How the 2010 NFL Draft will transform the Big Ten
The reasons this coming draft is inspiring so many to try to grab the brass ring are all the result of the expiring labor agreement between NFL Players and owners. First, it is likely that the next agreement will include a slotted rookie draft with lower starting salaries, like the NBA currently has, so some players may be entering during an uncapped year to maximize the pay in their first contract. Second, the next contract may extend the period before players can become unrestricted free agents, so they would like to get in now to start their counter toward that time. Finally, the number one reason college underclassmen are being advised to enter now is the potential lockout in 2011, players getting in now can ensure themselves a payday rather than risking a year without a season.
The prospects for a lockout are very real. The NFL Players Association is desperately trying to get the owners to negotiate a new contract but the owners are unwilling to meet. The owners are looking forward to the uncapped year, not so that they can spend like crazy, instead it provides them an opportunity to dump bad contracts without penalty while locking up their young stars. While many current NFL players have been looking forward to the uncapped year as a windfall, the owners included language in the contract that adds an extra transition tag to protect a teams best players and extends the unrestricted free agency period from four years to six for this coming season; locking up many of the league's best young stars when they expected their freedom.
Since we all know that most of college football's top players are merely using the NCAA as a launching pad to the NFL, they don't need too much encouragement to take a shot at the league. Here's a list of players that have already declared or indicated that they are strongly considering it (I included the Scout star ranking when they left high school or junior college):
Pos | Player | Team | Status | Rank |
---|---|---|---|---|
QB | Sam Bradford | Oklahoma | Declared | 4 star |
QB | Jevan Snead | Mississippi | 4 star | |
QB | Ryan Mallett | Arkansas | 5 star | |
QB | Jimmy Clausen | Notre Dame | Declared | 5 star |
QB | Case Keenum | Houston | 2 star | |
RB | Jonathan Dwyer | Georgia Tech | 4 star | |
RB | Evan Royster | Penn State | Declared | 3 star |
RB | John Clay | Wisconsin | 4 star | |
RB | Brandon Saine | Ohio State | 4 star | |
RB | Toby Gerhart | Stanford | 3 star | |
RB | Jahvid Best | California | Declared | 4 star |
RB | DeMarco Murray | Oklahoma | 5 star | |
RB | Harvey Unga | BYU | 2 star | |
RB | Joe McKnight | Southern California | 5 star | |
RB | Darren Evans | Virginia Tech | 4 star | |
RB | Delone Carter | Syracuse | 4 star | |
RB | Ryan Mathews | Fresno State | Declared | 2 star |
WR | Dez Bryant | Oklahoma State | Declared | 4 star |
WR | Arrelious Benn | Illinois | Declared | 5 star |
WR | Damian Williams | Southern California | 4 star | |
WR | Dezmon Briscoe | Kansas | Declared | 2 star |
WR | Demaryius Thomas | Georgia Tech | 3 star | |
WR | Golden Tate | Notre Dame | Declared | 4 star |
