by that I mean, I think him being pushed down boards is a little overblown. He’s what I call a Mock Draft faller, someone whose most recent press has been bad, so those who run mock drafts have soured on. That most recent press emanates from accusations of inconsistency and laziness from the East-West Shrine game.

Realistically, I think Okam is still well ahead of players like Red Bryant, and just a shade below that second class of tackles, Pat Sims, Dre Moore and Trevor Laws. Early second day pick, I think.

If they take either. With all due respect to Laws, I don’t think a single team in the NFL has him graded as a first rounder.

I think the bigger knock on Silva is his athleticism. He’s a good notch below what a team wants as far as athleticism in a safety. He’s slow, sure, but that isn’t huge for me, it’s more about change of direction, recovery, and…well let me put it like this. If he were there in the 6th or 7th, great, worst case scenario he’s a solid special teams contributor and super sub safety, but his hype is mounting and some team might jump on him a little early. I think he could be a very good player, but athleticism is pretty huge in the secondary. You’re not always going to make the right read and the ability to recover is pretty essential.

It all comes down to where he goes.

He’s more valuable to a team thinking QB this year. His transition should be pretty smooth, so a smart team looking for instant value would be wise to jump on him.

Still, I just can’t believe he’ll be there. Brohm has roughly everything you can want in a Qb, including fast healing. His injury concerns are overblown. Excepting Favre, no Qb is nails. They survive by avoiding big hits, not by being bad asses.

I took Brohm because he was best available talent and I couldn’t trade down. Otherwise, he’s a great value at 25, but not exactly what Seattle needs.

They want picks, and unless a Dorsey or Ellis is there, I don’t see this happening.

Not since the combine. Seattle could be playing coy, but I don’t see what about Balmer’s game the Hawks would want. Not to be dismissive of my colleague, but the Balmer in the first thing seems like a rope of sand. Basically, as I’ve before said, DT is thought of as the Hawks biggest need and Balmer the best talent available at that pick, and from this all else blooms.

had some really interesting information on how the Hawks view “one hit wonders” like Balmer or Devin Thomas. Ruskell said:

“"We have a grade in our grading scale that is called 6.0. What the grade says is that this is a talented guy. He has the level of talent to play in the National Football League at a high level but he has not produced on a consistent basis for whatever reason. Even though they will be ranked from 1-10, they will be at the 6 which is first-round capability, we tend not to take those guys where they are ranked because they are hit or miss prospects. Philosophically over there years we have said, ‘Don’t even look at those guys until the third round.’ Some teams don’t feel that way and those guys go, but we weren’t going to take the risks until the third round and that is how we compensate for that."”

The whole thing is here and he has a couple other posts where he’s talked about it.

I think the character Ruskell values is professionalism and what is colloquially called “heart”. What I would call “drive”. I don’t think Dixon fits the scheme. Other than that, I haven’t looked into him too deeply.

I think a draft pick on a kicker is always a wasted pick. Maybe Taylor Methalf or Alexis Cerna.

Sam Baker and Trevor Laws. There’s been a hush around Baker, and to me that means that something is going on behind the scenes.

I could still see Seattle drafting him though. Davis is a Ruskell pick, great college player that didn’t light up his pro day. Had Davis run a 4.5 40, he’s be surefire 1st round. How stupid is that?

I think a little overrated because of the overall lack of talent at TE in this year’s draft. A little loose with his route running. Decent in the open field. Not super agile, but good feet, balance. A solid tight end with decent upside, but could use a little polish.

Figuring Haslett has a say in this, probably Gholston.

That’s my opinion, anyhow. I haven’t looked too deeply into him, but I’d be very surprised if the Skins don’t take him at 21.

To me, Russell worked, so to speak, in Seattle’s system because athletically, the Hawks’ FS wasn’t asked to do too much. The position has been deemphasized. Seattle has strong cover corners, so they don’t need an omnipresent LaRon Landry type. They need someone who is disciplined in coverage and able to run up at deliver the hit in run support. That’s something they can get in a later round, a solid coverage safety with some open field tackling ability. A Silva or Hefney.

I didn’t see a pro level Qb. He lost his starting spot to Leaf his junior season, something we shouldn’t forget. Now, maybe he made a miraculous leap between his junior and senior season, but I think it’s more likely that OU’s OL improved. He’s an interesting pure talent, but I have no idea where he slots in the NFL, but I’ll say that if he ever plays QB, I’ll be surprised.

Drunk: Drink every time Chris Berman sounds like a muppet.

Hammered: Drink every time something that is tangible is described as intangible.

how much he played. 450 carries in 2007 – need I say more? The back that was at Rutgers has very little chance of showing up to the team the drafts him.