NFL Draft Day One recap

By Rick Morris

The format of our special edition of THE FANTASYDRAFTHELP.COM INSIDER on SportsTalkNetwork.com during our gavel-to-gavel coverage of NFL Draft Day One did not allow for me to conduct any liveblogging. I apologize for that, but frankly, it was difficult enough to emcee our coverage with the smaller interval between picks without also being able to contribute thoughts here in real time. Lesson learned: unless the league goes back to 15-minute breaks between first-round picks, the days of me being able to put up 25 blog entries WHILE ALSO BROADCASTING THE EVENT are over!

I want to mention also how much we enjoyed being joined by Ken Becks from Gridiron Evaluations. He operates an outstanding site dedicated to revealing the insights gained from extensively breaking down game film. In life and in business, you are lucky to come across people whose knowledge helps you take your game to another level. Since our Senior Editor Jason Jones took the torch from me and became the lead FDH NFL Draft analyst, his exposure to Ken's work has really helped him in terms of becoming one of the foremost authorities on the draft today and for that I am really grateful. It was also a lot of fun having Ken on with us and I urge all of you to check out the archives on STN.

I also want to refer you yet again to our draft guide and to the full rundown of who went where in Round 1 and Round 2.

Now, most of my sports work with FantasyDrafthelp.com throughout the year is dedicated to fantasy sports; I do focus on the NFL, NBA and NHL drafts a bit, but for the most part my work revolves around fantasy and roto sports. As such, though, I am always looking for similarities between the fantasy and "real" realm to demonstrate to all of you how much people who are paid to run pro franchises operate by our concept of obtaining maximum value. Well, most of the time, anyway! We saw some real winners and losers today in terms of obtaining value for the selections.

VALUE WINNERS
^ Denver: Ryan Clady was more OT than they thought they'd be able to get at 12, even if Mike Shanahan was on suicide alert after Sedrick Ellis went off the board. Of course, Eddie Royal sucked as a second-round value, so The Rat is still on The Clock.

^ Pittsburgh: NO WAY NO HOW should Rashard Mendenhall have fallen all the way to the favorite team of the overalls crowd and the AFC North will pay the price for the stupidity of others for years. Plus Limas Sweed in the second? No freaking way!

^ New York Giants: The Super Bowl champs prove that the rich do get richer. They need to fill a hole at safety and end up getting the best one in the draft with Kenny Phillips. Pencil them in for a long playoff run again next year.

^ Washington: They trade back from 21 in the first round into the second and still get the best WR in Devin Thomas? The rest of the league needs to get a collective saliva test. The inexplicable slides of Thomas and Mendenhall will be questioned for years to come.

^ Philadelphia: DeSean Jackson may not be exactly what they need at WR, but they traded back to the mid-second round to take him, so how can you complain?

^ Arizona: Calais Campbell in the mid-second. Niiiiiiiiiiiice.

VALUE LOSERS
^ Oakland: Well, Al Davis isn't so much a value loser as a life loser at this point. He's got four potentially viable RBs on his roster and can't live without a fifth. Enjoy your next 4-12 season, old man!

^ New England: Did Bill Belichick of New England get replaced by Bill Belichick of Cleveland? 'Cause there's faint echos of the Touchdown Tommy Vardell/Kyle Brady insanity in his desire to take Jerod Mayo a good 10-15 picks before anyone else would bother.

^ Jacksonville: You could have traded up a good five spots lower and still drafted Derrick Harvey.

^ Carolina and Dallas: Jonathan Stewart and Felix Jones over Mendenhall? I mean, I know that Jerry Jones had to get his Hog Quota since he lost out on Darren McFadden, but really now!

^ Tennessee: Another marginal prospect over a franchise WR. Different year, same feces in Nashville.

^ Houston: Yeah, because why take a RB when you've got a shifty scatback like Ron Dayne ready to go?

^ St. Louis: Donnie Avery and Jerome Simpson at WR? Give us a call when you learn the meaning of value.

Join us for Day Two coverage on STN and for a recap on our FDH LOUNGE program tomorrow night (8-11 PM EDT) on STN.