2010 NFL Draft: Days 2, 3 Recap
Day 2: rounds 2 and 3
In my mind, two stories typify the 2010 NFL draft’s second day: the continuing free fall of first round quarterback prospects Jimmy Clausen and Colt McCoy, in which Clausen fell into the middle of the second round, and McCoy made it all the way to the late third, and the league-wide run on talented safeties (like Nate Allen, pictured above). For Clausen, everything ended up alright when he fell into the lap of the Carolina Panthers and he ends up in perhaps the best situation of any quarterback in the draft. McCoy on the other hand, avoided falling out of the third round entirely when the Browns “broke rank” to select him because Mike Holmgren loves him as a prospect. A lot of teams did love Colt McCoy, but in this deep draft, not one pulled the trigger in the top 80 picks.
McCoy is trapped now in Cleveland. He will get the Brian Daboll version of the west coast offense he needs to succeed, but McCoy won’t play much in 2010, there might not be football in 2011, and as a third round pick, not playing in your first three seasons is more or less as good as playing terribly. McCoy doesn’t have any easy way onto the field, and doesn’t have a lot of help once he gets there. I think Mike Holmgren — not the coach or the GM — believes in McCoy, but unlike if he had taken him early in the second round when his value was still high, he’s not invested in him. McCoy, more than anyone, needed someone to invest in him and in that sense, he was a draft day loser.
USF’s Nate Allen went to the Philadelphia Eagles, officially, the first piece of compensation that Philadelphia receives for trading Donovan McNabb to the Redskins. That’s the overt part of this choice. Quietly, Allen became the fourth safety off the board, in front of USC’s Taylor Mays, who had been projected as a first round pick from roughly 2007, up through Thursday night. Mays’ slide caused him to lash out at former USC coach Pete Carroll, who’s Seahawks went a different route in taking the Mack Brown-approved Earl Thomas. Allen could have been a late first round pick, but as it turned out, was picked just after TJ Ward of Oregon, and started a run on safeties that would suck up any and all starting caliber players on the draft’s second day. Safeties, not pass rushers or corners, are being viewed as the new currency of pass defense, if they aren’t good enough, you need to get better ones. And so it was done.
Quality runners were also a commodity on the second day of the draft, with Minnesota trading up to get Toby Gerhart, and Cleveland trading up to get Monterio Hardesty. The guys who fell through the cracks were Georgia Tech’s Jonathon Dwyer, drafted by Pittsburgh in the 6th round, and Mississippi State’s Anthony Dixon, taken by the 49ers in the 6th round.
Day 3: Rounds 4-7
The biggest deal with day 3 was the trade that sent Jason Campbell to Oakland to be their quarterback, netting the Redskins only a 4th rounder in 2012 in return — which is a glorified release since the 2012 draft isn’t yet scheduled to happen. There will be plenty more thoughts on this “trade” forthcoming.
To me, the Denver Broncos were the dominant team on the draft’s second day, but the Seattle Seahawks continued to make headlines trading for multiple big name RBs: Lendale White and then Leon Washington. The Philadelphia Eagles also landed a crap ton of projectable talent, which is not surprising given all their picks. Just as pick of a story is the Patriots inability to leverage holding a ton of second day picks into great market success. The Pats are smart enough at the top of the draft to not overpay for the talent they want (looking at you, Jacksonville), but as you get later and later, the Patriots don’t always get great steals. And by not always, I mean practically never.
I thought the Bills did really well on the draft’s second day, and the Ravens had a typical Raven draft (which is good). The Bears had a strong second day, which is nice for them because their first two days netted only Florida S Major Wright. The Packers always do well on the second day, and the Niners and Cards are in good position as well.
Draft losers to come in another article.
