2008 NFL Draft – Ryan to Ravens, but Brohm may be better

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Stealing a look at the USA Today Mock NFL Draft that involves 6 USA Today writers and 2 writers from NFLDraftScout.com, we can count which player is picked the most for each team and thus figure out the draft. Well, sort of anyway.

Today there is also going to be a comparison of Matt Ryan and Brian Brohm, the top two quarterbacks in the NFL draft.

My comments are in italics.

Here we go.

1. Miami Dolphins – Jake Long T, UM. 8 votes.
Stayed at UM to get a National Championship, but was denied when Hart and Henne suffered various injuries.

2. St. Louis Rams – Chris Long DE, Virginia. 7 votes.
Rams need defense bad.

3. Atlanta Falcons – Glenn Dorsey DT, LSU. 7 votes.
Falcons need everything bad.

4. Oakland Raiders – Vernon Gholston, LB/DE, Ohio State. 5 votes.
Nobody really wants to be a Raider anymore. It is sad.

5. Kansas City Chiefs – Ryan Clady T, Boise State. 3 votes.
Johnson needs a tackle for his 500 run attempts per game.

6. New York Jets – Darren McFadden RB, Arkansas. 5 votes.
Guess Thomas Jones and Leon Washington are just not getting it done. Jones had over 1,000 yards, but only 1 rushing TD.

7. New England Patriots – Leodis McKelvin CB, Troy. 3 votes.
Like the Pats needed a 7th pick anyway.

8. Baltimore Ravens – Matt Ryan QB, Boston College. 6 votes.
Not that McNair has retired, this is a perfect scenario for the young Matt Ryan to compete for the starting job.

Matt Ryan vs. Brian Brohm

Is Matt Ryan better than Brian Brohm because of all the extra brains up in his helmet?

Image details: ACC Championship – Virginia Tech v Boston College served by picapp.com

First we need to look at some stats.

Brian Brohm made 34 starts for the University of Louisville, completing 65.8% of his passes (780 of 1,185) for 10,775 yards and 71 touchdowns. Matt Ryan started 32 times for Boston College, hitting 59.9% of his throws (807 of 1,347) for 9,313 yards and 56 touchdowns.

source

So stat wise Brohm is more productive and has been consistently throughout his college career. Football analysts don’t see it that way.

NFL Network analyst Mike Mayock, for instance, raves about Ryan as having some of the qualities of a young Peyton Manning. He chooses no superlatives when it comes to Brohm. “He does everything pretty well, nothing great,” Mayock says. “I think he can manage an offense and be a starter in the NFL, but I don’t see him as a franchise quarterback.”

Monday Night Football’s Ron Jaworski described it as a “tossup” between Brohm and Joe Flacco, a standout at I-AA University of Delaware, in trying to identify the next best quarterback after Ryan.

This just does not seem to make sense. How can this be?

“What happens, I think, at that position is it gets overanalyzed,” says Louisville head coach Steve Kragthorpe. “You’ve got to break it down to production, and Brian has been very productive.”

Brohm’s negatives include him requiring three surgeries while in college. He tore the anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee as a sophomore. His junior year brought torn ligaments in his thumb and shoulder surgery to repair his labrum.

His senior season was encouraging in that he played without disruption despite a porous offensive line. “He took more of a beating than he had in any of his years at Louisville,” says Kragthorpe. “I thought he showed he was very durable.”

Hmm, keep in mind that Tom Brady, another very accurate quarterback, was a 6th round pick.

NFL Football special comment By being drafted further down the food chain, Brohm may end up in a better situation allowing him to mature as a quarterback. Although, Brian Brohm is mentioned going to San Francisco and that won’t help much.

Be sure to check out my companion blog at NBA Obsessed.

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