An overview at the 2008 NFL Draft

 

There are some great new prospects for this coming NFL season, including Darren McFadden, the fourth overall pick who got chosen by the Raiders in the first round draft pick with a six-year contract worth $60 million with $26 guaranteed.

McFadden played for the Razorbacks for 3 seasons and finished with 41 touchdowns, and he got in second place for the Heisman Trophy his last two years with Arkansas.

It’s a bit unusual that the Raiders get to pick a rookie so soon, they usually wait a few rounds to make their choice, even though they had enough running backs, they knew that signing McFadden who is just 20 years old, was a great addition to their roster.

On the other hand, the Dolphins picked Michigan’s offensive tackle Jake Long on a similar contract: $57.75 million for 5 years, while Virginia’s defensive end Chris Long signed with the Rams for $59 million with $29 million guaranteed and 5 years, while Matt Ryan got the best deal of them all, the third overall pick got a $72 million contract with $27.3 million in guaranteed money for six year with Atlanta, and made Ryan the third highest paid player at the NFL just after All-Stars Peyton Manning and Ben Roethlisberger.

Surprisingly, Jake Long, who was the top overall pick shares the same agent as Matt Ryan, Tom Gordon, who even got Ryan a six year deal which is common among 10 overall draft picks, and Long got his for 5 years.

Many critics agreed that the draft is an unexact science and players that got huge deals would need to prove themselves when they enter the football field for the first time as professionals, so when you see Ryan’s case who did much better than Long and McFadden, you might as well conclude that the team that signed Ryan, the Falcons, saw something outstanding on him, and we all will need to wait until the NFL begins to see which team got the best prospect.