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Five things I think I think

Among the pre-draft gossip: disagreement in Dallas?

Posted: Saturday April 26, 2003 10:58 AM
  Peter King - Inside the NFL

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    FOXBORO, Mass.-- One of the fun things about NFL Draft day is the four or five hours before the first team is officially on the clock. Scouts, coaches, GMs and owners sit around, waiting to open their Christmas presents, and, aside from grazing at the egg/bagel/fruit/bad sausage buffet outside the draft room, they have time to get on the phone and take meaningful (and gossipy) phone calls. Mine were among the latter this morning.

    What I’ve gleaned after a couple of hours on the phone:

    1. I think there will no further trades among the top-five selections. The value’s just not there, in most teams’ opinions, to deal a passel of picks for the chance to draft a player who’s not a sure thing. And you can’t tell me you’re sure any of this year's available guys are going to be year-in, year-out Pro Bowlers. Let’s say you want to get Dallas’ pick at No. 5. In order to do so, you'd have to trade two or three high picks for the privilege of paying a good prospect with a hole or two in his game $10 million to sign and maybe $28 million over six years.

    2. I think the Cowboys might -- and I repeat might, because no one knows what’s really going on in the middle of that Dallas war room -- be having a bit of a disagreement over that fifth pick. I hear Jerry Jones wants to stick right where he is and pick Terence Newman because of the team's crying need for a corner on that team. And as I’ve said all week, the 5-foot-10 1/8, 181-pound Newman is not really the type of run-support cornerback either Bill Parcells or defensive coordinator Mike Zimmer would take a hankering to. Stay tuned to hear how this one gets spun.

    3. I think the Ravens, popular trade targets at No. 10, will stay right where they are and pick the proverbial "best player available." They hope quarterback Byron Leftwich falls to them. They pray Byron Leftwich falls to them. I still think what I have thought all along, and this is the only advice I am giving this morning: Pick Kyle Boller here, Modellmen.

    4. I think the Saints will pull the trigger and move into the top 10 to take the cornerback they feel they just have to have, Washington State’s Marcus Trufant. They’re on the phone right now trying to make it happen somewhere in picks six through 10.

    5. I think, and this may come as a shock, that the Jets will pick Penn State defensive tackle Jimmy Kennedy at No. 4 if and only if the men of their draft-day dreams, wideout Andre Johnson and Robertson, are unexpectedly gone. If the Jets end up trading up that far for Kennedy, which is highly unlikely, there will egg all over Weeb Ewbank Hall this afternoon.

    Sports Illustrated senior writer Peter King covers the NFL beat for the magazine and will check in throughout the day with his thoughts and observations on the 2003 NFL Draft.


     
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