WR | Vincent Brown | San Diego State | 3 star | |
WR | Chris Bell | Norfolk State | 5 star | |
WR | Dane Sanzenbacher | Ohio State | 4 star | |
WR | Mike Williams | Syracuse | Declared | 2 star |
TE | Rob Gronkowski | Arizona | 4 star | |
TE | Aaron Hernandez | Florida | 5 star | |
TE | Weslye Saunders | South Carolina | 4 star | |
TE | Jermaine Gresham | Oklahoma | Declared | 4 star |
OT | Brian Bulaga | Iowa | 4 star | |
OT | Anthony Davis | Rutgers | Declared | 5 star |
OT | Gabe Carimi | Wisconsin | 3 star | |
OT | Jason Pinkston | Pittsburgh | 4 star | |
OT | Bruce Campbell | Maryland | Declared | 4 star |
OL | Bryant Browning | Ohio State | 3 star | |
OL | Justin Boren | Ohio State | 5 star | |
OL | Maurkice Pouncey | Florida | 4 star | |
OL | Mike Pouncey | Florida | 4 star | |
DE | Carlos Dunlap | Florida | 5 star | |
DE | Cliff Matthews | South Carolina | 5 star | |
DE | Cameron Heyward | Ohio State | 4 star | |
DE | Derrick Morgan | Georgia Tech | 4 star | |
DE | Everson Griffen | Southern California | Declared | 5 star |
DE | Greg Romeus | Pittsburgh | 2 star | |
DE | Jason Pierre-Paul | South Florida | 5 star JC | |
DE | Thaddeus Gibson | Ohio State | 4 star | |
DE | Adrian Clayborn | Iowa | 4 star | |
DE | Justin Trattou | Florida | 5 star | |
DE | Ryan Kerrigan | Purdue | 3 star | |
DE | Kevin Basped | Nevada | 2 star | |
DE | Dontay Moch | Nevada | 2 star | |
DT | Gerald McCoy | Oklahoma | Declared | 5 star |
DT | Brian Price | UCLA | Declared | 5 star |
DT | Marvin Austin | North Carolina | 5 star | |
DT | Allen Bailey | Miami (Fla.) | 5 star | |
DT | Stephen Paea | Oregon State | 3 star JC | |
DT | Abe Koroma | Western Illinois | Declared | 3 star |
ILB | Rolando McClain | Alabama | 4 star | |
ILB | Scott Lutrus | UConn | 2 star | |
ILB | Quan Sturdivant | North Carolina | 4 star | |
ILB | Travis Lewis | Oklahoma | 4 star | |
OLB | Greg Jones | Michigan State | 3 star | |
OLB | Navorro Bowman | Penn State | Declared | 4 star |
OLB | Rennie Curran | Georgia | 4 star | |
OLB | Bruce Carter | North Carolina | 3 star | |
OLB | Von Miller | Texas A&M | 4 star | |
CB | Joe Haden | Florida | Declared | 4 star |
CB | DeAndre Morgan | North Carolina State | 3 star | |
CB | Ras-I Dowling | Virginia | 2 star | |
CB | Donovan Warren | Michigan | Declared | 5 star |
CB | Kareem Jackson | Alabama | 3 star | |
CB | Dominique Franks | Oklahoma | 4 star | |
CB | Amari Spievey | Iowa | 2 star | |
CB | Johnny Patrick | Louisville | 3 star | |
CB | Chimdi Chekwa | Ohio State | 2 star | |
CB | Jimmy Smith | Colorado | 3 star | |
CB | Kendric Burney | North Carolina | 3 star | |
CB | Devon Torrence | Ohio State | 4 star | |
S | Eric Berry | Tennessee | Declared | 5 star |
S | Morgan Burnett | Georgia Tech | 4 star | |
S | Reshad Jones | Georgia | 4 star | |
S | Major Wright | Florida | 5 star | |
S | Chad Jones | LSU | 5 star | |
S | Deunta Williams | North Carolina | 4 star | |
S | Jermale Hines | Ohio State | 4 star |
As you can see, of the 87 players on the list 21 have already made their intentions known. The 2009 draft had 46 early entrants, but only nine had declared before January 1.
So how will this impact the Big Ten?
