Wednesday, April 23, 2008

2008 Mock Draft

I pray this is the last one I have to do. I wouldn't have taken another stab at but the Kansas City trade of Jared Allen prior to the draft completely scrambled who they would target and all that trickled down and made me spend another hour on this. Sigh. Of course, I love it, but still there is a lot time put in here. So let's see if this one has legs.

  1. Miami Dolphins - Chris Long DE whoops Jake Long, OT
  2. St Louis Rams - Jake Long OT whoops Chris Long, DE
  3. Atlanta Falcons - Ryan Clady OT
  4. Oakland Raiders - Vernon Gholston DE
  5. Kansas City Chiefs - Glenn Dorsey DT
  6. New York Jets - Darren McFadden RB
  7. New England Patriots - Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie CB
  8. Baltimore Ravens - Matt Ryan QB
  9. Cincinnati Bengals - Sedrick Ellis DT
  10. New Orleans Saints - Keith Rivers LB
  11. Buffalo Bills - Limas Sweed WR
  12. Denver Broncos - Chris Williams OT
  13. Carolina Panthers - Rashard Mendenhall RB
  14. Chicago Bears - Branden Albert OG
  15. Detroit Lions - Derrick Harvey DE
  16. Arizona Cardinals - Leodis McKelvin CB
  17. Kansas City Chiefs - Jeff Otah OT
  18. Houston Texans - Mike Jenkins CB
  19. Philadelphia Eagles - Devin Thomas WR
  20. Tampa Bay Buccaneers - James Hardy WR
  21. Washington Redskins - Calais Campbell DE
  22. Dallas Cowboys - Jonathan Stewart RB
  23. Pittsburgh Steelers - Aqib Talib CB
  24. Tennessee Titans - Kentwan Balmer DT
  25. Seattle Seahawks - Gosder Cherilus OT
  26. Jacksonville Jaguars - Phillip Merling DE
  27. San Diego Chargers - Antoine Cason CB
  28. Dallas Cowboys - Kenny Phillips FS
  29. San Francisco 49ers - Sam Baker OT
  30. Green Bay Packers - Brandon Flowers CB
  31. New England Patriots - Pick forfeited
  32. New York Giants - Erin Henderson OLB

Tuesday, April 22, 2008

Draft part 2 (16 - 32) and updates

Whoops. I missed on my first pick and the draft hasn't even started. So suffice it to say, I just going to swap the Longs. Easier and I could see either team take either of them.

  1. Arizona Cardinals - Mike Jenkins CB; With needs at both CB and the D-line, my rough feeling is that they are likely to focus on secondary with a lot of DE going early. The next couple DE that could go would be Lawrence Jackson, Calais Campbell and a couple of others, but I think it is unlikely for them to go after them with Mike Jenkins on the board.
  2. Minnesota Vikings, Jared Allen => Branden Albert OG Chiefs; My guess is this will be the mega trade of the draft where they hand this pick over (and more) for Jared Allen and then the Chiefs will grab an O-line guy with Brendan the most likely person.
  3. Houston Texans - Aqib Talib CB; And David Carr can probably attest, the Texans would like more depth at o-line as they have been injury plagued since they became a team in the NFL. That said, they will likely grab a corner which is also a need and pick Aqib Talib to pick up the nickel slot.
  4. Philadelphia Eagles - Devin Thomas WR; More than likely, if they don't make a strong play for Chad Johnson, they will likely grab a good wide receiver in the draft if one is availabe that warrants the 19th overall, and I think they will find one in Devin Thomas who already look good in their colors.
  5. Tampa Bay Buccaneers - James Hardy WR; Tampa suffers from a player surplus in their areas of weakness where no one has really stepped up and taken control of the game. Jonathan Stewart is a possibility, but with injury concerns, I think they will pass. I think they will go toward who ever is the top receiver on their draft boards.
  6. Washington Redskins - Calais Campbell DE; Let's go with someone you know will likely drive who the Redskins pick when they pick one of their defensive coaches ex-players.
  7. Dallas Cowboys - Jonathan Stewart RB; Filling in for Julius Jones with a vacated spot.
  8. Pittsburgh Steelers - Jeff Otah OT
  9. Tennessee Titans - Kentwan Balmer DT
  10. Seattle Seahawks - Gosder Cherilus OT
  11. Jacksonville Jaguars - Phillip Merling DE
  12. San Diego Chargers - Antoine Cason CB
  13. Dallas Cowboys - Kenny Phillips FS
  14. San Francisco 49ers - Sam Baker OT; Call me crazy but I could see the Lions move up and take Brohm. And then I would cry.
  15. Green Bay Packers - Brandon Flowers CB
  16. New England Patriots - Pick forfeited
  17. New York Giants - Erin Henderson OLB


