Best News Story Broken: Adam Schefter reporting early Sunday that the Patriots acquired Randy Moss from Raiders. Schefter referred to the possibility of the trade throughout Saturday’s coverage.
Best Feature Segment: NFL Network’s piece with actor Will Ferrell playing a USC strength and conditioning coach with Carolina Panthers draftee Ryan Kalil.
Best Draft Open: NFL Network’s “Def Poetry Jam at the NFL Draft” tying in lyrics from the show’s poets describing Draft hopefuls with footage interspersed.
Best New Feature: “FanCam” which featured excited and irate fans venting about their teams’ selections including a Jets fan who said, “Once again, the Jets cannot make a decent Draft choice. You had perfectly good players available and you waste them. You waste the good players to get the mediocre players and that’s why we haven’t won a Super Bowl since my dad was in high school. Thanks for ruining my childhood.”
Best “Get”: NFL Network getting Joe Thomas and his dad to agree to allow cameras on their fishing excursion.
Best Reporter: Schefter who was ahead of most news and trades including the Dolphins surprise selection of receiver Ted Ginn over the consensus choice, Brady Quinn. Ten minutes prior to the selection, Schefter quoted a Dolphins official who told him ‘not so fast” with Quinn, the team may select a receiver.
Best Quote: Rich Eisen on Saturday after the Raiders traded for Mike Williams: “Right now in Oakland, Lane Kiffin’s wide receiving corps includes Mike Williams, Randy Moss and Jerry Porter. That is a wide receiving corps brought to you by Excedrin.”
Best Use of Scouting Lingo: Mike Mayock who described an offensive lineman as a “heavy-legged waist bender.” The term refers to linemen who are slow-footed and bend at the waist when blocking as oppose to at the knee.
Best Analysis: Mayock going to the coaching tape to breakdown the footwork of JaMarcus Russell and Brady Quinn. Mayock explained how quarterback footwork affects the landing and flight of the football.
Best Access: NFL Network gave fans a look inside numerous team “Draft Rooms” including the Cowboys, Eagles, Ravens and 49ers.
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BEST of ESPN Day 2
NFL analyst Sean Salisbury: “Randy Moss could be legalized theft for a fourth round pick. If he decides he wants to play on every snap, look out rest of the league.”
College football analyst Mark May: “Right now they are the favorite to win the next Super Bowl. I don’t care what anybody says, what anybody does for the rest of the draft. It’s over. New England’s No. 1 right now.”
On Louisville RB Michael Bush going to the Raiders in the fourth round (pick 100) …
May: “If this works out, which I think it will, I think he will be the steal of the draft.”
On Heisman Trophy winner Troy Smith going to Baltimore Ravens on final pick of fifth round …
MNF analyst Ron Jaworski: “I think he’s got a good shot. The guy could play in the NFL for a long time. I don’t think he’s a starter for a long period of time, but he gives you a lot of juice as a back-up quarterback.”
On DT Marcus Thomas, who was dismissed by the University of Florida and selected in fourth round by Broncos …
ESPN NFL Draft expert Mel Kiper: “If he had gone through this draft process and maximized his ability, you could have been looking at a late one or at worst a second round pick, and instead he goes in round four due to the off-the-field issues.”
ESPN senior NFL analyst Chris Mortensen: “You talk about a player who kicked himself off a National Championship football team. Urban Meyer, the coach there, who is a disciplinarian, gave him a second chance, and he didn’t take advantage of it. When you see something like that happen, you look into his background even more and you find things you don’t like about him. Clearly, he cost himself an enormous amount of money with his character.”
On Saints quarterback Drew Brees …
Jaworski: “On the field he can process information like a Pentium chip.”
Atlanta Falcons QB Michael Vick in a one-on-one interview with ESPN’s Suzy Kolber (taped Saturday at NFL Draft) …
Regarding his ongoing off-field incidents …
“After what happened Friday, and then what happened on Monday, I just wanted to crawl in a hole. I can’t take it no more. I walk around with a smile on my face and act like I’m happy, but on the inside it’s hurting. And it’s killing me. I ain’t got no more energy left for it. The more I continue to do things and my name is in the media, I’m not going to get anywhere. … I’m taking it upon myself and giving everybody my word that things are going to get changed around. Things are going to getturned around. I have a game plan for it. … The company I keep, a lot of things gotta change, and I mean that from the heart.”
