Draft Day Spectacular

Finally! Draft day is upon us! The Falcons started their draft early this week, swapping their 2nd round pick from 2010 for premier tight end Tony Gonzalez. Tony G. rounds out this already impressive offense, providing Matt Ryan with the only weapon he was missing last season. Hartsock did a great job blocking, but wasn't the pass-catching threat Gonzalez will be. Defenses will be unable to stack to box in hopes of stifling Michael Turner's running game, and can't double-cover everyone. Even blitz packages will be considered highly risky with Gonzalez running amok behind enemy lines. Red-zone scoring will go up. If this offense can stay on the field and eat up clock, it even improves the defense, keeping them rested and limiting what opposing offenses have the leisure to do. This offense is starting to look like my Madden PS fantasy draft team. What else this does is place todays focus (nearly) solely on the defensive side of the ball. Falcons still need players at just about every position on defense, but don't be surprised to see a later pick spent on an offensive lineman. Also, don't be surprised to see the Falcons trade away their first round pick to increase the number of players they acquire this weekend. Last season, in the first three rounds, Thomas Dimitroff selected three players that started from the get-go in the '09 campaign: Matt Ryan, Sam Baker, and Curtis Lofton. In the next two rounds, he brought in two more impact players in Harry Douglas and Thomas DeCoud. Dimitroff will look to repeat his performance this year, bringing in a linebacker and defensive lineman that can step right in and play. A tall, man-coverage type corner and another coverage safety will also be priorities. The Falcons seem to be hinting that they may want to incorporate more of a 3-4 style defense, bringing in a second starting MLB in Mike Peterson, so today's first pick may result in a nose-tackle being brought in, so there is a very slight chance that the Birds will move up to snag a player like B.J. Raji or a versatile player that can play a fast DE or heavy OLB, much like Brian Orakpo. This draft is strong in good, but not necessarily great safeties, so I'd expect Dimitroff to wait until the third round to pick up a coverage guy, unless he's got his eyes set on Sean Smith, who shows potential to switch from corner to safety. I've said it before, but it really is nice having faith that this team is moving in the right direction under the leadership of Dimitroff, as well as Mike Smith and even Arthur Blank. On a separate note, it took some time, but I finished Jason Elam's Monday Night Jihad. It was a thoroughly enjoyable book, both exciting and well written. Some of the plot seemed a bit implausible, but can an action book be good if it doesn't stray somewhat into the unbelievable? The characters were well defined, and the dialogue flowed smoothly. I was a little surprised at the violence and some of the heavier themes, so this one might not be for the kids. If you are easily offended by mentions of Christianity, you'll want to avoid this one, though it never comes across as preachy, just conversational. I look forward to reading the next installment.