Andy Richardson
I'm working on the rookie story for this year's magazine, and thus far, I'm a little skeptical about this year's class. The quarterbacks look particularly shaky, while the running back talent doesn't appear to be close to last year. The receivers look more promising, but that's primarily because of depth; there will be some good ones, but also a lot of disappointments. Recent years have shown that predicting wideout success is extremely difficult. Last year's top performer at wideout, Eddie Royal, initially looked like he'd make his biggest contribution as a return man. We were high on Robert Meachem two years ago, and thus far he's done nothing at the NFL level.
That said, here are the players who I'm most intrigued by thus far, position by position.
Quarterback: Matthew Stafford, Georgia. It's likely he'll be the top quarterback drafted, maybe even to Detroit at No. 1 overall. Stafford's strong arm is probably his greatest positive, although it's also tied to one of the bigger concerns about him -- that he trusts his arm too much and attempts some throws he shouldn't. There's also a sense that Stafford wasn't as good as he could have been; didn't come up big in big games (although he did go 3-0 in Bowl games). His completion percentage was poor, but he didn't have great receiving talent around him, either; if he ends up throwing to Calvin Johnson, maybe that won't be a problem. Again, it's early, but based on what I've seen right now I like Stafford more than the other perceived top player, Southern Cal's Mark Sanchez. That could change based on where the two end up.
Running back: Donald Brown, Connecticut. Brown's a local guy for me so I'm trying not to get too high on him, but he's definitely interesting. Perhaps because some of the perceived top players didn't wow anyone at the combine, Brown is attracting a little more attention. He might not be the best back in the draft at any one thing but has a good blend of speed, power, and versatility. With running backs, where they end up will be huge -- I liked another local player, Ray Rice, a year ago, but he ended up in kind of a crwded backfield. Anyway, right now I'm keeping an eye on Brown.
Wide receiver: Everyone knows about Michael Crabtree, so I'm looking at players a little bit deeper. North Carolina's Hakeem Nicks has decent speed and excellent hands, and he capped his college career with a huge performance in the Meineke Car Care Bowl: 8 catches, 217 yards, 3 TDs. That game included one of the more incredible catches you'll see; here it is: Nicks' behind-the-back catch. I'm interested to see where he'll end up.
Tight end: Oklahoma State's Brandon Pettigrew is the consensus top player; a complete tight end similar to John Carlson a year ago. But I'm keeping an eye on Missouri's Chase Coffman, who caught 90 balls for 987 yards and 10 TDs last season; unfortunately he carries substantial injury risk after various foot injuries and wasn't able to run at the combine, though he hopes to at Missouri's upcoming Pro Day. Longtime NFL fans will remember his father, Paul Coffman, going to the Pro Bowl as a member of Green Bay's Lynn Dickey-led passing offense back in the early '80s. Should Coffman's injury history scare me off, I'll be looking at South Carolina's Jared Cook, who ran the fastest 40 (4.50) for tight ends at the combine and could also make his mark as a pass catcher in the NFL.
It's early, and where players end up will have a huge impact on what their NFL futures look like, both in 2009 and beyond. But these are some of the players who've jumped out at me thus far.
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