And of course, the teams most likely to bone the draft according to the analysts.

Thursday, April 17, 2008

2008 NFL Draft: Picks 1 through 15

As per this time of year, my football addiction becomes too much and I have to post my predictions for the NFL draft. So far, in my years predicting the first round (sometimes public, sometimes private), I don't have a real good track record. This year though, I think I can feel it... not really.

So without further ado:

  1. Miami Dolphins - Chris Long DE; Likely that the Dolphins will take Chris Long as there is probably going to be some good offensive linemen available later in the draft and an elite end here could mean a big difference to apply pressure and giving the rest of your defense a bit of a break.
  2. St Louis Rams - Jake Long OT; Rams here have a couple of needs being offensive line, wide receivers and defensive line. Given the whupping that Bulger got, I think they are going to put a priority on getting Jake Long here to create a cornerstone for the future of their offensive line. However if he is gone at this point, they will likely pick up Chris Long. If they were to go WR I would put my money on Limas Sweed, but this could be a tad early for Limas to go.
  3. Atlanta Falcons - Ryan Clady OT; This one is just as interesting at the first pick as both the Falcons and the Dolphins are looking at serious rebuilding efforts. I am sure that many will expect them to take Matt Ryan here and get their next QB, I am going to predict that put a little more stock in the offensive line and pick up Ryan Clady.
  4. Oakland Raiders - Vernon Gholston DE; I am sure that Al Davis would love to pick Darren McFadden, but with only 5 picks in the draft and this the only one in the first three rounds, he would love even more to trade it. Unfortunately trading away high draft picks is impossibly hard, here we will see Oakland trying to get a bit more ferocious on defense and pick Vernon Gholston.
  5. Kansas City Chiefs - Leodis McKelvin CB; Chiefs could use offensive line help but will look to later rounds to pick up some guards and a center. Most likely, with the absense of Ty Law, they will pick up what they hope with be a shutdown corner in Leodis McKelvin.
  6. New York Jets - Darren McFadden RB; Jackpot for the Jets here. With Thomas Jones' rough outing last year look for the Jets to select Darren McFadden who probably shouldn't have fallen this far. If he is gone, they could take Matt Ryan or Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie.
  7. New England Patriots - Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie CB; High likelyhood here that we will see them draft Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie if available. There was a lot of flux at the corner position and I wouldn't be surprised to see the use of another high draft pick to bolster what they have. That said, they could grab hold of Keith Rivers to add some more youth the the linebacker corps.
  8. Baltimore Ravens - Matt Ryan QB; With McNair a recent memory and Boller or Troy Smith waiting in the wings to fill those shoes, expect the Ravens to take some insurance and pick the best pure passer in the draft in Matt Ryan.
  9. Cincinnati Bengals - Glenn Dorsey DT; Maybe with the bargain of the first round, I expect the Bengals to add another potent weapon to their defensive front. Expect later in the draft for them to address additional LB, WR, and O-line to add some depth.
  10. New Orleans Saints - Sedrick Ellis DT; The Saints are showing some age on the D-line and will like grab a young guy to fill in on the front. Cornerback could also be a need they fill here with Mike Jenkins or one of the other top flight CB.
  11. Buffalo Bills - Limas Sweed WR; Looking to give another passing threat the Bills will likely pick Limas Sweed instead of grabbing Mike Jenkins (another high likelyhood at this spot).
  12. Denver Broncos - Keith Rivers LB; If Keith Rivers is sitting here, that is likely to be their pick. If he is gone, I see them trading down as they could get some of their other targets for DT or LB a little later this round. If they stick it out here, Branden Albert could add to the Oline.
  13. Carolina Panthers - Rashard Mendenhall RB; While Carolina could sign Brian Brohm here, I think they will make a surprise pick and grab the next top rated RB available in Rashard Mendenhall.
  14. Chicago Bears - Chris Williams OT; Here they could grab Brian Brohm (QB), Chris Williams (OT), or Branden Albert (OG) and I really expect them to go after a lineman in Lovie's organization.
  15. Detroit Lions - Derrick Harvey DE; WR last year, another defensive building block this year. Given the lack of LB in this draft that fit the Tampa 2 mold out of the blocks, I expect a high draft pick spent on an edge pass rusher to attempt and give the corners a release of pressure by reducing the time the QB has to throw.


