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Four Downs with Stock & Doc
by Ben Stockwell and Paul Hopkins
23/4/2008
This week, its eyes down and look in for the 2008 draft and with that in mind this week’s column has a slight twist. The guys consider what may happen come Saturday at Radio City Music Hall and make their predictions.
 The 2nd overall pick in 2008 will be
 DOC CHRIS LONG Now that Parcells has gone with safety first to condemn all rookies this year to less money (not a bad thing in my mind), its time for common sense to come in and for the Rams to take the guy who Parcells really should have drafted. And that’s Chris Long. The Rams need to improve that defence form last year and this non-stop, great team leader is exactly the kind of person they need. Leonard Little isn’t what he was so this makes great sense to me, now Miami have passed him over.
STOCK CHRIS LONG Well I’d been projecting Chris long to go #1 overall to the Dolphins for quite some time going along with the popular thinking that Chris Long was some sort of super versatile player who could come in straight away and be Adalius Thomas. The comparison was never explicitly made by anyone but it is what people were saying by description. Even though I hadn’t mentioned it for the last month and a half I’d always doubted that and was confounded as to how a 3-4 DE from college was suddenly going to become a 3-4 OLB in the pro’s, and I get the impression that this is Bill Parcells’ line of thinking, not the discount price he’s supposedly got from Jake Long (since when has a franchise left tackle been cheaper than an outside linebacker?) My original opinion, and what I have always thought is that Chris Long’s best position is as a left defensive end in a 4-3 defence, this is where he will line up for the Rams and combine with two rookies from last year (Adam Carriker and Clifton Ryan) to give the Rams the sort of quality on the defensive line that they have been lacking for entirely too long.
 The player who will slide farthest is
 DOC AQIB TALIB I can see this guy dropping right out of the top round. A lot of teams need cover at the corner position but the rumours circulating Talib as well as a set of picks that see a lot of teams leave their CB need till the second round, could see him drop. It’s a possibility, though altogether not the most likely of circumstances. He’ll not drop far out of the top round and will more than likely be one of the first few taken in round two, be that by the teams there or someone trading for him. With such a deep draft class at cornerback going down to the likes of Justin King and Charles Godfrey, its very conceivable that Talib will be left alone till later when the risk over his supposed character issues is minimised.
STOCK JONATHAN STEWART Running backs always seem to have a happy habit of falling in the draft because of the trend in recent years allowing teams to simply plug seemingly any old back into their system and find a 100 yard game on any given Sunday if their line is good enough. This year the back primed for a fall is Jonathan Stewart. If he had been fully healthy he might’ve challenged Darren McFadden as the top running back on the board, but a toe injury that may limit his impact in his rookie season combined with an extraordinarily deep draft class at running back I think will see him fall to the tail end of the 1st round when his talent level should see him taken in the top 15 of this draft.
 The first running back to be taken will be
 DOC DARREN MCFADDEN – After all this rumouring, and conjecture, the inevitable will still happen and Run DMC will be the top guy taken. And he’ll go to the New York Jets at #6. As we’ve detailed on here, there are issues over him, but the upside is just too darn big. Get an offensive line as the Jets have now built over the off-season, and you need a big name rusher to be behind them. Thomas Jones is reasonable but older than his years, so McFadden fits the bill perfectly. Come their pick, Gholston will have gone to the Raiders, and after enticing offers for their pick, the Jets will recognise that there’s a chance to get a home run hitter at a pretty good price. And if that happens, it’s pretty obvious to see that Run DMC will be the most popular pick in Music City Hall this Saturday.
STOCK DARREN McFADDEN – It’s fun to talk him down and he’s not the awesome, blue chip prospect that Adrian Peterson was last year but he’s still the best and most proven back in the class. He’s had three straight 1,000 yard seasons in the toughest conference in football, even with chicken legs that go dead on contact (doffing my cap to Mike Mayock there), so clearly there is something really quite special about him and this will see him taken before the one year wonder Rashard Mendenhall and the injury hit Jonathan Stewart.
 The surprise first round pick in the 2008 draft will be
 DOC DUSTIN KELLER Seattle takes a flyer on the combine superstar. It’s not a major surprise such is the speed at which his stock has been ascending of late, but from where he’s come it is bound to send ripples throughout the Hall come Saturday night. Aside from that, what else will happen? There’s bound to be a trade and I think my own Cowboys might pull off a big one and acquire a wide receiver with one of their first rounders involved. Be it Roy Williams or Chad Johnson or even as rumoured in some places, Anquan Boldin, I think Dallas is going to make their mark this Saturday evening.
STOCK QUENTIN GROVES He will go at #16 overall to the Arizona Cardinals. After losing Calvin Pace to an absolutely obscene contract handed out in New York the Cardinals are lacking of that hybrid player for their what on earth are we running defence, I would call it a hybrid but half the time I’m not even sure the personnel know what they’re doing. Groves brings a stud outside pass rush threat to compliment the Pro Bowl calibre Darnell Dockett inside. Corner is being put about as the cast iron, lead pipe lock pick for the Cardinals at #16 but Roderick Hood and Eric Green are a passable pairing in a division that has all of one stud receiver (Torry Holt) that they have to face, Groves upgrades the pass rush which is more help in year one for a pass defence that is targeting the playoffs than a project corner like Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie would give to the team.
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