Next up: Secondary and resetting the board
With five cornerbacks and two safeties taken in Round 1, here is a revised look at Domo's position rankings with the top players still available. (Players are listed with school, height, weight and 40 time; the ranking reflects how the player was graded going into the draft.)
CORNERBACKS
6. Chris Cook, Virginia, 6-2, 212, 4.45
7. Jerome Murphy, South Florida, 6- 0 1/4, 196, 4.50
8. Brandon Ghee, Wake Forest, 6-0, 192, 4.37
9. Javier Arenas, Alabama, 5- 8 1/2, 197, 4.60
10. Dominique Franks, Oklahoma, 5-11, 194, 4.51
SAFETIES
3. Nate Allen, South Florida, 6- 0 1/2, 207, 4.50
4. Taylor Mays, Southern Cal, 6-3, 230, 4.3
5. Chad Jones, Louisiana State, 6- 2 1/4, 221, 4.59
6. T.J. Ward, Oregon, 5-10 12, 211, 4.56
7. Morgan Burnett, Georgia Tech, 6- 1 1/2, 209, 4.51
8. Major Wright, Florida, 5-11 1/2, 206, 4.44
9. Darell Stuckey, Kansas, 6-0, 205, 4.46
10. Reshad Jones, Georgia, 6- 1 1/4, 214, 4.51
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THUMBS UP AND DOWN
Looking back at the first round, we give ...
Thumbs up
* To the University of Oklahoma, which didn't win the Big 12 title last season, but did have three Sooners players go in the first four picks last night. Quarterback Sam Bradford was the first overall pick, taken by the Rams. Defensive tackle Gerald McCoy and offensive tackle Trent Williams went 3-4 to the Bucs and Redskins. A fourth Sooner, tight end Jermaine Gresham, went to the Bengals at 21. Eight of the first 21 selections were players from the Big 12. Five others were from the SEC.
* To the Cowboys, who wisely decided not to waste another year waiting for Roy Williams to live up to expectations and jumped at the opportunity to trade up three spots and grab falling wide receiver Dez Bryant with the 24th pick, which, ironically, originally belonged to the Eagles, who traded it to the Broncos, who traded it to the Patriots, who traded it to the Cowboys.
Thumbs down
* To the Raiders, who, once again, made a first-round selection that left us shaking our head, reaching for middle linebacker Rolando McClain of Alabama with the No. 8 pick. McClain, whom most scouts don't put in the same class with the Patriots' Jerod Mayo (10th overall pick in '08) or the 49ers' Patrick Willis (11th pick in '07), had a value on most teams' boards somewhere around No. 20.
* To the Jaguars, who probably reached even further than the Raiders by taking Cal defensive tackle Tyson Alualu with the 10th pick. Alualu was considered one of the top pass-rushing tackles in the draft after McCoy and Ndamukong Suh, but they could've traded down to the bottom third of the round, added an additional pick or two and still have ended up with Alualu.
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BERRY FODDER
So, were the Redskins really interested in Eric Berry, as all the buzz suggested yesterday afternoon? In the end, Washington did what was expected, selecting left tackle Trent Williams to protect Donovan McNabb
Asked if there was any consideration given to choosing a safety, coach Mike Shanahan said, "I wasn't really sure. We had a bunch of different directions we could go. Obviously, I thought the left tackle position was a need for us. I wasn't sure Trent was going to be there. If Trent wasn't there, would we entertain different positions, sure we would have. That's a constant when you are dealing with the draft. I feel very good about our safety position. I think we are very deep at that position. I feel very confident, not only with our first team but our second team. Looking at our mini-camp, I was very encouraged by the depth we have there and hopefully it will prevail throughout the season."
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HOMETOWN HERO
Nice story in the Detroit Free Press yesterday about Brandon Graham in advance of the draft.
"It's a blessing," Graham's high school coach, Rod Oden said, of having a first-round pick from his school. "He was saying, 'coach, it's not that big of a deal.' I told him the school is making a big deal. We don't have (future) first round draft picks walking around here very often."
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Be sure to join Paul Domowitch for a live chat about the draft at noon.