2013 NFL Draft -- The Top Ten

Kansas City Chiefs

When the Chiefs traded for Alex Smith in late February, new general manager John Dorsey made it clear that Kansas City was not taking a quarterback with the No. 1 overall pick. With no blue-chip quarterback prospect in the draft and the team’s quarterback situation solved for the time being, Dorsey can focus his attention on filling the team’s other needs. Receiver Dwayne Bowe was re-signed to a five-year contract worth $56 million, and the Chiefs used their franchise tender on left tackle Branden Albert, worth $9.3 million. Having taken care of their quarterback, the left tackle and the wide receiver, the Chiefs will use the No. 1 overall pick on defense and select Alabama CB Dee Millner.

Jacksonville Jaguars 

The Jaguars struggled mightily on offense and defense in 2012 under first-year head coach Mike Mularky, ranking in the bottom four in both points scored and points allowed. The quarterback situation is anything but settled; 2011 first round pick Blaine Gabbert was ineffective at best and benched for former Dolphins second round pick Chad Henne, who was only slightly less competent. The defensive side of the ball is incredibly devoid of talent, and that was made apparent with a league-low 20 sacks. The Jaguars need pass rushers in the worst way, and will thus be smart to draft LSU defensive end Barkevious Mingo, whom NFL insider Pat Kirwan described as “Jason Taylor but quicker.” That’s a good comparison.

Oakland Raiders 

Second-year general manager Reggie McKenzie is in this for the long haul, not the quick fix. After dispatching the high-priced salaries of Darrius Heyward-Bey and Michael Huff, McKenzie now must make a decision between taking the best player on the board and taking a potential franchise quarterback like West Virginia’s Geno Smith. If he chooses wisely, he’ll take Texas A&M left tackle Luke Joeckel, ranked as the No. 1 player in the draft by a litany of experts. His height (6’6”) and arm length (34 ¼”) are ideal and he’s as close to a sure thing as it gets. I think the Raiders go safe here and pick Joeckel.

Philadelphia Eagles 

Andy Reid is out; Chip Kelly is in. A disastrous 4-12 season cost Reid his job, though he quickly found a new one in Kansas City. The 2012 Eagles were overall terrible, inept at every phase of the game. With Kelly coming from Oregon, many have linked the Eagles to Eugene product Dion Jordan, a pass rusher with elite physical skills. However, recent surgery to repair a torn labrum rendered Jordan unable to work out for scouts at his pro day, and his stock has slipped in recent weeks. Kelly sees his the perfect quarterback to run his spread option offense and can’t help but be enamored by Geno Smith’s unlimited upside. Kelly and Co. pull the trigger and land Smith at No. 4.

Detroit Lions 

Detroit Lions GM Martin Mayhew sees a franchise tackle available at No. 5 overall and wastes no time in selecting Central Michigan prospect Eric Fisher. The Rochester, Mich., product stands tall at 6’7” but needs to fill out his frame before he’ll be able to stand up to bull rushes from the league’s best defensive linemen. With the somewhat surprising retirement of Detroit mainstay Jeff Backus, left tackle becomes a serious need for the Lions. Backus started 190 games for the Lions, and he’s leaving big shoes to fill. The Lions have suffered through positional weaknesses for many years, but left tackle has been a lonely bright spot. Mayhew and head coach Jim Schwartz hope that Fisher can pick up where Backus left off.

Cleveland Browns 

Under the new ownership of former Steelers co-owner Jimmy Haslem, the Browns have attempted an overhaul on defense, signing defensive tackle Desmond Bryant and linebacker Paul Kruger to big-money free agent contracts. The 2012 Browns defense was middle of the road, allowing the 19th most points in the NFL. They lost a lot of close games; games that could have been won with a superior pass rush capable of closing games. Signing Kruger helps the Browns move closer to the defense new vice president of player personnel Michael Lombardi has in mind, and drafting Georgia pass rusher Jarvis Jones gives the Browns legitimate threats on each side of the line.

Arizona Cardinals 

Déjà vu? Back in 2006, the Cardinals drafted USC quarterback Matt Leinart to be their franchise quarterback. Six years later, Leinart is on his third NFL team and has started only 18 games. Six years later, USC quarterback Matt Barkley is staring the Cardinals in the face. Barkley bypassed a chance at being a top-3 pick in 2012 by staying for his senior season, a decision that proved costly. The Trojans collapsed down the stretch after being ranked preseason No. 1, and Barkley sustained a season-ending injury that epitomized the recent stretch of bad luck in Southern California. Still, the Cardinals need a quarterback, and in a quarterback-driven league, Arizona can’t pass up a guy who threw over 100 touchdowns the last three seasons.

Buffalo Bills 

Doug Marrone was hired to steer the Bills into winning territory, and it won’t be easy. The Bills haven’t had a winning season since 2004, when Drew Bledsoe was quarterback. The 2013 Bills roster has talent, but lacks cohesion. Less than two years after signing Ryan Fitzpatrick to a six-year, $59 million contract, the former Harvard Crimson was sent packing. The Bills’ current starter is…Tarvaris Jackson? Let that resonate for a second. Some have speculated that Marrone, who came from Syracuse, will look at Orange quarterback Ryan Nassib, but Nassib doesn’t belong anywhere near the first round. The Bills should continue to invest in their defensive line and take Florida tackle Sharrif Floyd, who will see plenty of one-on-one opportunities with Mark Anderson and Mario Williams drawing extra attention outside.

