@ The NFL Draft (Radio City Music Hall, NYC)
Saturday, April 25th, 2009Well, it proved to not be a bad way to spend a balmy Saturday afternoon.
I met the task master himself. I asked Goodell what he thought about the Stafford contract, to which he responded, “Lot of money, good kid.” I detected a bit of seethe in those few words.
Newbie Stafford’s guaranteed money ($41.7 mil) trumps that of the highly-accomplished Ben Roethlisberger’s ($36 mil).
The spread in the VIP lounge, impeccable – penne ala vodka and phenomenal finger foods. We ran out of beer by the third pick. But they remedied that pretty quickly.
For a fleeting moment, I thought we weren’t going to get a boo barrage when the Jets took Sanchez…then we learned the details of the trade (the Jets gave up their first-round pick, their second-round (No. 52), and defensive end Kenyon Coleman, safety Abram Elam and quarterback Brett Ratliff), and it was much worse than booing; I heard ‘rape!’ being uttered, a lot.
In my opinion, the most intriguing moment of the first round came when the Ravens took Ole Miss OT Michael Oher, the young man profiled in Michael “Moneyball” Lewis’ book, The Blind Side. A book about the behemoth of a gifted athlete who has everything in life working against him (homeless at one point). While at the same time being compared to Anthony Munoz and Orlando Pace, two guys who were instrumental in the left Offensive Tackle becoming the second-highest paid position (to QB) in the game.
Speaking of QBs, Cassel inked his deal today. He almost got Stafford money.
I stuck around until the Pats picked traded down twice. Thanks to @tarametblog and Pepsi for hooking me up with the pass.







