DRC - Are you buying the hype??

[Partial]

Dominic Rodgers-Cromartie is being hyped up by scouts to be a clone of his cousin.

I am not sure I believe this because he bro was a top 5 talent who got hurt in college. He was also recruited by a big time powerhouse in FSU.

DRC went to a small school. I don't understand why that would be if he was such a fantastic athlete.

Has anyone here seen him play? I certainly have not. If he turns out to be a freakish jock like his cousin, I would love to have him.

[Joemailman]

He may be a late bloomer physically and may have escaped the notice of the big universities coming out of high school. Or maybe he preferred a small school. Who knows? The only drawback to a talented guy coming from a small school is that he might take a little longer to develop. That wouldn't bother me since the Packers won't be expecting him to start as a rookie anyway. He's getting a lot of attention, and if he has a great combine, he may not be available when the Packers pick.

By the way, I believe it's his cousin who plays for the Chargers, not his brother.

[ny10804]

He only started playing football in high school during his senior year.

http://www.nfldraftcountdown.com/scoutingreports/cb/dominiquerodgerscromartie.html

His draft grade came before he dominated in the senior bowl.

[BallHawk]

No.

This draft screams trade down.

[Partial]

By the way, I believe it's his cousin who plays for the Chargers, not his brother.

I know I think I had a typo in there. I keep thinking brother when I hear clone of cousin. Don't know why. At any rate, is this guy looking like our guy?

It'll be interesting to see how he tests out at the Combine. I really wish I had NFLN this time of year.

[BallHawk]

If the hype continues to follow him and he does well at the combine (basically runs a good 40) then I doubt he'll be there when we pick.

[The Leaper]

This draft screams trade down.

But our position screams draft up.

For the 391st time, anyone who claims we are in some kind of great position to trade down ignores past history. Teams typically don't trade up into the last 2-3 spots of the 1st round...because the salary they will be paying their pick will be twice what it would be if they stood pat in the 2nd round.

Sure, we all love trading down...but you need to have a partner willing to trade up, and history suggests we won't find one where our #1 pick lies.

[Zool]

2007 draft

4, Philadelphia traded its first-round (No. 26) to Dallas for the Cowboys' second- (No. 36); third- (No. 87) and fifth-round (No. 159) picks. Dallas selected Anthony Spencer, lb, Purdue. Philadelphia selected Kevin Kolb, qb, Houston; Stewart Bradley, lb, Nebraska and (No. 159).

5, New England traded its first-round (No. 28) to San Francisco for the 49ers' fourth-round (No. 110) pick and 2008 first-round pick. San Francisco selected Joe Staley, ot, Central Michigan. New England selected (No. 110).

2006 Draft

3. New York Giants traded their first-round (No. 25) pick to Pittsburgh for the Steelers' first- (No. 32), third- (No. 96) and fourth-round (No. 129) picks. Pittsburgh took Santonio Holmes, wr, Ohio State. New York took Mathias Kiwanuka, de, Boston College and Gerris Wilkinson, lb, Georgia Tech.

4. Chicago traded its first-round (No. 26) pick to Buffalo for the Bills' second- (No. 42) and third-round (No. 73) picks. Buffalo took John McCargo, dt, N.C. State. Chicago took Danieal Manning, db, Abilene Christian and Dusty Dvoracek, dt, Oklahoma.

2005 Draft

Raiders get: Jets' first-round pick (No. 26), which they used to select CB Fabian Washington, and seventh-round pick (No. 230), which they later traded.
Jets get: Raiders TE Doug Jolley, a second-round pick (No. 47 overall), which they used to select K Mike Nugent, and two sixth-round picks (No. 182 and No. 185), which they used to select RB Cedric Houston and traded the other pick.

Redskins get: Denver's first-round pick (No. 25), which is used to select QB Jason Campbell.
Broncos get: Washington's third-round pick (No. 76) they used to select CB Karl Paymah, and first- and fourth-round picks in next year's draft.

I'll just stop there for now. Its not unheard of to trade in the latter part of the 1st, but its unusual to be 30th or later and swing a trade.

[vince]

Leaper, I also did a bit of research on this, and found evidence that at least partially contradicts what you've said here. My guess is that you missed the thread as it dropped down the page, so here's a link to it.

http://www.packerrats.com/ratchat/viewtopic.php?p=238502&highlight=#238502

and here's the post and data...

Leap, the information I came up with is different than you cited.

Gonzalez signed a 5/$7.5 mil deal, not a 5/$10 mil. deal according to Rotoworld.

