Wednesday, May 21, 2014

2014 NFL Draft Picks

The 2014 NFL draft has come to a close, and I am happy to report that I only watched 10 minutes of it.  Though I do not like to watch the draft, I am interested to see which teams picked who, and where the picks came from.  We never know which players will end up being a success.  Here are the draft picks I look at for various reasons

Top Draft Pick: Jadaveon Clowney, DE, South Carolina
Mr. Irrelevant: Lonnie Ballentine, FS, Memphis
(Both picks made by the Houston Texans)

Players from NCAA Division I-FCS or lower

Reasons why I look at this category: First, I root for the little guy.  Second, stars and valuable role players can come from these schools.  Jerry Rice went to Mississippi Valley St. (Div I-FCS), Terrell Owens went to Tennessee-Chattanooga (FCS), Super Bowl winning quarterback, Joe Flacco went to Delaware (FCS), and Danny Woodhead, a valuable role player, went to Chadron St. (Div. II).  This is just a small sample of players from these schools who succeeded.

NCAA Division I-FCS players

Rd. (O)  Team                  Player                                                              Position      School
2 (62)    New England      Jimmy Garoppolo                                               QB          Eastern Illinois
3 (67)    Miami                 Billy Turner                                                        OT          North Dakota St.
3 (94)    Cleveland           Terrance West                                                      RB         Towson
3 (96)    Minnesota           Jerick McKimon                                                  RB        Georgia Southern
4 (126)  Miami                 Walt Aikens                                                        CB          Liberty
4 (137)  New York Jets    Dakota Dozier                                                     G            Furman
4 (138)  Baltimore            Lorenzo Taliaferro                                             RB          Coastal Carolina
5 (143)  Tampa Bay         Kadeem Edwards                                                G            Tennessee St.
5 (158)  Detroit                Caraun Reid                                                        DT          Princeton
5 (171)  Miami                 Jordan Tripp                                                       LB           Montana
6 (184)  Minnesota           Kendall James                                                    CB          Maine
6 (190)  Miami                 Matt Hazel                                                         WR          Coastal Carolina
6 (196)  Arizona               Walt Powell                                                       WR         Murray St.
7 (226)  St. Louis              Mitchell Van Dyk                                             OT           Portland St.
7 (234)  Miami                 Terrance Fede                                                     DE         Marist
7 (235)  Oakland               Shelby Harris                                                    DE            Illinois St.
7 (250)  St. Louis             Demetrius Rhaney                                             C              Tennessee St.
7 (252)  Cincinnati            Lavelle Westbrooks                                          CB          Georgia Southern
7 (255)  Atlanta                Tyler Starr                                                         LB            South Dakota

Some of the media have made a big deal of Texas not having anyone drafted.  Georgia Southern, Tennessee State, and Coastal Carolina each got two players drafted.

NCAA Division II players

Rd. (O)  Team                   Player                                                          Position      School
3 (91)    Arizona                John Brown                                                  WR           Pittsburg St.
4 (127)  Cleveland             Pierre Desir                                                   CB           Lindenwood
4 (136)  Detroit                 Larry Webster III                                          DE            Bloomsburg
6 (195)  New York Jets     Brandon Dixon                                              CB       Northwest Missouri St.
7 (236)  Green Bay           Jeff Janis                                                       WR       Saginaw Valley St.

NCAA Division III player

The New England Patriots drafted DE, Zach Moore in the 6th round (198th overall) from Concordia-St. Paul.

CIS (Canada) player

The Kansas City Chiefs drafted OT Laurent Duvernay-Tardif in the 6th round (200th overall) from McGill University in Montreal, QC.

Players from California Universities

Since I am from California, I want to look at who got drafted from the state of California.

Rd. (O)     Team          Player                                                              Position        School
1 (9)          Minnesota  Anthony Barr                                                    LB               UCLA
2 (33)        Houston      Xavier Su'a Filo                                               G                  UCLA
2 (36)        Oakland      Derek Carr                                                       QB               Fresno St.
2 (39)        Jacksonville  Marquise Lee                                                 WR              USC
2 (47)        Washington  Trent Murphy                                                 LB                Stanford
2 (53)        Green Bay    Davante Adams                                              WR              Fresno St.
3 (70)        San Francisco  Marcus Martin                                              C                USC
3 (98)        Green Bay     Richard Rodgers                                            TE               California
4 (108)      Seattle           Cassius Marsh                                                DE               UCLA
4 (115)      New York Jets Shaq Evans                                                  WR              UCLA
4 (126)      New Orleans   Khairi Fort                                                   LB               California
4 (140)      New England  Cameron Fleming                                        OT               Stanford
5 (145)      Minnesota       David Yankey                                              G                 Stanford
5 (148)      Carolina          Bene Benwikere                                          CB                San Jose St.
5 (152)      New York Giants  Nat Berhe                                               S                 San Diego St.
5 (162)      Philadelphia     Ed Reynolds                                                S                  Stanford
5 (174)     New York Giants  Devon Kennard                                      OLB             USC
6 (183)      Chicago          David Fales                                                   QB               San Jose St.
6 (192)      Pittsburgh         Jordan Zumwalt                                         OLB              UCLA
6 (204)      Carolina           Tyler Gaffney                                              RB               Stanford
6 (208)      Seattle               Eric Pinkins                                                SS                San Diego St.
7 (231)      Dallas                Ben Gardner                                               DE               Stanford

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