THE FUTURE IS NOW

They used to call the NFL draft “the lifeblood of the game”, a device that provided a steady flow of talent into the league in a manner that preserved the parity of the system. It still works that way but for a much more limited time than in the past. Teams invest huge sums in untested draft selections. Payroll budgets are pressed, often to the point where reliable veterans are cut and replaced by lower-cost rookies.
In the past, a solid franchise could be built over a period of years but that has all changed since the advent of free agency. The old theory of developing prospects over time must now be done on a very tight schedule.
The causative issue would seem to be free agency but that is not necessarily true. Free agency is, in general, a fair arrangement intended to share the wealth with employees (the players) without disrupting the efficient operation of the organization. It does not allow the employees to control the organization.
The NFL does better than other team sports in preserving the vital parity that keeps fans interested and feeds the economics. They accomplish this by sharing more income with their franchises than other leagues. They also have a cap, a limit that each team may spend. To continue this level of competition, they must successfully negotiate the upcoming union contract.
What can be done? How much of the income should go to the players? What about a rookie pay scale? Should the time limit to reach free agency be changed? These are a few of the complicated issues.
A rookie pay scale would be a good start. The union argument is that the current high rookie salaries lead to higher salaries for all. That may be true but it takes away money from dependable veterans who have already paid their dues. No matter how it’s figured, it’s simple math. When one guy takes a big piece, it makes the pie smaller for everyone else.
Regular player contracts are another item of consideration. All contracts should be honored. No more “I don’t want to play here anymore” or “X gets more money than me, I want more money now”. Players should honor the contracts they signed or be willing to return percentages of bonuses and perks they received to have their contracts rewritten.
Some continued form of a salary cap must be negotiated to maintain parity. If the cap disappears, it shouldn’t be long until the NFL falls into the situation of Major League Baseball where it’s all about the money and the wealthier teams (and bigger markets) are the only real survivors. Unlike baseball, the NFL cap emphasizes a successful use of more-equal shares of money.
A recent article contained a union statement that NFL franchises should not worry about the costs because of the high possible sale values of their teams. There was no mention of the high investments of the owners and their cities.
If future value potential is part of the equation, would the players be willing to accept stock shares in their teams as part of their pay? Stock-sharing has been a benchmark of many successful corporations.
The National Football League is the most successful sports league that has ever existed. It would be a shame to see it deteriorate because of greed.

THE 2008 DRAFT BY THE NUMBERS

The annual talent lotto is over. Here’s a breakdown by a variety of factors:

BY POSITION:
Quarterbacks (13), Halfbacks (23), Fullbacks (4), Wide Receivers (35), Tight Ends (16), Centers (7), Offensive Guards (13), Offensive Tackles (21).
Defensive Ends (23), Defensive Tackles (18), Inside Linebackers (7), Outside Linebackers (23), Cornerbacks (29), Safeties (17).
Placekickers (2), Punters (1).
There were 132 offensive picks, 117 defensive picks and 3 kickers.

BY SCHOOLS:
U.S.C. (10), Virginia Tech (8), L.S.U. (7), Arkansas, California, Michigan (6), Arizona St., Auburn, Louisville, Texas, Texas A&M (5), Arizona, Georgia, Kansas, Kentucky, Notre Dame, Oklahoma, San Diego St., Wisconsin (4).
These 19 schools accounted for 100 (almost 40%) of the 252 draft selections.

For subscribers familiar with the DSL College Value Index, the top raters for the year were:
U.S.C. (37), Virginia Tech (22), L.S.U. (19), Michigan (18), Arkansas (17), Auburn, California (14), Texas (13), Boston College, Louisville, Notre Dame, Oklahoma, Virginia (12), Arizona St., Miiami, FL (11).
This index assigns values to the selection point of draftees.The above schools produced seven of the top ten picks, 30 of the top 60 and 47 of the top 100.

BY CONFERENCE:
SEC (41), Big 10 (32), ACC (31), Big 12 (28), Pac-10 (28), Big East (16), WAC (17, Mountain West (9), Conference USA (8), MAC (8), Sunbelt (5), Independent (Notre Dame) (7).
BCS schools accounted for 182 (72%) of all draft selections and 81 of the top 100 selections.

BY SCHOOL DIVISION:
Division 1-A provided 221 (88%) draftees, 24 (10%) came from Division 1-AA (FCS), 7 (3%) were from smaller schools. 92 of the top 100 selections came from 1-A schools.
Two prospects from 1-AA (FCS) were selected in round one, Tennessee St. CB Dom. Rodgers-Cromartie (Ariz # 16) and Delaware QB Joe Flacco (Balt # 18).
Grand Valley CB-S Brandon Carr was the earliest section from a small school program (KC round 5 # 140).

