Clues to the current NFL? Look at the 2004 draft

[Wolf]

http://www.ocregister.com/articles/p...oakland-second

The 2004 NFL draft was a good one. For most teams, anyway.

You saw the handiwork during the first three weeks of playoffs.

Eli Manning went first, Larry Fitzgerald third, Philip Rivers fourth and Ben Roethlisberger 11th. Stephen Jackson went to the Rams with the 24th pick, too.

Of course, not everyone cashed in.

“With the second pick, the Oakland Raiders select Robert Gallery, guard from Iowa.”

Gallery is starting, but he isn’t the best player on a chronically bad Oakland line. Fitzgerald, Rivers and Roethlisberger would have been classic Raiders, if you remember when the Raiders were actually classic.

By the way, when you take the escalator down to bag claim in the Pittsburgh airport, you walk by two statues. One is Franco Harris, reaching for the Immaculate Reception against Oakland.

That’s the target of a lot of snapshots. The other statue? George Washington.

[Wolf6151]

The Texans selected Dunta Robinson and Jason Babin in the 1st round in 2004. Well we got it half right.

[threetoedpete]

Well wolf, He fooled me too. The numbers Gallery put up I would of been right there with Al on that one. What is curious about this draft, the board is loaded with solid blue collar guys. What it is devoid of is classic can't miss off side DE's. They're going to have to trust their scouts if they take one with a first step on the first day. Couple of guys who can hold and edge...but run like high end DTs.

But just as there were no true OLTs our first couple of years, there aren't any classic 4-3 guys in this class. Someone is going to have to go with their gut if they take one of the tweeners.

If they hit one of the under sized guys, Like Sidbury, Ayers, English, or Maybin, and hit with a monster guy, that will be true draft art in it's highest form.

And there isn't a guarantee stamped on none of these guys heel. All of them have a chance to bust out.