Tyler Eifert Brings Great Balance to the Cincinnati Bengals’ Offense

He didn’t fit a real need, but the Bengals were delighted to land Tyler Eifert in the NFL Draft. For good reason too.

Even before his final season with Notre Dame, tight end Tyler Eifert was considered one of the safest prospects who was eligible for the 2013 NFL draft. After solidifying his status as a first round pick with an impressive campaign that carried through to the National Championship Game, the only question mark surrounding the overwhelmingly talented tight end was what team would land him.

Surprisingly, during the build up to the draft, that question was much harder to answer than one would think.

A tight end was never going to go in the top 10, while there was enough talent at other positions to push him further down the pecking order into the late teens. From there it was a matter of finding a fit for him. Finding a team who could consider him one of the final steps towards creating a championship roster. A handful of teams made sense, but the Cincinnati Bengals weren’t one of those that immediately came to mind.

Yet, when the Bengals took over on the 21st pick the provided the second biggest shock of the night by taking the Notre Dame tight end. The biggest shock clearly being the Dolphins trade up for Dion Jordan.

The Bengals have one of the most talented, well-rounded rosters in the league. In fact, if it wasn’t for the underwhelming performances of Andy Dalton, they would have won the AFC North with ease last season. With that balanced roster and no clear successor to replace Dalton and promise immediate success, the Bengals were able to take the most valuable player on their board regardless of position.

Analyzing the Flexibility of the Baltimore Ravens’ Re-Tooled Defense

Lardarius Webb needs to come out of the shadows for the Baltimore Ravens in 2013.

Nothing ever stays the same. Nothing in life or in football. The Baltimore Ravens learned that the hard way this off-season.

After figuring out the formula to winning a Super Bowl with Joe Flacco as his quarterback, Ravens’ general manager Ozzie Newsome was pushed into rebuilding his roster this off-season. Immediately after he lifted his second Super Bowl, Ray Lewis’ career came to a close. Lewis’ long-time partner in leading the Ravens’ defense, Ed Reed, followed his inside linebacker out the door in free agency.

Lewis and Reed were the two most recognizable names leaving the roster, but joining them were key pieces such of the Super Bowl run such as Paul Kruger, Dannell Ellerbe, Cary Williams and Bernard Pollard. Not to mention Matt Birk, Bryant McKinnie and Anquan Boldin on the offensive side of the ball. Each of those losses were compounded by the losses of key members of the roster in 2012, Ben Grubbs, Cory Redding, Jarrett Johnson, Lee Evans and Ricky Williams.

In just two years, the Ravens’ roster has gone through some serious surgical subtractions.

Of course, Newsome would never accept those subtractions without making significant moves to fill them in with quality replacements. The offensive side of the ball brought in younger, unproven players to replace the departed veterans, but on the defensive side is where Newsome showed off his creativity.

PPR Fantasy Football Rankings: Top 100 for 2013

Adrian Peterson was simply dominant in fantasy football last year.

With the NFL draft wrapped up, it’s time for football fans to look forward to the start of the season. With the NFL draft wrapped up, it’s time for fantasy football fans to look forward to their own drafts before the season. In order to be ready for those drafts, casual fans need to understand what has gone on in the off-season and look for the rankings that will guide them to success.

Here is my first top 100 list for the PPR Fantasy Football Season of 2013.

NFL Draft 2013 Recap and Analysis

Manti Te’o can finally move on from his tumultuous college career

Another season, another 254 NFL draft prospects have found new teams. As soon as the draft ended on Saturday evening, the 32 NFL franchises delved into their lists of undrafted free agents. But for those of us with the desire for even more football, that part of the process is not televised or broadly analyzed.

Instead of repeatedly refreshing a webpage or waiting anxiously for news to come through of what other players have been added to your team’s training camp roster, now is as good a time as any to take a step back and inhale everything that has just concluded.

NFL Draft: Winners and Losers From Round One

Was the Rams’ trade for Tavon Austin really worth it?

As everyone expected, there were predictable picks, shocking picks, aggressive picks, cautious picks and trades on day one of the 2013 NFL Draft. These players may still be prospects who are developing and we won’t know the true value choices or mistakes until some distance down the road, but initial impressions can often be accurate in this sort of thing.

Here are some picks I like and some I don’t like.

NFL Draft Tracker 2013: Picks, Trades and Updated Analysis

The NFL Draft takes place in Radio City Music Hall, New York.

