Pre-Draft Madness on 6th Avenue, Catering to the Masses, Ryan Matthews Might Be My Man Crush

We are so close, so very, very close. The NFL Draft is shaking up midtown Manhattan like a badly made martini at a work sponsored mixer. They've actually set up a red carpet stage outside of Radio City Music Hall, which has caused traffic to bottleneck and subsequently clusterfuck its way between 48th Street and 52nd Street. For every regular work-a-day pedestrian there are about fifty jersey-wearing numbnuts loitering around waiting for Chris "Fuckwad" Berman to show up and grace them all with his shitty, shitty presence. My only hope is that I somehow get to meet Chad Ochocinco, as I know for sure that his team of OCNN reporters are creeping around looking for stories.

So what of the draft thus far? Well, everyone with a brain is assuming that we'll see Nebraska's Ndamukong Suh or Oklahoma's Sam Bradford taken first by the St. Louis Rams, and considering the fact that the Rams need help at just about every single position outside of running back, both of these assumptions could prove to be correct. Outside of that, it's a toss-up. The wide reciever crop this year is sub-par and outside of C.J. Spiller the running backs ain't much to look at either. Where this draft is strong is on the defensive side of the ball. Outside of Suh, you have Tennessee's Eric Berry (Safety) and Oklahoma's defensive tackle Gerald McCoy, who is tough as nails. I've broken into a drug-addict-like cold sweat waiting for this stupid fucking thing to start. Come ON already.

At the 20th pick I'll be taking on whatever poor bastard gets picked up by the Houston Texans. That is, of course, barring any kind of trade or movement that would push their pick either up or down the board (for instance, Bleacher Report thinks that San Francisco will have this pick).  Regardless, two other mock drafts have Houston taking Fresno State RB Ryan Matthews.  Steve Slaton doesn't really have the ability to be the lone horse in that backfield, so this pick makes sense.  They need a duo that has both speed and power and Matthews and Slaton certainly cover both of those bases.  The guy had 1800 yards rushing and 19 touchdowns for the Bulldogs last year, his best with the team.  The scouting combine brought forth this opinion of him:

"Mathews is a good sized running back that runs hard and shows a good burst through the hole. He is a one cut runner that does not waste a lot of time dancing around in the backfield. Once he gets past the first level he could use a bit more elusiveness in space as he has some straight line to him. He tends to run a bit erect but does show upper body strength to stiff arm his way out of a tackle as well as balance on contact to stay on his feet and fight for extra yards. He has struggled to stay healthy as he has missed time in each season at Fresno State."

Though there are certainly some cynics who don't think the Texans will take him with the 20th pick, at this point, as with all things in life, it's a complete fucking mystery.

The draft begins at 7:30 p.m. though I'm already looking for ways to sneak into Radio City Music Hall and put laxative in Jon Gruden's tea.  More as it happens.

-Terrence Adams