NFL GridIron Gab Daily Digest

The Falcons rolled the dice and sold the farm to get one blue chip playmaker while the Saints potentially added two without having to trade away picks.

There are only three teams so stacked with talent – the Ravens, the Steelers and the Packers – that they could afford to give up next year’s 1st, this year’s 2nd, and 4ths in both seasons for just one player. The teams I mentioned have few if any holes. Any pick they make in the 1st or second round is not guaranteed any role on the team. You only get 53 in September.

Julio Jones will no doubt make the Falcons a better team. In whatever workouts he does, I’m sure he’ll refine the “getting the ball into his hands” thing, as what he does after he has the ball is what makes him worth trading for.

The Falcons were not an elite defense last year. They gave up 65% completion percentage. The 22 interceptions looks gaudy but in the 9 games after week 9 – including the home playoff game – they only got multiple interceptions two times: once in a home loss to the Saints and once against Matt Hasselbeck. Also after week 9, they held opponents to under 20 first downs five times, but four of those opponents had losing records. They kept Freeman’s Bucs to 19 first downs but a controversial play ended the final offensive drive of the Buccaneers. They allowed 20 or more first downs four times during that span and those were all teams with winning records.

Adding up blue chip and red chip players isn’t a scientific way to predict wins and losses but the abundance of these players is why I think players determine games a lot more than coaches do. The Saints have a foundation in their no-name receiving corps, elite receiving back Pierre Thomas and soon-to-be elite receiving tight end Jimmy Graham catching passes from Drew Brees. Their offensive and defensive lines have a lot of free agents – along with Scott Shanle – but they have upgraded their pass rush with several picks in the draft. They also have a potential overload of playmakers in their secondary – Jabari Greer, Patrick Robinson and Malcolm Jenkins – even if Roman Harper and Darren Sharper play elsewhere. Adding Mark Ingram and Cameron Jordan – two of the biggest names in the draft – solidifies them as the team with the most blue chip players in the division.

Likewise, Tampa Bay entered this draft with more sizzle than the Falcons. Aqib Talib, Mike Williams, Kellen Winslow, LeGarrette Blount, Arrelious Benn, Geno Hayes, and Josh Freeman are all 27 and under and each can change the game in one moment. I wouldn’t include Gerald McCoy in that group yet but he definitely has the ability to make plays. They exited the draft with two bonafide freaks in Da’Quan Bowers and Adrian Clayborn.

The Falcons’ biggest gamebreaker outside of Roddy White and John Abraham is Brent Grimes with 23 passes defensed and 5 interceptions. Some would argue this pushes the case to make the trade: get Julio Jones because he’s the player most certain to be a difference maker or get Julio Jones because he’s a cut above other difference makers.

Time will tell if the Falcons made the right move, but their overall roster isn’t as impressive as those of two of their rivals.

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Check out Ray Lewis as he fires up Elon College.

22 interceptions for FS Mark LeGree while he was at Appalachian State. He was the active leader in FCS and is now a Seattle Seahawk .

3 double cheeseburgers – along with medium fries, large tea and a six-piece McNuggets – are what new Cowboys LB Bruce Carter ingests nearly daily.

5 SEC players were drafted in the first 6 picks.

5 picks were taken by the Seahawks between rounds 3 and 5.

5 CUSA players were taken in the last two rounds.

3 players the Ravens selected are from the ACC.

4 defensive players from UCLA have been picked in the first two rounds from 2010-2011.

4 consecutive years, an Illinois player has been taken in the first 2 rounds.

4 consecutive Heisman Trophy winners have been taken in the first round.

2 Fighting Illini players were taken in the first two rounds from 1999-2007.

0 defensive players from UCLA were taken the first two rounds from 2003-2009.

0 wide receivers were drafted by the Chicago Bears. The only other teams that drafted none were the Steelers, Eagles, Bills, Buccaneers, Saints, Broncos, Colts, Texans, Titans and Patriots (all ten of which have had 1000 yard receivers more recently than the Bears).

28 wide receivers were drafted, down from 31 in 2010, 34 in 2009, 35 in 2008 and 34 in 2007.

8 touchdown receptions is what Michael Crabtree – 2nd receiver taken in the 2009 draft – has, likely due to playing in an archaic offensive system. That puts him at 8th among players drafted in 2009.

2 touchdown receptions is all Darius Heyward-Bey – 1st receiver taken in the 2009 draft – has. That puts him 20th among players drafted in 2009 and 30th if you include 2010 draft players.

49 reps of 225 lbs. were done by Bears DT Stephen Paea at the Combine.

427 points were allowed by the Texans last season, 29th in the NFL. This in spite of the fact that they actually had a shutout.

0 QB’s have the Raiders have drafted in the four drafts following when they took Jamarcus Russell in the 2007 draft.

59 Raiders TD passes were thrown between 2007-2010, despite having offensive head coaches and 1st round picks playing wide receiver and running back. The Chiefs had 85, Broncos 92, the Chargers 115. All of those teams have drafted a quarterback between 2008-2011.

3 duels are set between the rookie QB’s, assuming Ponder, Dalton, Newton and Locker all start day 1 . Week 8: Vikings @ Panthers, Week 9: Bengals @ Titans, Week 10: Titans @ Panthers. If Blaine Gabbert were to start, he’d face off against the Titans weeks 1 and 16, the Bengals week 5, and the Panthers week 3.

45 defensive linemen- not including OLB’s taken by teams – were drafted.

4 defensive linemen were taken by the Redskins, some divisions only took 5.

12 draft picks for the Redskins, the most in the Draft. All 12 were on teams that played bowl games in the 2010 season.

232, the 232nd pick of the draft was the first defensive back Miami took, Jimmy Wilson (Montana).

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