing like the final draft order.
The grades do, however, offer some early insight into the strengths and weaknesses of the following year's draft. And this year, they certainly point to a strong group of offensive tackle prospects, perhaps one of the best contingents in several years. If the two combine services are accurate in their early assessments, the 2006 lottery could snap the recent slump at the tackle position. Only two tackles – Jammal Brown (to New Orleans) and Alex Barron (to St. Louis) – were chosen in the first round of this year's draft. The '04 draft produced just two first-round tackles, as well: Robert Gallery (to Oakland) and Vernon Carey (to Miami).
The recent first-round fall-off at the position comes after a nine-year stretch in which 34 tackles were selected in the first round. In every one of those drafts (1995-2003), at least three tackles were chosen in the first round. In three of the drafts – '95, '96 and '99 – there were five first-round tackles. That period included a 1997 draft that brought to the league Orlando Pace (St. Louis) and Walter Jones (Seattle), generally regarded as two of the three premier tackles in the NFL, and the underrated Tarik Glenn (Indianapolis).
With so many well-respected tackle prospects among the top seniors on the early 2006 grades, next year's draft could produce a bumper crop of pass protectors, one that might rival 1997 in quality and 1986 (a record six first-rounders) in quantity.
Some of the top tackles, besides Winston and McNeill, are: D'Brickashaw Ferguson (Virginia), Jeremy Trueblood (Boston College), Jonathan Scott (Texas), Jami Hightower (Texas A&M), Daryn Colledge (Boise State) and Andrew Whitworth (LSU). And that just scratches the surface of an impressive tackle lot, and does not account for underclass prospects, like Winston Justice (Southern California), who likely will enter the '06 draft.
Fact is, the early combine grades seem to point to an '06 draft that will be strong on the offensive line in general. Blesto features two guards among its top-rated players and the NFS grades include two centers and a guard among the top 13 prospects. It could make for a relatively un-sexy, but still productive, first round.
The player many observers feel will be the top overall selection in 2006, Southern Cal quarterback and Heisman Trophy winner Matt Leinart, is rated second by Blesto and sixth by NFS. The highest grade from NFS went to Iowa linebacker Chad Greenway.
Some of the other players who show up among the top prospects on both NFS and Blesto ratings include tailback Leon Washington (Florida State), guard Max Jean-Gilles (Georgia), linebackers A.J. Hawk (Ohio State) and Roger McIntosh (Miami), defensive end Mathias Kiwanuka (Boston College) and corner Jimmy Williams (Virginia Tech).
[font=Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif]Around the league[/font]
• Negotiations with most high-round draft choices won't commence until next week at the earliest. But at least in terms of total agreements, overall signings have slightly outpaced last year, albeit it not at the top of the draft. As of Thursday at noon, 34 of the 255 draft picks had reached agreement, two more than the number on June 30, 2004. One difference: In 2004, four first-day picks, including one first-rounder (Houston linebacker Jason Babin), already completed deals by the time the calendar flipped to July. So far this year, only two first-day choices, Chicago second-round wide receiver Mark Bradley of Oklahoma and New York Jets third-round defensive tackle Sione Pouha of Utah, have agreed to terms.
With no deals completed in the first round, here is the breakdown on where accords have come in the rest of the draft: three in the fourth round, eight each in the fifth and sixth, and 13 in the seventh round. It's worth noting some teams are continuing to stretch the length of their late-round deals. It used to be (and not all that long ago) that virtually every contract for a player chosen after the second round was for three years. But teams are increasingly demanding longer contracts, even for their lowest picks. Of the eight agreements in the fifth round, three are for four seasons and one is actually for five. Three of the eight deals completed in the sixth round so far, and four of the 13 in the seventh round, are for four years.
• Another mechanism to look for this year, as team cap managers struggle to deal with the fact that signing bonuses can only be amortized over five years (as opposed to the six or seven years of the past), is the use of the two-tiered bonus for second-round selections. Normally the province of only first-round choices, there was just one two-tiered bonus – a structure that includes the upfront signing bonus and then a second bonus, typically an option bonus due in March of the following year – used to accommodate a second-round choice in the 2003 draft. In 2004, the number of second-round deals which included the two-tiered format grew to 11, and could continue to increase this year.
The five-year, $4.28 million contract second-rounder Mark Bradley signed with the Bears features an initial signing bonus of $1.55 million and a $600,000 option bonus next spring. The former Sooners star, who reportedly looked very raw in offseason workouts and mini-camps, will also receive a roster bonus of $150,000 this year. His base salaries over the course of the contract are $230,000 (for 2005), $310,000 (2006), $390,000 (2007), $480,000 (2008) and $570,000 (2009).
