The panty-bunching over Shirley is ridiculous. Let’s see, we got one may-or-may-not-have-been DUI, and some traffic tickets, yet from all kvetching you’d think we drafted Charles Manson. I’m much more concerned about his injury history (concussion, high ankle sprain, neck cramps) than his underwhelming criminal history.

I think Simpson isn’t just the second CC guy drafted, but actually only the second guy drafted out of the who Big South Conference. I’m still not thrilled about Rivers-Simpson in the first and second, but IMO the draft got much better from there on out.

Ratliff went first, then Madieu. But the consensus of the espn talking heads at the time, especially Mortensen IIRC, was that they, along with Miller and Landon Johnson, had all been taken about half a round to a round early. And you had Perry in the first, a pick they seems to settle for after trading down.

That’s why the first couple picks reminded me of the (disasterous) 2004 draft, when they also had a boatload of picks and were either “content” to take a runner-up choice (Perry then, Rivers Saturday) or went out of a limb (Ratliff, Miller, etc. then, Simpson this time) and ended up screwing up. But after Simpson, they seemed to revert to their more successful 2003 strategy, where they just took talent that fell to them. Sims, Caldwell, and Collins were all second-round talents who slipped. Shirley might have been a first round pick without the character and effort questions. Lynch was projected as high as the fourth. So I liked it better as it went along.

Bottom line, I like this draft more than any since 2003.