You Give Me Cause for Love I Can Not Hide

I'm taking the GMAT tomorrow which means I've undergone self exile this Friday night. Which means you, my beloved reader, receive the benefit of my restless fingers (hurrah!).

With roughly a week to go before draft day speculation is running rampant, and misdirection has become the soup du jour. The Raiders, beneficieries of the worst record in the league, are playing games with the first overall pick, flirting with both JaMarcus and Calvin Johnson (who shall henceforth be referred to as The Second Coming in this post). Which is awfully egotistic yet quintessentially "Al Davis" of the Raiders. But fret not Bucs fans, this can only benefit our team.

File this under wishful thinking, but the Raiders are almost certain to draft the Herculean JaMarcus, who more closely resembles a tree trunk gifted with a trebuchet for an arm. Al Davis has an infatuation with the deep ball which is why he brought Randy Moss, and then Kerry Collins to town. The Second Coming may be awfully tempting but even Al Davis can not have his cake and eat it to, the Raiders pick will be JaMarcus.

In the interim, teams are a hell of a lot less likely to work a trade with the Lions if they think The Second Coming may come off the board before pick number two. It's no secret the Lions want to trade down (or up right Plugs?) and everyone wants to trade up for rights to The Second Coming. Although, on a side note, I find it interesting everyone seems to be assuming Matt Millen won't pick a receiver considering he has done so in the first round the last three years and the Lions still have a need at receiver. By comparison, if you walk past a house and get bit by the same dog three straight days, wouldn't you expect the dog to bite you the next day? But I've veered off topic....

As I was mentioning before the latest rumor mongering involving the Raiders can only benefit the Bucs, since it would likely scare away teams from giving up a king's ransom for the #2 pick. And there are, based on rumors, no lack of teams which would be interested in trading up for the rights to The Second Coming. But maybe. just maybe, the latest rumors will scare off these teams from doing just that.

Although I stand by my previous assesment that Joe Thomas is a smarter pick for the Bucs. Changing gears slightly...

Rick Gosselin's latest mock draft has the following order.....

1. Oakland	JaMarcus Russell	QB	LSU
2. Detroit	Adrian Peterson	RB	Oklahoma
Matt Millen has struggled with top-10 picks in his stint as general manager of the Lions. Peterson would be a safe and popular choice. Detroit had success using first-round picks on Oklahoma runners Steve Owens (1970) and Billy Sims (1980).
3. Cleveland	Calvin Johnson	WR	Georgia Tech
4. Tampa Bay	Brady Quinn	QB	Notre Dame
5. Arizona	Joe Thomas	OT	Wisconsin

For those not familiar with Gosselin he is a sports writer for the Dallas Morning News who has earned the reputation as the most accurate predictor of the draft order. Gosselin, as opposed to Mel Kiper Jr, bases his mock draft on his network of NFL scouts and coaches, as opposed to scouting the college ranks himself. Although judging by Gosselin's mock pick for the Bucs I am hoping Gruden plans to unleash the first three quarterback offense ever, maybe something similar to the Emory and Henry offense. Actually, I think I'm on to something there....