Dolphins, Patriots or Steelers?
Which of the three teams would we rather have Brandon Graham go to?
On the Dolphins he joins Jake Long and Chad Henne in creating a Michigan team in South Florida.
With the Patriots he would be on Brady's team.
Finally if he were on the Steelers he'd be placed opposite Lamarr Woodley after a year or two since James Harrison is 32. That would be a nightmare for opposing teams having Woodley on one side and Graham on the other. 55 and 56 would have many meetings at the QB.
January 31st, 2010 at 1:08 AM ^
I hate the Steelers, and although I like Tom Brady, I don't really like the Pats. I think I'm picking up the Dolphins as my other (non-Lions) NFL team, so I vote Dolphins. Plus they are owned by an M alum.
January 31st, 2010 at 1:09 AM ^
Green Bay baby!
January 31st, 2010 at 1:20 AM ^
I'd posbang you for that all night long if I could.
But to answer OP's question: Pittsburgh just because I would love to see him play opposite Woodley. It would be a massacre.
January 31st, 2010 at 1:52 PM ^
"I'd posbang you for that all night long if I could."
I gave you a +1 for it, but that declaration scares me more than a little bit...
January 31st, 2010 at 1:18 AM ^
No, its not a death sentence. Detroit has bombed in the draft because they haven't taken Michigan men high up.
They have the opportunity to change that right now.
Reverse the curse, draft Blue!
January 31st, 2010 at 1:20 AM ^
with the MVP vote today and as I am 100% sure will be a monster pre-draft camp/combine that boy is going way beforehand.
January 31st, 2010 at 3:21 AM ^
Abso-fruitly we should take him... but we could get some value for him if we trade down to maybe 15-18 and another pick. I have some doubts about Gerald McCoy being a game-changer.
January 31st, 2010 at 1:18 AM ^
As I am a Boston sports fan since I was a little kid I have to go Patriots, yet if the Dolphins could get BG, a young Michigan team in the NFL would be a new addiction to root for. It kind of already is. Steelers? NO.
January 31st, 2010 at 1:22 AM ^
I'd like my Saints to pick him up but he'll be taken by then.
January 31st, 2010 at 1:28 AM ^
J-E-T-S!
Join Braylon, David Harris, and Jay Feely and play in Superbowl XLV!!!
January 31st, 2010 at 1:46 AM ^
Brandon Graham is a DE and SHOULD be one in the NFL
Bengals or Eagles
January 31st, 2010 at 1:53 AM ^
The Giants are picking high enough to take him and need to boost the pass rush. Totally fills the gap left by Toomer for key Michigan player on the roster as well.
But, you say, there are no other major other Michigan players on the roster! True, but the Michigan-Giants connection runs deeper than a player here and there. The Giants play against probably the two most obnoxious fanbases in the NFL (Eagles, Cowboys) and we have a delusional green-clad "little brother" in our state that thinks that we have some kind of rivalry. Substitute OSU, ND, and MSU, and you've got basically the exact same things going on (add fist pumping, and I challenge you to differentiate between an MSU and Jets fan). Our coach is probably on the hot seat right now, last season was a huge disappointment after a great start, and the average Giants fan hates Plaxico at least as much as the average Michigan fan.* It's really open and shut - the Giants are the NFL's Michigan, so everyone here should root for both.
QED
*I actually still love Plaxico because without him, I wouldn't have seen my team win the best Super Bowl ever, but otherwise this stuff is DEAD ON.
January 31st, 2010 at 3:28 AM ^
so you wanted tom brady to lose the super bowl and his chance at an undefeated season that would both (potentially) solidify his place as a hall-of-famer and make the '72 dolphins shut up? i really don't want to have to root for the giants
January 31st, 2010 at 8:15 AM ^
To solidify himself in the HOF. They probably already have hhis bust waiting in Canton.
January 31st, 2010 at 10:07 AM ^
If he's a Giants fan (which he clearly is) then yes, he wanted to see Brady lose in the Super Bowl. So did I. If you need your pro team to always have a Michigan player on, look at it as "He was rooting for Amani Toomer's last chance to win a Super Bowl".
January 31st, 2010 at 1:31 PM ^
Yeah, surprisingly I was rooting against a guy I love with multiple rings in favor of my NFL team that hadn't won a championship since I was five.
And like people said - Brady is a HoF'er even if he retired the day before that game, so that wasn't at all relevant.
Choosing between the world in which 70-year-old Dolphins (who talk what, once a year) shut up vs. the world in which awful, cocky Boston fans shut up is a pretty easy call for me.
