2008 NFL Offseason Thread
 

If it were held this week, the Patriots would have the #4 or #5 pick overall in the draft, depending on tiebreakers. WTG Niners!!!!

This is the year I get drafted into the NFL.

Love it live. Please let them pic ahead of the Jets. Hilarity will ensue.

Who did the 49ers get from the Pats?

Wasn't it the Joe Staley trade?

Who? Man I'm out of the loop on the 49ers i guess.

Joe Staley was one of the top offensive linemen prospects in the draft last year.

Who is the best special teamer? I want him drafted as #1 overall by the Dolphins so we can start rebuilding around him.

Oh ok. How did the Pats end up with him late in the 1st then?

San Francisco traded their fourth-round selection (110th overall, used to select John Bowie) and their first-round selection in the 2008 NFL Draft to New England for their last first-round selection (28th overall, used to select Joe Staley)

From ESPN:

San Francisco 49ers: Acquire pick No. 28 (selected OT Joe Staley).
New England Patriots: Acquire pick No. 110 and a first-round pick in 2008.
Scouts take: The 49ers aggressively moved up in the backend of the first round to acquire LT Joe Staley. By selecting Staley the 49ers can move LT Jonas Jennings to the right side and drastically improve their offensive line. The 49ers have been shopping both RG Justin Smiley and the underachieving RT Kwame Harris throughout the offseason. Staley was a former TE who was converted to RT in 2004. He is a very good athlete with outstanding feet, balance and control but needs to improve his total body strength.
The Patriots got great value acquiring the 49ers' first-round pick in 2008 and a fourth this season. The Patriots like to acquire future No. 1 picks.

Lucky? He was projected to get picked in the middle of the 1st round, I think. But most of the players taken in the 1st were defensive players. I think when the Pats pick came up, the Niners traded picks with them so they could get him. He was the third OL player taken.

I don't think anyone thought the Niners were going to be this bad this year. I think most people thought they'd be an 8-8 team, or around there, so it's not like anyone thought the Niners were trading a Top 5 pick this year for a Bottom 5 pick last year.

This made me laugh. Thanks, Icy!

Niners also added the Colts' 1st this year after they traded their 2nd rounder last year as a result of acquiring Staley. So we'll go from #4 to #30 probably. Wahoo.

I've never heard of a "protected" first round pick in the NFL, which is the cool thing to do with pretty much every NBA trade that involves picks. I wonder if that's just not allowed in the NFL.

I know the 49ers had some optimism, but this was just a huge risk to take. It's something that I always thought was way too easy to do in FOF.

As a Niner fan, the optimism was pretty warranted though I feel. There were major problems on the defensive side of the ball, and the offense was progressing nicely. The FA upgrades to the defense should have been enough to, at worst, bump them up a game or two from last year which would have been enough to contend for the division.

Instead, the offense regressed probably more than any team's offense ever has. We miss Norv, and have probably the worst OC in the league. A guy who has proven why his last OC job was for the University of Indiana in Pennsylvania.

Oofda

I expected more out of Alex Smith this year. Norv had done an excellent job with him, but I figured part of it would carry over to this year regardless. Unfortunately, the Niners have put Alex Smith in a situation where he's getting a new OC every year and things like that will kill a quarterback's development.

I saw the Niners as a team that could break through and win 9 or so game this year. What I saw last night was an embarassment of an offense and a defense that should be better than it is. Not substantially, but still better.

As for their current OC, if John Shoop is still the niners OC then the best this guy can do is 2nd worst.

Umm.... what if he doesn't come from "a good family"?!!?!?!

Hopefully, Norv will be fired from the Charger's this year and the Niner's can get him back as their OC.

Fixed for what the Dolphins will really do.

No, I fixed it for ya!

This is the first November in six years I haven't even thought of the draft. I will re-visit this thread in a few more weeks.

I'm sure there will still be receivers on the board no matter where the Lions end up picking.

I wouldn't be thinking of the draft either if my team just lost to the Cardinals. :D

Pats essentially traded Joe Staley for Randy Moss and the fifth overall selection (and getting better every week) in 2008. I like how that team operates.

Stupid Cleveland winning games...we were supposed to have a top ten pick because of the trade that got them Quinn. :mad:

Heh this made me laugh :)

Pats front office is just far ahead of almost every other team - it's pretty sick.

I wonder who the Patriots would pick at 4 or 5. What do they really need? I got to imagine given their history that they are trading down and maybe going corner like Ikegwuonu or something like that. I imagine the top 5 is going to be in no particular order Brohm, Ryan, McFadden, Jake Long, Dorsey, maybe a Calais Campbell, Kenny Phillips or Chris Long.

