A Quick This and That…

The NY Jets have spent a ton of money this offseason on free agents. As most Dolphins fans are, I am Jets hater. Nothing makes me happier than seeing the Jets overspend on high priced free agents. Too bad the Patriots aren’t this dumb. The Jets have improved their team but the price they have paid is just too high for what they got in return. They may have improved from a 4-12 team to maybe an 8-8 team, at best. I hope that was worth $130 + million. The ONLY way the Jets do better than that is if they end up with McFadden after the draft, in late April. Their offense is stale and he would help them in that department.

The NBA playoffs are almost here. The Western Conference is the best it has ever been. If you don’t win at least 50 games you will probably miss the playoffs. That’s just insane. The team to beat seems to be the Boston Celtics, out of the Eastern Conference. You’ll definitely have to play some great basketball to beat them. I still say that the Cavaliers are under the radar and will make some noise in the playoffs. They may not be good enough to beat Boston but they can beat everyone else. Everyone’s “new” band wagon team is now the N.O. Hornets. I guess the Lakers are old news since the Gasol injury and the Rockets are no longer hot enough to put into the discussion. The media is now in love with Chris Paul’s Hornets. I still say it’ll be the Lakers when all the smoke clears, out of the West. Boston vs. LA will be a great Finals, and maybe the NBA, will get their ratings back this year. Now if someone passes that memo to Detroit and San Antonio.

Baseball is here! And with that, here is your World Series prediction:
Boston Red Sox VS NY Mets, winner Red Sox.
I know I’m not going out on much of a limb here but that doesn’t mean that it won’t happen. The BoSox are just too good and the NL is too thin to think that J. Santana won’t push the Mets into the World Series.

One more quick thing on the draft, so I'm on record. Michigan QB Chad Henne, is the second best QB in this draft. For a guy who'll go in the 2nd or 3rd round, he's the 2008 draft's best bargain.

NFL Draft

In this piece, I’m going predict the who’s who of the 2008 NFL draft class. Go ahead and book these guys as future All Pros. But, I’ll only evaluate how I did on these predictions based on their upcoming rookie year. I’m not doing every single position but the players I see making a difference in year 1. Plus, I won’t talk about guys I’ve written about already.

Best WR: Malcolm Kelly, Oklahoma
Standing at 6’4” 217 lbs, Kelly is a big physical target. Now throw in that he runs a 4.5 forty yard dash, and you have someone who’s almost impossible to cover. He has terrific hands. He doesn’t drop passes. When I see him play he reminds me of a Plaxico Burress mixed in with a little bit of Randy Moss. Will he reach that potential? That remains to be seen, but this guy is the best WR in the draft. Depending on who drafts him and what QB he has throwing him the ball will determine if he reaches that potential. In fact, if it weren’t for Rashard Mendenhall, I’d be all over Kelly being offensive rookie of the year. Again, that would depend on who drafts him though.

Best LB: Keith Rivers, USC
Go ahead and book the defensive rookie of the year to Rivers. I am very impressed with his tenacious tackling and his motor. He wore number 55 in college. And he plays very similar to the old USC number 55 (Junior Seau). No one has the intensity of Seau of course, but I think Rivers is going to be one of the leading tacklers in the league for many years.

NFL Free Agency
There have been lots of moves in NFL free agency this past week. The move I want to talk about is the recent signing of Michael Turner by the Atlanta Falcons. Turner will no doubt be a huge addition to the Falcons. This move will definitely help the Falcons move on from the whole Mike Vick fiasco. In the fantasy world Turner will be the new hot commodity.
Every since Turner played for Northern Illinois, I was a believer in his abilities. I was very disappointed when San Diego drafted him because I thought he’d never see any touched because of LT. That wasn’t entirely the case but we saw enough of Turner’s ability to know he had some serious talent and that he was a starting caliber RB in this league. There is one thing and only one thing that makes me cautious about Turner. I worry about his durability. Even as a backup to LT, he was often injured. Now he’ll be the main guy thanks to the Falcons finally realizing that Warrick Dunn was not an every down back anymore. It’s 2 years too late but better late than never I guess. I guess now we’ll see what Turner is really made up of but I’m also curious to where he gets drafted in fantasy drafts. Off the top of my head, I’d select Turner in the late first round or early second round. Hey, at least this gives me another reason to watch preseason football.