Stormy Weather Moonbeam’s Draft grades
 

1-Will Smith-DE. What no corner? We got 2 solid DE’s on this team. We get some skinny punkasss pass rush guy? I don’t care if he’s the best DE to come out in 3 years, how’s this help our run defense? We need help against the rush, we should have drafted a CB dammmit!
GRADE F!

2-Devery Henderson-WR WR??? We don’t need no stinking WR’s. Oh, he’s from LSU? OK I’m cool with that. But since he doesn’t play CB he gets an F.
GRADE F!

2B-Courtney Watson-LB, Oh great, another player that can’t play CB. This group is clueless. Besides, we needed Vilma, not some gold-head loser from South Bend. We use a late round 2nd on the 2nd/3rd best MLB in the draft? Sheeez, where’s Randy?
GRADE F!

3-TRADE- We traded a 3rd round pick this year for a 2nd round pick next year? Washington will win the SB and we’re gonna be so bad that 2nd rounder will actually be later in the draft than our 3rd rounder this year.
GRADE F!

4-Tebuckey Jones??? Is there a grade worse than F?
GRADE F!

5-Jason Craft-CB How’s he gonna help our run defense? Even though no 5th round CB would actually make this team, its still a stupid trade.
GRADE F!

5-Rodney Leisle DT- UCLA sucked. No way he can play CB. And he can’t even spell LESLIE right.
GRADE F!

5-Mike Karney-FB Hell we had T-rex. We don’t need no FB that can catch. That’s what we got WR’s for dammmit!
GRADE F!

7-Colby Bockwoldt LB BYU??? Whats he gonna do? Preach about stopping the rush?
GRADE F!

Stormy Weather Moonbeam’s Draft grades
 

No, he\'s gonna look into a hat and read the Golden Tablets of Defense.

C\'mon, Danno, even you were shocked at the end of the draft and have taken lots of convincing (much of it self-convincing) in order to come to your present opinion. That\'s cool, and I\'m kinda there, too. However, I don\'t think that all of the negative feelings about the offseason in general and draft in particular are unwarranted.

.02

Stormy Weather Moonbeam’s Draft grades
 

My initial anger was more out of frustration that all 4 players I wanted were gone. That wasn\'t supposed to happen.

I was pissed at the 3rd rounder being traded until I found out it was for a 2005 2nd rounder. I did the math and we win that trade every time.

The more I read about Watson and Smith the more I liked them. And it wasn\'t in-house analysis about them either, it was impartial writers i respect.

Yeah, I\'m still angry about not getting a CB, but other than that we did pretty good.
I gave it a B+. If we had landed a solid CB I would have given it an A+.

We addressed every need but CB and we got good value for most of our picks.

The doom and gloomers are a little over the top. Its what inspired the above parody.

Just having fun...

Stormy Weather Moonbeam’s Draft grades
 

That is funny Danno, once the negative folks get all fired up, it\'s hard to get them to come back to earth. I dont remember who posted on draft day, but the idiot was cryin on about how horrible the draft was and how many beers he was drinking. I can\'t understand that folks that figure getting the next Hugh Douglas is a kick in the balls. Fans like that need to get a clue and see what we actually got. Anyhow, thanks for posting it, it was funny.

Stormy Weather Moonbeam’s Draft grades
 

I\'ll admit at 1st I was furious. But most of that was due to the fact my 4 favorite players were gone. We had a chance to get my other favorite player in the 2nd D.Thomas and we traded that pick. But I knew nothing about Watson. After reading about him I calmed down. Especially after hearing most experts had him rated just behind Vilma and Kiper had him 1st.
It was reactionary, but as facts came in I changed my opinion slightly.
I\'m still mad about not getting a CB, but not as furious as Saturday night.
It\'s like I didn\'t get my bike for christmas, but the skateboard ended up being pretty cool.
I also realized that trading a 3rd for a 2nd isn\'t all that bad a move for the long term. It just doesn\'t help us right now, and I want it all and I want it now!.
But Hooters was pretty nice!

