Sunday, April 28, 2013

Looking back at NFL Draft Weekend (mostly) in quotations

Prologue: One day before Tharold Simon Day in his hometown of Eunice, LA, the former LSU corner  managed to get himself arrested. 
“Tharold was out celebrating the draft with some of his friends, and things got out of hand,” Dies said.

When the officer learned the vehicle was Simon’s, he approached Simon and asked him to move the vehicle. Simon did not cooperate initially and began talking disrespectfully to the officer.

“I own Eunice,” Simon told the officer, according to Eunice Police. “You are going to be mine.”
Oh dear. Eunice isn't the most valuable property to own on the Monopoly board, by the way. Simon might have been better off with the get out of jail free card in this case.

He ended up going to Seattle in Round 5 so the arrest didn't affect his draft stock all that badly. As an object lesson, though, this might not be the best example to follow. 

Round 1: Saints safeties Malcolm Jenkins and Roman Harper tweet gracefully about having to compete with Kenny Vaccaro now.

The last time the Saints brought in a first-round pick into an already clogged position group was in 2011 when the team traded back into Day 1 to take running back Mark Ingram. Reggie Bush became the odd-man out months later, but responded shortly after the Ingram pick via Twitter, "It's been fun New Orleans."

Neither Jenkins, nor Harper responded in a Bush-like fashion Thursday night after the Saints selected Vaccaro:

"Ya'll welcome @kennyvaccaro4 to the fam!! I think that was a solid pick! Lets get it ... Who Dat!!," Jenkins said via Twitter.

"Want to welcome my new teammate @KennyVaccaro4 to #WhoDatNation," Harper said via Twitter.
Maybe Vaccaro can make an impact quickly. We like safeties so we'll be rooting for him to succeed.  We're mildly confident he won't go broke, anyway.
“I’m going to build my mom a nice little house somewhere in Texas,” Vaccaro said. “I don’t think she wants to stay in Brownwood anymore. That’s about it. I’m going to save my money.”

Last year’s No. 15 pick Bruce Irvin signed a 4-year, $9.34 million contract. That’ll serve as a good barometer for Vaccaro’s expected windfall.

“I’m going to invest a lot in my family, just sit on it, and in about 10 years or whenever I can go travel or something,” Vaccaro said.

Meanwhile, the Roman Harper Falling Down Tumblr is still active for your consideration. 

Round 2: A moment of silence to commemorate the passing of the final consequence of "Bountygate." Screw you, Roger Goodell. Moving on.

Not sure if Governor Jindal has seen much game film but he did offer this comment after day one was complete.




For the best NFL analysis and prognostication, you can never go wrong looking to state and local politicians. 

Round 3:  Fuck yeah! Steve Gleason



Anyway, who did they pick?
If you’re not excited now, a quick glance at pre-draft bios should change that.

Armstead, a 6-foot-5, 306-pounder, opened eyes with a 4.71 40-yard dash and benched 215 pounds 31 times at the NFL combine in Indianapolis.

Even more impressive – he chose Arkansas-Pine Bluff over major colleges because the head football coach allowed him to participate in track and field.

He started 37 games at Arkansas-Pine Bluff, including his final 32 games. He was a FCS first-team All-American in 2012 as well as his third-straight All-SWAC honor.
Armstead's 40 time compares well with Vaccaro's 4.63, by the way. He probably won't start as a rookie, but he does offer the Saints an opportunity to bring back that tackle eligible formation they were so fond of a few years back.  Saints fans have been demanding that Zach Streif's missed opportunity for glory be made right.  Perhaps Armstead is the man to do the job.


Never Forget



Round 3 (again, after much mischief): Running Back Chris Ivory on being traded to the Jets:

"I put the work in every day and every week. I just feel like it's my time. ... I feel like I can go out there and do some great things with the opportunities I'll be given, and I know I'm going to make the most of it. With every little glimpse I had in New Orleans, I did great things. If I'm getting more than six and seven carries a game, the sky is the limit for me."I can do some great things and put up some crazy numbers in New York."
This trade stings for Saints fans.  Granted, a good portion of Ivory's lack of opportunity on the field is related to his inability to stay healthy. But when he's out there, he looks like the most special talent of anyone in that "crowded backfield." In trading Ivory, the Saints are choosing to commit to the largely disappointing Mark Ingram instead.   Right now, there isn't much public confidence in that decision.

The Ivory trade allowed the Saints leverage enough to deal back up into the third round and pick very large Georgia defensive lineman, John Jenkins who despite being, "breathtaken" by the event, had many things "to be honest with you" about "at the end of the day."

What do you think about being a Saint?

“I don’t mind being a Saint, I’m kind of happy though to be honest with you.  I was down there when I went to junior college and I got accustomed to that area. I was down in the Mississippi Gulf Coast area, so I know a lot of people and supporters out there that I get to see again.”

What’s the journey been like to go from the gulf coast to now playing for the New Orleans Saints?

