Good morning, Gator Nation. It’s becoming abundantly clear that the Florida Gators have a football pipeline that runs to Foxboro, Mass. On Friday night, the New England Patriots, coached by Urban Meyer’s buddy Bill Belichick, selected two Gators — Jermaine Cunningham and Brandon Spikes — to help restore their 3-4 defense to the top of the National Football League.
1. GAINESVILLE FARM CLUB? Can the Gators now qualify as a Double-A affiliate of the Patriots? The media has made considerable note of the kinship between Meyer and Belichick, who has become a regular around Gainesville in recent years. At no time was that more apparent then when the Patriots took two former Florida defensive stars, nine picks apart, in the second-round of the NFL Draft on Friday night. OLB Jermaine Cunningham (6-4, 266) went first, at pick No. 53, while ILB Brandon Spikes (6-3, 249) came off the board at No. 62. Belichick continues to rebuild his command of linebackers, which was the heart of three Super Bowl championships between 2002 and 2005. The pair seem perfectly suited for the 3-4 defense that New England runs. Cunningham should be a good fit on the outside as a big, athletic and versatile athlete who excels at coming off the edge to get after the passer. Meanwhile, Spikes’ purported lack of speed should be somewhat masked by the scheme that New England employs. He will clean up the mess on the interior, and as long as his playmaking instincts remain intact, he should form a dynamic duo on the inside with 2008 first-round pick Jerod Mayo. In any case, this was a good fit for both Gators, and now the only question is will they engineer a renaissance on defense for the Patriots?
2. BENGALS GET A BARGAIN: The Cincinnati Bengals took defensive end Carlos Dunlap (6-6, 277) with the 22nd pick of the second round (#54 overall, one pick after Cunningham went to the Patriots) and really got themselves a steal. Dunlap’s tools warranted a high first-round grade and comparisons to players like Mario Williams who went No. 1 overall in 2006. However, an up-and-down season for Dunlap that ended with a DUI arrest the week of the SEC Championship Game ultimately caused the junior to drop into the second round. The Bengals, long known for taking reclamation projects like this one under Marvin Lewis, hope to develop Dunlap into the player that many thought he would be when he entered Florida as the nation’s No. 1 defensive end prospect in the Class of 2007.
3. A MAJOR PAIN IN THE NFC CENTRAL: Safety Major Wright is a player who started moving up boards with a faster-than-expected 4.47 time in the 40-yard dash at the NFL Scouting Combine back in February. There was talk that he could even go as high as the top of the second round, but Wright ultimately settled in as the 11th pick of the third-round (No. 75 overall) when the Chicago Bears took him with their first pick of the weekend. The Bears had no picks in the first or second rounds due to the acquisitions of Jay Cutler and the late Gaines Adams last year. While I think Wright is a bit more limited in range than you want a center-fielder at free safety to be, he has great ball skills and absolutely kills opposing wide receivers (look no further than that hit of Manny Johnson of Oklahoma in the 2009 BCS Championship Game which is still being felt on computer screens across the country via YouTube). Wright may not be the next Ed Reed, but he has a chance to hang around the NFL for a long time with his ability as a playmaker in the secondary.
4. SNOW GREETS TEBOW: Denver rolled out a late snowstorm to greet Florida quarterback Tim Tebow, who was selected with the 25th pick in the first round. Just to work back to Thursday for a few moments here, there was a lot of talk that the Broncos (along with Buffalo, New England and Philadelphia) had a high level of interest in Tebow (6-3, 236) heading into the NFL Draft. Overall this seems to be a good fit for both franchise and player. Denver’s college-like fanbase will quickly take to Tebow if he can be successful on the field. Likewise, Josh McDaniels is already developing a favorable reputation for his ability to work with quarterbacks. If he can help mold Tebow into a winner on the pro level, he will stick around the NFL for a long time. For a franchise that has run through quarterback after quarterback ever since John Elway retired following the 1998 season, this could be a match made in heaven.