There are 20 Big Ten players on the list and four of those have already declared. Nine of the players play for Ohio State. It is unlikely that all of the players above will enter the draft, however it is likely many will. If you combine this group with graduating seniors the power in the Big Ten could change dramatically. Here is a list of contributors that will be gone from each team in the Big Ten:
Illinois | Indiana | Iowa | Michigan | |
---|---|---|---|---|
QB | Juice Williams | |||
RB | Daniel Dufrene* | Demetrius McCray* | Brandon Minor | |
RB | Bryan Payton* | Carlos Brown* | ||
WR | Arrelious Benn** | Trey Stross | Greg Matthews | |
WR | Chris Duvalt | LaTerryal Savoy* | ||
WR | Jarred Fayson | |||
TE | Michael Hoomanawanui | Troy Wagner | Tony Moeaki | |
TE | Brian Zematis | |||
OT | Rodger Saffold | Kyle Calloway | Mark Ortmann | |
OT | Bryan Bulaga** | |||
OT | ||||
OT | ||||
OG | Jon Asamoah | Pete Saxon | Andy Kuempel* | David Moosman |
OG | Mike Reiter* | Dace Richardson | ||
OG | Dan Doering* | |||
C | Eric Block | Rafael Eubanks | ||
C | ||||
DE | Antonio James | Greg Middleton | Chad Geary* | Brandon Graham |
DE | Doug Pilcher | Jammie Kirlew | Adrian Clayborn** | Adam Patterson* |
DE | ||||
DT | Rahkeem Smith* | Travis Meade* | ||
DT | Sirod Williams | |||
DT | ||||
LB | Will Patterson | A.J. Edds | ||
LB | Justin Carrington* | Pat Angerer | ||
LB | Matt Mayberry | |||
LB | ||||
CB | Dere Hicks | Amari Spievey** | Donovan Warren** | |
CB | ||||
CB | ||||
S | Donsay Hardeman | Austin Thomas | Steve Brown | |
S | Collin Taylor* | |||
S | Nick Polk | |||
S | Matt Kurz* | |||
K | Jason Olesnavage | |||
P | Anthony Santella | Zolton Mesko | ||
Total | 15 | 16 | 14 | 12 |
Michigan State | Minnesota | Northwestern | Ohio State | |
QB | Mike Kafka | |||
RB | Brandon Saine** | |||
RB | ||||
WR | Blair White | Ben Kuznia* | Andrew Brewer | Ray Small* |
WR | Kevin Frymire | Dane Sanzenbacher** | ||
WR | ||||
TE | Nick Tow-Arnett | Jake Ballard | ||
TE | ||||
OT | Rocco Cironi | Matt Stommes* | Kurt Mattes* | Jim Cordle |
OT | Mike Schmeding* | |||
OT | ||||
OT | ||||
OG | Brendon Moss | Desmond Taylor* | Bryant Browning** | |
OG | Justin Boren** | |||
OG | ||||
C | Joel Nitchman | Andrew Moses* | ||
C | John Stipek* | |||
DE | Trevor Anderson | Cedric McKinley | Corey Wootton | Cameron Heyward** |
DE | Colin Neely | Barrett Moen | Thaddeus Gibson** | |
DE | Derrick Onwuachi* | Lawrence Wilson* | ||
DT | Michael Jordan* | Eric Small | Adam Hahn | Todd Denlinger |
DT | Garrett Brown | Marshall Thomas* | Doug Worthington | |
DT | Rob Rose | |||
LB | Brandon Denson | Simoni Lawrence | Austin Spitler | |
LB | Greg Jones** | Rex Sharpe* | ||
LB | Adam Decker* | Nate Triplett | ||
LB | Lee Campbell | |||
CB | Jeremy Ware | Traye Simmons | Sherrick McManis | Chimdi Chekwa** |
CB | Ross Weaver* | Marcus Sherels | Devon Torrence** | |
CB | Andre Amos* | |||
S | K. Davis-Clark* | Brad Phillips | Kurt Coleman | |
S | Ashton Henderson* | Brendan Smith | Anderson Russell | |
S | Dan Fortener | |||
S | ||||
K | Brett Swenson | |||
P | Blake Haudan | Jon Thoma | ||
Total | 18 | 15 | 11 | 21 |
Penn State | Purdue | Wisconsin | ||
QB | Daryll Clark | Joey Elliott | ||
RB | Evan Royster | Jaycen Taylor* | John Clay** | |
RB | Garrett Graham | |||
WR | Brett Brackett | Royce Adams* | ||
WR | Graham Zug | Aaron Valentin | ||
WR | Patrick Mauti* | |||
