Draft thoughts, Beachwood column up

I’m ridiculously busy with school and work this week, so things may or may not be a little light around here for a few days. It doesn’t matter anyways, as I’m sure everyone will just be playing GTA the whole time. It's doubtful legendary TUP commenter Mike K. will take his hand off his erection until midnight Tuesday. Don’t worry, next week when you beat the game, we’ll be back to normal.

I spend time on this and don't get paid, so just read it

•  My White Sox column for the Beachwood Reporter is up (or it will be in the morning), so check it out. Now with a cool picture!

Bears draft reaction

•  I thought the Bears draft was pretty good. One thing I disagree with: the way they went about the whole thing. Listening to Jerry Angelo and Greg Gabriel speak, it seems clear to me that the Bears have their draft complete before it starts. That means that they knew that, no matter what, they were taking Williams at 14, Forte in the second round, and Bennett in the third. They don’t react to the way the board breaks at all. Most people considered Virginia guard-tackle Branden Albert a better prospect than Williams, but I doubt the Bears even considered taking him. If Williams was there, the Bears were taking him. Same goes for Forte. It didn’t matter that most of the good receivers were still there, they knew all along that if Forte was available, he would be their second pick.

I’m not sure this is a terrible thing, because it’s good to have people you like, and not just take who Mel Kiper thinks is the best player available. And I think Williams will be really good (he better be), and I’m high on Forte and Bennett.

• If it wouldn’t have cost them next year’s first round pick, I would have been totally in favor of the Bears trading back up in round one to grab Mendenhall. I’m sure I didn’t have to tell you that though.

• Speaking of Shard, I’m not sure I like that he’s going to Pittsburgh. He needs to be The Man somewhere; now he has to split carries with one of the best backs in the AFC. He’ll still be real good, but I just wish he’d get more carries. The first few years of a running back’s career are always their best.

• What I would have done (not including the trade up):

1. G-T Branden Albert, Virginia
2. WR Malcolm Kelly, Oklahoma (or Limas Sweed or Desean Jackson. Three of the draft’s best four receivers, all there in the second round.)
3. RB Jamaal Charles, Texas (though I like Forte more, and he easily could have still been available for this pick)
3b. WR Mario Manningham, Michigan

Now I do like Bennett, Harrison, and Steltz a lot. Plus Steltz totally looks like Sunshine from Remember the Titans, so that’s pretty cool. And they needed a safety and defensive tackle pretty badly. Does anyone else find it funny that they are trying to replace Archuleta with another white safety and Tank Johnson with another defensive tackle with character issues? I thoroughly enjoyed that.

And in my scenario, they may not get a tackle (if Albert doesn’t work out there). But that’s what I would have done.

• Finally, I don’t mind not drafting a quarterback, which I guess everyone is pissed about. Trading up for Brohm would have been nice, but, like I said earlier, I’m sure that wasn’t even under consideration. If not Brohm (or possibly Woodson in the fifth), then why waste a pick on a quarterback in the third or fourth round who surely won’t help you this year? Rookie receivers, d-tackles, and corners help out right away, quarterbacks don’t. Plus, next year, if the Bears are real bad, now they have no qualms about drafting a quarterback in the first round. Start watching Georgia’s Matthew Stafford this fall.

Stompy stole my thunder

• Stompy mentioned this in his draft diary (which i really enjoyed, though the system kept eating my comments after a while for some reason), but how the hell does Favre get Madden cover! As a Madden lifer (every one since 94!), I could not be more pissed.
  

At Top Ten, we were going to do two lists (which never materialized because we suck): top ten guys who could be on the Madden cover, and top ten guys who won't be. We came up with Purple Jesus, Hester, Eli, and Randy Moss (among others) for possible candidates, and never even considered Favre. I'm seriously pissed about this, though of course I'll still buy it. (FYI, on the 'not featured' list I was going to have Archuleta, Chris Henry, Pacman, Tank Johnson, and immortal Ethan Albright.)