Also, except for the length of contract dropping from 5 to 4 years, there is no evidence that I can find to suggest an inordinate drop in salaries from the first to second rounds. Of course there's a drop, but it is far less than you indicated and not out of line with the differences in contracts only slightly above this area of the draft board.

In my opinion, it's certainly not enough of a drop to automatically conclude that no GM who sees someone on the board that they think could really help their team would would be interested in trading up, particularly if they fear losing the opportunity to get that player between #30 and whenever they may pick lower down the board.

Here are the relevant draft picks, contracts and the annual drop in pay from pick to pick surrounding the end of the first round and into the top of the second...

Pick.......Name.....................Years......Mil lions.......Difference from Previous Pick per Year

25.........John Beason.............5............12.51
26........Anthony Spencer.........5...........9.................$702 ,000 less
27........Robert Meachum.........5..........11.3..............$460, 000 MORE
28........Joe Staley..................5............8............ ....$660,000 less
29........Ben Grubbs................5............8.............. ...$ same
30........Craig Davis.................5..........7.83............$ 34,000 less
31........Greg Olson.................5..........7.769...........$ 12,200 less
32........Anthony Gonzalez.......5...........7.5..............$53,80 0 less
ROUND 2
33........Alan Branch................4.............5............. .$250,000 less
34........Paul Posluszny...........4.............4.75..........$6 2,500 less
35........Arron Sears
36........Kevin Kolb..................4............4.32..........$ 53,750 less
37........Eric Weddle.................4
38........Zach Miller..................4
39........Justin Blalock
40........John Beck...................4............4.5........... $11,250 MORE

[The Leaper]

Most of Zool's examples are in the 25-26 pick range...which isn't exactly the last few picks of the 1st round.

Also, nearly all of the trades included either future first round picks in return (which is something Thompson has openly admitted he is wary of) or included current NFL players as part of the deal.

A true "trade-down" to acquire additional picks in the current draft to help you is what I'm arguing is less likely...not trading your pick to acquire other NFL players or gamble on some future 1st round pick, which Thompson probably isn't willing to do.

[twoseven]

Rocket Ismail versus Qadre Ismail?

Kris Jenkins versus Cullen Jenkins?

Ty Detmer versus Koy Detmer?

IMO, the little brother was/has not been quite as productive. Don't mention Eli, Peyton is still a much better QB, regardless of them both having the one ring.

Drafting Cromartie for his name only, no thank you.

[The Leaper]

IMO, the little brother was/has not been quite as productive.

You can add Matt/Tim Hasselbeck to your list.

The problem is that there are probably numerous example of younger brothers being better than the older brothers too. It is just that we are more likely to remember when the older brother is successful first and heaps expectations on a younger brother. If a younger brother pans out, but his older brother was never in the picture, we aren't going to hear about it.

[The Leaper]

Leaper, I also did a bit of research on this, and found evidence that at least partially contradicts what you've said here.

I was going off the $10M deal I saw for Gonzalez...so it is possible then that there is less emphasis on the money. However, I still think the amount of guaranteed money from 1st to 2nd round is still fairly significant...which is why teams push for that 5th year on 1st round deals.

[Tyrone Bigguns]

Rocket Ismail versus Qadre Ismail?

Kris Jenkins versus Cullen Jenkins?

Ty Detmer versus Koy Detmer?

IMO, the little brother was/has not been quite as productive. Don't mention Eli, Peyton is still a much better QB, regardless of them both having the one ring.

Drafting Cromartie for his name only, no thank you.

Great examples, too bad they have nothing to do with DCR as he is a COUSIN.

BTW, Q vs. R ismail: 68 GS, 353, 5137 or 74, 363, 5295...OOOPS!!! Q kills in in KR.

Kris Jenkis: 85 Games, 64 GS, 18 sacks. Cullen: 62 games, 29 GS, 14 sacks. AND STILL PLAYING. Shortlived comet or 10 year average player. I'll take Cullen.

[twoseven]

IMO, the little brother was/has not been quite as productive.

You can add Matt/Tim Hasselbeck to your list.

The problem is that there are probably numerous example of younger brothers being better than the older brothers too. It is just that we are more likely to remember when the older brother is successful first and heaps expectations on a younger brother. If a younger brother pans out, but his older brother was never in the picture, we aren't going to hear about it.

The older brother probably kicked little brother's ass so often growing up, the inferiority complex that ensued will never allow the older brother to be outplayed, so never draft the sibling.

Now I'm curious, can anyone come up with a younger brother that outplayed the older one?

Darren Sharper was better than his younger LB brother Jamie.