January 31st, 2010 at 8:08 AM ^
Uh aren't you forgetting about Super Mario Manningham? Who just so happens to play for the Giants.
Also, it seems like most Yankees fans are also Giants fans, so no I don't want to have to root for the Giants
January 31st, 2010 at 1:38 PM ^
I LOVE Mario (and have his Giants jersey). But as someone who has watched every Giants game since he's been on the team (and long before), he is not a really meaningful piece of the puzzle at this point. It looked like he might break out, but Steve Smith is at another level, and I suspect Nicks has already passed him.
I get the Yankees hate here, because obviously, but I'm stunned at all the Giants hate. They've been a fairly decent team with one ring in 20 years. The fans are NY fans, OK, but as a group we're much better than Philly, Boston, Dallas, etc. fans, and the Giants aren't really a national team like the Cowboys, Vikings, Steelers, and the like. Just seems odd.
January 31st, 2010 at 7:21 PM ^
I assume you're too young to remember the Parcells era...
January 31st, 2010 at 8:04 PM ^
the Vikings a "national" team - they only got a lot of bandwagon fans because of Favre.
January 31st, 2010 at 10:06 AM ^
Butch Woolfolk, Jumbo Elliot, Dhani Jones, Amani Toomer, Tyrone Wheatley, Jerrod Bunch - Giants have always have had Michigan guys on their team. Also, my rooting interest in the Giants is much, much older than my rooting interest in Michigan anyway. So, I'll be the one to up-vote you.
January 31st, 2010 at 10:10 AM ^
Did you grow up in NYC or in the area?
January 31st, 2010 at 10:16 AM ^
I grew up in Connecticut. My father had season tickets for my entire life - I went to every home game from the age of 5 to the age of 18, and probably 2 a year through 25, when he sold the seats.
I had no family, or no friends that went to Michigan - the first game I watched with any rooting interest in Michigan was the 1995 OSU game where Biakabatuka when nuts - as I had sent my deposit to go to Michigan a few days prior.
January 31st, 2010 at 10:20 AM ^
Ali Haji-Sheikh who broke the NFL record for most FG's in a season his rookie year. He also won a Super Bowl, albeit for the Redskins, in 1987.
Anyone who went to UM games in the late 70's/early 80's would remember Haji-Sheikh. He was probably the biggest fan favorite after Butch Woolfolk and AC.
January 31st, 2010 at 10:24 AM ^
You're right - I forgot about him. He wasn't that awesome with the Giants, I just remember my father referring to him as "Ali Haji-Shank".
Actually, unfortunately, a lot of the Michigan guys didn't pan out for the Giants - particularly the RB's. I remember when the Giants drafted Wheatley, my father was moaning "No...not another Michigan RB." All he could think of was Butch Woolfolk, who turned into a terrible pro. Unfortunately, Wheatley didn't really disabuse him of that notion. Bunch was actually pretty good - he just got hurt.
January 31st, 2010 at 11:23 AM ^
Funny you should mention Woolfolk. I think terrible isn't really fair. He actually had some decent seasons early in his career with the Giants:
http://wapedia.mobi/en/Butch_Woolfolk
"In 1982, Woolfolk was named the NFC's Offensive Rookie of the Year, after appearing in nine games in which he rushed for 439 yards, caught 23 passes for 224 yards receiving and scored four touchdowns. [21] In a December 1982 game against the Oilers, Woolfolk scored his first two NFL touchdowns, one rushing and one receiving, to help the Giants win, 17-14. With the Giants trailing and less than two minutes remaining in the game, Woolfolk scored on a 40-yard gain after making a leaping, one-handed catch. The next day, The New York Times published an article headlined, "The Catch By Woolfolk." [13] The article concluded that with Woolfolk and Rob Carpenter, the Giants "have their best backfield combination since the glory years of Frank Gifford and Alex Webster a quarter of a century ago." [13] Over the course of the season his 1,091 all-purpose yards was third to only James Brooks (1,383) and Marcus Allen (1,098). [22]
In 1983, Bill Parcells' first year as head coach, [23] Woolfolk gained 1,225 yards from scrimmage for the Giants (857 yards rushing and 368 yards receiving) -- more yards than any Giants running back in the previous ten years. [17] He also set the NFL record for most rushing attempts in a game with 43 carries (for 159 yards) on November 20, 1983. [24]"
I know you were just a young kid at the time, but as a Giants fan you probably know that Joe Morris beat out Woolfolk for the starting RB job the next season, and Woolfolk was traded after that. Butch did not do much the rest of his career, ending up with the Lions.
