Back To Football

Recently I have veered away from NFL topics, and its time for me to return. Ten days from now one of the biggest events of the NFL offseason is going to take place. The 2008 NFL Draft begins next saturday. Teams have been doing their research and our looking for players who will be the future playmakers of their respected teams. Having a good draft can be good for a team on multiple levels. Teams can address needs through the draft that they did not address during Free Agency. Teams may have multiple strategies on who they are drafting and it depends what the status of their team is. Some teams like the Eagles are win now teams and they are looking for talent that can immediately contribute to the team and hopefully help them reach their ultimate goal of winning the superbowl. Teams such as the Dolphins have no hope to win now and are drafting for their future. Finally we have the young, good teams that are talented such as the Chargers who are looking for quality depth, looking for playmakers who can contribute now, and looking for players to be eventual successors to their playmakers who are getting up into their years. Draft day is a very exciting experience and it is crazy that kids who left college early to enter the draft are the kids who have graduated high school in 2005. These players are the future of the NFL and it is exciting to guess who will be the next Peyton Manning or LaDanian Tomlinson.

The San Diego Chargers

The Chargers are a very talented team on both sides of the ball. Their offense is one of the bests and our defense has very little holes in it. The Chargers could use this draft for a couple of things. One of their more important needs is Cornerback, with Drayton Florence leaving for Jacksonville we are only left with two quality corners, Antonio Cromatie and Quentin Jammer. Drafting a corner that can immediately contribute in our nickel package would be ideal. A corner such as Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie would be a great selection because of his tremendous size and his long speed is what the Chargers love. It also helps that the Tennessee State stud is also the cousin of fan favorite Antonio Cromartie. Some other positions of need that could be addressed during the firt round of the draft would be defensive tackle. We have a very young and talented defensive line but the key component of our 3-4 defense is getting up in age. Nose tackle is the anchor of this defense and the Chargers eventually need a player who will eventually succeed Williams and dominate opposing offensive lines. Finally Middle Linebacker is another position that could be address through the draft. With Stephen Cooper suspended for the 1st four games Matt Wilhelm will be playing alongside either Anthony Waters, Brandon Siler or newly acquired Derek Smith. We can never have too much depth at linebacker but losing Cooper and two unproven rookies would call for us drafting another linebacker who can also contribute on special teams. The Chargers have very few holes to fill but whoever they get will be a great addition to a very talented team.


Dominique Rodgers Cromartie
Tennessee State University
6'2" 184 lbs with a 4.33 40 td dash.

I will be adding some more analysis for some other teams in the upcoming days, please stay tuned.