Myron Rolle isn’t sure how much his decision to leave football and take advantage of his Rhodes scholarship to study in Oxford cost him. Rolle does know that those people who question his commitment to football are way off base.
Monthly Archives: April 2010
More like it: Jets move for McKnight, deal Washington, cut Faneca
The third day of the NFL draft was like the rest of the Jets’ offseason — busy and
headline-making.
Jaguars land Morrison in trade with Raiders, fill linebacker need
The Jacksonville Jaguars desperately wanted a middle linebacker in the NFL draft. They had to trade to get one, and ended up with an established starter.
NFL: Trade Brings Skelton to Arizona
The Pittsburgh Steelers have traded their fifth-round pick to the Arizona Cardinals for CB Bryant McFadden, who previously played for the Black and Gold. With their pick, the Cards selected QB John Skelton from Fordham University.
Mancini’s Take: Coach Ken Whisenhunt clearly isn’t comfortable with Matt Leinart as his head triggerman. The California Cool signal caller should be the lead man to start the season, but he’ll be on a very short leash with Derek Anderson waiting in the wings. Skelton is a developmental option with serious upside. The young man’s foot work is a bit off and he needs to add some touch on his short to intermediate throws. But his size and arm strength are exceptional, as is his ability to scan the field and make quality downfield throws. On the other end of the deal, the Steelers bring back a physical and aggressive cornerback in McFadden that has performed
NFL: New QB in Oaktown?
Sources indicate that the Oakland Raiders have sent a low-round pick to the Washington Redskins for QB Jason Campbell.
Mancini’s Take: The days of JaMarcus Russell as the the Raiders starting quarterback may have (mercifully) come to an end with the arrival of Campbell. The former Redskin has the physical tools and temperment to be a quality starter in the league, not to mention the fact that he’s a significant upgrade at the position over both Russell and the feisty Bruce Gradkowski. However, Campbell needs to play at a quicker pace. He’s often a half-second late in identifying open receivers. But in all fairness, the Auburn product also played behind a porous offensive line last year, which prevented him from establishing a rythm in the pocket.
Seahawks bolster backfield in draft-day deals for Washington, White
Seattle acquired recuperating running back Leon Washington and a
seventh-round draft choice from the New York Jets for a fifth-round
pick in Saturday’s draft. Earlier Saturday, Carroll traded with Tennessee to get his
former Southern California running back, LenDale White
NFL:Seattle Trades for Leon Washington
The New York Jets have just traded Leon Washington and their seventh-round pick to the Seattle Seahawks for a fifth-round pick. Gang Green selected FB John Connor with that pick.
Mancini’s Take: Seattle has just absolutely killed it in this draft…and I mean that in a good way. They hit home runs with potential All-Pro players Russell Okung and Earl Thomas, while Golden Tate and Kam Chancellor are tremendous athletes that can both flourish if used properly. Trading for Leon Washington is just the icing on the cake. The former Jet is coming off a gruesome leg injury, but can be a multi-purpose game breaker when he’s healthy. Julius Jones seems to be the odd-man out with the additions of Washington and Lendale White. As for the Jets, their draft is over. Based on what they’ve done in the past three days, they should continue to
Jaguars Setting The Wrong Kind Of Trend
Jacksonville Jaguars General Manager Gene Smith has been rather assertive in defending his usage of the 10th overall selection on Tyson Aluala, a move that even surprised the former Golden Bear.
“It came as a shock,” Aluala said. “It’s just crazy how everything worked out. The Jaguars told me they were interested in me, but I never thought they would pick me in the top 10. I thought they would trade down if they wanted me.”
Smith then proceeded to take another defensive tackle, D’Anthony Smith, in the third round bringing even more question to his decision in the first.
However this is the continuation of a troubling trend with the Jacksonville Jaguars front office as this is the third year in a row that the Jags have spent their first two picks in the draft on the same position. Derrick Harvery and Quentin Grooves
NFL: Lendale White Heading West
The Seattle Seahawks have just dealt their first pick in the fourth round plus their 176th pick in the sixth round to the Tennessee Titans in exchange of RB Lendale White and DT Kevin Vickerson, along with the 111th pick in the fourth round and the 185th pick in the sixth round.
Mancini’s Take: Seattle was reportedly pressing hard for Marshawn Lynch, but surprisingly the Bills decided to hold on to their man. Lendale White isn’t a bad alternative though. He may be a few pounds lighter than he was a couple of years ago, but White can still bring it, particularly around the goal line. Seattle desperately needed a move-the-chains pounder and White certainly fits the bill. Vickerson, on the other hand, is a good depth guy that bring some size to the defensive line. Good job, Pete Carroll.
Q&A: VP Rick Spielman, Minnesota
Again, it was another pretty exciting day for us. There were a lot of phone conversations going on with our second overall pick in this round. Chris Cook knew that hopefully he was going to be there and that was one of the reasons we did the trade as well last night, taking a shot that Chris would still be there. As we went down through the draft, as this round continued, we got pretty aggressive and used our third round pick to come up and get Toby Gerhart. Both those players, we are very excited to get and I thought we’ve helped our roster a lot today.
Q: So you thought that highly of Toby to use that third round pick to move up?
A: Yes. Again, it gives you some flexibility. At the bottom, where we’re picking in the third