TE | Mickey Shuler | Mickey Turner | ||
TE | Andrew Quarless* | |||
OT | Dennis Landolt | Zach Jones | ||
OT | DeOn'tae Pannell | |||
OT | Ako Poti* | |||
OT | Nerraw McCormack* | |||
OG | Lou Eliades | Zach Reckman | ||
OG | ||||
OG | ||||
C | Doug Klopacz* | Jared Zwilling | ||
C | ||||
DE | Jerome Hayes | Keyon Brown* | O'Brien Schofield | |
DE | Tom Golarz* | |||
DE | ||||
DT | Jared Odrick | Mike Neal | Daniel Moore | |
DT | Ollie Ogbu | Dan Cascone* | ||
DT | Jeff Stehle | |||
LB | Sean Lee | Jason Werner | Jaevery McFadden | |
LB | Navorro Bowman | |||
LB | Josh Hull | |||
LB | Bani Gbadyu* | |||
CB | Knowledge Timmons | Brandon King | ||
CB | A.J. Wallace* | David Pender | ||
CB | S. McCullough* | |||
S | Cedric Jeffries* | Torri Williams | Chris Maragos | |
S | Dwight Mclean | |||
S | ||||
S | ||||
K | Collin Wagner | |||
P | Jeremy Boone | Chris Summers | ||
Total | 27 | 15 | 9 |
* indicates non-starting contributor
** indicates early entrant
Source: www.rivals.com, www.foxsports.com, www.scout.com
Mgoblog readers can extrapolate the data anyway you choose, but a few things to note. Only two teams lose fewer player than the 12 that Michigan loses; Northwestern loses 11 and Wisconsin only loses nine. Penn State loses 27 contributors while Ohio State loses 21 and Michigan State loses 18. These departures don't include any transfers, nor do they include any disciplinary departures (see Spartans).
We all know that good teams reload and often players on the bench outshine the player they replace, but I am happy to see how few holes we will need to fill relative to the rest of the conference.
It will be an interesting off season. The NFL has made it a little more interesting. We will know how many players are truly leaving on January 15, the last day to declare for the draft.
Go Blue!
January 5th, 2010 at 12:35 AM ^
January 5th, 2010 at 3:07 AM ^
January 5th, 2010 at 11:07 AM ^
January 5th, 2010 at 11:59 AM ^
January 5th, 2010 at 12:55 PM ^
January 6th, 2010 at 12:40 PM ^
January 5th, 2010 at 12:40 AM ^
January 5th, 2010 at 12:51 AM ^
January 5th, 2010 at 8:31 AM ^
January 5th, 2010 at 1:02 AM ^
January 5th, 2010 at 8:46 AM ^
January 6th, 2010 at 10:06 AM ^
January 5th, 2010 at 2:55 AM ^
January 5th, 2010 at 11:06 AM ^
January 5th, 2010 at 1:00 PM ^
January 5th, 2010 at 1:05 PM ^
January 5th, 2010 at 2:37 PM ^
January 5th, 2010 at 4:31 PM ^
January 5th, 2010 at 9:15 PM ^
January 6th, 2010 at 12:01 AM ^
January 6th, 2010 at 2:15 AM ^
January 6th, 2010 at 7:13 AM ^
January 5th, 2010 at 8:07 AM ^
January 5th, 2010 at 8:36 AM ^
January 5th, 2010 at 8:19 AM ^
January 5th, 2010 at 10:16 AM ^
January 5th, 2010 at 10:57 AM ^
January 5th, 2010 at 4:32 PM ^
January 5th, 2010 at 4:43 PM ^
January 5th, 2010 at 11:19 PM ^
January 6th, 2010 at 1:17 AM ^
January 6th, 2010 at 12:35 PM ^
January 5th, 2010 at 12:55 PM ^
January 5th, 2010 at 1:26 PM ^
January 5th, 2010 at 2:19 PM ^
January 5th, 2010 at 10:03 PM ^
January 5th, 2010 at 1:48 PM ^
January 5th, 2010 at 2:10 PM ^
January 5th, 2010 at 5:41 PM ^
January 5th, 2010 at 7:18 PM ^
January 5th, 2010 at 7:19 PM ^
January 5th, 2010 at 11:04 PM ^
January 6th, 2010 at 10:06 AM ^
January 6th, 2010 at 10:37 AM ^
January 6th, 2010 at 1:53 PM ^
January 6th, 2010 at 1:55 PM ^
January 6th, 2010 at 3:29 PM ^
January 6th, 2010 at 4:49 PM ^
January 6th, 2010 at 4:12 PM ^
January 6th, 2010 at 9:04 PM ^
Comments