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Published on 04/30/2008 at Wed Apr 30 08:40.
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BroncoTalk Draft Roundtable Pt. 2 – Least Favorite Pick

Posted Wed Apr 30th by

The BroncoTalk Draft Roundtable continues. Alright fellas, which pick was your least favorite from the big draft weekend?

Earl: Most are saying CB Jack Williams, but I firmly believe we need some insurance for Paymah and Foxworth. I love both of those guys to death, but the fact that we haven’t signed them to long term contracts tells me we’re going to have trouble keeping one or both of them next year. Williams (J-Will? It’s scary–he is so like Darrent) is our insurance policy. It also means that if there’s something we want to trade Foxworth for, we can do it and still feel good about the result. And yea, I’d miss Foxy, I love him to death, but if he can go to a team and start, that’s the place he needs to be. Nobody wants to be a career backup when they can start in this league.

So that means my least favorite pick is LB Spencer Larsen. Not that I dislike him, by any means, but I’m just not sure he adds as much to the team.

Jonathan: Three way tie:
* Darren McFadden RB Oakland
* Glenn Dorsey DT KC
* Branden Albert G KC

Those picks sucked. I don’t look forward to facing any of those three. [Ed: You loophole-finding homer!]


Josh: At first my choice was WR Eddie Royal. I have a problem with taking a kick return specialist with a top 15 second round pick. After going and watching tape Royal has crazy speed and moves to make guys flat out miss. That made me feel a bit better about Royal but you need more than speed in the NFL.

After reading up a bit more on Royal I think he’s probably better than I’m giving him credit for which almost makes my least favorite pick CB Jack Williams. I just don’t think we need to draft anymore CBs right now. But Williams seems to have all of the intangibles so he gets a pass from me being a fourth rounder with upside. He is probably the example of taking talent over need.

Kyle: I have to start out by saying I really liked the draft. Not a single pick is blatantly bad by any means. But my least favorite pick has to be WR Eddie Royal. Some had him rated high (in the video I posted yesterday, Jeff Legwold of the Rocky Mountain News actually had him ranked 42nd on his board, right where the Broncos drafted him). I didn’t, and I don’t think the need was there, at wide receiver or kick returner or otherwise. This is why: just like I don’t believe adding a playmaker at WR will necessarily make a bad offense better, I don’t think Royal is going to find a ton of success in year one, even in the returns game. The Broncos special teams unit as a whole has struggled for years – one returner isn’t enough to fix that.

What makes Devin Hester so dynamic and so dominant is the special teams blockers he has in front of him – before the Bears drafted him they already had one of the top return games in the league. Just like offense and defense are won in the trenches, special teams is won by the guys flying around the field making blocks.

Neither the need nor value seem to justify the 42nd overall pick in my mind, so Royal’s the guy. I hope he proves me wrong, averages something like 5 more yards per return and runs 3 (or more!) back for scores. I just don’t see it.

Tomorrow: Your “sleeper” future Pro Bowler.

  • http://www.cover4blog.com studbucket

    For what it’s worth, Albert was really a workout warrior, and got an awfully lot of hype for a guard that has played tackle twice in his college career. I am scared of Dorsey, but not Albert.

    I liked the Royal pick, definitely glad we didn’t get DeShaun Jackson! I’m not sure if I’m too high on the FB/HB Hillis. Watching his tape, he doesn’t seem to bring much as a runner, and I don’t know how good of a fullback he will be.

  • http://www.broncotalk.net Josh Temple

    *Ducks expecting flak for the Royal selection*

  • http://broncotalk.net Kyle

    studbucket, I couldn’t agree more. That guy was the most overrated prospect I’ve seen in quite some time. You look at the highlights we had – see em here – and he just doesn’t have a good punch off the snap, doesn’t engage his blockers AT ALL… he has some nice blocks in space but the guy doesn’t worry me one bit.

  • kerry

    well my least favorite pick is the MLB Spencer Larson. he seems to have good upside, but the thing that bothers me is that he was away from football for two years on a church mission(what the hell is a church mission anyway?) missing two years is no small thing. guys miss a year and sometimes never make it back. but two years is alot. he will more then likely be a special teamer, nothing more. but it did give us a little depth at MLB. which we needed.

  • flbronc

    Cant agree with Josh more… come on a return specialist near the top of the second round?? As I’ve said before I have seen Royal in person against FSU twice, and wasnt that impressed (which, by no means makes me an expert on him- but that’s my first impression).

    To kerry- i hear you on the out of football for two years, but it wasnt out for injury- that makes me feel a little better about it. Plus it was the 03-04 seasons, so he’s played the last couple of years. He’s got to learn a new playbook anyway…

  • http://www.broncotalk.net Jonathan Douglas

    Sorry for side stepping the question, Kyle. lol

    It’s just that I like something about each one of our picks and it would be painful to try to select which one made me least excited.

    I don’t know much about the other team’s picks, but it seems like all the ‘experts’ are high on the drafts of Oakland and KC this year. My boss is a Razorback fan, so I’ve heard all about McFadden and Dorsey seems super-human to me…. definitely not the type of players I wanted to see our division rivals land.

  • Arden

    I’d have to say Josh Barrett. There’s been some negative things said about him not playing up to his potential. One line that kind of made me chuckle was in his NFL.com profile, that he “looks like Tarzan but plays like Jane”.

  • http://merlinofchaos.livejournal.com E. Halsey Miles

    Arden: Sure, but guys taken in the 7th round are more miss than hit anyway, and the guy was projected as a 3rd rounder. So Barrett is a big risk, and I suspect he’s more likely to wash out than anyone else we picked. But again, that’s true of most 7th rounders.

    I guess Larsen was a 6th rounder which isn’t that much better.