If I was the Pats, I would get McFadden or Dorsey.

It will be interesting to see if some teams will want to deal with/help the Patriots after this season. I know GMs can have short memories when they are doing what they think is best for their teams, but I think a lot of teams will be hesitant to help them out, both because of their dominance and because of the way they are running scores up on people. For example, I am guessing that the Redskins wouldn't be too receptive to fielding calls from them after their game this season.

The thing, I bet trading down simply isn't that easy anymore - unless a team absolutely falls in love with someone, would they want to move up and pay a $25 million in guaranteed money?

Exactly, the past couple drafts there's been rumors of at least half of the top 10 teams trying to trade down and teams simply don't want to pay the price it takes to move up.

The team trading up is in a situation where they have to give away extra picks (which is cost effective talent) and spend considerably more money signing a player. A team has to absolutely be in love with a player to seriously consider moving up now.

http://www.nfl.com/draft/story?id=09000d5d805a3a57

Current First Round Draft Order

1 Miami Dolphins
2 St. Louis Rams
3 or 4 Oakland Raiders
3, 4 or 5 Atlanta Falcons
4 or 5 Kansas City Chiefs
6 New York Jets
7 San Francisco 49ers (owned by New England Patriots)
8 Baltimore Ravens
9 Cincinnati Bengals
10 New Orleans Saints
11 Buffalo Bills
12 Denver Broncos
13 Carolina Panthers
14 Chicago Bears
15 Detroit Lions
16 Arizona Cardinals
17 Minnesota Vikings
18 Houston Texans
19 Philadelphia Eagles

So which team, Atlanta, Kansas City, or Oakland will be calling for the coin to land on it's side? ;)

dola

New England owns San Francisco's 7th overall pick. I think that is the only 1st round pick from 2008 that has been traded.

SF has Indy's 1st.

Niners own the Colts #1 pick, which should theoretically be between 28-31

And because I forgot to put a smiley face at the end of that sentence, the answer from the linked article is:

Atlanta, Kansas City, and Oakland had the same strength-of-schedule. Since Kansas City finished third in the AFC West and the Raiders fourth (the tie was broken on the basis of the Chiefs’ 3-11 record in common games while the Raiders were 2-12), the Raiders will draft ahead of the Chiefs. Atlanta and Oakland will flip a coin for the third position; if Atlanta wins, the Falcons will draft third, the Raiders fourth, and the Chiefs fifth. If the Raiders win the coin flip, they will draft third, and the Falcons and Chiefs will flip a coin to determine the fourth and fifth positions.

Doesn't Cleveland's pick also go to Dallas in the Brady Quinn deal?

Yeah, so the Cowboys got last year's 36th overall pick and this year's 22th overall pick for last year's 22nd overall pick (Quinn). That is unless Tampa Bay or Washington makes the Superbowl, in which case it will be the 21st overall pick going to Dallas this year.

Way to go Bears. You ruin the Saints playoff chances and give them a higher pick.

AP reporting Jamaal Charles will enter the draft. Becoming a very deep RB draft.

Bad timing for him, IMO, but he's a good talent and comes from a, shall we say, not overly privileged background.

I would beg the Bengals to trade up to get Dorsey... but our big-time draft selections have been... star-crossed, to say the least. Best just to stay where we are and try to get an impact LB or DL.

Great, hopefully there will be a good running back available for Cleveland in the second or third round as they will need another option to Lewis incase of injury.

Very much agreed....they should desparately try to move up to 1 or 2 to get Dorsey or Long.

The Bears grabbed Tommie Harris at #14 a few years ago, maybe it's a lucky spot for them? (I've got nothing...)

Edit to add: They also grabbed Michael Haynes the year before at #14, so, um, maybe not...

Mendenhall from Illinois should announce any day now, as I think he played himself into the #2 RB slot with his big runs against USC.

There are a lot of backs that could go #2 this year. Rice, Sloan, Stewart, Mendenhall

Looking better and better for the Seahawks to potentially wait until the 2nd or 3rd round to nab a quality back and go offensive line/TE early on. Should be an interesting offseason no matter how Alexander performs in the playoffs.

I'd prefer they take Ellis or Lauriniatis at 9 and then trade up to the mid to late first round and get a DE like Campbell or Harvey. They should get 3 or 4 sandwich picks this year, so they have the opportunity to get two high quality defensive starters if they're just a little aggressive.