5. IT’S NOT GOING TO BE PRETTY: There is a legitimate question to ask today, and that is, “Will Tebow have the chance to develop under McDaniels?” Denver has been sort of mired in the equivalent of football purgatory over the last few years – consistent mediocrity. Not bad enough, mind you, to get those true difference-makers in the draft typically gone in the first 5-7 picks. But not good enough to make the playoffs, either. Looking over the Broncos’ roster, there are holes up and down this lineup. The offense has some nice young skill players to work with—it’s going to be interesting seeing Tebow hand the ball off to former Georgia running back Knowshon Moreno, that’s for sure. But who will be the No. 1 option at wide receiver now that Brandon Marshall is in Miami? The Broncos could use some help at tight end and along the offensive line as well (although they do have a cornerstone left tackle in third-year pro Ryan Clady). The defensive front has plenty of bodies and generally looks to be in pretty good shape. Elvis Dumervil has developed into one of the premier pass-rushers in the league and is a perfect fit at outside linebacker in the 3-4 (which helps cover up the fact he is only 5-11). However, the rest of the linebacker corps is nothing short of a mess. D.J. Williams is a nice option at one of the inside linebacker positions, but the other two to fill out the rotation are Wesley Woodyard and Braxton Kelley, a pair of former undrafted free agents out of Kentucky. Can you recall the Wildcats playing dominant defense in recent years? I can’t either. Mario Boggan may inside, but is he really the answer? Champ Bailey and Brian Dawkins are among the best players to roam the secondary in the NFL over the last decade, but both are in the twilight of their careers. The Broncos have started working on that transition to a younger group by drafting Alphonso Smith (I’m a fan, despite the fact he is just short of 5-9) and Darcel McBath (who?) in the second round last year. Another corner and a safety in this draft wouldn’t be a bad idea, though. I’m not convinced McDaniels is on the same level as Belichick in the War Room just yet. Even Belichick is a little overrated due to the hype he gets for taking Tom Brady in the sixth round of the 2000 NFL Draft, if you want my opinion. But hopefully he proves me wrong. We’ll see how the picks of wide receivers Demaryius Thomas (a potential No. 1 option) and Eric Decker, offensive tackle/guard Zane Beadles, and center J.D. Walton along with Tebow pan out soon enough.
6. LOCAL SUCCESS STORY: East Carolina defensive tackle Linval Joseph (6-4, 329), a product of Santa Fe High School in nearby Alachua (a school that has sent many players to UF, mind you), was one of the big winners of the NFL Draft, landing with the New York Giants at pick No. 46. Joseph was well known for his freakish skills, as he registered 39 reps of 225 pounds on the bench press at the NFL Combine (he could reportedly bench press more than 500 pounds while in high school), while running a sub 5.1-second 40-yard dash at the Combine. Joseph potentially has the skill-set to project as a true two-gap nose tackle in the 3-4 defense, and it was rumored that the Jets had serious interest in acquiring him at pick No. 30 of the first round. However, Joseph ultimately settled with the Giants, where he will be able to put his ability to get into the backfield (he registered 60 tackles – 13 for loss – with 14 quarterback hurries, three sacks, and a blocked kick in 2009 for East Carolina) to good use. So the real question is, why wasn’t he a Gator? It’s not an easy question to answer. Florida identified Joseph early on as a high-priority target and would take his commitment in July of 2006 when he camped in Gainesville (although, curiously, Florida appeared to bring him in under the guise of playing him on the offensive line). For what was reported to be “academic reasons” Joseph and Florida parted ways in December of the same year, and Joseph eventually ended up at East Carolina. Considering that Joseph, a three-star prospect, will likely be drafted higher than any of the six defensive linemen that Florida signed in 2007 (including No. 1-ranked defensive end Carlos Dunlap), it stands to reason that maybe the recruiting rankings aren’t the be-all and end-all as it relates to evaluating top talent coming out of the high school ranks.
7. A POSITIVE FUTURE NOTE: Placing Maurkice Pouncey (6-4, 304), an interior offensive lineman, in the first-round of the NFL Draft is going to be huge for Florida’s efforts on the recruiting trail. It’s not like Steve Addazio needed a whole lot of help (for the most part, he has had his pick of the litter as it relates to in-state offensive line prospects over the past few years), but he got it with the first-round pick of Pouncey, showing that he can do two things: identify top-flight talent and groom it for the next level. He’s had plenty of believers before, but this just gives him that much more ammunition for when he is sitting in the home of a top-flight offensive line prospect who is struggling to make a decision between Florida and other top programs. “Son, do YOU want to be a first -round pick three years from now?”
That’s it for today, Gator friends. Stay well!
Justin Wells