| First Round review |
The two big stories of the NFL Draft first round have been the selections of the Cleveland Browns and the fact that Brady Quinn tumbled out of the top 10 picks.
Cleveland, who were the team that eventually put Brady out of his misery, have had the best first round of any team and started by taking an offensive tackle out of Wisconsin called Joe Thomas. Later in the first round they made a trade with the Dallas Cowboys to move up the order taking Brady Quinn. Quinn had been predicted to be a top 10 pick but questions over his accuracy presumably made some teams cautious, while others had no need to take a quarterback. Quinn appeared relieved when his name was called and expressed his delight at being picked by a team from his hometown state of Ohio.
Elsewhere in the first round, JaMarcus Russell was taken number one overall by the Oakland Raiders and Calvin Johnson, a wide received from Georgia Tech, was picked number 2 overall. For the Raiders, it's a chance to finally get themselves a quarterback with true potential. Russell has all the skills, strengths and attributes to be a franchise QB in the NFL and the Raiders will most likely need to pitch him straight in from week one of the season.
Detroit, controversially, have taken another first round wide receiver. The failures of recent drafts and notable busts like Charles Rogers didn't deter Matt Millen, the GM of the Lions, from continuing with a strategy that hasn't yielded much success so far. |
| Madden NFL 08 images of the first round picks |
| Click on the names of the players in the draft list on the right for an image of each player. |
| Meet the first two picks : |
Bios provided by ESPN :
JaMarcus Russell :
Russell arrived at LSU in 2003 and was redshirted. In 2004, he saw action in 11 games (four starts) as a redshirt freshman and threw for 1,053 yards, nine touchdowns, and four interceptions while completing 50.7-percent of his attempts. Russell took over as the fulltime started for the first 12 contests in 2005, dealt with a nagging wrist injury that required offseason surgery, and missed the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl because of a shoulder injury sustained in the SEC Championship game. He finished the year with 2,443 passing yards, 15 touchdowns, and nine interceptions with a 60.5-completion percentage. In 2006, Russell became a unanimous first team All-SEC selection after starting all 13 games and throwing for 3,129 yards, 28 touchdowns, and just eight interceptions, while completing an LSU-record 67.8-percent of his passes. He has also rushed for four touchdowns over the past three seasons. Finished career with a 25-4 record.
Calvin Johnson :
Johnson started from day-one as a true freshman for all 12 of Georgia Tech's games in 2004 and caught 48 passes for 837 yards (17.4 average) and seven touchdowns, earning a unanimous first-team All-ACC selection from the media, and ACC Freshman of the Year honors. Johnson was forced to sit-out the second half of the season finale in the Champs Sports Bowl against Syracuse because of a knee injury. In 2005, he once again started all 12 games, hauling in 54 passes for 888 yards (16.4 average) and six touchdowns and was named first-team All-American by the coaches. In 2006, the ACC Player of the Year and Biletnikoff Award Winner (nation's top receiver) started all 14 games, and caught 76 passes for 1,202 yards (15.8 average) and 15 touchdowns.
The only real knock on Johnson is his inconsistent focus, which occasionally leads to dropped passes |
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