NFL GridIron Gab Daily Digest

The 2010 Tampa Bay defense made great strides to creating a new legendary unit, one with a fresh approach and fresh, dynamic playmakers.

Throughout the year, they frustrated the likes of Drew Brees and Matt Ryan, dropped a shutout on the 49ers, and kept them competitive in every game from week 7 on despite player after player landing on IR.

The one thing that was missing was edge pressure. They only got 26 sacks with Stylez G. White leading the way with 6.5.

At last week's draft, Tampa Bay was able to get two quality, pass-rushing DE's in the first two rounds. They picked up Adrian Clayborn – a player Raheem Morris calls his "Rambo" – who plays with a nastiness and will be hungry to prove teams wrong who may have passed on him.

In the second round, they were able to add another end and not just any end. Da'Quan Bowers – free-falling because – should, at least for the next few seasons, provide ridiculous value to the team. Bowers led the NCAA in sacks and tackles for loss at Clemson in 2010. He, too, will be playing with a chip on his shoulder for all the teams that were afraid to pick him.

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The Philadelphia Eagles have completed their draft for the 2011 season, and there seems to be a mixed opinion on how they did. I will let you know my opinion on every pick, as well as a letter grade, and at the bottom, I will even give you the Eagles Draft grade average. Here's how they did!

Round 1, Danny Watkins, Guard, Baylor: C+

The Eagles selected Danny Watkins with their first pick, and as soon as they did, my jaw hit the floor. I was stunned that the Eagles passed over the potential star in Jimmy Smith, and then elected to not draft Gabe Carimi. I thought that the Eagles may have made a good choice in passing over a troubled Smith, but then not selecting one of the top offensive lineman in the draft, simply bewildered me. It's too early to gauge Watkins, but considering he was projected as a late second round pick, not sure what Philadelphia was thinking.

Round 2, Jaiquwan Jarrett, Safety, Temple: B-

Philadelphia elected to boost their defensive backfield by taking Jaiquwan Jarrett in the second round. This pick tells me two things: 1. The Eagles don't have faith in Kurt Coleman as a starter. 2. Nate Allen's torn ACL is not healing as fast as the Eagles need it to be. This pick isn't bad, as Jarrett is a hard hitting player who can rattle a ball carrier if they break past the first line of defense. It's a bit disappointing to see the Eagles not give Coleman another chance, but Jarrett is the better choice as a starter overall.

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Adam Schefter of ESPN believes there’s a great shot that Eagles backup QB Kevin Kolb is going to be in another uni in 2011, and that uni is going to be out west in Arizona, where he will be the starter for the Cardinals in 2011.

"Kevin Kolb is going to get dealt from Philadelphia, most likely going to be to the NFC West, and right now all signs point to Arizona," Schefter said on NFL Live Tuesday, via 710 ESPN Radio.

The Eagles can only hope that the Seahawks get involved in order to drive the price up. This is definitely a recipe for some good offers being sent to Philly: Two division rivals who believe they can contend right now if they can just find a quarterback.

Kolb has been rumored to be on his way out from the moment the Eagles were out of the playoffs and the team resigned QB Mike Vick to a franchise tender. He’s been the victim of bad luck – got hurt in the season opener, and Vick shined from there. If the Cards can get a deal done to grab him, they can go right back to being contenders in the NFC West, a division that was won with 7 wins in 2010.

NFL Gridiron Gab columnist Russ Loede did a great job detailing undrafted players that could have a strong impact on an NFL roster eventually. I would only add Northwestern’s athletic LB Quentin Davie, explosive Oregon CB Talmadge Jackson, Connecticut road grater G Zach Hurd, Auburn WR Darvin Adams, Kentucky WR Chris Matthews, Cincinnati WR Amon Binns and Wisconsin 72.9% completion-hurler QB Scott Tolzein to that list.

However, two players on that list are apparently considering signing contracts with the UFL after they got drafted last night – Boston College LB Mark Herzlich and Texas A&M QB Jerrod Johnson. Herzlich, a cancer survivor, was picked in the 10th round by the Omaha Nighthawks. Jerrod Johnson could be teamed up with Hartford head coach Jerry Glanville, who hasn’t received an answer on Josh McCown coming back. Of course, Colt Brennan would probably have the starting job over either of them if he were to sign with Hartford. Johnson was the first overall pick in the draft. This is Glanville’s first year with Hartford.

It’s a possibility that these players sign but they won’t be able to play on an NFL roster until the NFL season has started or unless an NFL team pays a fee. Most of the players appear to have been contacted by the UFL, and some including former Seahawk QB Mike Teel have taken to twitter and other media venues to express interest and/or excitement in playing.

People can complain all they want about UFL coverage here but – just like when I cover the CFL Draft later this week – it’s all about the opportunity for NFL fans to watch players that either did play in the NFL or may eventually. With a lockout, there shall be more NFL talent in these other professional leagues than ever before. Speaking of the CFL, Masoli worked out for the Edmonton Eskimos recently.

I, for one, am interested in seeing former Auburn running back Mario Fannin and former Middle Tennessee St. running back Phillip Tanner play for Las Vegas and Hartford respectively.

Follow me at: http://twitter.com/Chris_M_Bach

Saints quarterback Drew Brees said he immediately reached out to tailback Reggie Bush with a text message after seeing Bush’s reaction to the Saints’ draft choice of tailback Mark Ingram according to Mike Triplett of the New Orleans Times-Picayune.

Bush tweeted, “It’s been fun New Orleans,” indicating he doesn’t expect to remain with the Saints — though Coach Sean Payton and General Manager Mickey Loomis insisted he’s still in their plans.

“I saw his tweet, just like you did,” Brees said Tuesday. “I think that’s just frustration a little bit, just because, they draft a guy at your position, but I think the message that was sent to him was, ‘By no means look at that as the fact that you’re getting shown the door, that we don’t want you or anything like that.’

“I immediately texted him just because I knew what was going through his mind. I mean, he’s a young guy, He’s very prideful and wants to be great. He wants as many opportunities as he can get. I think you immediately see that as, ‘Oh, well, that’s taking opportunities away from me.’ But in reality I think, you’ve got to find the positive in it and that is, no, this doesn’t take opportunities away. ‘This kind of solidifies my role and it probably makes things easier on me because it takes a little bit of the weight off my shoulders because this guys can do some things that are really going to help our offense and it’s going to open things up for me.’ So I think in the end it’s a very good thing for everybody.”

Frank Tadych of NFL.com reports league sources told NFL Network's Jason La Canfora that the 49ers were "persistent" in trying to land Nevada QB Colin Kaepernick, exploring trade options at the end of the first round before initiating talks with the Patriots and Bills at the top of the second.

NFL Network's Michael Lombardi reported that the Raiders (with picks 48 and 81) also were in talks with the Patriots, setting up a Bay Area battle for the QB.

Presumably, the Patriots' price for the No. 33 pick was too high. But the 49ers — who, according to LaCanfora, believed they had to leapfrog the QB-needy Redskins at No. 41 after missing out on TCU's Andy Dalton — pulled the trigger by dealing pick Nos. 45, 108 and 141 to the Broncos for the 36th selection, which San Francisco used on Kaepernick.

Steelers running back Rashard Mendenhall is at it again on Twitter, throwing out some real head scratching random comments after Sunday night’s announcement of the US killing of terrorist Osama Bin Laden. Here’s some of the tweets that Mendenhall threw out Monday night.

“We’ll never know what really happened. I just have a hard time believing a plane could take a skyscraper down demolition style”

“For those of you who said you want to see Bin Laden burn in hell . . . I ask how would God feel about your heart?”

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