By this time next week, the makeup of many teams could be radically different while others will expand on a foundation already established.
The draft is soon.
By this time next week, the biggest sports buzz around the "water cooler" (sorry for the stupid cliché), isn't Kobe versus the Suns or the Senators inability to dominate lesser teams - after two games, the 52-21 Ottawa Senators were beat by the 43-33 Tampa Bay Lightening. Trust me, the mullet's analyzing hockey tell me that's shocking (end of hockey reference.)
The draft is soon.
I find it somewhat ridiculous that a mid-off-season date for a sport in hibernation mode gets more attention, enthusiasm, and anticipation than two sports currently in the playoffs. But I won't complain either; it's a pretty sweet deal.
To make a long story short, and in case I did a pitiful job setting up this week's topic, I'm going to do my best getting ready for the 2006 NFL Draft.
Since the Bengals signed a starting defensive tackle and free safety, the urgency of building the defense slowed. Madieu Williams' return should alleviate pressure on the team to draft defense early. While all the starters return on offense, there's mainstream thought the Bengals need to upgrade at tight end.
But since I missed the prophetic Nostradamus class available in college, I thought I'd provide a few mock drafts and what tight end they say we're getting.
Fantasy Football Extreme, Huddle Geeks, Yahoo, Sports Outlaw, Draft Notebook, Sports Nutz, Fantasy Football Toolbox, Football.com, GM Jr., NFL Draft Forecast, Draft Season, NFL Gurus, and NFL.com have the Bengals picking up Leonard Pope in the first or second round.
Draft King, Draft Board Insider, and Draft Daddy have the Bengals picking up Marcedes Lewis.
Only Sportsline, at least from what I've seen, is the only one saying Cincinnati will pick up Vernon Davis.
Dawg Bones has the Bengals picking Joe Klopfenstein. Draft Ace mocks Dominique Byrd and the Draft Expert has Anthony Fasano being picked up by Cincinnati.
Most of the above are first rounders but some are second.
Shesh there's a lot of mocks.