I have a suggestion for a new player-entrance song. Yes, it is a little "old" and the words don't work, but the beginning is all that matters. I think it would be amazing.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5_hIojjA3A4

Start the song; start the smoke; at 0:50 comes the players and flames and such; then at 1:20 you would have to loop it back or something to avoid the lyrics.

Tell me the crowd would not have goose bumps if they did this in the stadium.

I am making a prediction for the record that Coby Fleener, TE Stanford, is Gene Smith's targeted player in the 1st Round of the 2012 NFL Draft. Of course, he will hope to trade back, but I would not put it past him to 'Alualu' him at the 7th pick.

My source: I woke up at 4am and this just popped into my mind. It is not normal for me to wake up at 4am period - much less to start thinking of the Draft, although it is the first day of Draft Week. After passing it off as rubbish, I started thinking about it, and it made perfect sense in a Gene kind of way.

1) Gene likes to get the big guys early and the fans want a WR early. Merge the two, and voila, you have a 6'6" Tight End with 33-3/8" arms that runs a 4.5 40yd dash, great routes, and a great red-zone target. Everybody is happy - or no one, depending on how you look at it. lol

2) Mularkey was a TE, and his offense is supposed to lean heavily on the TE position. We only have one dependable guy that can both block and pass-catch in Marcedes Lewis. Combine Lewis with Fleener and say hello to a massive increase in red-zone productivity.

Hopefully, we can trade back a little and pick up another pick or two in the process. Then we can focus on picking a potential pass-rushing RDE like Chandler Jones/Vinny Curry/Cam Johnson and a WR like Rueben Randle/Brian Quick/AJ Jenkins.

Gene Smith, Git-R-Done.

So, this morning it hit me, Garrard's INT in the Atlanta pre-season game looked a lot like the big TD play for Jason Hill in the Raiders game last year.  So, out of curiosity, I examined the highlight videos of each of the plays and this is what I found:

vs. Atlanta

LOS is Atlanta's 46yd-line.  Garrard drops back and throws from the Jags 46-yd line (8-yds behind LOS).  The ball is caught by the DB 2-yds deep in the endzone near the right hash (56yds in the air) .

vs. LA, I mean Oakland

LOS is Oakland's 48yd-line.  Garrard drops back and throws from the Jags 44yd-line (8-yds behind LOS).  The ball is caught by Jason Hill while he is crossing the goal line just inside the right hash (56yds in the air).

It was an identical throw for an identical distance.  The difference was Jason Hill was there and Mike Thomas was not.  Grimes didn't have a problem being there though. 

10-yds overthrown?  I think not.

I just wanted to share my thoughts/things I noticed about last night's practice for those that couldn't attend:

Cecil Shorts appears to be the real deal.  He catches everything with his hands.  I don't think he dropped a pass or punt all night.  I saw him catch a pass at knee level and he didn't 'scoop it'.  He also looks to be a very good route runner.

Jarret Dillard still stands out from all the rest in route running though.

Armon Binns looks 'sturdy' at 6'3" 209lb.  He and Jamar Newsome stood out to me as the most polished among the UDFA rookie receivers.

Zach Miller's 2 drops were painful to watch.

Luke McCown looked better than David Garrard to me.  He has one heck of an arm and was definitely seeing the field better than DG.  When DG through that INT on the right sideline, Dillard was wide open angling down the middle of the field.

Blaine Gabbert looked real good the few times we saw him.  His height will definitely be an advantage for him over DG.  When I saw his now famous pass to Bolen down the right sideline, I thought a defender streaking towards the sideline could have intercepted it but didn't - on purpose.  It looked like he just left his arms out in a 'Y' and let the ball go through like goal posts.  However, when I saw the Youtube clip of it later, that was not the case.  Gabbert put it in there perfectly.  BTW, everyone seems to leave out his fumbled snap on his first play in on 11x11s.

The one time I noticed UDFA Richard Murphy carry the ball, he looked impressive.  Smooth like Rashad Jennings, but a little quicker.

Austen Lane is just a physical freak.  He just looks huge and in tip top shape.

Maybe its that I can't get that martial arts video out of my head, but Derrick Harvey always looked to be loafing out there.  Also, he appeared to be heavier than last year with a little too much being in the mid-section.  On paper, he and Lane should look almost identical, but they most definitely do not.

There is no way Aaron Morgan is only 238lbs.  He looks at least 255-260. 

Chris Prosinski is a decent sized kid.  He doesn't have that 'I'm just a little DB' look that most DB's have.

JoJo Dickson doesn't have the big hair anymore.

If you are waiting for the news about the Oklahoma Drills, they didn't happen.  The practice was canceled due to lightning at about 7:10pm.  It was a downpour out there, but the drumline kept playing soaking wet.  The players never even made it on the field due to the weather.  Maybe tomorrow night? 

I think the team may have made enough money on $5 ponchos to up Alualu's offer a bit.   

Alualu, you have another chance!

I attended the evening no-pads practice and thought I would give my opinions:

-The Player Roster has all of the ages 4-5yrs older than actual.  I can't believe Meester is 37, no wonder he struggled last year..LOL

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I am no scout, but here are some things that caught my eye this afternoon:

1) Tiquan Underwood still has a case of the drops.  I hope he can get it together.

2) Troy Williamson got his legs tangled up with the DB and ate dirt on multiple occasions running down the sideline.

3) Jarett Dillard, Mike Sims-Walker, Chris McGaha, Marcedes Lewis, and Zach Potter all showed great hands.  Sims-Walker really stood out above the rest.

4) I felt bad for Kassim Osgood.  I want him to do well, but it seemed that every time the ball was thrown his way it was uncatchable.  I don't know if that was the QB's fault or his, but it didn't look good to me.

5) Luke McCown looks like a bean pole out there, but I think he will give David Garrard a run for his money.

6) Trevor Harris needs some work as expected, but he has good size and a good arm.  He appeared much better than the previous UDFA QB's I have seen here.

7) Kirk Morrison looks to already be taking on a vocal leadership role on the defense.  On paper, he is the same  height as Daryl Smith and only 9lbs less, but Daryl Smith appears much bigger on the field.

8) The new LB from the Colts, Freddy Keiaho got into a scuffle with RB Allen Patrick.  Patrick was coming out of the backfield and Keiaho jammed him inside of 5yds and Patrick was not too appreciative of the rough contact.  Keiaho calmed him down and played around with him afterwards.

9) Jacob Cutrera looked fast out there and appears bigger on the field than on paper.

10) Austen Lane is a beast! Undersized my @@@.  If he is undersized, then so is Derrick Harvey.  He scared me one time when he slipped and came up limping, but he shook it off.

11) I saw John Estes getting a lot of work at C.

12) After practice, Jeff Lageman was giving Derrick Harvey some pass rush pointers, and Derrick looked to be appreciative of his help.

13) Terrance Knighton's mother was in the crowd with a shirt that said "Pot Roast's Mom" on the front. LOL

14) Tyson Alualu got a ton of positive attention from the fans.  I don't know why, but I was worried I would hear some "your no-Tebow" stuff said to him, but there wasn't any.  He was treated like a rock-star.