The Kansas City Chiefs, Jacksonville Jaguars, Oakland Raiders, Eric Fisher, Dion Jordan, Luke Joeckel and many many more. We know the characters, the setting and the overall theme of this book, but the branches of the narrative remain locked in the realms of the unknown.

One-by-one each of the branches will be unveiled, bringing with it the drama, excitement, disappointment or maybe even the apathy that develops from following a franchise that repeatedly fails to deliver.

Yet, no matter what franchise you support, the all-encompassing nature of this event will have you glued to every single selection and desperate for what that means for your franchise. You see this isn’t like the Super Bowl, not just two teams are involved, so even if your team doesn’t have a first round pick, you can still follow what the teams in your division or conference are doing to counteract your team’s strengths and take advantage of your team’s weaknesses.

In case you can’t follow it on television, or you simply can’t handle any more Leon Sandcastle ‘jokes’, this blog will be updated through the night after each pick with details of any picks, trades and analysis of every single move made.

Post Snap Reads: Links and Tweets From Around the Web

It’s NFL Draft Time!

College Athlete Gives Up Senior Season to Donate Bone Marrow-Alex Lippa.
This story is simply phenomenal.

NFL Hopeful is Gay-John Branch.
Alan Gendreau is a very talented kicker who is expecting to be drafted this weekend, more importantly, he was willing to come out about his sexuality before then.

NFL Draft Represents First Step for Eight New NFL Head Coaches

In this image, every team beat the very next team if you move in a clock-wise direction.

Even after an NFL season that was full of parity, eight owners, or one quarter of the league, decided that it was time to move on from the men who had led their rosters through training camp and the regular season. Even though each of those new faces in new places will have begun to make their initial impression on the direction of their respective franchises in free agency, the first real step in their new careers will be the NFL draft.

Nobody taking over a new team ever really expects to inherit a talented roster, and even though it’s not directly a reflection of the talent on the field, seven of the new teams are picking within the top 11 of the first round, with only the Chicago Bears reaching the far depths of 20th overall.

Because of the lack of top level quarterback talent, this draft likely won’t determine how successful the new regimes will be over their spans with their franchises, but the early choices will go a long way in determining how successful they will be in the short-term. Initial impressions are always important for fans, but they can also determine how the new direction of the franchise is received within the walls.

NFL Draft 2013: Best Landing Spots For Each Style of Prospect

Where would strong-armed quarterback Tyler Wilson prefer to be?

At this stage of the draft process, every single prospect is starting to let his mind wonder about where this portion of his life is going to project his career. Who will take him in the draft and allow him to wear their jersey?

Undoubtedly each prospect will have their personal preferences, but since it’s impossible to ask every single one and get an honest answer, I instead decided to look through the different styles of players available and where they would likely be best fit for their careers.

NFL Draft 2013: Arthur Brown Could Continue the Evolution of the Pittsburgh Steelers’ Defense

Arthur Brown could be the next great Steelers linebacker.

In two days, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell will step towards the podium at Radio City Music Hall in New York to announce that the Pittsburgh Steelers will draft….

And that is where the story ends for now.

Only twice since 2004 have the Pittsburgh Steelers selected as high in the draft as they will this year. The first time they came away with a young quarterback who would quickly lead his team to two Super Bowl championships, Ben Roethlisberger. The second time they would land one of their current defensive leaders n Lawrence Timmons. The Steelers will pick 17th, the highest they have picked since they took Maurkice Pouncey 18th overall in 2010.

Steelers’ general manager Kevin Colbert said at a recent press conference, “I doubt that we move up. I think the more picks we have the better, in this draft particularly. But there will be a good player at 17, there’s no question about that.” Colbert didn’t tip his hand in any particular direction, but former Georgia outside linebacker Jarvis Jones believes that he is atop their board, while safeties Jonathan Cyprien or Kenny Vaccaro could be considerations. Tank Carradine’s potential could tempt them also or a defensive lineman.

The best prospect for the Steelers may be inside linebacker Arthur Brown. Brown has been a favorite of the online scout community for some time, but most of the mainstream media is just beginning to recognize his potential as a top 20 pick. A product of Kansas, most of the skepticism surrounding Brown’s NFL projection is sourced from his size. Brown is just 6′ and 240 points. He has the frame to add bulk, but will definitely be under pressure to do so on the next level.