No Rest For Rooks

(Aaron Curry OLB Wake Forest)

Is the NFL draft too much for rookies? I was listening to Jamie Dukes of the NFL Network talk about it the other day. If you know about how much goes into preparing for the draft, you can start to realize how the players go at it for a year straight. Its no wonder NFL rookies hit a wall. Often called the rookie wall, and attributed to 16 games as opposed to 10 or so in NCAA, its really more about the draft preparation.

NCAA seniors who are NFL prospects play their bowl games and then start planning their predraft timeline. They immediately start working out and have to decide where they are going to train for the draft. See the difference between a 1st round draft pick and a 3rd rounder is about 2 or 3 tenths on your 40 time. Which is funny since technique can account for that much of a time gap alone. Darius Heyward-Bey ran a 4.30 lazer last weekened, the fastest at the combine. If he ran a 4.5 he probably goes 3 or 4 rounds later which equals millions of dollars, or millions of dollars lost.

Seniors work out for a few weeks and then most play in an all star game like the Senior Bowl or the Shrine game. After the bowls you hire specialists or go to a performance institute and do grueling workouts for a month in preparation for the combine (40 time). Now back to workouts and hope to post a better 40 at your pro day in late march or early April. After the pro day its pretty much Draft time and then you join the guys on your new team who have been resting all winter at mini camp and proceed to play the most violent game on the planet for the next 8 months. Thats a guide how to overwork your body. No wonder rookies break down.

Who are some of the blue chippers this year? Here are a couple on the defensive side.

Aaron Curry LB Wake Forest - Just a dream prospect that can play any LB position in a 4-3 or 3-4. Kid is versatile, smart, athletic, big, strong, explosive, makes the big play, etc. Hes not the flashiest but this kid is a friggin rock. Safest pick in the draft. He blazed a 4.5 at the combine which only solidified his spot in the top 10, most likely top 5.

Brian Orakpo DE Texas - Kid is so explosive. Can be extremely dominant at times. 6'4 260 but strong. A little like Justin Tuck or Vernon Gholston coming out. That kind of force. Watch the video below.



-------

As for Free Agency today, damn the Redskins are nuts. Dan Snyder is a maniac/chooch. They really should have skipped out on Hall. You don't win titles in the NFL through free agency guys, cmon. You can grab the big names once in a while but choose wisely. Haynesworth could work out even though hes gettin billions. Signing Hall to a huge contract the same day is just too wreckless though. Thats the same money Asante signed for and hes actually good. This is the same team that paid David Patten for 13m then cut him after 23 catches. Same team that signed Randle El for 31m. They traded for 34 yr old Jason Taylor last year who proceeded to go from great to suck. They are real good at signing disappointments.

Thats what free agency will do though. Look at Boston sports for an example of how it should be done. A single player can have a huge effect in basketball (Garnett), but not so much when there are 9 or 11 guys on the field as opposed to 5. The Sox and Pats build through the draft and strong player development. Its hard for people to outperform their FA contracts. At best they live up to them. You want to have a roster full of players who are outperforming their current contracts so you have more collective talent because more money is available to be put towards other positions. This is especially true in football with the salary cap, but also in baseball when you have to compete with NY's 200m+ payroll .

-Wolfie