Stormy Weather Moonbeam’s Draft grades
 

I\'m with Gator on this one. We didn\'t get worse, but it is not clear we got better. We may have addressed the LB issues, but as far as CBs go, we\'re pretty sad (especially if there is a single injury or Freddie is suddenly plays as old as he is).

Stormy Weather Moonbeam’s Draft grades
 

Just read on KFFL that Broncos were trying to re-sign Ian Gold as late as the 24th prior to the draft. Of course, Gold\'s agent is Carl Poston and the deal didn\'t get done. Had the deal gone through, DJ Williams prob would have slipped to us.

I know it was a suprise to me that they took DJ, and I\'d be willing to bet it surprised Meuller and Haslett. Not the stud CB we was looking for, but it was one of the top LBs.

Stormy Weather Moonbeam’s Draft grades
 

Ok, so everyone thinks we missed out on a corner in the first and we should have traded up to get one. That means we would have to have traded in the top 10. I am sure to do that, we would have to give up our 1st, 2 seconds, and a third to get that high. So, would you trade Smith, Henderson, Watson, and a 2nd next year for Hall or Robinson?

Stormy Weather Moonbeam’s Draft grades
 

It seems to me that there are five ways to be unhappy with this draft:
(1) Unhappy with the players they got given where we picked.
(2) Unhappy that we didn\'t change the position of our picks up to get what we need.
(3) Unhappy that we didn\'t change the position of our picks given that we couldn\'t get what we need.
(4) Unhappy, because that is how you are.
(5) Unhappy, because bad luck caused 1, 2, and/or 3.

I feel a bit unhappy in way Number 3. I don\'t know what to think about Will Smith yet; when I do, I\'ll let you know if I am unhappy in way Number 1.

Stormy Weather Moonbeam’s Draft grades
 

If I remember correctly it was you who time and again posted the top 15 picks to show that one of \"your\" guys would be there when we picked. You convinced yourself by reading and writing your own message of hope time and again. You\'re doing the same thing now. You\'re trying to be optimistic, which is noble, but in doing so, and arguing with us \"moonbeamers\" you are polarizing yourself and synthetically creating a stronger position for yourself.

Just like you were sure one of those guys would be around... or at least were very hopeful... you are now sure that the team got better... or are very hopeful. I promise you, PROMISE you, that if I had posted these draft picks two weeks ago on this board everyone, including yourself, would have been unhappy, and said - \"We better not do that.\" Now it happened, you got mad, but as is your way, you are spinning this to be positive.

Fine, let\'s say you\'re right and the curse of Jim Haslett struck again (bad luck). It may not be his FAULT, but it still sucks. But I won\'t stop you - go ahead and keep convincing yourself how great the draft was for this team.

[Edited on 29/4/2004 by WhoDat]

Stormy Weather Moonbeam’s Draft grades
 

Ok Gator, you say fix the problem. Well, lately you think the problem has been Haslett and Brooks. I just have a few questions that I hope you don\'t mind answering.

1. What\'s 2-3 players do you have in mind that could fix our problems through the draft? You can use how everything went down as a crutch, but I\'d like to see what you have to say anyways?

2. Is it really Haslett\'s fault that half the defense was hurt at the beginning of last year? Or was it his fault Deuce was hurt at the end of 2002 and we became one demensional?

3. Aaron Brooks is one of the better quarterbacks in the NFL and yet you want to get rid of him, why? He has been improving his passing every year by the way.

4. I bet when we gave up the farm for Ricky Williams a few years back, you were jumping for joy because we couldn\'t run the ball. Were you willing to do almost the same thing for Hall, Robinson, or Vilma just to fill a need?

Another thing, everybody wants to trade up to get an unproven player in the draft, which costs a trade of first rounders and a second (at the least), but are still unwilling to give a mere 2nd rounder for a proven corner like Ty Law. I just don\'t understand that.

