Raiders targeting Young?
 

As expected, the Saints continue to leak rumors of their interest in USC's Matt Leinart following their private session with the quarterback on Wednesday. This is nothing more than a ploy to generate increased trade interest from teams legitimately coveting Leinart.

The Raiders reportedly have serious interest in making a deal for the Saints' No. 2 overall selection, but Oakland is hoping to land Texas QB Vince Young, not Leinart. The Raiders might be falling for the Titans' tactic of publicizing that they prefer Young over Leinart at the No. 3 pick, which is also a likely smoke screen.

Raiders owner Al Davis is said to believe Young is a franchise-changing playmaker. Much like how Giants general manager Ernie Accorsi orchestrated the trade for Eli Manning in 2004, Davis apparently feels his window of opportunity is fleeting and sees Young as the type of difference-maker who could lead his beloved Raiders to a final Super Bowl run under his watch.

Who will pay the price?
Most NFL teams use a Trade Value Chart to make sure they're getting enough in return -- or not overpaying -- when trading draft picks. The chart assigns a point value to every pick in the seven-round draft. New Orleans' No. 2 overall pick, for example, is worth 2,600 points. In order to be a fair trade, whatever package of picks the team received in return should add up to 2,600.
For the Titans to move up to the second pick, they would need to surrender their first-round pick, No. 3 overall and worth 2,200 points, as well as their second-round pick, No. 39 overall and worth 510 points, to match the value of the Saints' pick. That would leave Tennessee with only one selection in the first three rounds, since the Titans already traded their third-round pick to Buffalo.

For the Jets to move up to No. 2, they would need to give up both of their first-round picks, No. 4 overall (worth 1,800 points) and No. 29 overall (acquired from Denver via Atlanta and worth 640 points), as well as their original third-round pick No. 71 (worth 235 points). New York would retain its second-round pick, No. 35 overall, and a compensatory pick at the end of the third round, No. 97 overall.
-- Todd McShay

According to the commonly used Trade Value Chart, such a deal could require the Raiders to part ways with their picks in each of the first three rounds (Nos. 7, 38, 69) and likely a second- or third-round pick in next year's draft. While that is a lot to give up for a player who most consider to be a developmental project, the Raiders apparently feel they can bring Young along slowly as a rookie by only using him in certain situations as a backup to recently signed QB Aaron Brooks.

The team also must feel its young offensive line will be strong enough to adequately protect the investment, and wide receivers Randy Moss and Jerry Porter possess the size, speed and playmaking potential to maximize Young's scrambling ability and mask some of his weaknesses in passing efficiency.

The Saints will certainly entertain a legitimate offer from the Raiders, but they would prefer to deal with the Titans (No. 3) or Jets (No. 4). Moving down just one or two spots would ensure the Saints can still draft N.C. State DE Mario Williams or Virginia OT D'Brickashaw Ferguson.

By trading down to the No. 7 pick, the Saints could be taking themselves out of what is considered to be the elite range of this year's class. If the Saints make such a deal, they would do so hoping Ohio State OLB A.J. Hawk falls out of the top six.

Williams appears to be the Saints' first choice if they don't deal the No. 2 pick.


Bush Market
USC RB Reggie Bush still figures to be the first player selected in the 2006 draft. The Texans have spent recent weeks leaking rumors to the media regarding their possible interest in selecting Williams with the first overall pick. They've even gone as far as to open up predraft contract talks with Williams and his agent, Ben Dogra, while making it abundantly clear to the media that no such talks have occurred with Joel Segal, who represents Bush.
The Texans' interest in Williams is sincere, but only if they strike a deal to trade down. All the other talk can be chalked up to predraft smoke screens. This type of nonsense takes place annually. Just as the 49ers used WR Braylon Edwards (Browns) and DC Antrel Rolle (Cardinals) to get a better deal for QB Alex Smith, the Texans are using Williams to establish more leverage before sitting down with Segal to hash out a predraft deal with Bush.

The only thing standing in the way of Bush heading to Houston is a potential trade between the Texans and Jets. Multiple sources have told me the Jets are aggressively seeking a deal that would catapult them to the top of the draft board to bring Bush to New York. Referring back to the Trade Value Chart, such a deal for the first overall pick (worth 3,000 points) would cost Jets something similar to the following:

• Pick No. 4 (1,800)
• Pick No. 29 (640)
• Pick No. 35 (550)
• Pick No. 103 (88)

As it stands right now, the Jets own seven of the draft's first 117 selections, giving them the ammunition to make this kind of blockbuster move. If they made the deal with the Texans for Bush, the Jets would be left with three of those picks (71, 97, 117) in the first four rounds.