Note: Made correction to typo

Monday, April 14, 2008

Doctor Says...

I am fine. Or good enough.

Either way, that is good news, so now we can have our party for Miranda (although secretly I think it is just to get folks we care about together). Seems that my sinus infections are ok to have somewhat frequently as they are going away. So I guess each one has been a different infection.

As for my foot, it is healing normally and doesn't look to contain any infection. Plus I renewed my tetanus shot, so ten more years till I need another one.

Saturday, April 12, 2008

Happy Birthday Miranda

Miranda hit two today even thought it feels like she has been two for a while (talking back you know). She has plenty of personality and had a good time at her birthday party on last Wednesday. We were supposed to have one today, but I have been pretty ill of late so we decided to not infect everyone. So we will take a look at having it next week after I visit the doc and see "what's up?"

Grandma and Grandpa Dykstra decided to get her a trampoline which I thought I would share a picture of.

miranda 090

Wednesday, April 09, 2008

Miranda at the Doctor

Besides the nasty diaper rash, Miranda is very healthy. The big news is we hit the 25 percentile of weight (I am sure Michelle will correct me if wrong). So now she is 35" high and 25lbs. Woohoo.

Monday, April 07, 2008

Attacked by a 2 year old

Well, I wounded my foot as a result of things magically appearing where I would not expect them. One of those hair holder things (sorry don't know the name as I am lacking in hair and it is generally worn by females) was laying on the ground pokey side up. Suffice to say, that is magically got embedded into my heel. Which hurt. A lot.

Sigh.

Tuesday, April 01, 2008

New Direction in Life

Today I am here to announce that I am taking on some new endeavors. When I look at the state of the world today and what Miranda is going to have to live through, how can I not decide to start my own company which has the sole goal of creating a better future and world for our kids.

The real crux of our problems stem from our heavy reliance on energy. We need energy for our TVs, vehicles, refrigerators, and everything in our lives. Now you may be thinking that I will be spending time working on a solution to cheap, safe fusion energy, but that really doesn't hit to the heart of the matter. It still leaves us with a dependence on energy.

So what I propose is to create an army of individuals that will rise up around the world to cut the power. It is easy to start, but I won't say that it is not without some danger. We are currently looking for people with experience with bolt cutters, chainsaws, and cutting torches. We need to bring that power grid down. We need to free up our time from mindless pursuits of video games, music, and TV. Then we will be free to spend our time doing what we were meant to do which is live from the land by raising crops and animals. No more wasted time and our personal fulfillment levels will be higher.

Join with me and remember that only you can truly hate April Fool's Day.