5:17: So that’s it for the Daily Cal’s live blog of the NFL Draft. Chris Berman may have just put it best: this year’s Draft wasn’t “sexy.” Almost half of the first-round picks were lineman. A lot of skill players were passed over until the late first and early second rounds. Cal’s big-name receiver wasn’t taken until the 49th pick, although he did beat the changeover to ESPN2.
And yet, what’s strange is that DeSean still managed to become a big figure in the Draft. Along with the other big-name receivers, like Malcolm Kelly, James Hardy and Limas Sweed (who was finally picked 54th by the Steelers), Jackson’s name came up repeatedly mainly because he fell so far from where he was projected. Yes, he was called “diminutive” and “small,” but the ESPN guys talked several times about his speed and his playmaking ability. We’ll see how he holds up taking hits in the NFC East.
The Draft continues until the end of the second round this evening, with rounds three through seven tomorrow. Cal still has hopefuls for tomorrow—Lavelle, Justin Forsett and Thomas Decoud, to name a few. We’ll keep our fingers crossed for them as well. From all of us here at the Daily Cal Draft live blog—and by that I mean my roommate and myself—thanks for tuning in.
4:57: And there it is. DeSean Jackson goes to the Philadelphia Eagles with the 49th pick. I’m pretty sure there was a mock that predicted that. Just not in the second round. So DeSean goes to the Eagles, where he’ll be catching passes from Donovan McNabb and trying to boost a receiving corps that was anchored last year by Kevin Curtis, a 3rd-round pick out of Utah State in 2003.
4:52: DeSean is on the phone. I repeat, DeSean is on the phone. And wearing sunglasses indoors.
4:48: The Bengals take Jerome Simpson, a wide receiver from Coastal Carolina. Yes, it’s an obscure school. But he makes one-handed catches and he definitely jumped over a standing defender during a game. I guess DeSean never did that.
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