The Post Mortem: Draft Wins Wind Down

How bad is the AFC West when you have Norv Turner as your coach and you look like the smart team? The Chargers drafted a dude from Canada who played Canadian football and still, and that doesn't even rank in the AFC West. That's what the AFC West's brain trust comes up with.

Honestly, the first 7-9 division winner is going to come from the AFC West.

The Chiefs, however, shouldn't be judged too harshly as they had a Patriots-like draft. The only problem is, when the Patriots are drafting for depth, they are replenishing a Super Bowl caliber team. The Chiefs are restocking a terrible team and needs playmakers. Though, they will finish in second place next season.

The Broncos and the Raiders are two teams that do business their own way. And that's not always a good thing.

The Broncos have balls. The team dealt its No. 1 pick for next season to the Seahawks, while holding on to the pick they received from the Bears for Jay Cutler. Saying that they are going to be better than the Bears this season. At least the Broncos have some belief in what they are doing even if nobody else does. Coach Josh McDaniels and GM Brian Xanders aren't afraid to roll the dice. Not that the Raiders aren't. But when the Broncos make a puzzling move, at least they are getting a good player.

The Broncos made a puzzling move when they drafted RB Knowshon Moreno when the team had a lot of running backs already on their roster. But Moreno is a good player. He could be a potential rookie of the year. The Broncos might not be able to stop anybody on defense (though they got a good DE and CB), but they will be interesting.

The Raiders made a reach for a receiver with stone hands. Darrius Heyward-Bey is fast, but he can't catch. He wasn't a good receiver in the ACC. At least his stone hands won't be totally apparent because JaMarcus Russell will be overthrowing him anyway.

And even better, the Raiders let Michael Crabtree (pictured) go to the 49ers. Who cares if the dude didn't workout at the combine, he's a good football player.

Congratulations Chargers on their 2009 AFC West title.

• Mark Sanchez is clearly the most polished quarterback to come into the NFL in quite some time. At least on television. He's a PR dream. But he's not the quarterback that Matt Leinart was coming out of college, even though he subtlety jabbed his former mentor during some of his interviews. But the dude is smooth. I just want some accountability when he becomes a bust. Same for Matthew Stafford, too. NFL Network and ESPN were crooming these guy's noodles. They need to -- at some point -- be held accountable.

• The Browns added a lot of former Jets. That should be the ticket to 7-9.

• The Buccaneers drafted another quarterback, this time being Kansas State's Josh Freeman. The Broncos seem intent on collecting running backs, the Buccaneers are collecting quarterbacks. Honestly, do teams need some instructions on how this whole draft thing works? Though to be fair, it's not like the Buccaneers are juggling between Gomer and Tom Brady. But congratulations on wrapping up this year's version of Jason Campbell.
  

• Speaking of teams that don't understand the draft, the Cowboys were quite puzzling as Jerry Jones once again is desperate to prove that letting Jimmy Johnson go was the right thing to do. And he failed again for the 14th consecutive year.
  

• This is what happens when you dis Erin Andrews. USC LB Rey Maualuga once freaked Andrews at the Coliseum, and now he fell to the second round of the NFL draft. Teams are going to be kicking themselves for years to come. Here's the thing about the Bengals. You can make jokes, talk about the bad guys. But, they picked guys who are good football players. Maualuga is a great football player. Our newest correspondent Dr. Johnny Fever says the Bengals are going to the playoffs. Who believes? Baltimore will be down this year, as will Cleveland. It's not too crazy to think it.
  

• The St. Louis FC took Foster Brooks in the fifth round! Makes sense seeing that Jonathan Winters is still on the team's board of directors. Oh wait, it's Brooks Foster. Nevermind.
  

• The Giants took Ramses Barden in the third round, and will be the top WR to come out of this draft. This guys is a Plaxico Burress-type of player. That's what you have to hate about the Giants. They do such a great job to overcome their top handicap -- Eli -- and will remain competitive enough to ensure that the Messiah will always have a job, but likely won't ever get to the Super Bowl again. That has to be troubling for Giants fans. If the Giants ever pulled the trigger and got a competent quarterback they could have a Patriots-like run.

AND FINALLY
Let's take some time to remember Bea Arthur who passed this weekend. We should all shave our backs in rememberence. But that means that THN might get another correspondent. I will miss her at the roasts. She was one of the good ones.