BY THE COMBINE:
A total of 332 eligible prospects were invited to the Indianapolis combine. 216 (65%) were drafted. They made up 86% of all draftees. 36 draftees (14% of the total) were not invited to the Indianapolis combine.
These numbers are very close to previous averages.
All draftees in the first three rounds were combine invitees. There were three round four selections who were not invited to the combine:
#103 Tenn DE William Hayes (Winston-Salem)
#114 Buff CB Reggie Corner (Akron)
#135 GB G-T Josh Sitton (Central Florida)
The long-term history of combine invitees continues to show that those invited have a much higher chance to be drafted and to be drafted earlier.

GRADING THE DRAFT

Who won? Who lost? We don’t grade drafts. It takes a lot of ego to say that one’s opinions are superior to the careful selections of the professionals in NFL scouting departments. It will be about three years before anyone can fairly assess the value of a draft pick.
We do not grade the draft success of individual teams. For the present, the best theory is a simple one. The team that drafts most and drafts earliest usually ranks near the top in success.
We do owe our subscribers a statement of our own performance. That follows below.

CREDIBILITY CHECK

The 2008 FINAL issue of THE DRUGSTORE LIST was completed and sent to our printer on March 20, 2008, 39 days before the actual draft. The results were as follows:
Of our top 50 prospects, 37 (74%) were selected in the top 50, 50 (100%) were drafted.
Of our top 100 prospects, 76 (76%) were selected in the top 100, 94 (94%) were drafted.
Of our top 150 prospects, 109 (73%) were selected in the top 150, 132 (92%) were drafted.
Of our top 200 prospects, 162 (81%) were selected in the top 200, 173 (87%) were drafted.

Overall, 247 (98%) of the 252 draftees appeared in the FINAL issue of THE DRUGSTORE LIST.

LOOKING AHEAD

Since we will be taking a break for a couple months, we decided we would leave readers with 150 or so names to consider for the next draft. Enjoy!