By the way, we're still betting on either wide receiver Matt Jones (Jacksonville) or cornerback Fabian Washington (Oakland) to be the initial first-round pick to reach a contract agreement. Agent Brian Mackler, a terrific guy with numbers and never one to wait for the market to be set before jumping into the negotiating fray, is ready to get down to bargaining with both teams.
• One personnel director from an AFC team still seeking to upgrade at the No. 2 wide receiver spot before camp said he will definitely consider Rod Gardner in free agency once the Washington Commanders decide to release the former first-rounder. But he also said he has recently reviewed videotape of a few young wide receivers for whom he would consider trading. At the top of the list of young pass-catchers he might pursue in a deal is two-year veteran Doug Gabriel of the Oakland Raiders. Gabriel, 24, could get lost in the shuffle in Oakland, where the Raiders will deploy Randy Moss, Jerry Porter and Ronald Curry on third-down situations.
A fifth-round pick in the 2003 draft, Gabriel had just one reception in 12 games as a rookie. But the former Central Florida standout, who isn't particularly fast but is notably physical and aggressive in going after the ball, had a nifty 16.7-yard average on 33 catches in 2004. He appeared in all 16 games, got five starts, and at times looked like a youngster who could emerge as a real playmaker. Another young wide receiver who drew attention was Cincinnati third-year veteran Kelley Washington, who had 31 catches for 378 yards in 2004. As noted in an ESPN.com story earlier this week on young wideouts who could be running out of time with their current clubs this year, Washington might rate no better than No. 4 on the Cincinnati receiver totem pole, especially if Peter Warrick has recovered from the leg woes that limited him to just four games in '04.
• All present and accounted for. That's the word from league officials concerning the annual rookie symposium, which ran Sunday through Wednesday in West Palm Beach, Fla. Hopefully, most of the 255 draft choices attended because of the learning opportunity the symposium presents in dealing with real-word situations – like money management, AIDS awareness, identity theft and dealing with the media – and not because of the threat of a potential $50,000 fine for an absence.
Last year, Commanders first-round safety Sean Taylor was fined $25,000 for bolting the symposium early. In a sign of what his career was to become, quarterback Ryan Leaf also was fined in 1998.
The symposium is certainly one of the NFL's most admirable undertakings of the past decade, and the league is to be commended for its investment in it. One great quote from league vice president of player and employee development Mike Haynes on what the rookies quickly discovered at the symposium: "You come to realize that common sense is not that common."
• Like several other teams interested in free-agent cornerback Ty Law, the Kansas City Chiefs will wait a few more weeks to determine precisely where the former Patriots star is in his recovery from foot surgery, before moving on. If they don't land Law, it looks like the Chiefs will add either Ashley Ambrose or Dewayne Washington. Or perhaps both.
The two were among four veteran free-agent corners who auditioned for the Chiefs last week, and apparently made a better impression than Aaron Beasley or Terrance Shaw. Chiefs officials, including coach Dick Vermeil, have indicated they won't invest much more than the veteran minimum on Law, and that seems to be the consensus, for now at least, among all the teams interested in him. The four-time Pro Bowl corner has maintained he will not sign a minimum contract. But finding something that pays the $6 million or so per year that he still believes he is worth might be as difficult an undertaking as his long rehabilitation.
• New England owner Bob Kraft voluntarily surrendered his Super Bowl XXXIX ring to Russian president Vladimir Putin this week. Or so was the claim by Kraft, who might not win an international public relations war as easily as his Patriots capture championships. But New Orleans Saints safety Dwight Smith lost a lot more than Kraft did in pricey hardware this week – about $100,000 in jewelry, according to police reports – and not voluntarily.
The four-year veteran, who in March signed a five-year, $15 million contract with the Saints as an unrestricted free agent, was robbed at gunpoint in his hometown of Detroit Sunday night. Upon returning from a trip to a local market, Smith, who was visiting with relatives, was confronted by a man wielding an assault rifle. Smith was then forced to surrender two chains, a watch and a bracelet, valued at more than $100,000. He also lost about $4,000 in cash. Detroit police continue to investigate the incident. About the only saving grace: Smith, who played the first four seasons of his career with the Bucs, was not wearing the Super Bowl XXXVII ring he earned by intercepting two passes and returning both for touchdowns in the rout of the Raiders.
Continued........
Winston, McNeill among top prospects
By Len Pasquarelli
ESPN.com
Offensive tackle was in a down cycle the past two years, when a total of just four prospects were plucked in the first rounds of the 2004 and 2005 NFL drafts. But the position is poised for a comeback in 2006.
At least that's the indication from the early draft grades for senior prospects from National Football Scouting and Blesto, the two combine services that provide scouting reports for franchises around the league.
Two of the top three prospects overall, according to the spring Blesto grades, are tackles Eric Winston of the University of Miami and Auburn's Marcus McNeill. Notable, though, is that Winston, the highest-rated player in the Blesto rankings, is rehabilitating from left knee surgery after an injury limited him to four games in 2004. National Football Scouting also regards the pair as top-shelf performers, with McNeill as its second-highest prospect overall and Winston among its top six seniors.
