Mel Kiper..

[Hector.sixpack]

For someone who makes a living at predicting who goes to what team, he sure misses a lot. I heard about a guy who asked him about it one time and Kiper's hair ate him.

2008 Draft and Kiper's Final Mock
Actual Kipers
1) 1 Miami Jake Long, OT Michigan
2) 2 St. Louis Chris Long, DE Virginia
5) 3 Atlanta Glenn Dorsey, DT LSU
6) 4 Oakland *Vernon Gholston, DE Ohio St.
8) 5 Kansas City *Derrick Harvey, DE Florida
4) 6 New York Jets *Darren McFadden, RB Arkansas
7) 7 New England Sedrick Ellis, DT USC
3) 8 Baltimore Matt Ryan, QB Boston College
9) 9 Cincinnati Keith Rivers, LB USC
11) 10 New Orleans Leodis McKelvin, CB Troy
34) 11 Buffalo *Devin Thomas, WR Michigan St.
15) 12 Denver *Branden Albert, G/OT Virginia
13) 13 Carolina *Jonathan Stewart, RB Oregon
14) 14 Chicago Bears Chris Williams, OT Vanderbilt
10) 15 Detroit Lions *Jerod Mayo, LB Tennessee
25) 16 Arizona Mike Jenkins, CB South Florida
12) 17 Kansas City *Ryan Clady, OT Boise St.
23) 18 Houston *Rashard Mendenhall, RB Illinois
19) 19 Philadelphia Jeff Otah, OT Pittsburgh
20) 20 Tampa Bay *Aqib Talib, CB Kansas
16) 21 Washington Dominique Rodgers-Croma CB Tennessee St.
22) 22 Dallas *Felix Jones, RB Arkansas
29) 23 Pittsburgh Kentwan Balmer, DT North Carolina
32) 24 Tennessee *Phillip Merling, DE Clemson
50) 25 Seattle *Calais Campbell, DE Miami
54) 26 Jacksonville Jason Jones, DE Eastern Michigan
35) 27 San Diego *Brandon Flowers, CB Virginia Tech
41) 28 Dallas *James Hardy, WR Indiana
51) 29 San Francisco *Malcolm Kelly, WR Oklahoma
27) 30 Green Bay Antoine Cason, CB Arizona
New England Forfeited pick
43) 31 New York Giants Tyrell Johnson, S Arkansas St.

 

[RebelBruiser]

Kiper and McShay are to the NFL Draft what Rivals and Scout are to college football recruiting.

They basically just try to tell you who they believe are the best players by position in each draft, and then they try to project, based on need, where each player will go. It's not a whole lot different than the star system created for recruiting. And of course success in the NFL is only slightly easier to project than success in college, so it creates situations where Philadelphia fans boo the selection of Donovan McNabb in the same way that college fans gripe about signing 2 stars that later go on to become All-Conference.

 

[kired]

Is it just me, or did ESPN start their draft analysis about 5-6 weeks too early? Seems like we've been listening to Kiper & McShay argue every single day since mid-February. I mean, it's on Sportscenter every day.... who needs to be told Kiper's top ten repeated 100 times before the draft? And they've infected ESPN radio too. Over the last few weeks, I've gotten to where I avoid anything ESPN because I'm sick of hearing about the draft.

I'm okay listening to it during April, but I really don't need to hear those two argue every day over whether Sanchez or Stafford is the best QB in the draft, and that Freeman isn't a first round pick.

 

[rebfan04]

can completely change an entire round, right?

 

[msudawg12]

one more!

 

[Oxford Godfrey]

ESPN jumps the shark with alarming regularity these days.

Their NFL coverage - moreover, the concentrated Cowboys/NFC East/Jets and Pats coverage is making me loathe the NFL in the same manner I loathe baseball because of its YANKS/SAWX nonstop parade.

 

[lawdawg02]

my mailman knows more about the draft than him.</p>

 

[Oxford Godfrey]

For me, it always falls on Double Decker weekend. Last year I watched the Falcons draft Ryan, but this year I'll just check my Iphone once in a while during the first round and then be done with it.

I can get up Sunday and digest everything that happened.

Does anyone here actually sit through more than the first five picks, or for that matter, day two???

 

[Hector.sixpack]

Really? Let me write that down. ESPN makes such a big deal out of Kiper's picks and only the top 15 or so is close (like its really that hard to pin down the top NFL prospects) His late first round stuff is way off as many go later than he projects. </p>

 

[8dog]

if I had no idea who was going where in the first round. That may be what you are trying to say. Why sit and wait around 10 minutes to watch someone get drafted, that they've already told me will likely be drafted. The first pick is worth it just to see what hideous hat they are giving the guys.

 

[RebelBruiser]

That's because in the not-Southeast, the NFL is almost as big as college football is in the Southeast.

I still don't get it. If they ever start doing regionalized Sportscenters and regionalized show line ups, we'll get a lot less NFL coverage down here in the South.

 

[patdog]

Of course I still watch it for sports (its usually the only game in town), but I haven't watched Sportscenter in years and I don't miss it. About the only non-sports program I watch there is the occasional (once a month or so) PTI.

 

[Optimus Prime 4]

the only thing announced was when.

It's pointless.

 

[RebelBruiser]

I agree with you, but it's fanbases that are craving any snippet of information they can get. It's like having spring games televised on ESPN. I watched most of UGA's spring game just because I was craving SEC football, even though I knew it was just a scrimmage that meant nothing.

 

[Todd4State]

ESPN jumps the shark with alarming regularity these days.

Their NFL coverage - moreover, the concentrated Cowboys/NFC East/Jets and Pats coverage is making me loathe the NFL in the same manner I loathe baseball
because of its YANKS/SAWX nonstop parade.

If anything can shut down ESPN, it's networks like the MLB Network and NFL Network. These league channels are doing what ESPN should be doing, and giving fans that want to know more than just the bare minimum about sports what they want.

I've already seen the Mariners, Giants, and Padres more than I have all of last year, and at the same time the Yankees and Red Sox stuff doesn't get neglected.

I grew tired of being force fed that the only teams I need to worry about were the Yankees, Red Sox, Mets, Cubs and occasionally the Dodgers because they now have Manny. Of course, I want to hear about the Cardinals, and I will say that ESPN covers them about as well as anyone not on the East Coast, but even beyond that I want to know about the Royals, Pirates, Astros and etc.

 

[Chesusdog]

On Green Bay's drafting of Matt Hasselback in the 7th round several years ago: "That's a wasted pick."

First, it's a 7th round pick, so projects and diamonds in the rough are what you're looking for here. Unless you drafted a guy in a wheel chair or dead it's not much of a waste. Second, the guy turned out to be pretty damn good.

I wish I could see archives of him dumping his praise on all the busts of recent years just to throw back in his face. The guy is a fool and should not be taken serious.

 

[Todd4State]

This is a guy who gets paid a lot of money to basically hang out at the Senior Bowl, NFL combine, and NFL draft. He basically works four months a year. And when he does work, he's watching football players do their thing and talking to scouts trying to get a scoop.

 

[patdog]

you, I, or any number of posters on this board could do at least as good a job as he does if we decided to go into his line of business. </p>

 

[dawgmaster]

Think about it--Guy get's paid millions to sit there and give opinions! We should all be so lucky.