FanHouse Nfl Draft

I get that first-rounders, particularly those taken in the top 15 picks, would threaten to hold out if it meant more leverage during contract negotiations. In recent years, however, both players and organizations have made efforts to get deals done before training camp because holdouts, in the long run, don't benefit anybody.

Rookies, already playing catch-up in a new system with new players, can least afford to miss practice. And the teams, who invest a lot of coin in developing players, often don't see a return in the first year. JaMarcus Russell and Brady Quinn might be farther along if not for protracted training camp holdouts. On the other hand, the 2008 first-overall pick, Jake Long, was signed prior to the draft, started every game and had a productive rookie season.

Quarterback Pat White was a second-round pick by the Miami Dolphins in April's NFL Draft. But he wasn't done being drafted. To White's surprise, he was selected in the 48th round of last week's baseball amateur draft by the New York Yankees.

White hasn't played baseball since high school, but he was pretty good back then -- good enough to get drafted in the fourth round of the 2004 MLB draft by Anaheim. He turned down the Angels and went on to have a stellar college career at West Virginia, presumably leaving baseball behind for good. But the Yankees like him enough as an athlete that they took a low-risk chance.

For the second time in the past four years, the Chicago Bears are the first NFL team to agree to terms with every single one of their draft picks. Defensive tackle Jarron Gilbert -- of YouTube pool-jumping fame -- and wide receiver Juaquin Iglesias have both inked four-year deals with the Monsters of the Midway, according to a Bears press release. Dollar figures were not disclosed.

The task of signing the picks was likely a bit easier on Jerry Angelo and company, considering they didn't have a first- or second-rounder. Still, there have only been 30 draft picks in all of the NFL who have signed, and the Bears have nine of those guys. That's no small feat in efficient negotiating by the front office.

The NFL Supplemental Draft typically doesn't have a lot of names connected to it. The design of the supplemental draft was to give guys who have lost their eligibility a chance to latch on to a professional team without having to wait up of ten months to get drafted.

Rarely are there more than a couple notable players involved, and this year is no exception. The supplemental draft seems like the perfect situation for Kentucky defensive end Jeremy Jarmon, and he will attempt to take advantage of it.

Remember when Eli Manning had that dopier-than-usual look on his face after the San Diego Chargers, against his wishes, took him with the first overall pick of the 2004 Draft? Good times.

Save the actual act of filling out the pink slip, Greg Ellis' 11-year career with the Cowboys is done. He was hailed as a team leader -- something the organization lacked in recent years -- and his DallasCowboys.com bio confirms as much:

"... Ellis has been a pillar of consistency and production for the Cowboys in his 10 seasons as an NFL player. Whether it be overcoming the adversity of a serious injury or making a position switch in the later stages of his career, Ellis has always responded."

But as you might have heard, the NFL is a business, and players -- even the good ones -- are sent on their way as soon as a coach, scout or owner determines they're no longer useful. And with 2007 first-round pick Anthony Spencer ready to assume Ellis' job, it was a relatively easy decision, at least from a business standpoint.

When the news hit this morning that President Barack Obama was about to nominate Judge Sonia Sotomayor to the Supreme Court, sports fans around the country probably thought, "Why do I know that name?"

The answer is because Sotomayor has gained a little bit of fame over the past decade and a half for her involvement in sports-related court decisions.

In 1995, she issued the injunction that ended the Major League Baseball players' strike hours before replacement players were to take the field in official regular-season games. And when Maurice Clarett challenged the NFL's draft-eligibility rules and tried to enter the 2004 draft, Sotomayor was part of a three-judge panel on the Second Circuit Court of Appeals that ruled against Clarett, and upheld the NFL's minimum age requirement.

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. -- Coming to you live from the beach, where NFL owners begin gathering tonight at the Ritz-Carlton for two days of meetings. I'll be posting developments as they come up, but in the meantime here's a quick rundown on what these guys will be discussing this week in between their regular checks of Drew Rosenhaus' twitter updates:

-The 2013 Super Bowl. Sometime Tuesday, the league will announce the site of the 2013 game. New Orleans is the favorite, but South Florida and Arizona remain in the running until somebody tells us otherwise. The weather here was gorgeous today, but it's clouding up and thunderstorms are forecast for the next couple of days. Such things are unlikely to seriously hurt South Florida's case, but it can't help. The next three Super Bowls are set for Miami, Arlington and Indianapolis.

Mocking the Oakland Raiders is a year-round affair, and the NFL Draft is no different. People who make it their business to know such things were predicting the Raiders would take wide receiver Darrius Heyward-Bey with the seventh overall pick because -- wait for it -- Al Davis loves speed.

The year before, some folks thought running back Darren McFadden was a stretch with the fourth selection, and then there were the Fabien Washington and Michael Huff first-round debaclements in 2005 and 2006. But the 2007 draft was different: the Raiders chose quarterback JaMarcus Russell with the No. 1 pick, and we all agreed it was the right move.

After the Bears landed Jay Cutler in early April, the focus of many fans and media alike shifted to the receiving corps. Devin Hester, Rashied Davis and Earl Bennett will need some help, and no one can doubt that. Since then, the Bears have seen Torry Holt sign with the Jags, not traded for Anquan Boldin -- probably because they don't have enough to offer -- and drafted three second-day wide receivers.

Over the course of the past week, the Chicago Tribune has conducted interviews with the three respective quarterbacks of the three drafted wideouts. As can be expected, those interviews unearthed rave reviews.