August 2010
NFL Draft Review: Impact Players for 2010
It’s not really fair to judge a team’s draft success until a few years down the line- but it’s fun to try. Our interest here is not so much in grading the drafts but in identifying a few teams that have picked up players that can impact the league starting this season. Potential impact players can be identified based on considerations of how advanced their game is (some guys may be great picks but still take time to develop) as well as the situation they’re going to. Featured below are ten cases where guys can step in, fill holes and improve their teams from day one and/or for a long time to come.
DETROIT LIONS- DT Ndamukong Suh and RB Jahvid Best
If anybody needs players who can start now and improve the team immediately it’s the Detroit Lions. Drafting Matthew Stafford first overall last year was a good step, but a quarterback needs time to develop, and good players around him. This year the Lions appear to have gotten some guys who might help the team put up a few more W’s than the motor city has seen in the recent past. It all starts with a man named Suh, as in Ndamukong Suh, who now joins Corey Williams to give the Lions the makings of an outstanding defensive line. Suh will be a beast in the middle from day one for a Lions team that ranked dead last on defense and 25th against the run. Late first round pick Jahvid Best has durability concerns, and we’re not sure his NFL career will be a long one, but he brings a much-needed element of game-breaking speed to the backfield, pairing up with wide receiver Calvin Johnson to give the offense a real set of weapons. Don’t look now but the Lions could be headed towards respectability.
TAMPA BAY BUCCANEERS – DT Gerald McCoy and DT Brian Price
Ndamukong Suh had the bigger name (literally and figuratively) coming in to the draft but, as good as Suh is, Gerald McCoy could be even better. McCoy has similar size and perhaps a better combination speed, athleticism and strength. In round two the Bucs followed up McCoy with Pac-10 Defensive Player of the Year Brian Price. After finishing last against the run with an aging and undersized front in 2009, the Bucs have instantly revamped their defensive line with these two selections.
SAN FRANCISCO FORTY-NINERS – OT Anthony Davis and OG Mike Iupati
Here’s another team that turned a weakness into a potential strength with a double-shot of new talent. Just as the Bucs went with two defensive linemen with their first two picks, the Niners did the same on the offensive line. Anthony Davis, taken 11th overall, may need some time to fulfill his upside, but he makes the frontline better right away. Six picks later the team went with the best guard in the draft, Idaho’s Mike Iupati. The Niners had one pretty good lineman last year in Joe Staley, now they add two first rounders, giving them three-fifths of an upper echelon line for years to come.
ARIZONA CARDINALS – DT Dan Williams and LB Daryl Washington
Lost in all the aerial pyrotechnics that have taken the Cards to the playoffs the last two years is the fact that head coach Ken Wisenhunt came to Arizona from Pittsburgh and, given his druthers, what he’d really like to do is turn the Cardinals into Steelers West by building around defense and a power running game. Now, with Kurt Warner retired and Anquan Boldin off to Baltimore, Wisenhunt is going to change the identity of this team. He got off to a great start with first-round pick Dan Williams, a 330-pound load of a nose tackle who will provide the perfect anchor for Arizona’s 3-4 defense. In the second round the Cards added a dynamic outside pass rusher and run defender in linebacker Daryl Washington. Don’t look now, folks, but the Arizona Cardinals are preparing to win with…defense?
BALTIMORE RAVENS – LB Sergio Kindle and DT Terrence Cody
How have the Ravens stayed so good on defense for so long? They continue to make a priority of drafting top-notch young talent to complement and energize veteran mainstays like Ray Lewis. The Ravens already had a great defense when they drafted Haloti Ngata a few years back, and he’s helped them sustain that greatness ever since. Now they strengthen themselves once again with Sergio Kindle and Terrence Cody. Kindle and Cody are the perfect additions for a team like the Ravens. If either one were asked to become defensive cornerstones for bad teams (as Suh and McCoy are being asked to do) they might not be up to it. Kindle has the speed to become a great pass rusher, though perhaps not the strength to dominate the run. Cody, who, at 6-4, 365, has come to be known as “Mount Cody,” is a monster in the middle against the run, but he tires quickly, particularly when asked to rush the passer. In Baltimore, each of these guys can be worked in situationally, without the pressure of being expected to do too much too soon. They’re both perfect fits and should energize the Raven vets once again in 2010.
INDIANAPOLIS COLTS – LB Jerry Hughes and LB Patrick Angerer
Talk about perfect fits. In Jerry Hughes, a former high school running back, and Patrick Angerer, a big-time producer at Iowa, the Colts found two ideal players for their speed-first approach to defense. Hughes may not be the world class pass rusher that Dwight Freeney is, not yet anyway, but he’s in the mold of Freeney and Robert Mathis. Colts GM sees Angerer, meanwhile, as a Gary Brackett-type linebacker. This is how it’s supposed to work. You install a system, build it around great players who fit the system, and then as those guys age you bring in young players with similar talents to learn and develop under the tutelage of the old guard. That’s what’s going on here. Hughes and Angerer are the perfect guys at the perfect time for the Colts defense.
KANSAS CITY CHIEFS – RB/WR Dexter McCluster
Size is a concern for McCluster who, at 5-7, 165, won’t be an every down back. But that’s just fine because the Chiefs already have Thomas Jones and Jamaal Charles. More importantly, they have Charlie Weis as their offensive coordinator. Weis knows how to mix-in multiple weapons as well as anyone and he’ll have a field day with the versatile and explosive McCluster. In fact, I think the Chiefs are setting up a screen play to McCluster in the flat right now as we speak. He’ll line up all over the field, as a runner, a receiver, a little wildcat maybe, and give opposing defenses all kinds of headaches.
SAN DIEGO CHARGERS – RB Ryan Matthews
Number twelve overall was probably a little high for Matthews, but the Chargers were desperate for a running back after showing LaDainian Tomlinson the door. How good Matthews is remains to be seen, though he certainly has the measurables (i.e. size and speed) to succeed. Most importantly, he will be Norv Turner’s feature back from day one and, on that basis alone, he’s an impact player this season. Some other backs drafted later have a chance to make strong impacts as well. Fantasy players might wanna keep their eyes on potential sleepers like Montario Hardesty in Cleveland.
NEW ENGLAND PATRIOTS – LB Brandon Spikes (and just about everybody else they drafted).
This was a classic “kitchen-sink” draft for the Pats. Draftniks were underwhelmed with the first-round selection of CB Devin McCourty, but McCourty, despite suboptimal size, has the athleticism, cover skill, physicality and smarts to become a good one. He’s also a beast on special teams with a TD returned for a touchdown last year and seven blocked kicks in his career. Something tells me this pick is going to look good in a few years. Tight Ends Rob Gronkowski and Aaron Hernandez could add new dimension to the passing game. The Pats have been burned enough by Dallas Clark in the past, it seems, that they decided to get a Clark type of their own in Hernandez. Undersized but quick, the Mackey Award winner could pose mismatches for NFL linebackers. The most interesting pick of all, however, might be linebacker Brandon Spikes. Spikes plays with wild abandon and he’s a leader and trash talker extraordinaire. If you saw the Pats’ lifeless showing against the Ravens in the playoffs last year you realize how much they need a guy like this. Spikes could fill an outspoken leadership role on defense that Lawyer Milloy, Bryan Cox and Rodney Harrison have provided in the past.
