NFL Draft Blog: Rds. 2 & 3
9:15 p.m. Update
Saturday figures to be one of the busiest football days in the history of Kansas University. Three, perhaps even four, former players could be drafted in the NFL Draft; one or two more could ink free agent contracts when the draft is finished; new head coach Turner Gill and his 2010 team will take the field at Memorial Stadium for the annual spring game; and there are rumors out there about a couple of 2011 commitments coming.
We’ll see.
Either way, it’s time for some rest so we can get after it again tomorrow.
9:10 p.m. Update
This one’s in the books. Color me surprised. I really thought that at least one of the two Jayhawks – Stuckey or Briscoe – would be drafted in the top three rounds.
But the final pick of Rd. 3 was just made and all of the Jayhawks are still on the board.
96. CB Brandon Ghee, Wake Forest, to Cincinnati
97. LB Rennis Curran, Georgia, to Tennessee
98. OG Mike Johnson, Alabama, to Atlanta
9:03 p.m. Update
Nope. The Saints pass on Stuckey and go with TE Jimmy Graham, of Miami (Fla.), with the 95th overall pick.
The final pick of the third round belongs to Cincinnati and then we’ll do two compensatory picks to close out the evening, Tennessee and Atlanta.
8:55 p.m. Update
The Chiefs trade up to 93 but pass on the two players from down the road to take tight end Tony Moeaki from Iowa.
Time is running out tonight…
Here’s the thing to remember, though. Just because these Jayhawks are “falling” a little bit doesn’t mean they won’t be drafted. Whether they’re done for tonight or not, both Briscoe and Stuckey will be selected before the seven rounds are finished and, by KU standards, that’s still a heck of an accomplishment.
Interesting…. The Saints trade up two spots to get to 95. They were rumored to be interested in Stuckey. Is there a connection?
92. OG Shawn Lauvao, Arizona State, to Cleveland
94. CB Kevin Thomas, USC, to Indianapolis
8:48 p.m. Update
Wow. Two more receivers go and no Briscoe. This is interesting. Gotta wonder if the so-called “character issues” are coming into play here. Seven picks remain in tonight’s portion of the draft.
89. WR Armanti Edwards, Appalachian State, to Carolina
90. WR Taylor Price, Ohio, to New England
91. LB Navorro Bowman, Penn State, to San Francisco
8:44 p.m. Update
The sting of the night just came for Dezmon Briscoe when Arizona drafted Andre Roberts of The Citadel with the 88th pick overall. Briscoe has made no secret about the fact that he’d love to play with and learn from Larry Fitzgerald. But instead of taking him the Cardinals take another player at his position, a relative unknown from The Citadel.
The farther these Jayhawks drop, the more I can’t help but think that some team(s) is going to get a couple of steals.
We’ll see.
86. DE Daniel Te’o-Nesheim, Washington, to Philadelphia
87. WR Eric Decker, Minnesota, to Denver
8:32 p.m. Update
Getting late now and Texas WR Jordan Shipley just went at No. 84 overall to Cincy. That one had to sting a little for the Briscoe camp.
Another interesting pass came from Pittsburgh, who liked Stuckey a lot but passed on him at No. 82 and took SMU wideout Emmanuel Sanders.
And there goes UT QB Colt McCoy, 85th overall to Cleveland. Good for him. He’ll do well as the man in Cleveland, especially with Mike Holmgren in town now. Amazing that Cleveland, who needed a QB, waits til the middle of the third round to land a guy like Colt McCoy. In a word, he’s a winner.
79. LB Donald Butler, Washington, to San Diego
80. C J.D. Walton, Baylor, to Denver
81. DT Earl Mitchell, Arizona, to Houston
82. WR Emmanuel Sanders, SMU, to Pittsburgh
83. DT Corey Peters, Kentucky, to Atlanta
8:15 p.m. Update
After back-to-back safeties go to Chicago and Green Bay, Tennessee and Carolina answer by taking back-to-back wide receivers. If this continues, Briscoe could sneak into the end of the third round before the night’s over.
77. WR Damian Williams, USC, to Tennessee
78. WR Brandon LaFell, LSU, to Carolina
8:08 p.m. Update
One pick later, another safety goes to the New York Giants. LSU’s Chad Jones goes at No. 76 overall. Wow.
8:06 p.m. Update
Four picks after Burnett goes to Green Bay, the Chicago Bears answer their division rival by picking safety Major Wright of Florida at No. 75.
At this point, you have to start to wonder how many more safeties will be selected tonight.
73. OG John Jerry, Ole Miss, to Miami
74. DT D’Anthony Smith, Louisiana Tech, to Jacksonville
7:55 p.m. Update
At No. 71 overall (6th pick of the third round) the Green Bay Packers traded up to get safety Morgan Burnett of Georgia Tech.
Yet another safety off the board, which brings us another step closer to hearing Stuckey’s name. However, with just 25 picks remaining tonight, it’s still up in the air whether he’ll be a third round guy or a third day guy. Despite moving his way up the board at his position, Stuckey still has not cracked draft guru Mel Kiper Jr.’s “Best Available” Top 10 list.
The Bills just picked Alex Carrington, DE Arkansas State, with the 72nd pick. Miami’s up.
66. CB Amari Spievey, Iowa, to Detroit
67. CB Myron Lewis, Vanderbilt, to Tampa Bay
68. OG Jon Asamoah, Illinois, to Kansas City
69. OT Jared Veldheer, Hillsdale, to Oakland
70. TE Ed Dickson, Oregon, to Baltimore
7:34 p.m. Update
Notre Dame’s Golden Tate goes to the Seattle Seahawks at pick No. 60 and offensive tackle Charles Brown goes to New Orleans at 64 to conclude the second round.
