Bandwagon Time

It's that time of the year again. Time to get the mock drafts reved up and in full effect. Every year, I have a bandwagon, In past year's I've liked players like RB Michael "The Burner" Turner, now with the Chargers backing up LT, and has shown some serious skills. Last year it was DE Justin Tuck, now with the New York Giants, and looks to be a great pick for them. So who's bandwagon will I be on this year?

FS Michael Huff.

Huff is an All-American and, First Team All-Big 12, and Thorpe Award Recipient. Huff has been making plays his career at Texas. He's a playmaker on defense and is a true ballhawking FS. He's coming into the draft as a Senior with leadership and gametime experience in bigtime games.

Huff is projected a 1st rounder, and if he is available at #18 this would fill a void and would make for the final piece in the best secondary in the NFL.

FS Michael Huff is my main target and this year's bandwagon prospect.

Other players to Watch:
OT Marcus McNeil - Auburn
OT Winston Justice - USC
OT Jonathan Scott - Texas
DB Jimmy Williams - VTech
DT Gabe Watson - Michigan
DE/LB Mark Anderson - Alabama

Sean Payton In High Demand

2years ago it had seemed that Sean Payton was set to be the Raiders new head coach, there were reports of a scheduled news conference to announce the hiring and all. Unfortuntately, for what ever reason, Al Davis pulled the plug and pulled the trigger on Norv Turner. In doing this the Cowboys have been stuck in an offensive purgatory that has no end in sight.

BUT wait, now comes the offseason and Sean Payton appears to be a hot prospect for one of the many open head coaching vacancies. All I can say is thank God! Surely we won't go through another cruel tease again from 2yrs ago. Someone please-please take Sean Payton from us.

Sean Payton is atop the list of the Green Bay Packers and New Orleans Saints, mainly because it is thought that Payton is an offensive genius and someone that molds young QBs into superstars. Green Bay would like to see Payton come in and mold and take Aaron Rodgers under his wing. The Same can be said about the Saints. The Saints will most likely go QB in the first round (Matt Leinart or Vince Young), if not, they may trade for Matt Schaub another up and coming QB.

Its time for Payton to move on. Someone hire him...please.

Cowboys Enter Offseason

The Cowboys enter the offseason after finishing 9-7 and out of the playoffs. A few weeks ago I predicted a final record of 9-7 and out of the playoffs, and that's what happened. We made strides on defense, but the offense remained conservative and predictable all year long. There's alot of "coulda beens" but at the end of the day we lost. Was is the kickers' fault, Sean Payton, Mike Zimmer, Parcells, Drew Bledsoe, the Offensive Line?? We can keep going and going, and that in itself is no good. The fact remains that we still have ALOT of holes and the future remains very clouded.

For the benefit of the team, it would be great for Parcells to make a decision in the coming week. If Parcells retires, we're in serious trouble. This is going to be a huge coaching transition year for the NFL, and good coaches will be hard to come by. Let's hope Parcells comes back. He's built a great foundation, and another year should yield even better results.

Let's talk a little about some positions that need attention:

QB:
If Parcells returns, Drew Bledsoe is back for sure. If not, Bledsoe's future will be in question. Philip Rivers and Matt Schaub could be the premium QBs available this year. Either way, I doubt we draft a QB.

Send Henson to NFL Europe, if he fails, then let's hurry up and move on. The potential is there, but actual field time and the results from game play would be a good thing for all parties involved.

C:
Al Johnson had a horrid year, and I'm not sure that he is the answer here. We should look into FA for some possibilities.

RG:
I think Marco Rivera's return is in question, he did not return from his injury, and when he did play, it was mediocre at best. We drafted Stephen Peterman as a 3rd rounder, and its time for him to play.

RT:
Petitti is a servicable backup, but he cannot handle the bull rush OR speed rushers. We need to go into FA for a RT or a instant impact rookie RT that can jump in and play well.

OLB:
Kevin Burnett showed us some flashes, but he also showed us he is injury prone, is Fujita the answer? What about Al Singleton, do we keep him? We are paper thin at OLB, upgrades should be seriously considered here.

MLB:
Does Dat Nguyen return, and if he does, would he be effective. Bradie James looked pretty good for us this year, but still needs work. Fowler and Shanle are not starter quality either. We are thin here too. I'd like to see us invest on an impact FA or possibly on the first day of the draft.

FS:
Keith Davis is NOT the answer here. We went with what we had, and we got ate more than enough from Davis' lack of coverage skills. Let's keep Davis as our ST specialist and let him excel there fulltime. We need to upgrade someone above average, someone good in FA or on day 1 of the draft.

K:
The worst year that we've ever had at the placekicker position, this costs us a few games without a doubt. Let's stop screwing around here and get someone legitimate!

Depth:
Depth of the defensive line is pretty good, we have a pretty solid rotation there. I like what we have in Thomas Johnson and Jay Ratliff. Ratliff was quite impressive when he played. Canty will probably take over fulltime at DE, sounds like Ellis is out, same for Glover.

LB depth is paper thin at MLB and OLB, we need to improve that

Secondary depth is pretty good, we should have Justin Beriault back in the mix, he showed some really great playmaking ability. We could probably add some depth at FS for sure as well.

CB depth is alright, I'm not sold on Reeves though. Henry was a bright spot, but faded quickly after his first injury. Aaron Glenn did a good job for the most part coming in for the injury prone Henry, but we may need to add some more quality depth here.

Sean Payton should be canned, the plays were "Tecmo Bowl" predictable.

Let's hope for an improved team for 2006. Let the offseason begin!