Po.	SENIORS	School
QB	Todd Boeckman	Ohio St.
QB	Curtis Painter	Purdue
QB	Cullen Harper	Clemson
QB	Hunter Cantwell	Louisville
QB	Chase Daniel	Missouri
QB	Graham Harrell	Texas Tech
QB	Pat White (WR)	West Virginia
QB	Rudy Carpenter	Arizona St.
HB	James Davis	Clemson
HB	Javon Ringer	Michigan St.
HB	Arian Foster	Tennessee
HB	Marlon Lucky	Nebraska
HB	Branden Ore	Virginia Tech
HB	Ian Johnson	Boise St.
HB	Andre Brown	No. Carol. St.
HB	Jeremiah Johnson	Oregon
HB	Keegan Herring	Arizona St.
WR	Brian Robiskie	Ohio St.
WR	Demetrius Byrd	L.S.U.
WR	Aaron Kelly	Clemson
WR	Greg Carr	Florida St.
WR	Michael Jones	Arizona St.
WR	Mike Thomas	Arizona
WR	Jarrett Dillard	Rice
WR	Derrick Williams (KR)	Penn St.
WR	Patrick Turner	U.S.C.
WR	Jaison Williams	Oregon
WR	Brandon Gibson	Washington St.
WR	Ramses Barden	Cal Poly-SLO
WR	Juaquin Iglesias	Oklahoma
WR	Kenny McKinley	South Carolina
WR	Tiquan Underwood	Rutgers
WR	Lucas Taylor	Tennessee
TE	Brandon Pettigrew	Oklahoma St.
TE	Travis Beckum	Wisconsin
TE	Chase Coffman	Missouri
TE	Darius Hill	Ball St.
TE	Cornelius Ingram	Florida
TE	Bear Pascoe	Fresno St.
TE	Ryan Purvis	Boston College
TE	Shawn Nelson	Southern Miss.
TE	Kory Sperry	Colorado St.
C	Max Unger (T)	Oregon
C	Alex Mack	California
C	Jonathan Luigs	Arkansas
C	A.Q. Shipley	Penn St.
C	Antoine Caldwell (G)	Alabama
G	George "Duke" Robinson	Oklahoma
G	Jeremy Perry	Oregon St.
G	Herman Johnson	L.S.U.
G	Kraig Urbik (T)	Wisconsin
G	Matt Slauson (T)	Nebraska
G	Cedric Dockery	Texas
G	Steve Rehring	Ohio St.
G	Anthony Parker	Tennessee
T	Michael Oher	Mississippi
T	Alex Boone	Ohio St.
T	Phil Loadholt	Oklahoma
T	Eugene Monroe	Virginia
T	Andrew Gardner	Georgia Tech
T	Ryan Stanchek (G)	West Virginia
T	Dace Richardson	Iowa
T	Lydon Murtha	Nebraska
T	George Bussey	Louisville
DE	Michael Johnson	Georgia Tech
DE	Tyson Jackson	L.S.U.
DE	Brian Orakpo	Texas
DE	Antwain Robinson	Arkansas
DE	Mitch King (DT)	Iowa
DE	Matt Shaughnessy	Wisconsin
DE	Pannel Egboh	Stanford
DE	Brandon Swain	W. Texas A&M
DE	Jamaal Westerman	Rutgers
DE	Nick Reed	Oregon
DT	Fili Moala	U.S.C.
DT	Jeff Owens	Georgia
DT	Terrance Taylor	Michigan
DT	Peria Jerry	Mississippi
DT	George Hypolite	Colorado
DT	Vance Walker	Georgia Tech
DT	Terrill Byrd	Cincinnati
DT	Marlon Favorite	L.S.U.
DT	B.J. Raji	Boston College
DT	Demonte Bolden	Tennessee
ILB	James Laurinaitis	Ohio St.
ILB	Rey Maualuga	U.S.C.
ILB	Darry Beckwith	L.S.U.
ILB	Scott McKillop (OLB)	Pittsburgh
ILB	Dave Philistin	Maryland
ILB	Jasper Brinkley	South Carolina
OLB	Brian Cushing	U.S.C.
OLB	Sean Lee INJ RS	Penn St.
OLB	Marcus Freeman	Ohio St.
OLB	Tim Jamison (DE)	Michigan
OLB	Anthony Heygood	Purdue
OLB	Aaron Curry	Wake Forest
OLB	Clint Sintim	Virginia
OLB	Ian Campbell (DE)	Kansas St.
OLB	Tyrone McKenzie	South Florida
CB	Malcolm Jenkins	Ohio St.
CB	Victor (Macho) Harris	Virginia Tech
CB	Mike Mickens	Cincinnati
CB	Alphonso Smith	Wake Forest
CB	Joe Burnett (KR)	Central Florida
CB	DeAndre Wright (KR)	New Mexico
CB	Ladarius Webb	Nicholls St.
CB	Londen Fryar	West. Michigan
CB	Christopher Owens	San Jose St.
CB	Tony Carter	Florida St.
CB	DeAngelo Smith	Cincinnati
CB	Darren Banks	West Liberty
S	William Moore	Missouri
S	Nic Harris	Oklahoma
S	Michael Hamlin	Clemson
S	Courtney Greene	Rutgers
S	Derek Pegues (CB)	Mississippi St.
S	Kevin Ellison	U.S.C.
S	Patrick Chung	Oregon
S	Rashad Johnson	Alabama
S	Curtis Taylor	L.S.U.
S	Anthony Scirrotto	Penn St.
S	Troy Nolan	Arizona St.
S	Chris Clemons	Clemson
S	Josh Pinkard	U.S.C.
S	Reshard Langford	Vanderbilt
S	Chip Vaughn	Wake Forest
Po.	JUNIORS	School
QB	Matthew Stafford	Georgia
QB	Tim Tebow	Florida
HB	Chris (Beanie) Wells	Ohio St.
HB	C.J. Spiller	Clemson
HB	P.J. Hill	Wisconsin
WR	Percy Harvin	Florida
WR	Darrius Heyward-Bey	Maryland
TE	Jermaine Gresham	Oklahoma
G	Greg Isdaner	West Virginia
T	Andre Smith	Alabama
T	Ciron Black	L.S.U.
DE	Everette Brown	Florida St.
DE	Auston English	Oklahoma
DE	Willie Young	No. Carol. St.
DE	Maurice Evans	Penn St.
DE	George Selvie (OLB)	South Florida
DE	Greg Middleton	Indiana
DE	Greg Hardy	Mississippi
DE	Eric Norwood	South Carolina
DE	Kyle Moore	U.S.C.
DT	Sen'Derrick Marks (DE)	Auburn
DT	DeMarcus Granger	Oklahoma
DT	Al Woods	L.S.U.
DT	Geno Atkins	Georgia
ILB	Brandon Spikes	Florida
OLB	Gerald McRath	Southern Miss.
CB	Vontae Davis	Illinois
S	Taylor Mays	U.S.C.
S	Myron Rolle	Florida St.
S	Kam Chancellor	Virginia Tech
Po.	SOPHOMORES	School
QB	Sam Bradford	Oklahoma
HB	Knowshon Moreno	Georgia
HB	LeSean McCoy	Pittsburgh
WR	Michael Crabtree	Texas Tech
WR	Jeremy Maclin (KR)	Missouri

Thanks for checking us out - special thanks to the many subscribers who support our efforts.
 
This draft review concludes our efforts for this season. We will be back in a couple months with a more extensive early look at the talent for the 2009 draft.

A few copies of the 2008 FINAL edition of THE DRUGSTORE LIST are still available. If you wish to obtain one for review, please specify “2008” on your order.

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