There are still several wide receivers on the board and it will be interesting to see if Briscoe goes in the third round. But the safety position remains thin. At this point, it looks better for Stuckey in the next 32 picks than it does for Briscoe. Of course, they both still could go or they both still could have to wait until tomorrow.
The third round begins with St. Louis selecting South Florida cornerback Jerome Murphy at No. 65 overall. Here’s a look at the end of the second round:
57. DT Terrence Cody, Alabama, to Baltimore
58. RB Ben Tate, Auburn, to Houston
59. RB Montario Hardesty, Tennessee, to Cleveland
60. WR Golden Tate, Notre Dame, to Seattle
61. OG Vladimir Ducasse, UMass, to NY Jets
62. LB Brandon Spikes, Florida, to New England
63. LB Patrick Angerer, Iowa, to Indianapolis
64. OT Charles Brown, USC, to New Orleans
6:52 p.m. Update
Not a lot new in the last 20 or so minutes. A few big names were selected but none that impact the standing of Briscoe or Stuckey. Here’s a look:
50. CB Javier Arenas, Alabama, to Kansas City
51. RB Toby Gerhart, Stanford, to Minnesota
52. LB Jason Worilds, Virginia Tech, to Pittsburgh
53. LB Jermaine Cunningham, Florida, to New England
54. DE Carlos Dunlap, Florida, to Cincinnati
55. LB Sean Lee, Penn State, to Dallas
56. DT Mike Neal, Purdue, to Green Bay
6:28 p.m. Update
There goes another safety, as USC standout Taylor Mays goes No. 49 to San Francisco. Mays is a big-time talent, a player many believed could have wound up in the first round, and the Niners got a player with big-time ability and potential here.
Now that Mays is gone, Stuckey has to be first or second at the position on just about every team’s draft boards. If anyone else is looking for a safety tonight — a likely prospect — Stuckey should be taken before the end of the evening.
One other pick of note in this bunch is the Carolina Panthers taking Notre Dame QB Jimmy Clausen at No. 49. One second-round mock draft had the Panthers taking Briscoe there but, obviously, that did not play out. Wide receivers aren’t going fast and Briscoe could be waiting a while still.
46. DT Linval Joseph, E. Carolina, to NY Giants
47. LB Daryl Washington, TCU, to Arizona
48. QB Jimmy Clausen, Notre Dame to Carolina
6:10 p.m. Update
A couple of Texas Longhorns go back-to-back at 43 and 44, and the first receiver of the night was taken at No. 39 by Tampa Bay, who traded up to get into that spot.
The longer the draft goes on, the more likely it becomes that the next name we hear could be Briscoe’s or Stuckey’s.
One other note of interest: Several picks in this round have been announced by former NFL greats and alums of the teams on the clock. Notable names who have stepped to the podium so far include: Dan Marino, Ray Lewis and Jim Brown.
39. WR Arrelious Benn, Illinoi, to Tampa Bay
40. OLB Koa Misi, Utah, to Miami
41. DT Torell Troupe, Central Florida, to Buffalo
42. TE Rob Gronkowski, Arizona, to New England
43. LB Sergio Kindle, Texas, to Baltimore
44. DT Lamarr Houston, Texas, to Oakland
45. OG Zane Beadles, Utah, to Denver
5:42 p.m. Update
First KU sighting of the night comes in the form of a highlight for South Florida safety Nate Allen, who went to Philadelphia with pick No. 37. In the highlight Allen was shown intercepting KU QB Todd Reesing during the Jayhawks loss to USF in 2008.
The other interesting thing about this pick is that it takes another safety off the board. With Stuckey being grouped in the top five or six safeties available, the more that go in front of him, the higher his value goes.
Another safety, junior T.J. Ward from Oregon, goes No. 38 to Cleveland.
5:30 p.m. Update
Local pick of note, the Kansas City Chiefs select Dexter McCluster, RB, Ole Miss. This is a very interesting pick considering the fact that the Chiefs already have Jamal Charles and recently signed Thomas Jones. It could be an insurance pick with an eye toward helping the Chiefs’ return game.
The picks that came before him were:
34. CB Chris Cook, Virginia, to Minnesota
35. DT David Price, UCLA, to Tampa Bay
Neither pick makes much of an impact on the status of Stuckey or Briscoe.
Original Post
OK, with the first round of the 2010 NFL Draft out of the way, KU fans can start to pay attention.
Although nothing’s guaranteed, it’s very possible that both or either Dezmon Briscoe and Darrell Stuckey could be selected before night’s end.
Both are potential late-second round or third round picks, but both could be bypassed altogether and have to wait until Saturday to hear their name called.
We’ll be here throughout the night, periodically keeping track of what’s happening in New York City. We won’t comment on every pick, but we will keep an eye on how things are going to see if we can guesstimate what that might mean for Briscoe and Stuckey’s chances.
Day 2 just kicked off officially with the St. Louis Rams taking OT Rodger Saffold of Indiana. Not a real sexy pick, but he may very well have been the highest remaining player on the Rams’ draft board, especially considering that their main priority after Thursday night became protecting former OU quarterback and No. 1 overall pick Sam Bradford.
Check back often for our thoughts on what’s happening and feel free to chime in with your analysis.
The Minnesota Vikings are on the clock.