I actually talked to Joe's brother Jamie this morning during the local WTKA Sunday show, and asked him specifically why it came about that Joe Morris replaced Butch. He confirmed what I'd heard elsewhere: while Butch had superior straight-line speed out in the open, Morris was much quicker to the hole, and given that the OL was still developing, Parcells wanted a RB who didn't need the linemen to hold their blocks as long as Woolfolk did.
You're right about Wheatley and Bunch being less than stellar with the Giants. Wheatley had some half-decent seasons with the Raiders, but he never had the career that most of us thought and hoped he might.
January 31st, 2010 at 2:34 AM ^
to see him on the lions i cant wish ill towards the man. besides, the lions, even if they become good, will never win the super bowl in bg's lifetime. and as much as i hate to say this, i think he could win with the steelers. he deserves to win, id say steelers.
note: i know lions werent an option. but oh well. he could win one with the pats, but brady is getting up there in age....
January 31st, 2010 at 2:34 AM ^
I want to say the Lions because I love them, but I don't think I could ever wish that on BG.
January 31st, 2010 at 4:03 AM ^
opposite Jared Allen, FTW.
January 31st, 2010 at 8:10 AM ^
"Detroit has bombed in the draft because they haven't taken Michigan men high up."
While the Lions have declined to take some Michigan players in some years that would have been better than the choices they did make, I don't think this comes close to explaining everything. For example, in 2008 the Lions drafted Cherlious with the 17th pick overall, and that was typical for the Lions. They needed OL badly, but nobody in the universe projected Cherlious that high, for good reason. He's not very good. Long went #1, and there were no other Michigan linemen that were draft-worthy. The Lions have botched draft after draft even when Michigan players didn't make sense at the Lion's draft positions or weren't available.
Out of curiosity I picked another draft year at random, 1998. The Lions picked DB Terry Fair with the 20th pick in the first round, who was pretty much a bust. The Lions bypassed other DBs who made the Pro Bowl and/or Super Bowl like Patrick Surtain, Samari Rolle, and RW McQuarters. The Lions also passed on Randy Moss and Alan Faneca, who's been selected for the Pro Bowl eight times with the Steelers.
The Michigan guys drafted that year were Woodson, Griese, Howard, Floyd, and Steele. Woodson was off the board early, and none of the rest were first round picks.
While it's hard to imagine the Mayhew-Schwartz regime being any worse than any of the Millen-era teams, it's not proven that they'll be any better, either. Until they establish that they are not the incompetent, clueless clusterfucks that the Lions have been ever since William Clay Ford bought the team in the '60s, I don't want Michigan players having anything to do with the Lions except playing them on Sundays.
I also don't want BG going to teams like the Raiders or the Bills, either. It would be great to see him end up on a good franchise like the Dolphins, Steelers, or Patriots.
January 31st, 2010 at 8:16 AM ^
I wonder how much of the Lions' failures is due to bad drafts and how much is due to no leadership? Don't get me wrong, the Lions are TERRIBLE talent evaluators, but do you think those players you mentioned have the same kind of success if the Lions had actually drafted them?
I just don't see those players realizing their full potential if they were drafted by Detroit. The Lions cannot develop talent to save their life.
January 31st, 2010 at 9:18 AM ^
Are the Lions bad because they draft bad players, or are the players bad because they are drafted by the Lions?
Nobody sane would argue that Tom Brady would be a sure-bet HOF guy if he'd ended up on the Lions. Conversely, it's hard to think of any guys initially drafted by the Lions who sucked in Detroit and then went on to success on another franchise. Charles Rogers? He would have flamed out on the Patriots. Mike Williams? He would have eaten himself out of a spot on the Steelers. Andre Ware stunk it up on every team he was on, even in the CFL. Chuck Long was a failure.
The primary problems with the Lions ever since Ford bought the team have been, in order of importance: 1. Horrible GMs, from Russ Thomas to Chuck Schmidt to Matt Millen and perhaps Mayhew; 2. Those horrible GMs have hired one bad/laughable HC after another—when your most successful coach in the last 40 years is Wayne Fontes, you're in a world of suck.; 3. Those horrible coaches and GMs have botched one draft after another.
The Fords senior and junior wouldn't know competence and managerial skill if it bit them in their pale, flabby, inherited-money country-club asses. If Mayhew and Schwartz end up being even marginally successful, that will be blind luck.
January 31st, 2010 at 10:23 AM ^
Charlie Batch before Brian Griese that year. Griese, while no HOF'er would have been a better QB in Detroit than the shmoes we ran with back then.