New York Jets 

What a mess the New York Jets are. Mark Sanchez was benched after 13 games in of ineptitude in 2012, and the usually-stout defense led by Rex Ryan allowed the 20th most points per game. Disgruntled all-pro cornerback Darrelle Revis will surely be sent packing, either before the season starts or during the season but before the trade deadline. The Jets sacked the quarterback only 30 times last season, and Ryan loves his pass rushers. New general manager John Idzik will search the NFL draft pool for potential game changers and enamor himself with Ezekiel Ansah of BYU, a freak who only started watching football a few years ago. “Ziggy” can rush with his hand on the ground and off, and he’s not as raw as some would lead you to believe.

Tennessee Titans

Two years ago, the Titans selected Washington quarterback Jake Locker No. 10 overall in hopes of turning their franchise around. Two meddling seasons later, the Titans are back in the same position, sitting with the tenth overall pick. Locker hasn’t proven to be a bust or a star, but he’s leaning towards the former with inconsistent play and some injury setbacks. The Titans need to bolster a meddling offensive line, and Alabama offensive guard Chance Warmack fits the bell. Warmack’s size—or lack thereof—limits his position availability to guard and center. Still, Warmack is the best guard prospect to come out of the draft in years, and he’ll help protect Locker from injury and open up holes for running back Chris Johnson.

Weather, power outage can't stop EWU pro day

From left to right: Will Post, Kyle Padron, Brandon Kaufman, Zach Johnson, Greg Herd and Nicholas Edwards

Using the square blue lid of a recyclables container, an EWU employee scraped off just enough snow and sleet so that quarterback Kyle Padron could perform his dropbacks without having to worry about sliding on the wet turf in front of 18 professional scouts.

It was that kind of day.

In the face of dreadful weather and an untimely power outage, seven former EWU Eagles football players showed off their wares in front of a record-high number of NFL teams at Eastern’s pro day on March 6. Padron, along with receivers Brandon Kaufman, Nicholas Edwards and Greg Herd, offensive tackle Will Post and defensive end Jerry Ceja worked out on Roos Field and in the weight room, trying to make an impression with pro teams. Linebacker Zach Johnson measured for height and weight but sat out the workouts due to an offseason shoulder surgery.

After performing two drills inside—the bench press and the vertical jump—a throng of scouts and football players made their way out to a soggy red football field to run the all important 40-yard dash. Many athletes not performing at the pro day skipped afternoon classes to root on their fellow Eagles.

Kaufman improved his 40-yard dash time from the NFL combine, shaving a tenth of a second off, from 4.67 to 4.57. “With those numbers being the last thing that people see rather than the 4.67 official, I think that bodes well,” Kaufman said.

After the six players who worked out completed the 40-yard dash, the rain picked up to the point where it became counterproductive. A collective decision was made by the scouts and players to move back inside to the weight room for movement and agility drills, such as the 20-yard shuttle and the three-cone drill.

With the movement drills performed, scouts had still yet to see Padron throw to the talented wide receiver trio of Kaufman, Edwards and Herd. The growing congregation of student athletes, scouts, media and fans moved to the Jim Thorpe Fieldhouse, where it was assumed that there would actually be some semblance of football going on.

Then the power went out.

From 2:27 until 2:33 p.m., the only lights that shone in the EWU field house came from cell phones and TV cameras. After the brief outage, a scout from the Seattle Seahawks huddled with Padron, the three receivers and wide receivers coach/pro football liaison Junior Adams, and they decided to head back outside rather than work out in the field house.

Instead of a red field, the players were greeted with a white, sloppy mixture of snow, hail and sleet at least one half inch thick. The receivers ran far less than originally anticipated, opting to remain mostly stationary when receiving the football as opposed to lining up on the line of scrimmage and performing the entire route.

The ball only touched the ground three times—twice on high throws from Padron and once when Herd was throwing to ball-boy and current EWU quarterback Vernon Adams and Adams couldn’t come up with it. “Herd threw a bad ball!” Adams yelled.

Padron was satisfied with his pro-day performance. “I’m happy with what I did,” he said. “There’s always room for improvement, and I’m going to go back and start training again on Friday and just looking forward to the journey.”

Not known as the most fleet-of-foot quarterback, Padron ran a 4.78 second 40-yard dash after testing in the 4.9 range while training for this day in Frisco, Texas. “I think the adrenaline, the people here, my old teammates encouraging me—I think that all helped,” he said. “It was good to see all my friends and my old teammates.”

Former EWU quarterback Bo Levi Mitchell was one of a handful of past Eagles in attendance at the pro day and described the event as “something that would happen to Eastern.”

“You get a record-high [number of] scouts, you got camera crows, you got great recruits, and all of a sudden, here comes some hail, some snow,” he said. “You can’t do anything.”

Eagles head coach Beau Baldwin was proud of how his former players responded to the adversity presented to them. “The fact that we even came out here was because they wanted to,” he said. “Their mindset was ‘let’s go outside instead of throwing in the field house.’ Obviously it’s tough to do things full speed without a plowed field; they were still out there—receivers running. Kyle was taking full-speed drops. It just says a lot about their mentality.”

Baldwin noted that the NFL attention was unprecedented. “That doesn’t happen by accident,” he said. “In terms of a pro day, I haven’t seen anything quite this big. It says a lot about the work they put in through their four or five years here.

“They deserve this day.”

Notable standout performances included Edwards’ 40-inch vertical leap and 4.09 second 20-yard shuttle. Edwards also showed off his strength with 16 bench-press reps of 225. Kaufman elected not to not participate in the broad jump or bench press at the pro day after jumping 9 feet 7 inches and repping 225 pounds nine times at the NFL scouting combine on Feb. 23.

Washington State wide receiver Marquess Wilson had intended on performing at EWU's pro day, but an NFL rule stipulates that players from football bowl subdivision schools are not allowed to test at football championship subdivision schools, unless that school is located in the player's hometown. Wilson quit the team in November 2012 after lobbying allegations of abuse against WSU head coach Mike Leach and the coaching staff.