“It was a journey, but at the end of the day it was a blessing, a true blessing, a road of…I can’t even describe right now I’m so breathtaken right now, let me just gather my thoughts really quick.  It’s crazy.  As a child when you start playing this sport, you think that you want to be a professional athlete and then it’s just a dream but when it comes true, it’s like wow, I can’t believe this is happening right now.  I’m just caught up in the moment.  To answer your question, to be honest with you, I never thought the dream of being in the NFL would actually happen, I just tried to seize every moment I had, every step I took.  Going to Gulf Coast, I never thought I would be playing for a big time school, going to Georgia I never thought I would be going to the NFL.  I just seized the moment every chance I was able to playing big games and being around my teammates, that’s all I thought, that was my mentality.”

Did you know how much the Saints were interested in you?

“To be honest with you, I knew Coach (Bill) Johnson was really interested in me.  I talked a lot to him at the Senior Bowl and I talked to him quite a bit at the combine.  To be honest with you, after that, we really didn’t talk, but I knew that he was interested in me.  After I got an understanding about how the process works, how people didn’t want to deal cards like a chess match or a poker game so to speak, I knew that some teams, like Coach Johnson, I could sense that he was really interested in me and he told me he wanted to come get me.  It was a blessing and I’m glad he came and got me to be honest.”
To be honest with you, it's kind of nice to know that Jenkins doesn't mind being a Saint. We're glad he took the time to say so since, at 359 pounds, we figure it isn't that unusual for a person to be "breathtaken."  And we've got to hand it to the Saints as well.  It takes a lot of nerve for them to trade up for a big fat defensive tackle from Georgia given the whole Jonathan Sullivan experience, to be honest.

Round 4: A moment of silence in memory of Chris Ivory.  Screw you, Roger Goodell. Moving on.

Intermission: It was about this time in the day when we learned about this. 
LSU running back Jeremy Hill was arrested early Saturday in connection with a fight at an LSU-area bar that left a man unconscious, arrest records show.
Maybe Hill was inspired by Simon's having emerged from a brush with the law relatively unscathed, but his situation might be a bit different.
East Baton Rouge Parish District Attorney Hillar Moore III said Saturday that based on what he knows about the incident, he is not sure if Hill violated the terms of his probation.

“If there is a new criminal violation that he is found guilty of or if there is some violation of the probation that was imposed, it could have an impact of his sentence,” Moore said.
So, you know, the world continues turning in Baton Rouge.




Round 5: Oklahoma receiver Kenny Stills
"I have a pessimistic outlook to everything, so I told my family I didn't expect to go (in the draft on Friday during the second or third rounds)" 

Stills gets points for that one. But then he loses points for going on to talk about his faith in "God's plan" for him.  Unless he means Old Testament God's plans, because those do, in fact, tend to engender a pessimistic outlook.

Bonus points: The selection of Stills also places him among Ricky Williams and Bobby Hebert in the NFL's most proud cross dressing tradition.

Round 6: Tarleton State defensive end Rufus Johnson:
"I am an aggressive player and a wonderful pass-rusher"
Humble people, those Tarleton State kids.

Uh oh: Mickey Loomis on the Saints' remaining veteran free agents.

Loomis said during his Saturday afternoon post-draft press conference that defensive end Sedrick Ellis, wide receiver Devery Henderson and linebacker Scott Shanle probably wouldn't be part of the team's plans in 2013.
They'd better hope that Stills pans out in this case. Because, without Devery, this team is pretty thin at receiver. (Despite this, I think Devery is still even odds to be back.  Payton spoke before Loomis and sounded more open to it than this.)

Weird: After the draft, the Saints signed Tulane Quarterback Ryan Griffin as a free agent. Griffin apparently was inspired by this to get on Twitter for the first time ever.
Griffin recently opened up a twitter account and has only one tweet, which he typed out Saturday evening from his home in Westlake Village, California: "WHO DATTTTTT!!!!!"
Griffin graduates with several Tulane passing records, which may or may not be worth anything. But to finish college in 2013 with just one career tweet... that's just weird. 

Epilogue: There were a school record nine LSU players drafted over the weekend.

Les Miles says:
“I wish I could get about half of those guys back,” he said, “but I’m afraid they’re gonna pay ’em much more significantly.”
Running back Michael Ford, who left early, ended up going undrafted. Given Jeremy Hill's uncertain status now, it's worth wondering if he might like to be able to go back too. Ford ended up signing with the Bears so it looks like he'll be ok. 
"It feels great, amazing," said the 5-foot-10, 215-pounder from Leesville, who passed on his senior season. "At the same time it was disappointing. They said I have a chance to compete for the No. 2 job. I just have to go up there and work hard, I just want to play football."
Backup running back in Chicago probably pays "significantly" more than it does at LSU where you're mostly paid in gratitude.  The gratitude is commonly expressed in various challenges to bar fights.  So it sounds like Ford comes out ahead provided he makes the team.  If not, maybe Simon will let him borrow Eunice from him on the weekends when he isn't using it.

Also, screw you, Roger Goodell. You are just the worst.
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