January 31st, 2010 at 8:37 AM ^
purely for selfish reasons as I plan to get season tickets next year.
January 31st, 2010 at 10:00 AM ^
Dolphins. I'm a Dolphins fan and they need a young guy to take over for JT and JP.
January 31st, 2010 at 10:24 AM ^
I really want Brady to squeeze out a few more Super Bowls. I think he has the most at stake. He'll be forever tied to Peyton Manning. Manning has the better passer stats (though Brady has the 23 TD season), so it's important for Brady to have more rings. BG could help him out a lot.
February 1st, 2010 at 11:56 AM ^
What some of the "he's already in the Hall of Fame" arguments above miss, is that sure, he's in the Hall of Fame...but he went in one catch on the helmet ridiculousness from perhaps the best quarterback of all time on perhaps the best team of all time (4 Super Bowl wins, only 19-0 season), to maybe not being even the best quarterback in his era. Because they already man-love Manning for his numbers and commercials at an almost Favre type level. If he wins his second Sunday, Brady is going to be #2. Where as if Brady had won that stupid Super Bowl versus the Giants (playoffs solve all problem proponents....look there to see how a one and done playoff DOESN'T always have the beset team win), there'd be no way for Manning to catch up...other than win 5.
Tom Brady helps Michigan recruiting. The New York Giants do not.
January 31st, 2010 at 10:33 AM ^
out the first round lions take BG. Pursue Julian Peppers to play on the other side of him. McCoy or Berry with the 2nd pick could be turning things around in the D. Big draft for Meyhew!
January 31st, 2010 at 11:56 AM ^
Every draft is going to be big for Mayhew. The Lions can't afford any busts. And this is just to get the team up to mediocrity.
January 31st, 2010 at 11:35 AM ^
I haven't had an NFL team to root for since the LA Rams moved to St. Louis. I followed Miami the most this season and really enjoyed it. If BG went to the Dolphins, it would only entrench my new found fandom. I root for UM players wherever they are, but the higher the concentration the more fun it is.
January 31st, 2010 at 11:54 AM ^
Easy choice for a Dolfan. Then Pats, then Steelers.
January 31st, 2010 at 12:06 PM ^
Because it's not just Brady, it's Pierre Woods, too! Plus the Pats are this Michigander-turned-New-Englaner's team (at least as long as Brady is at the helm).
January 31st, 2010 at 12:16 PM ^
BG would add a strong defensive presence at either LB or d lineman. The owner is a Michigan guy and Parcells knows the quality from Michigan. Go Phins!
Chad Henne will be a star!
January 31st, 2010 at 12:49 PM ^
I'd like to see Henne and Brady race to see who can win 4 rings first.
But for purely selfish reasons, BG going to the Bengals would give them M alums on DL, LB, safety AND corner. As it is I hum "Temptation" whenever they make a stop on defense.
* or in other words, anybody but the Steelers.
January 31st, 2010 at 12:54 PM ^
I think it'd be ridiculous if he somehow dropped to get drafted to play alongside Suh... It'd never happen, but that'd be the best pass-rush in the country from the day they set foot on the field.
January 31st, 2010 at 2:04 PM ^
New England fan here. I would kill to have B. Graham as a Patriot. I wouldn't complain if he was a Steeler though, just to see him and Woodley on the same team. As previously stated, that would be devastating.
January 31st, 2010 at 2:12 PM ^
a Steeler is being a Packer.
I would have no problem if Graham went to the 'Phins or Pats.
February 1st, 2010 at 2:32 AM ^
A friend of mine who is close to the program and works for the university has said that it's the Broncos who have expressed the most interest so far, fwiw (I know, I know, another one of those guys. If I had a nickel...).
I've always been kind of meh about the Broncos so I don't really care about him playing there either way BUT, opposite a dominant pass rusher in a 3-4 is how I see him having the most success in his career. Watching Woodley in a similar system made me realize that to put him as a down lineman might be wasting some of his considerable athletic talents.
Graham and Dumervil could be like a Woodley/Harrison tandem in a couple years, which I would be just fine with.
February 1st, 2010 at 9:39 AM ^
Looks like Julius Peppers is definitely gone, and with BG's stock rising post-Senior Bowl... who knows...
(still would like Miami to get him too)
February 1st, 2010 at 10:00 AM ^
I would have to pick the Dolphins. Jake Long, Chad Henne and BG all of them are young and would be teammates for a long time. Brady is in his 10th season and woodson is entering his 13th season in the NFL.