2009 NFL Draft: Quick Bytes, Final Thoughts, Open Thread

After the many, many months since we began letting our eyes wander from looking toward the playoffs on the calendar to looking toward the end of April, the NFL draft is finally upon us.  Sadly, due to the bizarre mentality of Roger Goodell, we've got quite a few hours to fill before the picks actually start rolling.  Due to a somewhat annoying work-related issue, I will be unavailable for the first half of the first round.  Have no fear though, BCC will still be hopping with activity.

Let's take a look at where things stand as of right now.

:  Matthew Stafford is officially a Lion, and a very rich one. They could have had Aaron Curry, the fantastic linebacker out of Wake Forest for less than Jake Long received last year, but the Lions will always be the Lions.  Pride of Detroit pleads for a rookie salary cap.

: Matt Sanchez of USC is still the key to the first round for the Jaguars.  Should Sanchez make it past the Rams and the Seahawks, the odds are very good that he will be available for the Jaguars to use as trade bait at the 8th spot.  Cleveland, Cincinnati and Oakland all have quarterbacks, teams like the Jets, Broncos, and Redskins know that paying at the 8th spot is vastly cheaper than picks 4-7. 

: That said, the Denver Broncos and Washington Redskins are both thowing smokescreens about not using their first round picks to move up.

: I don't buy for a second that the Rams are going to pick Sanchez.  They can buy all the plane tickets in the world, but there's no way that they're going to move Bulger and smoke screen their way out of the 2nd pick.  I give them an A for effort though.

: Dr. Manish Gupta, a Sports Orthopedic Surgeon sent me his opinion on Michael Crabtree's recent surgery.

"The general opinion of medical experts is that stress fractures of the foot in high level athletes can become a chronic issue. As in Crabtree's case, surgery is commonly recommended to aid in the healing process-and barring any surgical complications, a full recovery can be expected. How long that recovery will take, however, can be a subject of debate. Ultimately, he can return to high level play but the only question is long term durability. How might this affect how high he's drafted? Given the skills he possesses, his stock in the draft shouldn't drop as a result of this injury - but sometimes "shouldn't" and "won't" are two different things ..."

Morning Final Thoughts:

I look forward to not saying the name Matt Sanchez ever again after today. 

The Jaguars pick will be Andre Smith, if they stay at eight. 

Aaron Curry may take a small fall, and whoever gets him is damn lucky.

I hope we get Patrick Chung in the 2nd round, but I've seen nothing connecting him to the Jaguars.

This is an open thread, I'll be back in a few hours with an update.

-Chris