"It's good to see [tackles] getting that kind of respect," said McNeill, who practices yoga and meditation, and seriously deliberated about entering the 2005 draft before opting to return to Auburn. "It shows the way the position has grown over the last few years in importance. People understand, especially at the NFL level, because the passing game is so important, how critical it is to have great tackles." One disclaimer here before moving on: The NFS and Blesto spring grades evaluate just senior prospects and are notorious for being only a modest indicator of how players are graded at the end of the long information-gathering process. At times, in fact, the two combines' grades resemble nothing like the final draft order.
The grades do, however, offer some early insight into the strengths and weaknesses of the following year's draft. And this year, they certainly point to a strong group of offensive tackle prospects, perhaps one of the best contingents in several years. If the two combine services are accurate in their early assessments, the 2006 lottery could snap the recent slump at the tackle position. Only two tackles – Jammal Brown (to New Orleans) and Alex Barron (to St. Louis) – were chosen in the first round of this year's draft. The '04 draft produced just two first-round tackles, as well: Robert Gallery (to Oakland) and Vernon Carey (to Miami).
The recent first-round fall-off at the position comes after a nine-year stretch in which 34 tackles were selected in the first round. In every one of those drafts (1995-2003), at least three tackles were chosen in the first round. In three of the drafts – '95, '96 and '99 – there were five first-round tackles. That period included a 1997 draft that brought to the league Orlando Pace (St. Louis) and Walter Jones (Seattle), generally regarded as two of the three premier tackles in the NFL, and the underrated Tarik Glenn (Indianapolis).
With so many well-respected tackle prospects among the top seniors on the early 2006 grades, next year's draft could produce a bumper crop of pass protectors, one that might rival 1997 in quality and 1986 (a record six first-rounders) in quantity.
Some of the top tackles, besides Winston and McNeill, are: D'Brickashaw Ferguson (Virginia), Jeremy Trueblood (Boston College), Jonathan Scott (Texas), Jami Hightower (Texas A&M), Daryn Colledge (Boise State) and Andrew Whitworth (LSU). And that just scratches the surface of an impressive tackle lot, and does not account for underclass prospects, like Winston Justice (Southern California), who likely will enter the '06 draft.
Fact is, the early combine grades seem to point to an '06 draft that will be strong on the offensive line in general. Blesto features two guards among its top-rated players and the NFS grades include two centers and a guard among the top 13 prospects. It could make for a relatively un-sexy, but still productive, first round.
The player many observers feel will be the top overall selection in 2006, Southern Cal quarterback and Heisman Trophy winner Matt Leinart, is rated second by Blesto and sixth by NFS. The highest grade from NFS went to Iowa linebacker Chad Greenway.
Some of the other players who show up among the top prospects on both NFS and Blesto ratings include tailback Leon Washington (Florida State), guard Max Jean-Gilles (Georgia), linebackers A.J. Hawk (Ohio State) and Roger McIntosh (Miami), defensive end Mathias Kiwanuka (Boston College) and corner Jimmy Williams (Virginia Tech).
[font=Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif]Around the league[/font]
• Negotiations with most high-round draft choices won't commence until next week at the earliest. But at least in terms of total agreements, overall signings have slightly outpaced last year, albeit it not at the top of the draft. As of Thursday at noon, 34 of the 255 draft picks had reached agreement, two more than the number on June 30, 2004. One difference: In 2004, four first-day picks, including one first-rounder (Houston linebacker Jason Babin), already completed deals by the time the calendar flipped to July. So far this year, only two first-day choices, Chicago second-round wide receiver Mark Bradley of Oklahoma and New York Jets third-round defensive tackle Sione Pouha of Utah, have agreed to terms.
With no deals completed in the first round, here is the breakdown on where accords have come in the rest of the draft: three in the fourth round, eight each in the fifth and sixth, and 13 in the seventh round. It's worth noting some teams are continuing to stretch the length of their late-round deals. It used to be (and not all that long ago) that virtually every contract for a player chosen after the second round was for three years. But teams are increasingly demanding longer contracts, even for their lowest picks. Of the eight agreements in the fifth round, three are for four seasons and one is actually for five. Three of the eight deals completed in the sixth round so far, and four of the 13 in the seventh round, are for four years.
• Another mechanism to look for this year, as team cap managers struggle to deal with the fact that signing bonuses can only be amortized over five years (as opposed to the six or seven years of the past), is the use of the two-tiered bonus for second-round selections. Normally the province of only first-round choices, there was just one two-tiered bonus – a structure that includes the upfront signing bonus and then a second bonus, typically an option bonus due in March of the following year – used to accommodate a second-round choice in the 2003 draft. In 2004, the number of second-round deals which included the two-tiered format grew to 11, and could continue to increase this year.
