NFL Draft

First off I would like to start with a theory of mine. I have a lot of different theories and I will toss them out at random times. I call this theory the Olowokandi Theory and I came up with it years ago when Michael Olowokandi was drafted first in the NBA Draft by the Los Angeles Clippers. My thoughts on this pick was that the Clippers were making a huge mistake. Why would anyone draft a player who played for Pacific, a team in the Big West with no real competition, and yes it is important that there was no real competition. During Olowakandi’s four years at Pacific, Pacific never made the NCAA tournament. Now if a player is that gifted and that good, shouldn’t he be able to take his team into the NCAA tournament at least once. I think you could make that point with any player even with players in the ACC or the Big East. I’m not even talking about the Big West. In the Big West, the Candi Man should have had no problem taking his team to the Big Dance.

I explain this theory to you because it fits really well with one huge problem I had during the NFL Draft. First off, I would like to say the Minnesota Vikings are very incompetent when it comes to drafting. This was proven two years ago when they failed to turn in their pick on time and two teams drafted ahead of them because they got their picks in before the Vikings. The Vikings slipped from about 6th to 8th. That was a disaster, something no fans wants to ever experience and something worth throwing things over. This year the Vikings did it again. Except this time they employed the Olowakandi Theory. The Vikings used the 7th pick in the draft on WR Troy Williamson of South Carolina. Williamson did not have a good career while in college and he climbed a lot of people’s draft boards dramatically after he ran a very fast 40-yard dash at the combine. A lot of people say that it is not his fault that he did not have a lot of catches in college because SC had a run-dominant offense, but I don’t buy it. If he was really that good of a player the quarterback would have thrown the ball his way and he would have just made plays. The way Braylon Edwards made plays for Michigan (how many times did how just out-jump someone or just ripped the ball out of the defenders hands to come down with the ball) or Mike Williams for USC who found a way to get separation and always had a ton of yards after the catch. It’s not like SC was ahead in all of their games and they were trying to run out the clock. To the contrary, they were never a good team and they consistently tried to battle back in the fourth quarter to catch up. How come the quarterback didn’t just throw the ball Williamson’s way to try to let him make a play. I have an easy answer to that question – he did, but Williamson just never made those great plays. The Vikings should have chosen Mike Williams. There were a lot of commentators that were applauding the Vikings for their choice, but last time I checked just because someone is fast doesn’t make them a good receiver. Mark my words, Troy Williamson will not be as good a receiver as Mike Williams, Mark Clayton, or Roddy White in the NFL. It just won’t happen. The Olowakandi Theory never fails.

I would like to quickly touch on the Denver Broncos picking Maurice Clarett. I liked the pick. Yes, the Broncos were reaching and maybe could have gotten him a little later in the draft, but Mike Shanahan wanted him and they made sure they were not going to lose him to another team. And you have to remember that they drafted him with the last pick of the third round. Maurice Clarett was a very good running back his freshman year at Ohio State. Remember, he was only a freshman. I believe he will need some time to get into shape and be able to contribute (because of the two year lay off, I do know he played in the CFL but that doesn’t really count), but I think he proved three years ago that he is a very talented back who can make plays. Maybe he will turn out to be a bust, but all the Broncos will lose is a late third round pick. And one must remember, there are even busts in the first round. But there is also a chance that Clarett will be a special player in the league and you have to give the Broncos credit for choosing him.

One last thing; I love it that my dad is still in love with the Cowboys of the mid-nineties. I do not think he will ever forget about the team of Aikman, Smith, and Irvin. He really wanted the Cowboys to pick Aaron Rodgers at 11 and when he was available at 20, my dad almost had a hard attack that no one was talking about how the Cowboys should pick him. I got to hear the “How Quarterbacks are just not as good these days as in the days of Steve Young and Troy Aikman” story at least four times and I loved hearing it every time. Just to clear things up, my dad thinks the Cowboys need to build for the future and draft a quarterback because he does not think they will be able to do anything until they get a decent quarterback.