Draft Day Hangover
Let me start this out by saying Darrius Heyward-Bey is one of my favorite Terps, but I am not happy with how things transpired yesterday at the NFL Draft in New York City. Darrius I feel can be a great addition to any team, but in my opinion because he is still developing, I feel he would be much more suited to a more veteran laden team. DHB to the Baltimore Ravens…Awesome. DHB to the Philadelphia Eagles….I’m tickled. DHB to New York Jet…makes perfect sense.
But to have him go so early, to be selected by an organization that has a history of botching the draft and misjudging talent. I feel he is almost put into a spot where he can’t help but fail. If Ozzie Newsome would have reached for Darrius, people would have said “Wow Ozzie must know something we don’t.”. I mean Ozzie has that reputation for bringing in solid players. But for Al Davis to reach to take Darrius at the 7th spot, well Darrius might as well put on a bulls eye instead of a Raiders cap.
Because we are living in an NFL world (Hello Bud), there are now people who have built their whole career around the NFL draft, and this is their moment to shine. They need to be witty, they need to be insightful, and they need to pound interesting stories into the ground until only a little greazy spot remains. So naturally this story is going to linger. It is going to hang over Darrius his entire rookie season. And instead of Darrius coming in and being a nice addition to a competitive team (which he would have done at the back end of the draft), he is now carrying the load of a franchise on his shoulders, and a crappy one at that.
Now maybe I’m selling Darrius short, but I just want to be clear about how I felt about yesterday. I did not want to see him go to Oakland and here we are. I would be so much happier if he had been selected ANYWHERE by a competent team, where he would be able to have an adjustment period, but this scenario is anything but that.
Extra Droppings:
Nothing today, I’m too flusterd.
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April 26th, 2009 at 11:40 am
I’m happy that Darius will get paid and won’t have to worry about money ever again but I’m saddened by the fact that he is sure to fail playing for Al Davis. The Raiders are franchise in a downward spiral. I don’t see good things for him in Oakland. If he had gone to Baltimore I think he could have been a fan favorite and beloved by the city because he’s such a hard worker.
April 26th, 2009 at 2:59 pm
I’ve been watching some of the draft coverage today and they just reviewed the Raiders. Chris Carter was ripping them for taking Hey Bey because he was Second Team Honorable Mention last year. He know has a lot of haters and that might help to motivate Darius, not that he needs it. I would rather he be ridiculed then have smoke blown up his a$$ during the preseason.