While Bush is unquestionably the best prospect in this year's draft, it would still be understandable if the Texans opted to make such a deal. General manager Charlie Casserly must assess Bush's value as compared to those four picks, which could land his team a quartet of prospects similar to the following:

• Pick No. 4: Virginia OT D'Brickashaw Ferguson
• Pick No. 29: Ohio State DC Ashton Youboty
• Pick No. 35: Penn State DE Tamba Hali
• Pick No. 103: Virginia Tech OLB James Anderson

When considering the Texans' glaring needs along the offensive line and on defense, it would be difficult to chose Bush over those four prospects -- especially with RB Dominic Davis already in house.

Regardless, Bush will be the first prospect called to the podium next Saturday.


News and Notes
• After watching former undrafted free-agent tight end Antonio Gates rack up 2,458 yards and 25 touchdowns on 194 catches for the Chargers the past three seasons, NFL scouting departments are combing the hardwood for the next great hoops star turned tight end. As a result, it should come as no surprise if George Mason's Jai Lewis and/or Connecticut's Ed Nelson hear their names called in the seventh round of the upcoming draft.
Both Lewis and Nelson played only basketball for their respective schools. Nelson (6-foot-7½, 278 pounds) is the bigger of the two, but Lewis (6-6, 277), who averaged 13.7 points and 7.8 rebounds per game for the Patriots last season, is gifted with better all-around athleticism.

• Despite their switch from a two-gap defensive front to more of a one-gap penetration scheme, the Bills have Oregon DT Haloti Ngata rated ahead of Florida State DT Brodrick Bunkley. Ngata is a massive prospect (338 pounds) who seemingly fits the Ted Washington-mold as a space-eating nose tackle in the middle of a 3-4 scheme. However, Ngata spent most of his time as a 4-3 DT/NT at Oregon and would be asked to do the same if drafted by the Bills with the eighth overall pick.

Word has it that new general manager Marv Levy has concerns regarding Bunkley's off-the-field issues and also worries about the Florida State product adjusting to the cold winters in Buffalo. That said, the Bills are not as sold on drafting a defensive tackle with their first-round pick (No. 8) as most have been led to believe. In fact, we've been told the team would seriously consider drafting Texas DB Michael Huff if he's available.

• At first glance, it seemed the 49ers packaged picks in the second and third rounds in exchange for the 22nd overall pick to get in position for what is expected to be a run of defensive backs late in the first round. However, after examining the situation more closely, their intentions may have been to better position themselves to secure a 3-4 outside linebacker such as N.C. State DE/OLB Manny Lawson or Ohio State's Bobby Carpenter.

Other teams said to have interest in one or both of those prospects include the Buccaneers (23), Bengals (24), Giants (25), Panthers (27), Jaguars (28), Jets (29), Colts (30) and Steelers (32). The trade also allows the 49ers to use the sixth overall pick on this year's premier tight end prospect, Vernon Davis (Maryland), without ignoring the defensive side of the ball in the first round.

http://insider.espn.go.com/nfl/draft...odd&id=2415679

RE: Raiders targeting Young?
 

Oakland gets #2
what we hope--what we fear.
1. bush
2 young -Williams
3 matt ---DBrick
4 Dbrick-Matt
5 Williams-AJ
6 Davis---Davis
7 AJ------?
Worse case VY falls, we miss out so trade down agaian for one of the left-overs Ngata, Bunkley, Huff, Justice, not bad. I hope they throw in a 1 st next year for this deal.
1, 2(37)1(2007)= 2020 + 800= 2820
AJ, Dbrick,Davis not in a saints uniform would hurt though. But to numb the pain get 2s. Maybe denver will save us.
1,2(37)=1580
1(15), 2(34), 2(37), plus 1(2007) for Quinn
1- Chad Greenway, Jimmy Williams
34 - Nick Mangold, Davin Joseph,
37 - Abdul Hodge, Eric Winston
38 - John McCargo, Max Jean-Gilles
food for thought

RE: Raiders targeting Young?