Also, I do agree with Haslett and other experts when they say rotating your D-linemen in and out make you a better defense. Look at the Patriots and Panthers.

As far as our overall draft is concerned, I like the fact that we drafted talent and athleticism. It was also glad to hear these guys are intelligent, good people, and have instincts, basically intangibles you can\'t coach.

I remember we aquired Rodgers via trade last year after the draft and he panned out pretty well for us. I feel the Saints will do the same, but for a corner this year. All I am saying is you just have to be patient. The regular season is a long ways away so there still is time to add depth and maybe talent at corner. Things could be a lot worse right now.

Stormy Weather Moonbeam’s Draft grades
 

Hmmm, here\'s what I posted a couple of weeks before the draft...
Hmmm. Oh yea, in another post (fab 5 at 18) I posted this...
Hmmm, Will Smith ahead of DJ??? Musta been a late night. ;)



[Edited on 30/4/2004 by Danno]

Stormy Weather Moonbeam’s Draft grades
 

Gator, please leave my panties out of this. thank you. I guess you can say I am a little overprotective.

I would say we have slight upgrades this year in the LB and CB positions. I think Watson will turn out to be the real deal and nothing is better than competition to improve players. Also, I think Craft is a slight upgrade over Carter. Carter might have an edge as far as experience and somewhat ability goes, but he was never on the field. Craft, in my mind, will be on the field a lot more and he has a nose for the ball and can make plays. I am not saying he\'s the greatest in the world, I just feel he\'s somewhat of an upgrade.

I was with everyone else screaming why we didn\'t get one of the top corners in free agency, but those guys were way overpaid. If we would have signed one of those guys along with Gold and franchised Howard, our cap room would be almost gone (that\'s including other FA signings and re-sign of our own). Now we have to sign all of our rookies. If we would have got a corner, he would have been overpaid and everyone would be screaming why. TeBucky could be considered overpaid, but he might have a breakout year.

I am just glad to see we kept these guys together for another year because they did improve at the end of last year. It could be tough overhauling one side of the ball because the cohesiveness of the players, in my mind, are very important. These guys learned the could trust one another at the end of the year last year and they played better. The kept Dallas\' potent passing attack and ok running game to 14 points in the last game.

What free agents are you talking about? Also, what draftees are you talking about also?

Actually, Darren Hoard got hurt early against Seattle, Mitchell was out, Rodgers was serving a suspension. Stallworth and Michael Lewis fumbled that game that hurt us. Hodge got hurt against the Texans and I am not sure if Carter was hurt or not, but I don\'t remeber too much of him except for getting his eye broke. Plus, the Colts beat down just about everybody except for the Pats. We didn\'t have no pass rush.

To me Brooks is a competitor. He reminds me of Brett Favre in the way that he wants the ball no matter what whether he is hurt or not. I don\'t hear the Packer fans saying the should have benched Favre for future Pro-Bowl Hasselbeck. I don\'t think it would have mattered who was the quarterback at that time cause Deuce was hurt and he basically gets our offence going.

Bet all you want, buddy. I will tell you if I said it or not.

Also, I think the Panther linebackers are decent and the secondary isn\'t too great except for Minter. It\'s hard to throw the ball when you got guys like Peppers, Rucker, and Jenkins on your a$$ and in your face all the time. They sure shut down Vick when he was back from injury. The Patriots have a great defense and there is not much you can say bad about them, but everything starts with the lines. The Pats sacked Manning six times in the Championship game when I was nearly impossible to get near him.

I like Haslett and like the aggressiveness he brings to our team. He gets red flag-happy at times which upsets me sometimes. I absolutely hate Venturi. I think he is one of the problems with our D and I think Loomis and Haslett are to blame. I like to addition of Pease, from what I hear he can help out big time with our first round D-line.

When I say be patient, I am not saying be patient until we play our first game. I ma saying that we will make another aquisition at cornerback this offseason. If we don\'t, I probably jump in your boat only because if Thomas, Ambrose, or Craft go down, I will crap in my twisted panties.