The five-year, $4.28 million contract second-rounder Mark Bradley signed with the Bears features an initial signing bonus of $1.55 million and a $600,000 option bonus next spring. The former Sooners star, who reportedly looked very raw in offseason workouts and mini-camps, will also receive a roster bonus of $150,000 this year. His base salaries over the course of the contract are $230,000 (for 2005), $310,000 (2006), $390,000 (2007), $480,000 (2008) and $570,000 (2009).
By the way, we're still betting on either wide receiver Matt Jones (Jacksonville) or cornerback Fabian Washington (Oakland) to be the initial first-round pick to reach a contract agreement. Agent Brian Mackler, a terrific guy with numbers and never one to wait for the market to be set before jumping into the negotiating fray, is ready to get down to bargaining with both teams.
• One personnel director from an AFC team still seeking to upgrade at the No. 2 wide receiver spot before camp said he will definitely consider Rod Gardner in free agency once the Washington Commanders decide to release the former first-rounder. But he also said he has recently reviewed videotape of a few young wide receivers for whom he would consider trading. At the top of the list of young pass-catchers he might pursue in a deal is two-year veteran Doug Gabriel of the Oakland Raiders. Gabriel, 24, could get lost in the shuffle in Oakland, where the Raiders will deploy Randy Moss, Jerry Porter and Ronald Curry on third-down situations.
A fifth-round pick in the 2003 draft, Gabriel had just one reception in 12 games as a rookie. But the former Central Florida standout, who isn't particularly fast but is notably physical and aggressive in going after the ball, had a nifty 16.7-yard average on 33 catches in 2004. He appeared in all 16 games, got five starts, and at times looked like a youngster who could emerge as a real playmaker. Another young wide receiver who drew attention was Cincinnati third-year veteran Kelley Washington, who had 31 catches for 378 yards in 2004. As noted in an ESPN.com story earlier this week on young wideouts who could be running out of time with their current clubs this year, Washington might rate no better than No. 4 on the Cincinnati receiver totem pole, especially if Peter Warrick has recovered from the leg woes that limited him to just four games in '04.
• All present and accounted for. That's the word from league officials concerning the annual rookie symposium, which ran Sunday through Wednesday in West Palm Beach, Fla. Hopefully, most of the 255 draft choices attended because of the learning opportunity the symposium presents in dealing with real-word situations – like money management, AIDS awareness, identity theft and dealing with the media – and not because of the threat of a potential $50,000 fine for an absence.
Last year, Commanders first-round safety Sean Taylor was fined $25,000 for bolting the symposium early. In a sign of what his career was to become, quarterback Ryan Leaf also was fined in 1998.
The symposium is certainly one of the NFL's most admirable undertakings of the past decade, and the league is to be commended for its investment in it. One great quote from league vice president of player and employee development Mike Haynes on what the rookies quickly discovered at the symposium: "You come to realize that common sense is not that common."
• Like several other teams interested in free-agent cornerback Ty Law, the Kansas City Chiefs will wait a few more weeks to determine precisely where the former Patriots star is in his recovery from foot surgery, before moving on. If they don't land Law, it looks like the Chiefs will add either Ashley Ambrose or Dewayne Washington. Or perhaps both.
The two were among four veteran free-agent corners who auditioned for the Chiefs last week, and apparently made a better impression than Aaron Beasley or Terrance Shaw. Chiefs officials, including coach Dick Vermeil, have indicated they won't invest much more than the veteran minimum on Law, and that seems to be the consensus, for now at least, among all the teams interested in him. The four-time Pro Bowl corner has maintained he will not sign a minimum contract. But finding something that pays the $6 million or so per year that he still believes he is worth might be as difficult an undertaking as his long rehabilitation.
• New England owner Bob Kraft voluntarily surrendered his Super Bowl XXXIX ring to Russian president Vladimir Putin this week. Or so was the claim by Kraft, who might not win an international public relations war as easily as his Patriots capture championships. But New Orleans Saints safety Dwight Smith lost a lot more than Kraft did in pricey hardware this week – about $100,000 in jewelry, according to police reports – and not voluntarily.
The four-year veteran, who in March signed a five-year, $15 million contract with the Saints as an unrestricted free agent, was robbed at gunpoint in his hometown of Detroit Sunday night. Upon returning from a trip to a local market, Smith, who was visiting with relatives, was confronted by a man wielding an assault rifle. Smith was then forced to surrender two chains, a watch and a bracelet, valued at more than $100,000. He also lost about $4,000 in cash. Detroit police continue to investigate the incident. About the only saving grace: Smith, who played the first four seasons of his career with the Bucs, was not wearing the Super Bowl XXXVII ring he earned by intercepting two passes and returning both for touchdowns in the rout of the Raiders.
Continued........
